St. Tammany Picayune 11-13-2024

Committee maypush reducing Parish Council seats

BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer

St.Tammany Parish government has launchedacommittee to modernize itself, and one of its focus areascould be the size of the 14-person Parish Council. The Home Rule Charter Review Committee, which gotits first officialappointees at the Parish Council meeting on Nov 7, will meet twice per month starting in January with abroad mandate to review the parish’s charter and suggest improvements. Reducing the size of the council is likely to be among the 11-member committee’sconsiderations, which would bring St. Tammany more in line withother parishes in the New Orleans metro area.

Among themembers appointed Thursday were former St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis; Retired Army Gen. Carl Ernst, one of the core members of community watchdog group Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany Parish; Jeffrey Schoen, an attorney who often appears before thecouncil; and Arlana LeBlanc, aformer schoolteacher from the Slidell area.

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St.Tammany schoolsunveil

$325 million improvements plan

School Boardplans to seek renewal of property tax

BY BOBWARREN Staff writer

St.TammanyParishschool leaders will soon embark on a campaign to pitch the parish’s often-reluctant voters on an ambitious five-year,$325 million school improvements plan the public school district’slargest ever Based on early comments from schools Superintendent Frank Jabbia and some School Board members, the pitch will emphasize the scope of the work —including improvementsto23 schools across the parishand a newhealthcare/STEM campus near the technical collegeinLacombe —and the factthat the district isn’taskingtoincrease taxes. ASt. Tammany School Board committee voted on Nov.7to recommend the board accept the plan and call aMay 3,2025, electiontorenew an expiring

ä See SCHOOLS, page 2A

Veterans fetedinstyle on Mandeville lakefront

The Old Mandeville Restaurant& Bar Association, which formed earlier this year,presented aVeterans Day celebration on theMandeville lakefrontonNov

9.The day began withaparadeofvariousmotorized and walking units at 11 a.m. Participants andthe

Children’s

appreciative crowdthen gathered outside Pat’sRest Awhile and elsewhere along the lakefront to enjoy live music, food and drink, not to mention camaraderieand pleasant November weather that greetedthe inaugural event.

Museum of St.Tammany hasbiggerhome

BY JESSICA SAGGIO

Contributing writer

There’snoplacelikehome

andfor the Children’sMuseumof St.Tammany,having anew home is finally areality After monthsofmoving, redesigns, setbacks and workarounds, themuseum that was once astaple on Koop Drive has reopened in Pelican Plaza in Mandeville.

On Nov.5,the museum officially opened its new doors to acrowd of 229 patrons throughout the day, giving them the first glimpse of the new facility. Greeted with an open-concept space very different from itsprevious building, guests got to explore adventures both new and familiar.The museum relocated all of itsprevious exhibits and play areas, and thanks to extra square-footage, was abletoadd new features. Notably,thosenew

“When we found this location in Mandeville,close to Pelican Park, and alargerfootprint than the former museum, it really checked mostofthe boxes.”

CHRISTY MYERS, Children’sMuseum of St.Tammany executivedirector

additions include aparty room for group events, aSTEM-focused lights and shadows exhibit, agiant “Lite Zilla” Light Bright wall and more soft play and literacy areas. Themuseumalsohas allthe old favorites as well, such as the play restaurant and store, theclimbing wall, art gallery,and Natural Wonders exploration area to learn about plants and animals, among other displays.

Christy Myers, executive director,said the museum gained about 1,000 square feet of space with themove, allowing for expansion —and alarger guest capacity.Exhibits from the old facility have been “reimagined” shesaid, and the open-concept design of the new space will allow children to explore more freely.The museum will now be able to host about 220 guests at once, compared to 160 at itspreviouslocation. Themuseum has atwo-year lease with property owner Joey Champagne, with an option to renew for athird. Myers said Nov.5was a“great day,” and the museum is sending out surveys to get feedback about its new design. But the move did not come without its challenges.

The museum was first ousted from its previous residence after parish officials did not renew the museum’sleasedue to “unpaid rent from 2022-2024.” The Parish announced the decision on Facebook in March, whilealsosoliciting anew “children-focused” organization to operate the space overseen by the Tammany Trace Foundation. It also noted it had suspended the organization’s rent during thepandemic. Museum officials responded to the post, citing costs the museum was covering.

“Wehave experienced near-constant situations in which we,asthe tenant, paid for repairs that were the responsibility of the property owner,” the museum’sFacebook responded on the post. “In November 2022, on advice of counsel, we suspended rent payments while negotiating the renewal so thatthe new terms could addressthe museum’spast expenses and service disruptions.”

