At the February 23 meeting, the Plaquemines Parish Council unanimously passed a resolution to hold all scheduled council meetings at the Parish Seat of Pointe-a-la-Hache, starting April 12.

Councilman P.V. Griffin of District 1, who authored the resolution, made a last-minute change of location to the legislation before the vote. Initially, the resolution proposed the meetings to be held at the community center in Davant but Griffin argued that Davant was still not the official Parish Seat; Pointe-a-la-Hache is, thus the meeting should be held in Pointe-a-la-Hache. No building ready to house such meetings currently exists, so a Parish-owned double wide trailer will be moved to Pointe-a-la-Hache. 

“We are in violation of our charter,” said Griffin. “To move the meeting to the community center in Davant would be no better than having it in Belle Chasse. We’d still be in violation.”

Although no person spoke against it on the record, there was audible opposition in the form of whispered chants of “no” from the audience. There was no debate amongst council members on the move. 

In October 2011, the parish voted for a fourth time to move the Parish Seat; the 2011 vote had it relocated from the Eastbank to Belle Chasse. It failed. There were three other ballot attempts to move the parish seat, pre-Katrina, which also failed. 

The Parish Charter dictates that the Plaquemines Parish Council meet at least once per month in the Parish Seat. A prior version of Mr. Griffin’s resolution had council meetings alternating throughout the parish. This version was scrapped, the passed resolution has all scheduled meetings in Pointe-a-la-Hache. The meeting time will remain at 1 p.m.