Parish council splits on term limit change

The St. Martin Parish Council has started a debate about term limits for council members.
In 1999, parish government changed from the Police Jury system to the current Parish President/Council configuration. Provisions in the home rule charter included a limit of three consecutive four-year terms for council members. Term-limited council members can run to regain their seats after sitting out one four-year term.
At the Feb. 21 parish council meeting, chairman and Dist. 3 councilman Jason Willis introduced a measure to eliminate those term limits on the next public election ballot. But council members are not all in agreement about whether that should be done.
Supporters of the ballot measure contend that limits made much more sense under the old Police Jury system. Individual jury members had much more power in their districts. They had the authority to award contracts, dispatch work crews and other things that could gain them powerful support and campaign donations that often made election challenges very difficult.
The current system does not work that way, argue supporters. All spending and contract decisions are made through a full council vote. Council members have no more influence within their own districts than the other council members.
With a two-thirds vote needed to place the measure on the ballot, six of the nine council members will have to vote in favor. And as it stands now, that looks like a stretch.
Members who are currently in favor of the proposal include Willis, Dist. 2 member Lisa Nelson, Jill Hebert of Dist 6, and Albert “Da da” Menard of Dist 7.
Members in opposition say many of their constituents have made it clear that they support term limits. Byron Fuselier of Dist. 1, said 70 percent of the calls he has received have been in support of term limits. Willis responded that each member represents around 5,000 citizens, so 40 or 50 phone calls should not be taken as the opinion of the majority.
Chris Tauzin of Dist. 5 said that, in principle, he does not believe politics should be a career. He believes all office holders should be term-limited. He added that governments profit from new ideas and energy brought by the turnover.
Tauzin also maintains that some members may be motivated to continue in office by a desire to keep their parish health insurance, which he describes as far too generous for a part-time council.
But as to placing the measure on the ballot, he said he has not decided yet.
Besides Tauzin and Fuselier, Daniel Richard of Dist 9, Dean LeBlanc of Dist. 8 and Neil Thibodeaux of Dist. 4 all expressed scepticism about the ballot measure.
A council vote on the issue will be held next month. If six members approve, the proposed change will appear on the November general election ballot.