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The St. John the Baptist Parish Council took a step toward preparing for the 2025 Andouille Festival by passing a resolution to apply for a grant from the Louisiana Office of Tourism (LOT) at its council meeting on April 22.

The resolution allows Parish President Jaclyn Hotard to secure a maximum of $15,000 in grant money for marketing and promotional activities for the annual Andouille Festival, contingent upon the acceptance of its grant proposal by LOT’s 2024-2025 Competitive Grant Program.

The grant aims to support fairs, festivals, and other tourism events that enhance the state’s economy. However, the funding covers advertising costs with a reimbursement of 50% or 66%, which is paid after the event is concluded.

The parish rarely discloses the company’s financial involvement in the festival’s sponsorship.

Available records on the parish website indicate that between 2014 and 2024, St. John the Baptist Parish incurred $2.91 million in direct expenses to host the Andouille festival. 

Throughout this period, the costs associated with hosting the festival consistently exceeded the earnings from the event. 

An evaluation of festival expenses over the last decade by the L’Observateur reveals that taxpayers incur an average annual loss of $109,898. Yet, operating costs for running the festival have remained unchanged.

Councilman Robert Arcuri included the re-appointment of Lisa Tregre-Wilder to the Library Board of Control on the council’s April 22 agenda.

During public comments, Yevette Scioneaux, Treasurer of St. John the Baptist Parish Library, opposed Tregre’s reappointment to the Library Board for overstaying her term, citing term limits for the president at a maximum of four consecutive terms.

“The current president, Ms. Lisa Tregre Wilder, is serving her sixth consecutive term, which is a violation of our current Library Board policy, which states that officers can only serve for four consecutive terms”. 

“I mentioned and requested several times not to have the Library Board meetings on the same date as the St. John the Baptist Parish Council meeting to allow council members to attend Library Board meetings, which was completely ignored.

Typically, the parish library will be governed by a board of control, consisting of seven citizens appointed by councilmen from each of the seven districts, serving five-year terms. 

The Home Charter does not explicitly state that members who have served four consecutive terms are ineligible to serve again on the same board. 

However, the Parish Council voted 4-1 to approve the re-appointment of Tregre, with Councilwoman Virgie Johnson opposing and Warren Torres abstaining from the vote. 

Other resolutions approved at the April 22 meeting include engaging All South Consulting Engineers, LLC, for a Green Infrastructure Pilot Project at Belle Pointe Park, located in St. John the Baptist Parish.