Watson Looks To Central as Role Model in Incorporation

WATSON — Residents of the Livingston Parish community of Watson held a forum Thursday to unveil plans to seek a referendum on whether to incorpo-
rate Watson as a municipality.
Bob Watts, one of the leaders of the organization Neighbors in Action, said his group has followed the development of the City of Central since 2005 and hopes to model their new city in part after Central.
Watts said the City of Watson would provide local residents a way to manage growth and development in the area and prevent the Baton Rouge Loop and other undesirable projects from coming into the community.
In an interview Wednesday, Watts outlined some of the ideas behind the drive for incorporation:
•    Organizers envision a very small and economical city government with limited powers and limited responsibilities.
•    Local governments in Livingston have agreed that they would continue to provide services:
•    Schools would continue to be provided by the Livingston Parish School Board.
•    The Sheriff would continue to provide police protection.
•    The Fire District would continue to provide fire protection.
•    The parish would continue to provide parish roads and building inspections.
•    The new city government would provide planning and zoning and would manage construction of new developments and toll roads such as the Loop.
At present, Watson elects one of the nine Parish Councilmen.  “Our councilman can be out-voted, and there is no guarantee the other councilmen will protect the interests of our community.  Parish ordinances are parishwide but the needs of Watson are very different from those of Maurepas or Holden.  With our own city government, all five of our City Councilmen will be elected here and will be answerable to the people of Watson,” Watts said.
“Right now our roads are overloaded and each new development has effects that need to be considered,” he said.
Watts said incorporation is also critical to blocking the Loop.  He said, “State law, as found in  R.S.28:2028, allows municipalities to approve or disapprove a toll road coming through the Watson area.  But, without a city government, we have no way block the Loop.”
Watts said the city would levy no sales or property taxes.  Instead, it would draw its revenue from the utility franchise tax on DEMCO and Entergy, which would provide about $700,000 a year.
“We believe this is more than enough revenue to accomplish the goals we have in mind,” he said.
In order to incorporate, organizers would have to prepare a petition and file it with the Secretary of State.  Then they will have to secure valid signatures from at least 25 percent of the registered voters in Watson.
The area proposed for incorporation is nearly the same as the Live Oak School Bond District and comprises about 35 square miles, Watts said.
Watts said the estimated population within the proposed city limits is 22,000, including 12,000 registered voters.  As a result, Neighbors in Action will try to get at least 3,500 signatures on the incorporation petition.
Watts said the timeline for incorporation is difficult to anticipate exactly but it could go something like this:
Timeline
•    Early March 2013 ­— Approve wording of petition and begin soliciting signatures
•    July 2013 — Complete petition process and file petitions
•    October 2013 — Voters go to the polls to vote on incorporation.
•    December 2013 — If voters approve the proposition, governor would appoint the initial city officials and they would take office on a date determined by him.  The city could begin functioning.
•    April 2014 — First primary for municipal elections statewide.  Watson could elect officials to replace those appointed by the governor.
Watts said that organizers of the incorporation movement think Central has done a lot of things right.  But one thing Watts said probably won’t happen is privatization.  “The vision is that Watson will not be providing city services.  So privatization will not be an option.”
Neighbors in Action has about 1,000 people on its mailing list and a core group of volunteers who do most of the work.  Officers are Gene Baker, chairman; Fran Bolen, secretary, and Bob Watts, treasurer.
Their website is www.neighborsnaction.com, and their Facebook page is Neighbors in Action.