Unable to reach an agreement, themuseum stayed open through the end of May and hostedits summer camps at Marigny Elementary Parish officials have not revealed plans for the former museum space on Koop Drive.

“St. TammanyParishPublic Schools has been an amazing partner and collaborator.Wedidn’tmiss abeat,” said Myers,notingthe district’soffer to host the camps atthe Mandeville school. “Wesold out 99% of camp. It was successful.” However,when it came to finding a new facility,Myers said the museum wanted to stay in Mandeville duetoits cooperativeendeavor

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Northshore District Attorney

CollinSims and Parish President Mike Cooper said later in the week that they both intend to serve on the committee. Parish Council Chairman Arthur Laughlin saidhewill to sit on the committee, too, andwill tap Council members Cheryl Tanner,Joe Impastato, and LarryRolling to serve alongside him Cooper stressed that he supports the effort to “review the charter to ensure that it is appropriately serving the citizens of St. Tammany.” Theparishpresident gets one more appointee, who willbe announced nextweek, Cooper said. To shrink or nottoshrink

The idea for the committee came from areport published last year by theNorthshoreBusinessCouncil, which recommendedthat the par-

SCHOOLS

Continued from page1A

13.80-millproperty tax that would back the bonds needed to fuel the work.

Theitem will be on theSchool Board’sNov.14agenda.

‘Biggest we’veeverdone’

“It’sthe biggest we’veever done,” Jabbia saidinaninterview last week.“Butitreallyjustgoes backtothe amountofworkthat needs to be done.” Nonetheless, Jabbia knows that the schooldistrictwill have to present voters with asensible and comprehensive plan to get their backing.Hesaid he and other school leaders understand the millions of dollars the work will

agreement with the city and its relationship with Pelican Park for large outdoorevents.

“When we found this location in Mandeville, close to Pelican Park, and alarger footprint than the former museum,itreally checked most of the boxes,” she said.

The museum worked throughout the summer to get everything movedand initially had plans to reopen by mid-August. However, anumberofsetbacks, including a handful of adjustments required by the fire marshal, delayed the opening. Myers said the museum was able to make all of those accommodations, and the November opening

date was set As for the community, many parents are excited to see themuseum reopen, while some have concerns over the new location, noting that parking could be tough.

“Parking is going to be horrible. It is already bad on Saturdays,” said Alison Carlin.

Myers said there should be adequateparking down theside of the building, but it will take some extra effort to get the word out about that.

“Havingtowalkisn’t anyfarther thanwalking from the government lot around through the playground at theold place,” said

mom Emily Naccari, noting she has really missed being able to take her son to the museum. As for others, theyare excited about the reopening, but will miss the convenience of its last location next to the Kids Konnection playground.

“I am so glad that they are openingbackupand will have abigger footprint and indoor restrooms, but Iwill miss the ability to jump over to the park afterwards,” said Heather Mathison.

The museum chargesa $12entrance fee for anyone over 12 months old, but is also part of the Museums for All program that al-

lows those who present an EBT card areduced admission cost of $3. Themuseumwill also host eight free admission days before the end of theyear.Those dateswillbeannounced online. Myers said the museum is geared toward children

AbitaSprings Councilseatheadedtorunoff vote

BY BOBWARREN Staff writer

Regan Contois and Claire Carley Guidry finished one-twoon Election Day to move into aDecember runoff for an open seat on the Abita Springs Town Council. Contois, who has been an interim council member,had 45% of thevote to Guidry’s44%. Candidate Stewart “Many Lightnings”

ish governmentconsider reducing the size of its council. That would bring the structure of the government more in line with the other New Orleans area parishes and similarly-sizedcounties across the U.S, according to the report. Both Jefferson and Orleans Parisheshave seven-person councils, with five district members and two at-large members.

St. Tammany’s14council members serve on apart-time basis, have no assignedstaff andare paid $30,000 per year.InOrleans and Jefferson parishes, council members earn salariesbetween $80,000 and $120,000, according to the Northshore Business Council’sreport.

Impastato emphasizedthatwhile reducing the size of the council was something that the committee may look into, it is “not the priority” of the group.

Rather,the group’sgoal is “to make the parish government operate better,more efficiently —anything we can do to enable us to serve

cost could provide asticker-shock moment to some voters.

“They’re seeing their tax bills.

When we get that tax bill, when we get that insurance bill —it’sa tough pill to swallow,” he said.

While some taxing bodies have haddifficulty convincing theparish’svoters to dig into their pockets, the parish’spublic school district has generally enjoyed strong support at the polls.

