By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

GARYVILLE – A list of over 1,300 signatures was delivered to the St. John registrar of voters on Wednesday, all with the hope that the Town of Garyville will soon be incorporated into its own municipality.

Organizers Geri Baloney and Scott Himel delivered the petition with signatures, almost twice the number Registrar of Voters Betty Madere said were needed. The petition includes names from Garyville, Mt. Airy, Lions, Star Terrace and Dutch Bayou communities.

The effort to seek incorporation for Garyville gathered steam in recent months when two big industrial actions surrounding that region of St. John Parish went forward.

First was the start of a $3.3 billion expansion of Marathon Oil Refinery, to the eastern side of Garyville. Then a new tank farm to be built on the western side of Garyville and Mt. Airy was approved by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

In the midst of these developments, some Garyville residents who say they have long been unhappy with the respect given to that community, finally said they had enough of not having their voice heard.

“We know this has been tried before, or at least it has been discussed before,” Baloney, chairwoman of the Garyville Incorporation Committee said. “But an effort to have Garyville incorporated has never gone as far as we now have gone.

“I have said all along that we have several groups who have come together and we are now very organized,” she added. “I believe that finally, this will happen for Garyville.”

From here, Madere must certify the signatures, with the group needing a minimum of 656 to have the petition forwarded to Governor Bobby Jindal. At that stage, the governor again has to approve the signatures, and then will call a special election.

Only the citizens in those communities will vote on the proposal, and should it pass, Jindal will appoint a board of alderman, and a first time mayor to govern, until an election can be held within the year.

Baloney continues to say “the community response has been unbelieveable,” and said it has mostly been positive, although there have been plenty of questions.

“The biggest concern we have gotten has been from elderly people concerned about seeing increased taxes,” she said. “But we have made it clear to them that there is nothing to suggest taxes will go up. For that matter, there are a lot of exemptions for seniors 65 and up.”

The town will have the right to impose as much as a 7 mill tax on the community, although Baloney said it doesn’t have to be the entire 7 mills.

“The town would still have to decide that,” she said. “And we wouldn’t do anything without having the public weigh in on it.”

Baloney said that her group is now moving to the next phase of the process, and that is “our education campaign” when they plan to educate the neighbors about what the real impacts of incorporation will be.

“We anticipate there will be lots of misinformation out there about this, and we want to set the record straight,” she noted.

Parish President Bill Hubbard expressed a bit of concern several weeks ago when asked about the incorporation move, wondering why organizers hadn’t contacted him yet, since they obviously would need to work out how the parish services could still be utilized by Garyville. When questioned about it, Baloney said she would call Hubbard, but said this week she still has not done that.

“I actually wanted to wait until we had the signatures,” she said. “That way we have a little more to put on the table when we sit down together. I’ll probably call him very soon.”