Council members press for outreach, oversight after lighting-district renewals fail

Council members at the St. Tammany Parish Finance and Infrastructure Committee meeting on March 1 examined why voters in several neighborhoods were caught by surprise when lighting-district renewals failed and lights went dark.

"I would be really shocked if many people are walking into a booth knowing a that they got a vote for a lighting district and b what the number of their lighting district is," Councilman Bender said, arguing the parish should help residents understand what a vote would mean. Councilman Phillips asked bluntly: "How could you sit here and say we created these lighting districts and we don't own them?"

The committee heard from finance staff that several lighting districts have expired (finance noted Lighting District 7 ended in 2022) and that the parish administers collections and payments even though each lighting district is a separate legal subdivision. "The council is the governing authority of those lighting districts," a legal staff member explained during discussion, and administration and public works handle implementation and vendor payments while finance handles fund remittance.

Council members pressed for clearer public outreach ahead of future ballots. Members described steps they or their offices have taken — sending HOA notices, posting on social media and preparing simple explanatory flyers — and urged the parish Public Information Office to run neutral, informational messaging so voters know when a lighting-district question will appear on a ballot and what a "yes" or "no" vote would mean. Several council members also recommended assigning oversight to the Infrastructure Committee or creating a small subcommittee to track fund balances, upcoming ballot dates and potential gaps in service.

Members discussed the mechanics and costs of placing renewals on ballots and noted that failed elections can increase expenses if a second vote is required. Staff confirmed the cost to print and process lighting-district ballot items is paid from the lighting-district funds themselves.

Some council members raised questions about whether electric providers could help notify customers and reported that initial outreach to utilities yielded a negative response. Committee members emphasized the parish’s responsibility to coordinate notification because the council created the districts historically and now administers them through parish operations.

Next steps from the committee: staff said the PIO is preparing neutral outreach materials, and council members said they would support a regular briefing on lighting-district status through the Infrastructure Committee and consider establishing a subcommittee to monitor balances, ballot timing and service priorities.