Additional information was requested by two unnamed Lafayette City-Parish Council members, postponing the reintroduction of an ordinance to reconvene the charter commission. That same charter commission ordinance was struck down two weeks ago by a 5-4 vote, leading Lafayette City-Parish President Joey Durel to question the patriotism of some of the council members.

City-Parish President Joey Durel joined “Mornings with Ken and Bernie” for his weekly “Lafayette Live” segment to discuss the charter commission ordinance.

Two weeks ago in the wake of the council's original decision to strike down the charter commission, a stunned Joey Durel was quite candid with his thoughts on the vote.

How do you pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and not support what it stands for? I don’t understand how you can possibly deny the people the right to have a discussion. – Joey Durel (8/8/2013)

Since then, a reintroduction of the charter commission ordinance was postponed when two still unnamed council members requested additional information.

Durel has not wavered in his support for the ordinance that would tweak the way consolidated government is structured in Lafayette. Durel feels that consolidation, as it's currently structured, goes against the taxation with representation model on which American government is based.

We have an amazingly un-American form of government and I am stunned that ultra-conservative groups have not pounded the podium demanding some corrections. - Joey Durel

Though City-Parish President Durel remains a critic of Lafayette's current consolidation model, he admits that his main source of frustration was that by striking down the charter commission ordinance, the council did not give the people the opportunity to vote on how they'd like to be governed.

This is one of those things where I don't think the politicians who get paid to do what we do should determine how the people are governed, that's something the people should decide.

 

The frustration I had with the vote a few weeks ago was that it wasn't a vote to reconvene the charter commission, it was a vote to allow the ordinance to be introduced, so there would be two weeks of discussion, during which any councilman could have voted no. I think that two week period would have spurred some intense discussion.

The fact that councilmen wouldn't allow a discussion, at that time, I was a little frustrated. We weren't asking them to vote for the ordinance, we were asking them to respect the process. But I'm in a different place mentally right now about that, I'm glad to see the process ongoing. - Joey Durel

The charter commission ordinance is expected to be reintroduced in September. Durel remains optimistic.

I think ultimately you're going to see the right thing happen. - Joey Durel

 

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