A parish president should have clear duties and meaningful checks

STAFF REPORT editor@fgazette.com

Part Two of Three

A president-council government would give Union Parish an opportunity to make responsibility for parish administration easier to identify. Its value would depend on the powers, limits, and reporting duties written into the charter.

Under the proposed approach, residents would elect a parish president parishwide. The president would administer parish departments and carry out the budget and ordinances adopted by the council. Council members would represent their districts, decide policy, approve spending, and examine the administration’s performance.

A charter could require a qualified administrator, selected through a public process and subject to appropriate council confirmation. The administrator’s duties and the president’s responsibility for that person’s performance should be explicit. President-council and council-manager government are different arrangements; Union Parish should choose its structure deliberately.