Interest so far in serving on the charter commish appears to be tepid among Lafayette Parish residents. Interest so far in serving on the charter commish appears to be tepid among Lafayette Parish residents. According to Norma Dugas, City-Parish Council clerk, the CPC has received 10 résumés from people interested in serving on the commission. It's the halfway point for submitting résumés for consideration for the nine-member panel - the deadline is noon Tuesday, May 18 - but Dugas believes the submission rate will increase as the deadline approaches. "We think come Tuesday we'll have flood of résumés," Dugas says. "Most people are going to wait until the last minute."
Following the deadline to submit résumés, CPC staff members will begin verifying through voter registration records that the applicants meet the requirements for serving on the commission, which by ordinance must comprise five residents in the city of Lafayette and four residents of unincorporated Lafayette. Additionally, two of the commission members must represent a minority race.
If résumés don't flood in, as Dugas anticipates, there's a chance the CPC will not receive enough qualified applicants to form the commission. What happens then remains sketchy. "That is a possibility," Dugas acknowledges. "It's something that we'll have to talk about. We haven't reached any decision on that yet."
Elected officials, employees of Lafayette Consolidated Government or persons with a contractual relationship with LCG are barred from serving on the commission. However, members will not be required to submit financial disclosure forms required of elected officials and most people who serve on official boards in Louisiana.
If you're interested in serving on the charter commission - a nine-month, uncompensated duty - mail a résumé to Norma Dugas at P.O. Box 4017-C, Lafayette, LA, 70502. For further information, call 291-8810.