The Lafayette City and Parish councils meet in regular session on Tuesday, and among the topics set to be discussed are booze and ambulances.
Both councils will consider an ordinance that would set out the structure that allows companies to deliver alcohol in the city and parish. Also on the agenda is the exclusive contract for Acadian Ambulance to provide ambulance services in the city and parish.
On the City agenda are more appointments to the so-called "Save the City" committee, which will be examining the idea of further de-consolidation. Among the applicants for the committee are a variety of people, including government employees, several lawyers, real estate developers, non-profit employees, current/retired educators and activists. On the list are Mayor-President Josh Guillory's CFO, Lorrie Toups, and his chief of staff, Robert Benoit, who worked for parish government before consolidation and worked in the Walter Comeaux administration, which was the administration that implemented consolidation. To see the list and read their resumes, click here.
The alcohol delivery ordinance, which you can read here, allows employees or contractors of delivery companies with alcohol permits to deliver alcohol as long as they are 21 years old and have a bar card. Under the ordinance, only beer, wine and sparkling wine can be delivered, and it must be sealed in the manufacturer's container. Also, any alcohol delivery must contain food as well, under the terms of the ordinance.
The ambulance ordinance, which you can read here, gives Acadian exclusive rights to emergency and non-emergency ambulance services within the city and parish of Lafayette. It authorizes the mayor-president to sign a five-year contract with AASI. It sets out the requirements, including insurance and employee certifications, that the company must conform to. It also forbids the company from refusing to respond to a call because of a patient's inability to pay. It sets conditions for an annual audit to be reviewed by the ambulance control board, and sets response time requirements.
Those conditions require that Acadian's response time must be less than 8 minutes for 80 percent of its annual calls; 12 minutes for 70 percent of its calls; and 20 minutes for 95 percent of its calls in the parish.
The meetings start at 4:30 p.m. on February 23 at the Council Meeting room of city hall on University Avenue.
Because of COVID-19, there are different procedures for attending/accessing meetings and making comments:
ACCESSING COUNCIL MEETINGS & PUBLIC COMMENT PROCEDURES
Accessing Council Meetings:
• AOC2 Public Access Channel (Cox Channel 16 or LUS Fiber Channel 4)
• Online at the Lafayette Consolidated Government homepage at www.lafayettela.gov
• On the Ustream website at www.ustream.tv/channel/lafayette-consolidated-governmentcouncil-meeting
• In-person attendance allowed at 50% capacity of auditorium
• Masks must be worn to enter
Public Comment Procedures:
• If you DO NOT WISH TO SPEAK, but wish to state your support for or opposition to an item:
▪ Submit your comments via e-mail to DoNotSpeakCM@lafayettela.gov
▪ In your message, you must identify which Council meeting agenda you are calling about (City or Parish), then include the agenda item number, your name and your position (for or against)
▪ Emails must be received prior to 4:30pm the day of the meeting
▪ Citizens still have the option to reach out to their individual Council Member(s)
Please be advised that while social distancing and other requirements are in place, some matters have been suspended to focus on essential governmental business. While holding public meetings, safety guidelines will be implemented.
