The legislative branch of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge government is the Metropolitan Council.  The Metropolitan Council has twelve members elected from single-member districts.  The districts overlap the Baton Rouge city limits and the parish ward lines.  

     All Metropolitan Council members are elected for four-year terms at the same time as the election of United States senators.  All members must be qualified voters of the parish and of the district that they represent.  The members of the Metropolitan Council are sworn in on January 2nd following the election in the Metropolitan Council Chambers. After the members take the oath of office, there is an organizational meeting during which the President Pro Tempore is selected by a majority vote of the Metropolitan Council members for a four-year term.  

     No member may hold any other public office and cannot be appointed to any public office for a period of two years after their service on the Metropolitan Council concludes.      

     The Metropolitan Council also serves as the governing authority of several other political subdivisions and agencies, including, but not limited to the East Baton Rouge Parish Sewerage Commission and the Greater Baton Rouge Airport Authority. 

Meetings

    Regular Metropolitan Council meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at 4:00 pm.  The Metropolitan Council Zoning Committee meets on the third Wednesday of each month at 4:00 pm for the purpose of conducting public hearings and considering items related to planning and zoning.  All Metropolitan Council meetings are limited to four hours from the time the meeting is called to order. A meeting may be extended for a specific amount of time, not to exceed an aggregate of thirty minutes beyond the four hour limit.  In order to conduct business at any meeting, a quorum of the members of the Metropolitan Council must be present.  

meeting change notice

The Metropolitan Council returns to in-person meetings beginning on Wednesday, October 14, 2020. 

Members of the public who wish to observe the meeting or comment on public hearing items on the meeting agenda may do so by reporting to the River Center branch library, 4^th floor meeting room (250 North Blvd.). The meeting begins at 4:00 p.m. Capacity of the meeting room is 100 people. 

Masks or face coverings are mandatory, and distancing protocols will be enforced.

Members of the public who wish to submit comments electronically may access the online comment form here: www.brla.gov/councilcomment.

The Metropolitan Council E-Commenting Policy

Metropolitan Council
City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge
E-Commenting Policy for Public Hearing Items
Pursuant to Ordinance 17952

The agenda for each Metropolitan Council meeting will be published by 5:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding the meeting at www.brla.gov/AgendaCenter (under the Metropolitan Council tab).

Public comments must be submitted electronically on the E-Public Comment form, available here: www.brla.gov/councilcomment

Public comments will be accepted from the time the agenda is posted to on the brla.gov website until 30 minutes before each meeting begins. Public comments received after this time will not be read aloud during the meeting.

Each public comment submission must contain all of the following:

(i)  the commenter’s first and last name
(ii) the commenter’s address
(iii) the agenda item number to which the comment pertains 

Any comment missing this information will not be read aloud.

No member of the public may submit more than one written comment per agenda item. In the event of multiple submittals, the first comment submitted will be the one read aloud.  

During the public comment period for each agenda item during a Metropolitan Council meeting, the Council Administrator or Assistant Council Administrator will read into the record all comments pertaining to that item that have been submitted in accordance with these rules.

The Council Administrator or Assistant Council Administrator will discontinue reading a written public comment once it exceeds three minutes.