Steve Bandy Rayne Acadian-Tribune
Ever since he took office, District Attorney Keith Stutes has maintained that among the duties of his office is to provide free legal counsel for government entities within the parish, including the police jury.
It appeared the jury was poised to take advantage of that service when its Legislative Committee met Tuesday night to consider the possibility of dropping its long-time attorney, Brad Andrus.
“With the budget cuts we’ve had, it was brought to this committee that we should go with the district attorney to provide counsel for the jury,” Kerry Kilgore, chairman of the three-member committee, said.
For the fiscal year beginning Jan. 1, pay for employees paid out of the parish General Fund was cut 10 percent. One employee in the parish Registrar of Voters’ office was terminated.
Ronnie Fabacher made the motion to recommend to the full jury that the district attorney assume the legal counsel duties. But his motion was not seconded.
“Can the chairman second a motion,” Kilgore asked when Robert Guidry failed to second it.
Andrus said he would not answer that question as it constituted a conflict of interest. Stutes said the chairman could not second the motion. Therefore, it died for lack of second and will not be presented to the jury for consideration on Feb. 14 .
However, since the measure was not defeated by a vote, any member of the police jury can ask that it again be considered in committee.
Laura Faul, secretary-treasurer, said the jury had budgeted $50,000 for legal counsel last year. That figure was lowered to about $30,000 with this year’s budget cuts.
Most of the attorney fees, she added, are paid out of the parish’s General Fund.
In other business Tuesday night, the Solid Waste Committee introduced a resolution setting in motion the procedures to be followed if the police jury decides to advertise for bids for solid waste collection.
The current contract with Progressive Waste expires on March 1, 2018.
“This allows Mader Engineering to put everything together in the event we want to advertise for bids,” explained President David Savoy. “We don’t have to advertise for bids, but if we decide to do so, we’ll be ready.”''