Livingston Parish voters must resolve differences between the ward president’s office and council members

LIVINGSTON PARISH, La. (WAFB) – Livingston Parish President Randy Delatte and council members are at odds over the idea of the council hiring its own attorney. President Delatte says it’s not necessary and he’s concerned about the cost.

“I’ve never seen a council not have the legal advice they say they need, and it won’t cost you anything to get it, compared to getting it, which costs $250 an hour. It doesn’t make sense to me,” President Delatte said.

However, councilor Dean Coates sometimes says legal advice is not easy to get and they will pay for a lawyer using funds they already have.

“There were also some things that said that if we wanted to call them, we had to call them through the ward president’s office, or through our council secretaries, or the designated council representative, who I assume would be the chairman, so we were were definitely somewhat limited when we needed legal assistance,” Coates said.

Coates says the council believes it is a conflict of interest to have the same attorney in the ward president’s office.

“We need different branches of government because if we disagree, we have someone to help us through it. We both have sides, we’re not both working with the same lawyers working between them, trying to please two masters,” Coates added.

However, President Delatte says that if they are both working for the benefit of the people, there should be no conflict of interest.

“Conflict of interest means you are not pursuing the same goal, which is to protect the citizens of your ward, that’s what conflict means,” President Delatte added.

On December 7, the people must decide what will happen. A yes vote means the local government bylaws will change so the council can hire their own attorney, a no vote means they will continue to share an attorney with the parish administration. Other parishes in the area said they have one attorney in different branches, but others said they use separate attorneys and Livingston Parish residents decide which one is best for them.

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