Richard Vegas
May 1, 2019
What to Do if Your Car is Damaged by a Pothole
May 1, 2019
The agenda item for last week’s Terrebonne Parish Council meeting was simple enough.
“Presentation from the Recreation Reform Citizens Group and possible action,” is how it read in the record.
While no action was taken, a broad – and occasionally contentious – dialogue emerged regarding how the parish meets the recreation needs of its citizens, and will likely continue into the future.
The topic was a proposal by Rec Reform for Terrebonne for consolidation of some recreation districts in the parish, or portions of them, into one entity called the “North Terrebonne Recreation District.” Proponents say the plan would result in a more efficient use of resources, and even out disparities in the amount in taxes each of the parish’s 11 recreation districts levies.
The proposal has raised concerns that were expressed at the meeting, including a suggestion that the purpose of recreation reform is to have a bigger pool of money to move into completion of the Bayou Country Sports Complex, a mega-center that will accommodate a wide variety of competitive sports on its parish-owned ground, and be a draw for sports tournaments. That plan is expected to boost business for hotels and restaurants and suffered serious funding deficiencies when Louisiana’s financial picture darkened. State contributions to the project are dried up for now. While progress is being made, it is slow.
The complex is the subject of a cooperative endeavor agreement between TPCG and Recreation District 2-3.
Houma attorney Nicholas Hebert, a member of the Rec Reform group, addressed council members. He sought the support for placement of a ballot item that would allow voters to consolidate districts 1, 2-3, 8 and 9.
Under the current system, he pointed out, Houma residents on either side of a recreation district line are paying their recreation district taxes in a disproportionate fashion.
“It’s not fair that a neighbor on one side of the street pays three times as much as a neighbor on the other side of the street, for the same facilities,” Hebert said.
Although much of Terrebonne Parish and the City of Houma consolidated, recreation districts whose lines were drawn decades ago independently decide on their tax collections and build as well as maintain parks, gyms and other related sites.
The Terrebonne Parish Recreation Department – a unified agency that covers the entire parish – organizes and runs events and activities that end up using the facilities the recreation districts operate.
A growing chorus of voices, backed by some of the parish’s bigger businesses, seek the changes Hebert spoke of.
The Rec Reform group states that its plans, as presented by Nicholas Hebert, have four major components and purposes.
The first goal, he said, is the modernization of Terrebonne Parish Recreation Department. That’s the entity that is part of the parish government.
The second, Nicholas Hebert said, is reorganization of the Houma districts so that property owners pay “one balanced millage.”
The third, he said, is “promoting smart growth and sustainability of amenities.” The current system of eleven districts to build and maintain sites and having Terrebonne Parish Recreation oversee programs that relate to all of those cites, Hebert and others say, can lead to short-sighted decisions that cost taxpayers more and serve the public less. Development of a master plan, the group says, can go a long way toward starting that process.
Fourth on the list is making sure that the sports park has the money it needs to become an operational reality. Consolidating the Houma districts, Hebert said, will aid that process. Doing so, he said, is a better option than passing a separate tax to complete the project.
Parish President Gordon Dove did not express opposition to the goals of the group. But he came prepared with a Power Point presentation to aid his listing of changes that have been made to Terrebonne Parish Recreation within the past year.
TPR, he said, has been modernized and continues to be modernized. Accountability and measures to make children safer, Dove said, have been enacted and accelerated. The appointment of Roddy Lerille as Terrebonne Parish Recreation Director, he said, along with the work of planner Chris Pulaski and Parish Manager Mike Toups are making a difference.
One speaker who expressed lack of support for the proposal was Jeff Teuton, chairman of Board 2-3.
“The rural recreation boards are scared to death of this,” Teuton told council members. “It’s a money grab by this group that came out of nowhere. I don’t agree with them.”
Less than a year ago, Teuton reminded council members, they, themselves, appointed a whole new board for District 2-3.
“I think it’s too early,” Teuton said. “There is nobody who has ever sat down with us as a board to talk about what we might do. Somebody might have some good ideas that are not from North Terrebonne … I’d rather you take a vote and vote it down and take a year or two to fix the damn thing. Let’s put this to bed for a while.”
Councilman John Navy expressed a desire for time to pass before dismantling a major part of the recreation system. His support for ordinance changes that placed recreation districts under parish government oversight – and the authoring of an early version – placed Navy under public fire, in particular from board of members of District 11, part of which is in his district.
“I’m concerned about children all over Terrebonne Parish as a whole,” Navy said. “I have no opposition to what you are trying to do. We created rec reform when I did oversight. Let that process take place and re-evaluate that after twelve months, the recreation districts, the council and the general public.”
Michael Bergeron, an a accountant who is a former District 2-3 chairman, spoke of that district’s inability to pay for the Bayou Country Sports Park with things as they are without a tax. That is one reason, he said, behind his support of seeing voters decide the North Terrebonne District question.
The discussion grew tense when Council Chairwoman Arlanda Williams said no vote would be taken on the measure, which was placed on the agenda by Councilman Darrin Guidry.
“It says presentation and possible action,” Williams said, referencing the agenda. “There will be no vote taken tonight. This would have to be in a resolution and a discussion.”
Williams directed her concerns specifically at Guidry.
“If you put it on here for trickery then you are out of order,” she said.
Parish Attorney Julius Hebert said that for any vote to be taken there would have to be a proposed ordinance properly referenced as an agenda item, “so that the general public could have come out here. If the (purpose) is to bring this to a vote of the people that should be properly noticed.”
“Something this big needs to be appropriately noticed on the agenda,” Julius Hebert said. “In accordance with the public meetings laws.”
The parish council, Guidry countered, can make a motion to direct various things. In this case a motion for study or for the parish attorney to look into the legal issues surrounding the matter, Guidry contended, would not be out of order.
“I can make a motion to ask you to come up with how this can work,” Guidry said.
“Make your motion,” Julius Hebert said. “And I tell you if you are right or wrong.”
No motion was made at the meeting. But Guidry did share from the dais the route he has traveled – from first being elected to the Parish Council – to explore change in how recreation is handled. This, he said was done because constituents told him they had concerns. His work, he said, continued straight through his shepherding last year of recreation board oversight, and a key role played in council replacement of the Rec District 2-3 board.
“The specific reason was to prevent rec districts from doing backroom deals,” Guidry said of reforms done over the past year. “If you are worried about any of the existing rec districts that we have doing backroom deals that is not going on, at least in recreation it is not. It might go on in this parish council but it doesn’t go on in recreation.”
The last remark drew a gasp and some nervous laughter on the dais.
“I didn’t mean that the way it came out,” Guidry said.
Remaining discussions – with a heavy contribution from Williams – indicated that there is not outright opposition on the council to the idea of recreation reform. There were acknowledgments, however, that wider input is required, and then only after the changes put in place already have time to germinate.
“We need to look at every avenue,” Williams said. “Look at all the buckets that we can put together. We know there needs to be an overhaul.”
Rec reform, some council members indicated, will need to be shaped once that task is begun by many more hands, diverse in geography and other factors.
Supporters of placing an item on the ballot have stated repeatedly that full consolidation is not what they seek, noting that the parish’s bayou communities have had great success with the work of their boards.
One council member, however, appeared particularly suspicious of the Rec Reform group’s position, raising the consolidation potential during his remarks.
“They consolidated in Lafourche and now they are crying because there are parts of the parish that are not getting the funds,” Councilman Dirk Guidry said, stating his belief that the Bayou Country Sports Park completion is the engine driving the reform train, addressing a comment to the Rec Reform supporters. “You guys, that’s what you are all about. We are about recreation.” •
