EDGARD — A small amount of optimism in a sea of negativity might be the final hope for an agreement between St. John the Baptist Parish Council members and the South Central Planning & Development Commission over code enforcement.

Each of the parish’s nine Council members took turns weighing in on a proposed cooperative endeavor agreement the Commission is seeking from St. John Parish during a lengthy discussion on the matter Tuesday in Edgard before ultimately tabling a decision on the request until later this month.

Following the meeting, multiple Parish Council members said South Central’s request would have been denied had the motion come to vote.

Councilman Michael Wright told L’OBSERVATEUR he proposed tabling the motion in hopes that a scheduled meeting between Parish Administration and the St. John District Attorney’s office next week would lead to a consensus in securing language for a new South Central agreement that better protects parish financial interests.

Following Hurricane Katrina, South Central has handled code enforcement for St. John Parish and numerous other parishes by maintaining manpower and infrastructure and keeping 80 percent of the revenue generated through building permits, while the parish receives 20 percent.

St. John also pays a $4,000 annual membership to belong to South Central Planning.

Due to an expiring 10-year, $1.8 million grant initially awarded by the federal government to South Central Planning in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Commission is asking its member parishes — St. John, Terrebonne, Assumption, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. Mary — to accept a new payment structure of $27,530.14 in upfront monthly fees to maintain its services without a monthly payback should little to no building permit action take place in a random month.

District Attorney Bridget Dinvaut and members of her office maintain the upfront fee is a “gratuitous donation,” adding the payment, which is a use of public funds, must have a value of greater or equal benefit to the parish, something she remains skeptical will happen under the new agreement.

St. John Planning and Zoning Director Alexandra Carter continues to tell Parish Council members that software for permit review, issuance and inspection, code enforcement data, case file management and monitoring, and electronic file storage and retrieval provided daily by South Central to St. John provides huge financial and manpower benefits beyond building permits.

In speaking to Council members this week, Carter reiterated that South Central maintains the ability to end its existing agreement with St. John within 30 days.

Parish administrators and South Central leaders have also said all other member parishes reviewed the revised payment structure without concern, leaving St. John as the lone holdout.

That possibility of forcing St. John out of the code enforcement deal aggravates many Council members who see it as an uncompromising threat.

Parish Councilmen Larry Sorapuru Jr. and Lennix Madere Jr. voted against this week’s tabling, seemingly to once and for all bring the contract proposal to vote. All indications are each would have denied South Central’s proposal.

“It comes down to paying $27,000 for services that haven’t been rendered yet,” Madere said. “They are having budget problems, and this parish is not in the business of relieving pressure off of someone else. The only reason I see that they want a new contract is because they want extra funding. I am not willing, as a Councilman, to fund someone else’s business.”

Madere said the South Central Planning & Development Commission is not the only entity that performs its service, noting, “there are other companies around that would come in here and take that same contract that they have and do the job.”

Specifics of who could perform the services were not shared during Tuesday’s public meeting.

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Sorapuru said the parish was being held hostage by the contract squabble.

Councilwoman Jaclyn Hotard said South Central’s inability to work on an adjusted pay schedule specific to St. John’s concerns and a lack of communication have added to the frustration felt by Council members.

Before discussion on the matter concluded this week, Carter reiterated to Council members that her department’s detailed research indicates that should St. John exit its partnership with South Central and take on these services in house, parish expenditures would increase by at least a quarter million dollars a year.

Carter did say she hoped next week’s meeting with the District Attorney’s office would lead to a contract agreement that satisfied the desires of all parties.