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Attorney general's office rejects city-parish effort to retain control over BREC board
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BATON ROUGE — The attorney general's office says state lawmakers did not violate the city-parish's right to govern itself when they changed the makeup of the region's public park system board.
The Legislature reconstituted the BREC panel this year, directing the parks commission to have four residents and the mayors of Baker, Baton Rouge, Central, St. George and Zachary serve as board members.
The East Baton Rouge parish attorney had asked the attorney general's office to look into whether lawmakers violated the plan of government for the parish and the city of Baton Rouge.
The attorney general said that since lawmakers under the state constitution of 1921 were given "full power and authority" to enact laws that created BREC, they maintained the right to control how it is governed. That power remained even though the state adopted a new constitution in 1974, Assistant Attorney General Chimene St. Amant said.
The parish attorney had written with the belief that only the Metro Council could change board members, "and then only for 'neglect of duty or misconduct in office.'"
St. Amant said he was wrong.
"The fact that the Legislature chose to delegate the appointment of the members of the commission to the Metro Council does not change the fact the authority remains with the Legislature in such matters," St. Amant wrote.
While Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish have a home rule charter, its provisions don't apply if they are inconsistent with the state constitution, the attorney general's office wrote.
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