At their regular meeting of April 19th, the Ascension Parish Council in a five to four vote refused to fund the Master Plan Subcommittee budget of $28,000 to review and revise the current Master Plan. The budget primarily included funds for meeting rooms, clerical staff, and photocopying of documents which are charged to the Commission by the parish administration.
Councilman George Valentine made a motion to provide the funding with a second from Councilman Todd Lambert. Councilman Loar immediately made a substitute motion to deny funding with a second from Dennis Cullen. With Councilman Clouatre absent, Councilmen Kent Schexnaydre, Dempsey Lambert, Chris Loar, Dennis Cullen and Benny Johnson voted for the substitute motion denying the request of the subcommittee. Councilman Oliver Joseph, Adrian Thompson, George Valentine and Todd Lambert voted against the motion which denied funding. Chairman Pat Bell chose not to vote. Had he voted with the four councilmen he would have created a tie vote. The substitute motion would have failed and opened the door for a vote on the previous motion which would have funded the committee. It was obvious that Bell did not favor funding the efforts of the Planning Commission. These six councilmen (Pat Bell, Kent Schexnaydre, Dempsey Lambert, Chris Loar, Dennis Cullen and Benny Johnson) demonstrated by their actions that they are unwilling to harness the uncontrolled growth in Ascension and address our infrastructure needs. Citizens need to remember councilmen's voting record on important issues such as this when casting their vote in the upcoming October elections.
The Master Plan Subcommittee then met on April 25th and made the decision not to hold regular meetings for now. They are considering looking at firms located in the state to assist the Subcommittee. As dictated by the Parish Council's motion, the steering committee will work on finances for review and revision of the Master Plan for the 2012 budget.
Though efforts have been put on hold, the subcommittee will remain intact. When further decisions are made, we will inform citizens.
