The Lafayette City and Parish Councils will meet for the first time Tuesday night since the shooting death of Trayford Pellerin by Lafayette Police.
Since then, there has been unrest in the city and protesting is expected to continue tonight at City Hall.
A small but growing group of protesters is gathering at the corner of University and West St. Landry Streets barbecuing ahead of tonight's meetings. They say this comes after Saturday morning, when Tara Laxey, an activist for the Northside, was arrested after hosting a cookout in front of Mayor-President Josh Guillory's home. Laxey was booked and charged with disturbing the peace and obstruction of public passages.
Laxey told KATC over the weekend that she wanted to start a conversation with Guillory about the controversial issues in the community, including the shooting death of Pellerin.
Laxey and others say Guillory has been reluctant to come "talk on their turf" about the ongoing issues, so they brought the conversation to his neighborhood. Guillory later said that the protest crossed a line and called it public intimidation.
Lafayette Police are on standby at tonight's meeting. On the agenda is an introductory ordinance to consider hiring an attorney to help resolve the current dispute with the administration over their ability to control city tax dollars. Board members will also be discussing next fiscal year's budget.
The Parish council meeting started at 5:00. The joint meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30, with the city council following.
You can watch tonight's meetings here.
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