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Committee: master-plan chapters were sent to parish council, not committee; consultant seeks $250,000 add-on
Summary
At its April 7 meeting the Livingston Parish Master Plan Review Committee said it had not received chapters of the updated master plan; members said materials were sent to the parish council instead of Planning & Zoning and raised questions about a consultant add-on request.
Members of the Livingston Parish Master Plan Review Committee said April 7 that they had not received draft chapters of the parish’s updated master plan and urged that future materials be routed to Planning & Zoning first rather than directly to the parish council.
The committee’s concern surfaced after a member reported talking “to mister Nathan Lipson today with WSP,” who said “that information was sent to the parish council last week. So it's already out,” but not necessarily to the committee. Committee members said that, by practice and by law, planning and zoning should be the initial recipient and that the review committee’s role is to review and recommend to that body.
“That information should go to planning and zoning, not to the council,” a committee member said. Another member summarized the committee’s role as advisory: “We are ... a committee, not a commission. That means we have no authority at law. But what we do is review the master plan and make recommendations to planning and zoning.”
Members also discussed an unanticipated request from WSP, the consultant working on the master-plan update. A committee member said, “WSP has requested to talk with the council about, a few add on charges ... 2 hundred and 50 thousand dollars.” The speaker said professional-services practice requires an itemized, justified amendment if the scope has changed: “if there is an overage, there has to be a justification of the overage ... because it went out of scope.” The committee asked that the parish council seek an itemized explanation for the requested funds.
Committee members agreed to press planning and zoning to receive committee recommendations before finalizing material and to request that WSP provide an itemized proposal for any contract amendment. The group planned to continue review of chapters and to ask staff to circulate polished sections ahead of the next meeting so members can prepare comments.
Votes at a glance: the meeting ended on a motion to adjourn; the motion was made by Miss Julie, seconded by Mister Steve, and carried by voice vote.
