The Saint Martin Parish Council on its January 2026 regular meeting elected Vincent Alexander as chair and Chris Corvio as vice chair for the year and moved a package of ordinances and resolutions through introduction or vote.

Council members conducted roll-call voting by district to select leadership. After nominations, the council announced that Vincent Alexander won the chair nomination by a 7-to-2 margin. Chris Corvio was later elected vice chair by a 7-to-2 vote. The council also named Alexander as the temporary presiding officer for 2026; he was the only nominee and was appointed without a separate recorded vote.

The council approved the minutes of its Dec. 2, 2025, meeting (motion by Mister Lisonbee, second by Mister Lubier) and then convened as a board of adjustment to consider four separate exception requests to permit single-family mobile homes in I-1 (light industrial) zones at specific addresses; each item was moved and put forward for roll-call votes.

Multiple ordinances were read for public hearing, including proposals to reduce parish servitude widths from 100 feet to 50 feet at specified drainage channels (Summaries 15280R and 15290R), amendments to 2025 budgets as required by Louisiana Revised Statute 39:13.10 (Summary 153000), and a zoning amendment affecting 1092 Higginbotham Road (Summary 15310R). The council closed the public hearing when no members of the audience indicated they wished to speak and called votes on the read items.

Among resolutions considered were a $54,360.24 change order (Summary 001RS) for the Spanish Trail Industrial Park Access Road project’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad crossing; councilmembers amended the resolution to make the change order contingent on review and approval by the Louisiana Office of Facility Planning and Control. The council also considered a $42,129.49 increase and nine-day time extension for the Henderson Water Level Control Structure repairs (Summary 002RS) and awarded the Cypress Island Jodeigh drainage phase 2 contract to Down South Construction Services LLC for $1,227,872 (Summary 003RS).

The council took up additional routine matters including approval of the Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory budget for 2026 (Summary 004RS), authorization for the parish president to contract with Sheriff Beckett Breaux for a trustee crew for maintenance work (Summary 005RS), and the reappointment of Travis Lachelet to the Saint Martin Parish Board of Water Works Commissioners, District 4 (Summary 006RS). A resolution to opt out of statewide solar siting requirements under Louisiana Revised Statute 30:1142(b) was introduced and moved (Summary 007ORS), and the council formally acknowledged a vacancy in the registrar of voters office effective Feb. 1, 2026, setting procedures under Louisiana Revised Statute 18:51.1 et seq. (Summary 008RS).

The meeting ended after brief informational updates about ongoing roadwork in the industrial park area and an announcement that the registrar-of-voters vacancy will be widely advertised.

The council did not provide vote tallies in the transcript for most routine motions; where a recorded tally was stated, it is reported above. Where votes were called without an announced tally, the transcript records the motions, seconders, and that votes were called.