Just a few hours after the Louisiana Supreme Court denied the request to rehear the St. George incorporation case, aldermen for the new city called an emergency meeting for Thursday night.
The meeting’s agenda includes a resolution to authorize a Dec. 7 ballot measure for a 2% sales and use tax to pay for general municipal services.
“The Louisiana Supreme Court denied the Application for Rehearing in the litigation challenging the incorporation of St. George,” the agenda reads. “The Louisiana Legislature determined upon the incorporation of the City of St. George a state of emergency will exist. An Emergency Meeting is necessary to take actions necessary to continue the provision of essential public services.”
The aldermen also plan to confirm a city clerk and a city attorney, as well as authorize the St. George mayor to execute intergovernmental agreements with East Baton Rouge Parish and other governmental agencies, cooperative endeavor agreements and/or other contracts to provide for the provision of public services.
In a statement released this afternoon following the Supreme Court denial, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome said her administration would abide by the court’s decision, but that there is no effective incorporation date nor a legal boundary to the city.
“There has also been no request—as in none, zero—or communication from any official in the City of St George with my administration since April 26,” she says. “No official, mayor, councilmember, or transition board member has made a formal request for financial information, requested a meeting with me or anyone in my administration to communicate what their plans are for providing services to the citizens of St. George.”
Broome says she has reached out to the St. George mayor for a meeting to discuss the city’s future.
