LEONARD GRAY

HAHNVILLE – The biggest question confronting the joint committee who will approve of a plan for redistricting St. Charles Parish came up for more discussion Thursday night. That question is: Should the parish stay with the present seven-district plan or should it redesign to have an equal number of districts on each side of the Mississippi River? Practically every plan used in the past had four districts on the West Bank, where most of the population lived, and three on the East Bank. However, in the past 25 years or more, East Bank population has drawn level with the West Bank. The latest census report had only a 90-resident difference out of total population of 48,072. A redistricting plan in 1991 met approval which had two West Bank districts crossing the river with a thumbnail portion on the East Bank. In 2001, that may not be enough. Several citizens spoke, mostly to push for an equal number of districts on each side of the river. Cletus Martin of Luling said, “I don’t understand why there’s not more discussion of this. If we need a charter change, then change it.” Milton Allemand of Hahnville added, “We could postpone the election. This is not about you. This is about the citizens of St. Charles Parish.” The next meeting is scheduled Aug. 2 at 5:30 p.m. and is open to the public for comment. Committee members include Council members Barry Minnich, Dee Abadie, Desmond Hilaire and Clayton “Snookie” Faucheux; School Board members Ronald St. Pierre, Alfred Green and Clarence “Sonny” Savoie; and District Five Constable Stephen Black, current president of the St. Charles Justices of the Peace and Constables Association. South Central Planning Commission, a municipal planning organization with oversight by a regional trans-government board, who also consulted on the 1991 reapportionment plans, is serving in the same capacity this time around as well. Kevin Belanger, director of South Central Planning, provided maps of several plans for discussion, including six- and eight-district plans. Highest in the priority of the U.S. Justice Department, though, will be the voting strength of minorities, and a minority district will be mandated, no matter which plan is approved. Belanger came to Thursday’s meeting with three alternative seven-district plans. One of these was voted out of consideration, as it included a severely-gerrymandered district which ranged from old Luling to behind Red Church. Ideally, each district will have a population count of 6,877 population to be balanced among seven districts. “Unless the charter is changed, we must create a seven-district plan,” Belanger said. In the last reapportionment, a movement toward a parish charter change and redividing the parish into eight districts failed in a general election. Minnich said the parish cannot hold up any elections and must come to a conclusion by the end of this year, in order to be fair to potential candidates in the elections for the school board, justices of the peace and constables, set in fall 2002. “We do not have all the time in the world,” Minnich continued. “We couldn’t start until we had the census report. Nobody delayed this process.” Belanger added, “It is impossible to delay an election. If you miss the deadline, Justice will do it for you.” Therefore, a timetable mandates that the U.S. Justice Department have the reapportionment plan submitted by April 1, 2002. The next parish council election is in fall 2003. The justices of the peace, school board members and parish council members in St. Charles Parish share identical districts, something unique in Louisiana, Minnich said.