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Support for this program is provided by the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and from viewers like you.
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Hello and welcome to Louisiana Spotlight. I'm Karen Leelah, your host for tonight's show.
In 2019, residents of the unincorporated area of East Baton Rouge Parish voted to create Louisiana's newest city, St. George. After years of legal battles, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the incorporation in 2024, leading to the birth of the state's fifth largest city.
Tonight, we will examine this historic transformation of East Baton Rouge Parish and explore the complex dynamics that led to this moment. From the initial push for a separate school district to the broader implications for local governance, we'll delve into the story of St. George and what it means for the future of our region.
But first, let's take a look at the history of this movement and the key events that led to the creation of St. George. After a decade-long battle, St. George has finally emerged as Louisiana's newest city. But as Mayor Dustin Yates and the first city council step into their roles, they face yet another battle: determining their own salaries in a debate that's reignited tensions about the cost of running Louisiana's fifth largest city.
Good evening. We're going to begin our meeting. This is a St. George regular city council meeting scheduled for January 14th, 2025, at 5 p.m. I will call this meeting to order.
The first thing we'll do is open this up for public comment. The first one I have here is Mr. Chris Ryles.
What's being proposed at $175,000 would be the highest councilman salary in America, four times the salary of Sandy Springs, and twice the salary of the mayor of Dallas, Texas. There are two philosophies in play. One is for compensation: you get what you pay for. That's one philosophy. But Sandy Springs' philosophy is public service is just about that. Sir, I encourage you to adopt fully the Sandy Springs model for compensation of these officers. Thank you for that.
Chris Ryles is the founding co-incorporator for the city of St. George and the St. George Transition District Treasurer. He's been integral to the formation of the new city from the very beginning.
Chris, when I called to ask to interview you, you suggested we meet here at a church. Why is this so significant to the evolution of St. George?
Great, thank you for asking. We're in Woodlawn Baptist Church, which is here in Shenandoah, the heart of St. George. All of our planning meetings and all of our rallies were here in this facility, and the graciousness of Pastor Lewis Richardson and his staff allowed us to use this facility to plan the future city of St. George and also the future community school district. So this is the heart of St. George here at Woodlawn Baptist Church.
Tell me about your role.
Well, as you may know, there were two petitions that we had to go through to get the city of St. George. The first one that I referred to, I was a researcher and a supporter for those who were moving forward. As the co-incorporators, we did not get enough signatures in 2015 to move forward, so we had to wait two years to restart the petition.
In 2017, I then volunteered to be one of the co-incorporators to lead the effort to create the largest petition drive in the history of Louisiana, which we successfully did in seven months, gathering all 17,000 signatures to create our new city.
This was a long journey, and this began with a desire to create a school district in St. George.
That's correct. Tell me about that.
Yes, so a little bit of history: in 2005, the city of Central was formed, but they had asked to have their own independent school district, and they were told by the legislature they needed to create their own city. So they did. In 2007, they created their own school district.
So the precedent for us had already been set here in this parish by the city of Central and the formation of their community school district. So we moved forward in 2012 asking for the right to have our own school district. The legislature told us, and then Senator Sharon Weston Broome, who later became the mayor of the city of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish, told us that if we wanted to have our own school district, we needed to create our own city. So that's what we did. We created our own city.
Today, I am pleased to present a comprehensive proposal for a transition plan that has been carefully crafted to ensure the continued delivery of essential governmental services in the newly incorporated city of St. George.
This proposal saw the advent of an emerging city as a division for our city and our parish. I saw it as a challenge in terms of the ability to sustain resources for our citizens throughout the city and parish.
The city of St. George obviously was not the first to become their own city from East Baton Rouge Parish, but St. George seemed to be the most consequential. Was that where the concern was? Because we had Zachary, and because we had Central, and because we had Baker also do these in the past.
Well, first of all, from a historical perspective, there are some distinct differences between those cities and the city of St. George. The most recent city to break away was Central. Central was not intertwined, if you will, geographically with the city of Baton Rouge, but St. George certainly was.
It was always my goal to unify our city and parish, and St. George was definitely a move in the wrong direction.
The creation of the city of St. George was driven by organizers. Now, there were citizens who were a part of that area who did not get to vote on that. The impact is far-reaching beyond the city of St. George, and so the people in the city of Baton Rouge and the parish of East Baton Rouge did not have an opportunity to vote when the initiative was first put on the ballot.
Communities of color were configured in that, and then the second time around, they were not part of the new vote that took place. Inclusion should be a thought of leadership; it should be a thought of building communities.
When you look at a city that is over 70% white that has pulled away, it makes you wonder what exactly was the motivation. Is it because Baton Rouge was becoming demographically shifting to 52% African American?
What was the motivation? I believe that cities that thrive and prosper are cities where everyone, regardless of your skin color or socioeconomic portfolio, when everybody comes together, we have a stronger city.
Can you explain to viewers how the boundaries were drawn, and honestly, were race and/or class factored into the boundary drawing?
Excellent question. In our first petition drive that occurred in 2012, we looked at precincts who signed the petition. Overall, we had to have 25%. There was a large disparity in terms of who signed the petition and who wanted to be a part of the city of St. George. The high was somewhere around 50%, which is in this area where we're sitting. The low was in areas where we had 2 to 3% of those who actually signed the petition that wanted to be a part of St. George.
So in the second boundary drawing, it was pretty simple. We only looked at who signed the petition who wanted to be a part of the city of St. George. If a precinct did not have 25% of its eligible registered voters who signed the petition, they selected previously that they did not want to be a part of St. George.
So our boundary was based upon clearly every precinct having had 25% of the eligible registered voters sign the petition. Now, after that boundary was drawn, what we've said all along is that anyone who is contiguous to the boundaries of St. George, all you have to do is ask to petition to become a part of the city of St. George.
Our commitment as the leaders was that if you want to be a part of St. George, as a whole precinct, or as a community, or as an individual, if you're contiguous with our boundaries, come on in. We'd love to have you.
So the boundaries of St. George will remain fluid into the future?
Absolutely. We have been receiving requests all the way through this process. We want to be a part of the city; we want to be annexed into St. George. In fact, we've actually had areas that are in the boundaries of the city of Baton Rouge who have contacted us and said, "How do we become a part of the city of St. George?"
So there's a process in the ordinances of how to do that, and with the passage of those ordinances, if you're hearing this and you continue with us, come on and be a part of the great city of St. George. You're welcome to be here.
To help us understand the vision for St. George and its future, we are fortunate to be joined right now by the city's first mayor, Dustin Yates. Welcome, Mayor Yates.
Glad to be here. Such an important subject. So glad to have you here.
First obvious question: what