ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / July 31, 1999

HAHNVILLE-Gov. Mike Foster took away the chances for St. Charles Parishto have a civic center last week when he vetoed $7 million earmarked for the project.

State Sen. Ron Landry and Rep. Joel Chaisson both crafted legislation forthe civic center.

“The parish was really looking forward to this,” said Landry. “The parishwas ready to go forward with it. Now we’ll have to try for it next year.”The civic center was going to be an economic boost for St. Charles Parish,he said. It would have been a multi-use facility for conventions,graduations and parish meetings. The area around the center would be usedas a fairgrounds and for much-needed parking.

Both Landry and Chaisson said the governor vetoed the money because the parish could not come up with the required matching funds. At first, thestate required only 10 percent in matching funds. Landry said that theparish had sold enough bonds for the needed 10 percent, but then the governor discovered the capital outlay fund was not as big as he had hoped, so the matching fund requirement went up to 50 percent.

Landry was not happy about this.

“The state was not playing on a level field,” he complained. “They keptchanging the rules. It just wasn’t fair.”Chaisson was more philosophical about it.

“Several other projects were vetoed because they couldn’t raise the required funds,” he explained. “We’ll just have to go back to the drawingboard next session and work it out.”Landry agreed.

“If I’m re-elected, I will introduce the legislation in the next session,” he said.

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