Parish Council chair chastises fellow council members over library board delay

Parish Council Chair A.B. Rubin opened this week’s meeting with a condemnation of the Lafayette Library Board of Control. 

He singled out what he called religious influence over the board and the council’s appointments to it, saying it is hurting the library’s ability to offer the best services. 

“I can pray with the best. I can quote the Bible with some of the best. But is that proper?” he asked the room. “Imagine if we had all Muslims up here, all Malcolm Xs up here, all David Dukes up here. Would that represent our community? No, it wouldn’t.” 

His remarks follow the council’s Oct. 7 decision to delay appointing a new member to the library board, instead of choosing one of the two applicants who met the deadline. Rubin called the applicants “very qualified,” but council members John Guilbeau, Bryan Tabor and Ken Stansbury moved to repost the position, with the appointment for the seat currently held by board member Erasto Padron Jr. now set for November.

After years of planning and political gridlock, the Lafayette Parish Council approved entering into a lease agreement to build the library.

Rubin doubled down at this week’s meeting, blaming conservative activist Michael Lunsford for the delay. Lunsford’s organization, Citizens for a New Louisiana, has stirred activism in library controversies across the state. Parish Council members have consulted with Lunsford on board appointments in the past.

“I think [Lunsford] was the one who was behind the want to delay it as well,” Rubin said to open the meeting. 

Reached for comment, Lunsford did not answer whether he had direct conversations with council members about the delay, nonetheless saying he supported it and has encouraged others to apply for the open seat. 

“We don’t make any selections…the parish council does their own research,” says Lunsford. “If AB Rubin doesn’t like who gets appointed, he is in the minority party.” 

The board has clashed with the library advocates and Rubin, most recently over the new Northeast Regional Library, where board members spoke several times against putting the library on leased land at Holy Rosary.

Parish Council puts failed millages back on ballot

The Lafayette Parish Council voted unanimously to place two property tax renewals that failed in March back on the ballot in an election set for Nov. 15, 2025. 

The millages combined collect $24 million, primarily funding road maintenance and public health, along with a smaller portion funding drainage.

The first millage, Roads and Bridges, collects roughly $13 million, used for maintaining parish roadways. The second, Public Health, is projected to collect roughly $11 million and covers a grab bag of public health services, including mosquito abatement and fire protection. The allocation to drainage out of that fund is being increased with the renewal.

Voters say they were uncertain of the purpose of local millages renewals. A “Vote No” campaign on four state amendments at the top of the ballot didn’t help.

The renewals narrowly failed the first time they were placed on the ballot alongside four state amendments, as voters across Lafayette turned out to vote no on the state amendments. Many voters at the time expressed their confusion after seeing the millages on the ballot, unsure what they were for and which way to vote on them.

Mayor-President Monique Boulet’s administration is committed to a more active education campaign about the financial benefits of the millages this time around. 

“I think we just need to make sure that we have very clear, concise education materials out there about what services are being provided with the millages,” Boulet said after the millages failed in the spring. 

If they fail to pass again, the road maintenance millage would expire in 2027, and the public health millage would expire in 2026.

This is a local #library. It looks like a former #church, now deconsecrated, and houses a perfectly pleasant library and a #parishCouncil.

Update: It wasn't a church. It was a #school dating from 1850. I would have thought it a church with another hundred years on it.

Move over #Handforth, there's a new #ParishCouncil drama in the making. #democracy #localpolitics #jackieWeaver

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/22/locals-newbies-yorkshire-village-feud-thornton-le-dale-council?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other