After several weeks of quiet, Bernhard Capital Partners appears ready to make its pitch to the Lafayette Public Utilities Authority at a special meeting tentatively set for next month, The Current reports.
That presentation—in which the company’s subsidiary, NextGen, is expected to formally discuss its plan to take over management of Lafayette Utilities System—will come roughly a month after the company conducted what The Current describes as a push poll on Lafayette voters.
The special meeting was initially set for Oct. 9, but LPUA Chairwoman Liz Hebert said Wednesday afternoon she wants to reschedule it after learning of a work conflict last night.
“A proposal this big needs to be heard by all LPUA members, so they can ask questions. Everyone needs to be there,” Hebert says. We’ll update this story as soon as the meeting is reset.
Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux says he requested the Oct. 9 special meeting of the LPUA because the two bodies that will ultimately decide whether BCP’s proposal moves forward remain in the dark.
Both Mayor-President Joel Robideaux and BCP representatives insist the proposed privatization deal will go to a public vote if LPUA—LUS’s governing authority made up of the five council members with a majority of city residents in their districts—and the city-parish council decide to put it on a ballot.
