A joint resolution of the Lafayette City Council and the Lafayette Parish Council was released Thursday for the Lafayette City-Parish Council August 3 meeting that will direct the future of a Mayor-President style government.
The council's agenda will include the Final Report of the Protect the City committee, and immediately after, they will discuss Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government Charter Commission's new resolution on the existing Charter to include a more fluid business outlook of a possible deconsolidated future.
The resolution, which can be read in full below, comes after a January 2021 Lafayette City Council unanimous vote to favor a resolution that formed a "Protect the City" committee, proposed by Lafayette City Councilman Patrick Lewis.
The committee's six-month long purpose was to gather input from a diverse range of citizens and their outlook on the business practices of a consolidated government.
According to the new resolution, JR-023-2021 "is a joint initiative that will create a new purpose for the charter commission, as they will review, study, and propose revisions, amendments to and/or repeal the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government Home Rule Charter."
A key point of the resolution is whether the city and parish should be governed by separate charters and have their governmental functions deconsolidated.
Lewis said back in January, "When you go to the grocery store, or any store, you pay sales taxes, and those taxes should go to the City of Lafayette, nowhere else."
Lewis also proposed in January that the Protect the City committee would consider whether Lafayette should have its own mayor.
"All these five municipalities have their own mayor, and people in Lafayette cannot vote for their mayor," Lewis said at the time.
All seven members of the Protect the City committee have contributed to the Final Report; they are expected to present it August 3 during the Lafayette Parish Council Meeting, right before the new resolution.
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