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January 17, 2019
The Lafourche Parish Council feted its outgoing chairwoman with a golden gavel, and then elected a new chairman to preside over what is the first term inaugural year for six of its nine members.
But before so, outgoing Council Chairwoman Luci Sposito lauded her colleagues for their work, amidst what she called “indescribable challenges” that she never expected.
“What helped was the fact that this council has always worked well together. We, or the majority of the council, did the right thing, even when we knew newspaper headlines could make us look bad. Frankly, there is not enough ink in the world to print the back-story that we’re all dealing with, and the data that supports my assertion of cooperation,” she said.
Sposito also delivered a progress report of the council’s past three years, information she received from Council Clerk Carleen Babin.
She said that of the 1,249 resolutions that came before them, 1,207 passed and only 42 failed – a 97 percent pass rate; also, out of the 438 ordinances that came before the council, 412 were enacted and only 26 were not – creating a 94 percent average of enactment.
“If this isn’t proof of cooperation by this council, I don’t know what is. I am proud of what we’ve accomplished, the relationships we’ve developed, and I have faith that we will continue to support one another,” she said.
Looking to the remainder of their term, Sposito asked that whomever the chairman may be, to please continue to utilize the parish district attorney and assistant district attorney as team members, by asking for opinions when facing a questionable decision.
“I said it before and I’ll say it again, the district attorney is parish government’s only legal counsel. Personally, I’ll never support the appointment of or vote to elect anyone who does not plan to work with the district attorney,” Sposito said.
She continued, “I will never vote for any initiative that goes against the district attorney’s advice, and I will never trust anyone who tries to take the district attorney out of the parish government equation, because that, in my opinion, leaves the residents of Lafourche Parish in a vulnerable position.”
Sposito closed her remarks by calling on the next chairman to “take the hit if you have to”, but, “do the right thing,” even when it’s tough, even though you know, “someone will through it in your face later.”
“Err on the side of caution when it concerns our residents. You owe that to them,” she said. ”Finally, I want to thank my fellow council members for trusting me with this position, and I will and I hope that you will as well, pray for the 2019 chair and vice-chair, and as always, let’s continue to pray for our parish.”
The council, in an 8-1 vote, then elected Armand Noonie Autin as their Chairman for 2019, with Councilman Daniel Lorraine casting the only nay vote.
And in a unanimous vote, the council elected longtime Councilman Jerry Jones as their vice-chairman.
Jones and Lorraine are the two veteran members of the council. This is the conclusion of the first term of Councilmen Sposito, Perillioux, Gros, LaFont, Melvin, and Autin. Councilman Craig Jaccuzzo was appointed last year to fill the remaining term of Councilman James Bourgeois, and so he will not be able to campaign for the new council this fall, according to the parish charter.
Councilman Lorraine said he did not vote for Autin because when he was up for Chairman in 2016, Autin did not vote for him.
“If he didn’t think I was good enough to be chairman, why should I vote for him?” Lorraine said.
Councilman Jerry LaFont was this council’s first chairman in 2016, and Councilman Corey Perrilloux was the council’s second chairman in 2017.
