St. George’s 1st Elections March 29

Supporters of Dustin Yates were attending a fundraising event for their candidate Tuesday night, Feb. 18, when they received the news that Yates’ only opponent in the March 29 city election had dropped out of the race. The fundraising event quickly became a victory party!

Fellow Republican Jim Morgan announced that he is withdrawing his candidacy.  Because his announcement came after the deadline for withdrawal, his name will still be on the election ballot.  Earlier, several candidates for the City Council also withdrew.  

March 29 will be the first election for city officials since the City of St. George was officially recognized by the Louisiana Supreme Court in May 2024.  

Besides the Mayor’s race, what will appear on the ballot are five candidates for two at-large seats on the City Council, four candidates for the Council seat from District 4 from the Shenandoah area, and the proposed City Charter.

Appearing on the ballot will be the following:

Whether to vote For or Against the proposed City Charter.

Five candidates for two at-large seats on the City Council:

• David Dellucci

• Scott Emonet

• Bill Johannessen

• Jim Talbot

• Shaunn Wyche

Four candidates for one seat on the City Council from District 4:

• Patty Cook

• David Madafarri

• Shannon Powell

• Justin Turner

Candidates who are unopposed will not appear on the ballot:

• Police Chief Todd Morris

• District 1 Councilman Richie Edmonds

• District 2 Councilman Max Himmel

• District 3 Councilman Steve Monochello

• District 5 Councilman Andrew Murrell

Shortly after the Louisiana Supreme Court decision last May, Gov. Jeff Landry appointed St. George’s first set of city officials to serve until the March 29 election.  Those appointed were Yates as 

Mayor, Morris as Police Chief, and Edmonds, Himmel, Monochello, Cook, and Ryan Heck as Council members.

All of those except Heck are seeking election.

In addition, since Landry appointed the first five members of the City Council, the Council created two additional Council seats.  As a result, there are no incumbents running for the two at-large seats.

The March 29 election will be the first citywide election to choose municipal officials.  However, voters in the city have been to the polls twice before — the first time in the incorporation election in October 2019 and again this past Dec. 7 when they approved transferring the existing 2 percent parish sales tax to the City of St. George.

Voters in the City of St. George are seen as overwhelmingly Republican and conservative.  On Dec. 7, in the race for Mayor-President of East Baton Rouge Parish, St. George voters favored Republican Sid Edwards over Democrat Sharon Weston Broome by a margin of 74 percent to 26 percent.  That was no surprise, because Broome had been the foremost opponent of creating the City of St. George for the past 14 years, both as a State Senator and as Mayor-President.

The biggest issue in the current election campaign has been a vote by the City Council January 14 setting salaries for city officials.

More than 125 St. George residents turned out to oppose what they considered the excessive pay scale.  After a lengthy public hearing, the Council voted 4-1 to approve the salary schedule, which provided the Mayor would be paid $160,000, the Police Chief $140,000, and City Council members $36,000.  The citizens present overwhelming disagreed with the salary schedule. Many said the salaries were far out of line and accused the Council of being tone-deaf and failing to listen to the public.

Voting for the salaries were:

FOR – Patty Cook, Ryan Heck, Max Himmel, and Steve Monochello

AGAINST – Richie Edmonds

Council member Patty Cook was the leading proponent of the salary schedule, and she ended up being the only Council member with opposition.  She has three opponents.

Early voting for the March 29 election is March 15-22.  If no one gets a majority in either Council race, a runoff will be held May 3.