Inside Report: Officials hint at panel changes
In mid-December, the outgoing Ascension Parish Council gave the parish Planning and Zoning Commission the boot with nary a reason why.
That question lingered over the commission replacement process that followed.
In fact, one of the 24 people who interviewed for a seat on the commission last month, Margaret Mayers, of Gonzales, raised it in her Jan. 30 interview.
She said she had been watching public-access television and had not seen anybody explain why the prior commission was basically fired when some commissioners’ terms were about to expire this year anyway.
“Why couldn’t that have waited until they expired? Why all of a sudden were they just all gotten rid of? Can anybody explain that?” she asked.
Council Chairman Chris Loar told Mayers that her interview was not the appropriate time to answer her question.
But he seized the moment Tuesday after the council ratified a Personnel Committee-backed slate of replacements — a slate that did not include Mayers — providing his bill of particulars against the old commission and marking the first time a parish official said in a public meeting why the old commission was removed.
“The past Planning and Zoning Commission, to me, had created a climate that was harming our parish economically,” he said.
Notably, five former commissioners sought to be reseated and went through the interview process. None were recommended for the vote Tuesday. None were selected by the council.
Before the change, other indications had dribbled out from some parish officials.
At the end of December, Loar asserted the old commission had become politicized.
“We want this to be completely above board and … to show people that this was not about politics,” Loar said. “It was about getting the people who were playing politics out of the equation.”
Parish President Tommy Martinez pointed out in a late December interview that the old commission lacked a diversity of viewpoints and noted it had no black members or west bank representation.
“But yet, you got all these people that’s representing the northern sector of the parish and the thoughts up there that want to basically slow down and stop growth, when in Donaldsonville, they’re trying to grow, so you don’t have anybody representing that viewpoint on the Planning Commission,” he said.
The slate approved Tuesday includes two Donaldsonville natives who now live on the parish’s east bank, and another candidate who is black.
Former Councilman Dennis Cullen said the old commissioners, volunteer appointees, were acting like elected officials.
Council Vice Chairman Benny Johnson said he believed commissioners acted outside their authority when they called for various investigative agencies to look into administration and commission emails. The emails were related to a dispute last year over Houmas House.
Though Councilman Todd Lambert has said he felt the old commission was doing a good job, the council majority and the administration were unhappy with the way things were going.
While some opponents, like former Commissioner Daniel “Doc” Satterlee, won office, the administration appears to have a supportive council majority.
An early sign of that confidence showed up at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting shortly after the Oct. 22 primary in which Martinez and many council members were re-elected.
Planning Director Ricky Compton and Beth James, Martinez’s top aide, wore white buttons on their lapels that said “27.9%” in black lettering. Both were frequent targets of commission criticism. The buttons, which appeared to escape the commissioners’ attention, were a clear reference to the minority share of the vote Martinez’s challenger, Kathryn Goppelt, received Oct. 22.
Buoyed by electoral success, the council took a bold show of confidence against the commission, flexing its refreshed political muscle and setting the stage for another four years.
David J. Mitchell covers Ascension Parish government for The Advocate. He can be reached at dmitchell@theadvocate.com.