East Baton Rouge Parish could have at-large Metro Council members who represent the whole parish instead of districts, as well as a city manager.
The Plan of Government Amendment Committee is charged with reviewing and recommending changes to the city-parish plan of government, which hasn’t seen a major update since October 2007.
The committee has already approved proposals: One to change the term limit for mayor-president from three terms to two; the other to add two at-large members to the Metro Council to represent the parish as a whole.
But at this morning’s meeting, BRAC President and CEO Adam Knapp suggested the group consider the value of adding a city manager to city-parish staff. He also recommended the city manager, if created, would be appointed jointly by the mayor and Metro Council to avoid creating any friction between them.
Members of the committee will research the topic before coming forward with a concrete proposal on the topic, possibly at next month’s meeting.
The committee is also contemplating an update to its document retention policy for the Purchasing Department, specifically records relating to competitive bids—the only retention policy that falls under the city-parish’s Plan of Government.
The department is “drowning in paper,” says parish attorney Lea Anne Baston. Currently, a record of all bids must be kept by the department for six years.
“Public records requests are crippling us,” Baston says. “We now have a full department and that’s all they do. … If we could just put it on microfilm, there’d be no problem.”
The committee will confer with the director of finance at next month’s meeting before tackling a new policy.
Any proposed amendments must be approved by the Metro Council before being placed on an agenda for voter consideration. Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis, who created the committee, hopes the proposals can be taken up by the council by the end of the year so the measures could be placed on the March ballot.
