A hearing will be held Friday on the St. Landry Parish Council’s petition seeking to keep Parish President Bill Fontenot from interfering with Community Action Agency affairs.

Judge Donald Hebert set the hearing on the council’s request for a temporary restraining order.

The council wants the court to bar Fontenot from interfering in any manner with the council’s decision to reinstate Donald Robinson, Sr. as CCA executive director and to order Fontenot to show cause as to what authority he claims to act on.

Fontenot put Robinson on paid leave following questions raised about some of the program administration and appointed an interim director.

The council and Fontenot have been in a tete-a-tete since January over the powers and authority of the parish president and those of the council.

Fontenot asserts the council is attempting to take from the president’s office authorities the council lost when it was converted by home rule charter eight years ago from an absolute authority police jury to a shared authority council..

The jury contends it retains all powers and authorities that are not expressly assigned to the parish president.

Among those, it asserts in its petition, are the authority to appoint the CAA director .

It claims irreparable harm is being done to the parish by Fontenot’s actions.

“The unnecessary and unwarranted struggle for power could appear to the St. Landry Parish citizens as an unbalanced and unstable governing entity,” the petition signed by Council President Wayne Ardong claims.