Some day in the not-too-distant future, votes by the Lafayette City-Parish Council on matters pertaining to Lafayette Utilities System and other city-only issues could be weighted based on representation; that is, council members with more LUS customers or city residents would have more say — their vote would be heavier — than council members representing fewer of those constituencies.
CPC Chair Jay Castille, who awaits a draft ordinance from LCG’s legal department that would clear the way toward creating an official charter commission, is looking toward a weighted vote as a means of solving some of the issues in the existing City-Parish Home Rule Charter — chief among them the mechanism by which issues concerning LUS, a city-owned public utility, are decided.
The charter grants governance of LUS to the Lafayette Public Utility Authority, which comprises council members whose districts are at least 60 percent city and therefore 60 percent LUS customers. The LPUA currently stands at five council members. But some LUS customers live outside those five districts, and if the LPUA were the sole decision maker, they would have no voice as LUS stakeholders. Consequently, the full nine-member council also votes on LUS matters, and so far the two bodies — the LPUA and the full council — have not disagreed on an LUS vote, although the potential for that occurring exists. The current situation also means that non-LUS customers have been getting equal say as LUS customers on issues concerning the public utility. This is one of the primary reasons Castille appointed a charter committee in January — to solve the LPUA/full council conundrum. A weighted vote, he believes, address it. “We discussed it,” Castille acknowledges, “and that’s some of the discussion that I hope takes place during these next few months with the charter commission, if we can get one appointed.”
A weighted voting system would also mean the LPUA could be abolished. Under such a system, the vote of Councilman Sam Doré would carry the most weight — 19 percent — because he represents 19 percent of all LUS customers. Doré is followed by Keith Patin (18 percent), Don Bertrand (16), Kenneth Boudreaux (15), Brandon Shelvin (13), Castille (7), Jared Bellard (5), William Theriot (4) and Purvis Morrison (3). Not coincidentally, the five councilmen with the heaviest votes comprise the LPUA.
The Feb. 2 vote approving an LUS rate increase passed the full council by a 5-4 vote: Dore, Patin, Bertrand, Castille and Morrison in favor; Boudreaux, Shelvin, Bellard and Theriot opposed. If that vote were weighted, the rate increase would have passed by a 63-37 percent margin. Castille believes such a system adequately addresses the LPUA problem. “We just need to figure out how to approach that and make it work easy for staff, the council staff, and make sure that everything’s in order,” Castille adds. “I believe it can be worked out.”
An electronic voting system is the likely remedy for making a weighted vote efficient. The Lafayette Parish School Board uses electronic voting. However, the home rule charter does not allow electronic voting. Both a weighted vote and an electronic voting system are subjects Castille hopes a charter commission will address. In fact, the council chairman is already doing his homework on electronic voting: “I met ... with IT and we discussed that also — to do the electronic voting.”
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , March 16, 2010 - 11:46 pm
""" OH I SEE, THATS WHY JOEY DUREL IN ALL HIS INFINITE WISDOM, PRODDED BY HIS CRONIES, POSITIONED HEAD COUILLION SAM DORE,TO CHAIR THE "LPUA....TALK ABOUT LONG TERM PLANNING.... " HOW SHREWD & OILY. JOEY, HAS NEVER HAD ONE ULTERIOR MOTIVE IN HIS TIME IN OFFICE, HE HAS HAD QUITE A FEW, TOO NUMEROUS TO COMMENT ON HERE..........
... written by Jason D. Faulk , March 17, 2010 - 06:38 pm
I disagree thus far with the concept of weighted vote as a solution to representation problem of LUS governance. No information I have read during the past decade of on and off discussion on this problem (even recalling some discussion taking place during the 2003 C-P Presidential race) has made this concept any more palatable. Does a council member with 1/6th the number of city residents get 1/6th of the time to speak on LUS issues? Would he or she only be allowed 1/6th the amount of influence in the discussion and decision making process? Would his or her ideas only warrant 1/6th of the value in the minds of fellow councilmen? I think in reality human beings don't work that way and as co-equal participants in the process of discourse, all councilors will have the same voice.
