Tonight on 3rd Floor Theatre (The Brian Mayers Honorary Edition)

First things first, thanks to everyone who bothered to vote last weekend… which was apparently not a lot of you. 6.5% turnout? Come on Baton Rouge, we can do better than that, right? We’re not really a bunch of lemmings who only get engaged when people in power tell us to be, are we? Prove me wrong. I was relieved the tax renewal passed as I believe in our public school system and its ability to improve, but I think having less than 10% of the eligible voters show up at the polls to weigh in on an issue is really, really terrible. But enough of that…

So what’s happening today at the Metro Council meeting? Here’s a copy of the main agenda. Honestly, it’s a bit ho-hum. Lots of airports stuff, lots of Ryan White HIV/AIDS grant stuff, but there are a few interesting items.

Local 21IA Service Employees International Union Contract: Probably not a major issue, I would imagine this thing has been hammered out and negotiated to the point that it will pass Council muster. If not, it would be a potentially big deal as this covers a lot of employees of the Department of Public Works, Animal Control, Mosquito & Rodent Control, and the Airport (and is back-dated to January 1, 2013). Interestingly, it has also been expanded to include employees of the City Constable’s office, which may or may not have some ramifications on the law enforcement consolidation discussion and who is responsible for doing what. Time will tell.

Parish Auto Usage Policy: Councilwoman Denise Marcelle wants to restrict the ability of Parish employees to take vehicles home if it involves taking the vehicle out of the Parish. Expect push back from the Baton Rouge Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office. From my perspective, the current 24-mile radius rule seems reasonable, although a proper accounting of fuel costs might be in order. The Parish shouldn’t be paying for employee’s to-and-from work fuel costs.

Parish Transportation Fund Certification: Really just a bit of required procedure, I would think this has the potential to bring up some CATS related questions.

Gas Utility District Commissioner Removal: Trae Welch isn’t messing around. After an auditor’s report that the Gas Utility District No. 1 Board of Commissioners had violated a host of rules/laws, Councilman Welch asked for commissioners who were involved in those decisions to step down. They didn’t and now he and Scott Wilson are head hunting. Good luck, gentlemen!

Brian Mayers Is Leaving: The last item on the agenda is an advance appointment of Casey Cashio as the Council Administrator/Treasurer effective in July. Considering that position is currently held by long-time Council Administrator/Treasurer/Parliamentarian/Living Legend Brian Mayers, it’s safe to say that he is retiring. Baton Rouge owes a debt of honor to Mr. Mayers for his oversight of the Council through the last few decades. It’s a pretty thankless job, but he has managed to keep the Council on track (most of the time). Thanks for your service, Mr. Mayers and good luck to Mr. Cashio!

I’ve heard that the Council is also going to be discussing something related to CATS under the Council Administrative Matters Agenda, but none of us would know anything about it seeing as the version of that particular agenda currently posted on the website (as of 10:15AM, Wednesday) is from the last meeting. Is it too much to ask for this stuff to be updated in a timely manner? (Honestly, that’s not a rhetorical question, I just don’t know). In doing some research, I noticed that the Planning Commission is able to post all of their documentation in PDF format well in advance of their meetings. Agendas are nice, but too many things can be glossed over in an agenda item description.

The Council Meeting starts at 4PM today. You can catch it live on the 3rd Floor of City Hall in downtown Baton Rouge (the ominous structure that wouldn’t be out of place on the Maginot Line), you can watch it from the comfort of your own home on Metro 21 through Cox Communication, or you might be able to catch it streaming here, although I have had a lot of reports that the streaming feed has been garbage lately.