By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

CONVENT – In a special meeting Monday morning, the St. James Parish Council voted to override Parish President Dale Hymel’s veto of an ordinance to adopt new council district lines following the 2010 U.S. Census.

The council voted 6-1 to override Hymel’s veto, with Councilman Kendrick Brass casting the lone dissenting vote. Brass, along with Ralph Patin Jr. and Charles Ketchens, had voted against the original plan at a council meeting last week. The three men are the only black members of the council.

According to parish spokesperson Melissa Wilkins, following the veto vote, the council voted to amend the agenda of the special meeting to rescind the vote on the ordinance from last week’s regular council meeting. The council then voted 6-1 to approve the reapportionment plan, with Brass again casting the only opposing vote. Patin, Ketchens, Elwyn Bocz, Jason Amato, Wilson Malbrough, and James Brazan voted in favor of the override and the new plan.

Brass said he was disappointed by the override but said there are plans already in the works to challenge the council’s reapportionment including a federal lawsuit. He said the new plan does not do the parish justice as far as representation of population.

Hymel had vetoed the original ordinance because he believed the plan would not get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice because all three black council members voted against it. He said the parish had prepared an alternative plan he hoped would gain council approval.

The council called the 7:30 a.m. meeting Monday to discuss a possible override of Hymel’s veto or consider an alternate plan to re-divide the parish’s council districts. The parish, like all parishes in the state, is mandated to reapportion every 10 years based on census numbers.

The recent census figures show the parish’s population has grown to 22,102, a 4.2 percent increase from 2000. The minority population has also grown to 52 percent, but the council’s redistricting plan only creates two majority black districts and a third that is close to half and half.

Brass said last week he believes the plan would only “guarantee” two black council members, thus diluting the African-American vote in the parish. The current council includes three black members.

“This plan does not maintain what we have now,” Brass said. “It doesn’t allow for fair representation of the population of St. James Parish.”

Hymel vetoed the original plan, in part, because he wanted to keep from delaying the October general election.

He said that he had asked for a re-vote on the ordinance at the special meeting because Patin and Ketchens supported the override.

He said the Justice Department might be more likely to approve the plan with support from the black representation.

After the meeting, Amato, who represents Gramercy on the council, defended the actions of the council. 

“If you look at the officials on the parish council, school board, towns of Lutcher and Gramercy, you will see a diverse group of elected officials,” Amato said. “The quality of the individual running for office in St. James Parish far exceeds any perceived barriers to getting elected.”