At the end of the day, I believe we must have regional cooperation to work together on mutual goals, and we must also have whole governance of LUS. The one man - one vote concept is just as important on the representative body of the council (or LPUA/LUS sub-council) as it is for the general body-politic.
In other cities, such Public Service Commissions, as what the LPUA is as it is also the governing body of the utility company, are independent appointed agencies, or elected separately from city leadership, as are the planning commissions. If anything, expanding the jurisdiction of the LUS utility apart from the city of Lafayette would broaden the potential for growth of this key asset to our area.
Ultimately, whatever path we take, I currently believe the end result will necessitate a distinct governing board for LUS, apart from the City-Parish council. The constituencies are of different sets, motivations, goals, priorities, and just switching hats between votes does not change this.
... written by Walter Pierce, Managing Editor , March 17, 2010 - 07:28 pm
You're right, Jason, that all nine council members are co-equal participants in the discussion, and the LPUA comprising members of the council probably was not a good idea to begin with. But those council members whose constituencies are overwhelmingly non-LUS customers should not be co-equal decision makers on LUS; to do so is to give non-LUS residents equal say as the stakeholders. SLEMCO and Entergy customers are unaffected by LUS and should therefore have no effect on the utility. Ultimately, this is problematic because Lafayette Consolidated Government is consolidated in name only for the most part. City finances remain separate from those of the parish. As long as that remains the case, a weighted vote on all matters "city," including LUS, is the most expeditious way to assure that city decisions are made by the city. I agree with you that, as far as LUS is concerned, an appointed or elected commission separate from the council and divorced from council politics would be the better way to govern LUS, but the creation of such a commission wouldn't address the myriad other city/parish issues that grow from our state of partial consolidation. A weighted voting system would address them all, it seems, and make abolishing the LPUA possible.
... written by andymhebert , March 18, 2010 - 02:28 pm
"...a weighted vote on all matters "city," including LUS, is the most expeditious way to assure that city decisions are made by the city." "To assure" the decissions are "made by the City" then only registered voters of the City should be elected by only registered voters of the City. You have a great point. Kinda like having only the registered stock holders in a business vote for the board of directors. I believe it is called "taxation with equal representation" isn't that what reapportionment is all about? Keeping voting districts, especially the City ones, from being jerrymandered as they have been since "consolidation". Would all who comment, please state if you are a registered voter of the City of Lafayette or a registered voter of the non-consolidated towns?
... written by Walter Pierce, Managing Editor , March 18, 2010 - 02:45 pm
... written by Jason D. Faulk , March 19, 2010 - 04:40 pm
Thanks Walter. I read your weekly byline in the Wednesday weekly after I composed my comment on this Blog post. I couldn't help laugh at my own expense a little when I saw your advisory against the invocation of "one man one vote." Seems like my argumentation is too predictable and needs a fresh approach. On Andy Hebert's point toward stockholder representation, I suppose we could think out another 20 years, and in a world of known unknowns or unknown knows as Rumsfeld was fond of saying, we can predict that in some form or fashion there will occur demographic transition and possible geographic shift, which is already in place. Therefore, it would not be impossible or I think unreasonable to assume a future wherein all C-P Council members are elected from areas outside of the City of Lafayette. Whether this merits attention solely for LUS or for all other concerns of importance to urban areas which rural areas may not value as highly, we will need representation which shares city-life priorities.
Along these lines I just took in Steve Oubre's presentation about the future of Lafayette and of urban areas in the future with respect to the emerging GenY and Millenial generations. Clearly suburban life and the costs of providing for this infrastructure are undesirable by and large nationally to this group of the population and further is an unsustainable mode of maintaining the civilization (maybe I should reference back to the Matt Simmons lecture, lest this tangent grow larger.) I don't assert this lightly based solely upon one lecture but upon a decade of inquiry and advocacy.
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JOEY, HAS NEVER HAD ONE ULTERIOR MOTIVE IN HIS TIME IN OFFICE, HE HAS HAD QUITE A FEW, TOO NUMEROUS TO COMMENT ON HERE..........