Home Rule Charter or Police Jury? Avoyelles Voters to Decide in May

By Dr. Jay Callegari
This May, voters in Avoyelles Parish will face a defining choice: should we keep our
current police jury system, or move to a new structure under a Home Rule Charter? Right now, Avoyelles is governed by a police jury. That means the same elected jurors both pass laws and handle day-to-day government tasks. The proposed charter would change that. It creates a full-time parish president to handle operations and a separate council to pass ordinances.
While both sides of the debate have valid points, this new model offers clear advantages for a parish like ours.

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What Supporters Say Proponents say the Home Rule Charter could modernize Avoyelles government and improve accountability:

• Clearer Leadership: A parish president would serve full-time and answer to all
  residents, not just one district. That means someone is always on the job, handling emergencies, managing staff, and overseeing services.
• Checks and Balances: By separating the legislative and executive roles, the charter builds in safeguards. The council makes laws and the president enforces them. It becomes easier to track who is responsible for what.
• Local Control: Under a charter, the parish can write its own rules for how it handles roads, drainage, budgeting, and development without waiting on Baton Rouge.
• More Responsive Government: With clearly defined roles, decisions can move faster. Instead of nine jurors managing their own corners of the parish, one executive can coordinate resources across the parish.
• Stronger Voice for Voters: The new structure gives voters more direct lines to hold officials accountable. If roads are not fixed or if budgets fall apart, the buck stops with the president.

Several Louisiana parishes have already made the switch from police jury to charter systems and report better organization and clearer lines of responsibility.
Concerns Raised by Opponents. To be fair, some residents have concerns. Here are a few that have come up in conversations and past debates in other parishes:

• It’s a Big Transition: Moving to a new form of government is not simple. It takes time to adjust and mistakes can happen early on.
• Leadership Still Matters: A new structure does not fix everything. If the right people are not elected, the benefits of the charter may not be fully realized.

Costs Are Not Fully Known: While the charter does not automatically mean higher taxes, some worry that hiring new full-time officials could increase expenses. Others argue that these roles already exist informally and this structure simply makes them official.

What Other Parishes Have Done:

• St. Tammany Parish adopted a Home Rule Charter in 2000. A few years later, a
  bipartisan study found general agreement that the charter worked better than the old police jury system.
• Natchitoches Parish moved to a charter in 2019. The shift helped reduce political overlap and gave residents a clearer view of who handles what. Though some concerns remain, supporters say it is a step in the right direction.
• Lafayette and Baton Rouge, while larger, show how consolidated governments can simplify services and improve efficiency when well managed.
  

What’s Next
If voters say yes, Avoyelles will begin transitioning to the new system over the next year, with the first elections under the charter planned for 2026. If voters say no, the parish will continue with the police jury as it is now.
The choice ultimately comes down to whether we want to build a structure that reflects the complexities and demands of a modern parish. Supporters believe the Home Rule Charter is a smarter and more transparent way to govern. Skeptics remain cautious, but most agree that whatever form we choose, what matters most is how we lead it.

What is a Home Rule Charter?

It is a local constitution that gives a parish more control over its own government. Instead of following one-size-fits-all state rules, the parish creates its own system with an elected president and council, separating lawmaking from daily operations.