“The price of doingbusiness is just extremely expensive,” Jabbia said. “But the community knows we’ve been good stewards” of their tax money

The plan puts the work in four general sections:

n $251 million for improvements to 23 of the district’s55 schools.

n $32millionfor technologyand security purchases and upgrades,

Eastman had 11% to miss the Dec. 7runoff. Thethreecandidates were competingtowin the seat that came open with the death of Lynne Congemi last January.The term expires in 2026. The Abita Town Council race was the lone local issue on St. Tammany’sNov.5ballot, which was headlined by the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former Presi-

our constituents better,” Impastato said.

Laughlin said that the committee might even recommend expanding the council.

“Wecould addtwo at-large positions,” he noted, stressing the charter review process is open-ended and the committee will consider any option that might improve the parish government.

“Nothing’soff the table,” Laughlin added. “But at the same time, nothing has been decided.”

The committee is also likely to consider whetherthe districtattorney’soffice should serve as the legal counsel for everybranch of the parish government, and will broadly examine the “separation of powers” in the parish government,Laughlin said.

Ultimately,the committeewill send its proposed charter amendmentstothe councilfor review From there, the council can either reject the amendments or put them on the ballot for voters to approve.

including $10.5 million to swap out old Chromebooks.

n $30 million for anew health care and STEM learning center

n $12 million fornew school buses.

Jabbia said the work at various school campuses, including building renovations and additions, will essentially rid the district of portableclassrooms, whichhas been agoal for years.

“There are numerous campuses thathavenot been addressed since the 1960s,” he said.

To help gain support from both School Board members and the community,the work is being spread across the district.

The bus purchases, meanwhile, continue the district’sefforts to operate its own fleet and move away from the long-time model it used where drivers owned their

dent Donald Trump. Complete butunofficialreturns in the Abita Springs race show: n Regan Contois, Independent, 706 votes, 45% n Claire Carley Guidry,Republican, 691 votes, 44% n Stewart “Many Lightnings” Eastman, other,170 votes, 11% Contois, aplanner and landscape architect who works in the St. Tammany Parish Planning Department, was appointed in

Decadesold

The St.Tammany Parishhome rule charter,which defines the structure of the local government, was adopted in 2000, when the parish’spopulation was about 192,000 people, according to U.S. Census figures. There arenow over 275,000residents in thefastgrowing parish, and some feel that the system of government needs a tune up to keep up with changes.

“It’sbeen 25 years since the charter’sbeen in place,” said Council memberJeff Corbin the day after the Nov.7meeting. “And it seems like now is agood time to go check on it.”

Before the charter,the parish operated on apolice jury system of government, in which there were 14 police jurors—who became council members under the charter —and there was no executive branch of government. The charter established the office of the parish president.

buses. Thecostofowningand maintaining school buses, Jabbia said, makes the owner-operated model not sustainable. Bus drivers loudly made that point several years ago as theypushed the School Board for more money to operate their busesorface more drivers leaving.

Nearly halfofthe required 400-bus fleet is now owned by the school district, Jabbia said.

Newschool

The new health care and STEM school, which will be built on land the school district owns near Northshore Technical Community College in Lacombe, is akey componentofthe improvement plan.

“That’sadream that will hopefully become areality,” Jabbia said, noting that the Health Care

January to fillCongemi’s post on an interim basis. She was elected to the council in 2018 but was not reelected in 2022. She said planning andzoningissues wereakey component of her campaign. Guidry,ateacher at Fontainebleau High School,has also served on the town’sPlanning and Zoning Commission. During the campaign, she spoke of the need to improve the town’sinfrastructure and boost its economy

Concerns aboutrepresentation

Some councilmembersargue that reducing the council’ssize could limit representation for nonWhite residentsofthe parish or those who live in rural areas.

“There’snoguarantee that there will be aminority district,” said Council member Jimmy Strickland, the only Black representative on the Parish Council. “We have it now,but there’snolaw to guarantee that we will have one in St. Tammany Parish.

“I wantthe parish to have diversity and be representativefor everyone,” he added.

Council member Cheryl Tanner who lives in Bush, emphasized that St.Tammany is “different from Jefferson and Orleans because we have alot of rural areas.

“I firmly believe that it will be hard to cut down the size of the council and maintain representation for therural areas of the parish,” she said.

and STEM Discovery Center would be for 11th and 12th graders who would benefit from the school district’spartnerships with area health care providers and companies such as Chevron.

“St. Tammany has become a mecca for health care,” Jabbia added.

School Board members briefly discussedthe plan in committee last week before voting to send it on to the full board.

Board member Roslyn Hanson agreed that the list was “hefty,” but she said the district doesn’t get any money from the state for capital improvements.

Andboard memberJames Braud saidthis plan follows decades of five-year buildingplans that have come before it.

“This is the way we fund facilities in our parish,” he said.