Parish Council size needs to stay the same

Great decision.
That is our view of the St. Tammany Parish Home Rule Charter Commission (HRC) leaving behind the matter of reducing the size of the Parish Council.
The committee still has to support the expected motion from HRC Member Joe Impastato that was scheduled to come at the meeting this Thursday afternoon, but assuming they do, it would be a smart decision to make for several reasons.
Most importantly, as many people began to say months ago when the HRC was ready to start its work, any reduction in the current size of the 14-member council would mean constituents would have a councilman who is suddenly answering to more people. In some cases, it could have meant the current number of approximately 18,000 constituents for each councilman might go as high as double.
Even though there were some arguments that additional staff for the smaller number of councilman would still provide good representation and accessibility to public officials, it was hard for many people to believe that.
Also, even though Impastato said he had a model for an 11-member council that would have cost less than the current $1.7 million annual bill to run the council, that was also a questionable assumption from the outside looking in.
To most people, a smaller council would mean many more staff support members, and it seemed unlikely the total cost would go down.
Another reason stated for trying to move past the controversial issue of reducing the council is that, as several HRC members are now stating, there is a much more important issue that needs to be addressed.
The current parish charter setup for St. Tammany operations has an unbalanced amount of power in the hands of the parish president. Many council members have stated for years that they have little say-so over getting things done in a timely manner, and how money is spent. Where is the check and balance system?
Sure, the council has the final approval for the annual budget, but once that is rubber stamped, it is the parish president who directs all the departments to operate parish government. And judging by the fact the public turned thumbs down on Parish President Mike Cooper’s sales tax rededication proposal, many officials said it was a “lack in trust” for the administration that led to the defeat.
Something needs to change.
The HRC is now determined to address the overall form of government that directs St. Tammany, and that appears to be a very smart decision.
How great would that be to have two “great” decisions in a row, mainly led by Parish Council members?
Looks like a good first step to begin the challenging matter of getting the public to trust government in St. Tammany again.