St. Landry Library Plan Again Tabled by council

St. Landry Parish Council members aimed to vote last week on an ordinance establishing “The East St. Landry Parish Library District.” However, the champion of the initial ordinance – which originally called for a “St. Landry Parish Library District”– urged the council to table the vote on the proposed, amended ordinance, which it did.
Bruce Gaudin appeared before the council for the third time in recent months, this time to delay a vote on a proposed library district for St. Landry Parish. Gaudin spearheaded the Library Coalition to push for a St. Landry Parish library district in an effort to be uniform with every parish in the state.
“We came to you a month ago and we had a proposed ordinance,” said Gaudin at Wednesday night’s council meeting. “There were changes that you folks decided that needed to be made to the ordinance. And so we are working on that. Some of the council members decided that they wanted to opt out. Since then, some of them have indicated that they wanted to opt back in. Also we have talked to some of the mayors and town councils and what we need to do, what we are asking you to do, is table the ordinance so that we can do some more homework.”
Gaudin said that the ordinance will be redrafted before the Nov. 4 primary in an effort to get it on that ballot. He said that the re-introduction of a new proposed ordinance will be subject to more public comment. If the ordinance passes, the council will then establish an official parish library board and appoint members.
In the meantime, Gaudin said that the hard sell of the parish library district would continue as the Library Coalition seeks to visit with more town councils and mayors. Library supporters indicated that there are questions and objections about a proposed parish library system, according to Gaudin. He said that towns that have a “city library” and thus a library board will be among the Library Coalition’s push for future meetings and discussions.
District 1 Councilman Jerry Red did not hide his or his constituents’ feelings on the matter of the proposed property tax which would be used to fund the proposed parish libraries. Red said that he had a petition with more than 200 signatures of people within his district who did not support the library system for St. Landry Parish.
“They’re in favor of the library,” said Red to Gaudin during the meeting. “But in finding another method to fund a library, they would support it. But not with a property tax. As far as my constituents in District 1, we continue to back out of it and I’m not changing my mind.”
Gaudin that reminded Red that the Opelousas city library is located in his district.
“If District 1 doesn’t want to come in, that’s going to be a big problem,” said Gaudin. “This is going to be a problem that is going to affect other people in St. Landry Parish for the next 40 or 50 years. I want your people in your district to understand what’s happening here. They won’t even get to vote.”
“The people do not want a property tax,” replied Red. “We just asked the people to support a two-cent sales tax. And also, the word from the streets right now is that if the school board continues to support the library tax, the people will vote against the school board tax.”
Homestead exemption would apply on any such tax, meaning homeowners in Red’s district and the other 12 parish election districts, would pay almost nothing on an annual basis.
District 2 Councilman Leon Robinson said that his district “was behind” the library tax. Robinson pledged to work with Gaudin and library supporters in getting the tax passed.
District 9 Councilman Wayne Ardoin questioned the establishment of a library district for only half of the parish.
“Is it constitutional for a district to opt out?” asked Ardoin. “Mr.(Councilman) Timmy LeJeune he was the first to say that District 11 was going to opt out. The city of Opelousas chose to have a municipal library system and they funded all through these years, just like Krotz Springs is doing right now and Port Barre and Eunice. But they have found the right funding. They have funded it all through these years. But I don’t understand, if you’re going to bring something to the people, then you just going to have half of the parish that’s going to be involved in the library system and the other half is not going to be. But then that other half can walk in that library and use the same library that has a tax. Are you going to keep people from Krotz Springs coming to Opelousas?”
Gaudin said that Ardoin’s concerns were part of an “issue that needs to be addressed.” He said that Ardoin’s concern would be a matter for the council-appointed board to determine. He said that the matter was not unconstitutional and that the proposed “East St. Landry Library District” will have half of the parish while Sunset could claim a third of the parish.
Noted speakers also appeared before the council on Wednesday to speak against the formation of a parish library system, mainly Carroll Snyder, the mayor of Krotz Springs, and Juanita Reed, a Krotz Springs library board member.
Mayor Snyder said that Krotz Springs has a population 1,149 people and that over 1,000 are patrons of the city’s library that has been in place for six years.
“We choose to opt out,”said Mayor Snyder. “I’m not speaking on behalf of the district but as a town, we have our own library. We have over a 1,000 customers that come into the library regularly. We serve people from Melville and Port Barre. But Port Barre now has their own library, so we may not be seeing as much of them people. But we have people from Three-Mile Lake, people from south of town and anyone who is invited. We have over 6,000 books on-hand and a well-qualified librarian. We’ve received grant money, but other than that, our library is funded through the town.”
Juanita Reed said that she was in favor of a library, but was against a St. Landry Parish Library District.
“We worked hard in Krotz Springs for our library...we have worked long and hard,” said Reed. “But I know how ‘ buddy systems’ work. I know how politics work. And all of you know how it works. I don’t like a buddy system that’s going to come in and say, ‘we have control and we can take this because we have a board’. Let me tell you that doesn’t work for me. I’ve worked hard. Our town has worked hard. And I know how politics works. So if any of you think that we in Krotz Springs think that you would be fair to us, nobody’s been fair to us. But we don’t want a buddy-buddy system where the parish is going to vote a tax and they’re going to come in later and say, this belongs to the parish and we’re going to take it’, that’s why we’re against it.”