By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — One hundred and twenty five votes made a world of difference in Saturday’s election as voters in St. Charles Parish filled the St. Charles Parish Council-at-Large Division B seat with Jarvis Lewis, who collected 3,590 votes (51 percent) compared to Julia Fisher-Perrier, who tallied 3,465 votes (49 percent).

Lewis said his priorities once sworn into office will be to continue the fight for adequate levee protection for the parish and to further engage citizens in parish matters by holding District Days, which he described as town-hall style meetings to gather the suggestions and concerns from residents of each district.

“I want to encourage others to get involved,” said Lewis.

The state reported the turnout in the election represented 20.6 percent of available voters.

St. Charles Parish voters also approved the St. Charles Hospital millage renewal Saturday with 69 percent (4,381) in favor and 31 percent (1,996) against.

Federico Martinez Jr., chief executive officer of St. Charles Parish Hospital, spoke before the St. Charles Council in January about the importance of the proposed election, which established the tax for the next 10 years. He said the current millage generates $2.64 million annually for the hospital and that the hospital was not seeking any increase in the current rate.

The current property tax makes up 7.2 percent of all annual hospital revenue, with the additional 92.8 percent coming from hospital-generated funds.

Martinez said the primary use of funds would support EMS and ER services, maintain and replace ambulances and equipment, provide advanced cardiac life support training for physicians and medical staff, support new emergency room operations and pay operating expenses for the urgent care center currently under construction in Destrehan.