Three commissioners on the Planning & Zoning Commission were up for reappointment on October 15th. All three supported the proposed Master Plan which was overwhelmingly rejected by the people of Ascension Parish. Two new commissioners were approved by the Parish Council on November 18th; J.B. Esnard and Daniel Satterlee. The third and final position is yet to be filled.
The Personnel Committee met on November 29th to discuss the remaining appointment to the Planning & Zoning Commission. Citizens were told at the November 18th meeting that the committee would choose the third commissioner from the four existing applicants. However, Personnel Committee members Benny Johnson, Chris Loar, and Adrian Thompson decided they would not choose any of the four existing applicants, but would readvertise for the position. This decision was contrary to past actions in making appointments. (Readvertising in the past occurred when no applications were received for an advertised position.) Because of this scheming decision, phone calls were made to targeted councilmen who might be open to representing the vision of the people by appointing one more new person to the Commission. While contacting councilmen, some of them told citizens the plan to readvertise would allow Alan Krouse to reapply so that they could reappoint him to the Commission.
Readvertising for the remaining position to the Planning & Zoning Commission was on the Council's agenda for the December 2nd meeting. Alarmed by this information, citizens filled the Donaldsonville Council chambers to once again demand that the Council follow their own established procedures and choose a new member from the existing applicants who had filled out applications, submitted resumes within the deadline and had been interviewed by the Personnel Committee.
A motion was made by George Valentine and seconded by Todd Lambert not to readvertise and to nominate Cindy Quick to the open position. Some councilmen tried to throw a curve ball in the process by having legal counsel give solicited advice suggesting that readvertising was necessary because the Personnel Committee had not ranked the candidates according to their established bylaws. This requirement has not been followed in the past. After further questioning from Councilmen Valentine and Joseph, it was apparent that this was all part of a political ploy by certain councilmen and Tommy Martinez's administration to readvertise and bring back the reappointment of Alan Krouse who had been rejected in a 4 to 3 vote on November 18th. In the end, the Council unanimously approved a motion to have the Personnel Committee rank the existing applicants and come back to the Full Council with a recommendation. This may be as early as the Council's December 16th meeting in Gonzales. We will keep you posted.
