BATON ROUGE - Mayor-President Sid Edwards issued a statement saying he "strongly [disagrees]" with the city-parish joining a lawsuit against St. George.

In the statement, Edwards said the parish attorney John McLindon filed action on behalf of the city-parish to join a lawsuit regarding St. George's property zoning. Edwards also said that he does not have authority or control of the parish attorney.

The lawsuit filed by LRK LLC says even if the city was legally incorporated, it unlawfully targeted the group's property during the creation of its zoning map. LRK argues that St. George was never lawfully incorporated because no court ever entered an order formally declaring the municipality’s incorporation date.

Edwards, in his statement, said the city-parish joining the lawsuit derailed negotiations to resolve issues surrounding St. George, saying the lawsuit "brought those negotiations to an end."

"Now, rather than learning from that failure, the Parish Attorney's office has once again chosen to put the City-Parish in the middle of another legal dispute," Edwards said.

Edwards ended his statement saying he has "always believed this issue could be resolved by working together," and that he still believes it can happen.

"We cannot allow continued litigation, political maneuvering, and old grievances to prevent us from addressing the serious challenges facing the City of Baton Rouge, our constitutional offices, and the parish as a whole," Edwards said. "There is a responsible path forward, but finding it will require cooperation and good faith amongst all parties involved."