LAPLACE — St. John the Baptist Parish Council members rejected a new, amended payment agreement with the South Central Planning & Development Commission, potentially opening the door for the 10-year partnership to end.

Council members voted 8-1 (Thomas Malik against) Tuesday night, denying a request from South Central to change the payment structure that funds the parish’s permitting and associated code enforcement efforts.

In a major policy shift, South Central Planning was asking the parish to pay in advance a monthly fee, or “pro-rata share,” of $27,530.14 to maintain its services. The current contract allows South Central to keep 80 percent of the revenue generated through building permits and the parish 20 percent.

Council members considered the change for at least a half dozen meetings since it was first introduced in May before deciding this week to officially deny the request.

Council members said they expect South Central to honor its current contract, which runs until 2020.

Following Tuesday’s meeting, South Central CEO Kevin Belanger told L’OBSERVATEUR his board has directed him to seek a legal opinion from the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office about the legality of the up-front payment structure.

Parish Council members have for months balked at making the up-front payments after receiving a legal opinion from the St. John Parish District Attorney’s Office that said such a pay structure was illegal and amounted to a “gratuitous donation” of public funds, which is prohibited under the state constitution.

Belanger said he is willing to honor the contract that ends in 2020 as long as South Central Board members agree to do so. Should the Attorney General’s opinion back the up-front pay agreement, Belanger said South Central Board members could execute a 30-day window to terminate its services agreement with St. John Parish.

Parish Council members for months left open the door of approving a new agreement with South Central should the D.A. sign off on the agreement.

District Attorney Bridget Dinvaut said the agreement could be considered again if St. John administrators provided the Parish Council a cost benefits analysis that justified the up-front monthly payments.

Dinvaut said no such analysis was presented.

“Administration has not given me anything, and what I have learned, I have learned in the newspaper from statements (the St. John planning director) has made,” Dinvaut told Council members. “It is the Parish Administration that owes to this Council, and the people of St. John the Baptist Parish, a cost benefits analysis that says this is in the best interests of the tax payers and people of St. John the Baptist Parish for A, B, C and D reasons. In accordance to the law, it has to be something that can demonstrate some evidence. You have to have that and we have nothing other than a newspaper article.”

Parish President Natalie Robottom and Planning and Zoning Director Alex Carter were not present at this week’s Parish Council meeting.

Parish Councilman Michael Wright expressed some frustration to St. John CAO Laverne Toombs that Administration failed to meet with the District Attorney’s Office between Sept. 13 and 25, because Council members were told such a meeting would take place.

“We also made it clear at the last meeting that some of our decision was going to be contingent on that meeting and, of course, the district attorney’s recommendations,” Wright said.

“We also made it clear, while we appreciated the attorney general’s opinion, that wasn’t going to change our mind.”

Other Board members shared similar sentiments.