8,569 is the magic number

For today’s post, I’m going to give you a preview of tonight’s Finance & Executive and Capital Improvements committee meetings.

Ha, just kidding! As I briefly pointed out last time, the Metro Council decided to do away with its committee meetings for some reason. Proponents of eliminating the committee meetings argued that it would streamline government, opponents said that it would further cut the public out from Council deliberations. From my personal observation, while I do think committee meetings can be the ultimate in drudgery, it doesn’t mean they aren’t necessary. The work involved in conducting a decennial census is probably boring and repetitive as all get out, but it’s an important function of government. Considering how little information the Council provides to the citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish concerning items on the agenda (something I’ve complained about previously), I found the committee meetings to be a good place for the average citizen to get an idea about what exactly was being considered (either directly or through media reporting). As it stands now, most people aren’t going to have a good idea about what impact an item is going to have until after the public hearing is closed and Metro Council deliberations begin. If the Council does intend to maintain the elimination of committee meetings, I believe the Council should post PDFs of all proposal-related documentation to go along with the Agenda that is posted on the City Parish website. Seriously, don’t make this harder on people than it has to be.

So without committee meetings, what should I cover? How about ways the citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish can circumvent the Metro Council to enact changes in the Plan of Government?

Imagine my surprise when, while digging through the East Baton Rouge Parish Plan of Government, I discovered that there was something of a silver lining to low voter turnout. It seems the citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish can propose changes to the Plan of Government without going through the Metro Council. In order to do so, the proposed amendment must be signed by a number of qualified voters equal to 10% of the votes cast in the last Sheriff’s election. Based on Sid Gautreaux’s recent victory in 2011, the number of signatures required is 8,569 (or 8,570, the section is silent on rounding). That’s really not that many signatures. In fact, it’s the lowest number of signatures required since sometime before 1983 (which is as far back as the Secretary of State’s online election results goes). A citizen’s referendum to change the Plan of Government doesn’t happen often. The last (and only) time that I am aware of it happening was when a group of citizens calling themselves A6 successfully amended the Plan of Government to include term limits for the Metro Council. With that said, the bar is considerably lower for the next two years than it ever has been in recent memory… if anyone wants to give it a shot.