LEONARD GRAY

HAHNVILLE – The committee which will sort through reapportionment plans in St. Charles Parish has nearly been empaneled, with the last appointments due to be approved Monday at the parish council meeting. St. Charles School Board President Steve Crovetto already appointed Ronald St. Pierre, Clarence “Sonny” Savoie and John L. Smith to the panel. The president of the St. Charles Justices of the Peace and Constables Association, District Five Constable Stephen Black, will represent that group. On the parish council’s agenda are resolutions to approve the appointments of Clayton “Snookie” Faucheux, Desmond Hilaire, Darnell “Dee” Abadie and Council Chairman Barry Minnich to the committee. The justices of the peace, school board members and parish council members in St. Charles Parish share identical districts, something unique in Louisiana, Crovetto said. Also at Monday’s council meeting a contract to hire South Central Planning Commission, a planning organization with oversight by a regional trans-government board, is up for discussion. South Central Planning also consulted on 1991 reapportionment plans. Its role will be to analyze the census data and current district lines and offer alternative plans for consideration at public forums it will conduct. After the public forums the council and school board will jointly adopt a plan, submit it to the U.S. Justice Department and hope for approval. The primary consideration of the Justice Department will be racial minority voting rights. The eight-member panel includes two African-Americans, Smith and Hilaire. Ideally, each district will have a population count of 6,877 to be balanced among seven districts. Currently, the east and west banks have a near-identical population, with only a 90-resident difference. In the last reapportionment a movement toward a parish charter change and redividing the parish into eight districts failed in a general election. Crovetto said this time around he has yet to hear serious support for that idea. As elections for the school board, justices of the peace and constables are set in fall 2002, completion of the reapportionment process is imperative to keep elections on schedule and fair to all potential candidates and for the voters. Therefore, a timetable drafted by the council mandates that the Justice Department have the reapportionment plan submitted by April 1, 2002. The next parish council election is scheduled in fall 2003.