Barring a departure from form, current Vice Chair Keith Patin is expected to ascend to the chairmanship; the council has traditionally elevated the vice chair to chairman.
The Lafayette City-Parish Council will elect a new chair and vice chair at its regular Tuesday meeting, replacing outgoing Chairman Jay Castille of District 2 and Vice Chairman Keith Patin of District 8. Barring a departure from form, Patin is expected to ascend to the chairmanship; the council has traditionally elevated the vice chair to chairman.
The Lafayette Public Utility Authority - the five-member council within the council comprising members whose districts are majority city of Lafayette and who serve as the governing authority of Lafayette Utilities System - will also elect new leadership Tuesday night. Currently Sam Dore of District 6 and Don Bertrand of District 7 serve as chair and vice chair, respectively.
The council's first order of business, as The Ind reported Monday, will be to elect a member to serve the one-year remainder of District 1 Councilman Purvis Morrison's term; Morrison was sworn in Monday as the new mayor of Scott. A source close to the council says Morrison's wife, Mary, is the front runner for the post. The Lafayette Home Rule Charter prevents whomever fills an unexpired term from seeking the seat at the next election. The other applicants are Bobby Badeaux, Edgar Martin Middle School principal who preceded Morrison as councilman for District 1; Jay Caldwell, a retired petroleum engineer with the state Department of Natural Resources; Susannah Malbreaux, owner of Elite Model & Photography Services and current chair of the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee; and Andrea Husband, a former law firm administrator.
In other council business, the CPC will hear an appeal from the Shop Rite No. 24 convenience store on Doucet Road, which is facing a one-year suspension of its liquor license.
[Editor's note: Staff writer Nathan Stubbs contributed to this story.]