Bastrop city attorney Doug Lawrence has provided a written summary of proposed amendments to the City Charter, in response to a request by the Enterprise to shed light on information published Wednesday from the city’s Notice of Intent.
The summary reads as follows:
“The City Charter for the City of Bastrop was created by the Louisiana Legislature in 1957. The City is unique in that it operates under a Legislative Charter and most other municipalities in the State of Louisiana do not.
“Since the Charter’s enactment, legislation spanning a period of 53 years has been enacted by the Louisiana Legislature and the State of Louisiana has adopted a new Constitution (in 1974).
“The City has conducted a review of the Charter, and that review remains ongoing, in an effort to afford to the City of Bastrop the full range of municipal authority consonant to those possessed by other municipalities throughout the State. The City is seeking special legislation to update the Charter in the following areas:
“1. To afford to the City the same range of options for the acquisition and alienation of City in line with the range of options available to police juries, school districts and other public entities.
“2. To afford to the City the same range of procedural rights and options regarding utilities that are available to most other municipalities in the State.
“3. To update the regulatory authority of the City exercised in its enactment of regulatory ordinances, to permit the City to fix penalties for the violation of those ordinances from a minimum to a maximum range that is consistent with other municipalities and authorized under State law, particularly in instances where State law authorizes a penalty that exceeds a current limit fixed by the Charter in 1957.”
