Smooth Ride Home governing panel decides it doesn’t need to know its authority

St. Landry Parish Road District 1 commissioners met for a rare meeting and on an 8-4 vote decided they do not need to know the extent of their authority.
The vote left Harold Taylor, chairman, in a dither.
“I can’t believe this,” he said after gaveling the meeting to a close.
“This is a clown show,” he said before leaving the Old City Market meeting room.
The commission, which includes St. Landry Parish Council members, had met to discuss the Smooth Ride Home Program.
Bill Fontenot, parish president, had handed out a list of a roads that will be paved in the third phase of the program.
About 280 miles of road will have been paved after the third phase is completed in about nine months, at a cost of about $62 million he said. Additional work will be done when sales tax revenue exceeds the bond payment, which is about $476 a month, he said.
Fontenot said about 300 miles in total will be paved in the 15-year Smooth Ride Home Program.
The road-paving program is funded by a 2-cent sales tax in rural St. Landry Parish approved by voters. Work is funded by a $65 million bond issue.
The program also created Road District 1 and the commission.
The discussion Wednesday moved from roads to the commission itself.
Taylor said, “One more question. Not being real familiar when this commission was set up and drawing back from days ... in municipal government, the governing board actually accepted the bids and moved forward with bids. Is in that, the process?”
But the parish president said, “No sir. Under the Home Rule Charter we bid the project. Of course, you are invited to the process. Certainly I will let you know when ...”
Ken Marks, a Port Barre member, asked what the commission’s function is and how they are involved.
The commission was required by bond attorneys, Fontenot said.
“Would we have the same authority as other commissions and boards to be at least transparent with what’s going on?” Marks asked.
“We put this out all of the time,” Fontenot said referring to Facebook, the parish website and the news media.
The commission is “for show?” Marks replied.
Taylor asked that Chad Pitre, the council’s attorney, research the commission’s authority.
“... tell us what our damn function is. I don’t need to be here for an hour to talk about something you are going to do. If we have authority to make decisions ... I want to know about it because we have this mess in this parish with the finances now and I don’t want to go another day without someone having oversight on that. Am I clear about this?”
A motion by Wayne Ardoin, an Opelousas member, to ask the lawyer to research the commission’s authority was rejected.
“I think we need to have clarity on whether or not we are part of this commission or are we just window dressing,” Taylor said. “I don’t take window dressing very well. I’ve got other things I could do like go fishing. So, I don’t need to be wasting my damn time up here.”
Taylor added, “I’m ready to go home and he (the parish president) can run the show .. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that the bonding attorneys put this together and made it window dressing. I’ve been in government way too long Mr. Fontenot and that ain’t the way it works.”
Voting for the research were Ardoin, Marks, Nancy Carrier and Alton Stelly.
Voting against determining the commission’s authority were Dexter Brown, Vivian Olivier, Jerry Red Timmy Lejeune, Jimmy Edwards, Coby Clavier, Madeline Taylor and Mildred Thierry.