Whenever any parish or municipality has sold or leased any of its public utility properties and granted a franchise for their operation, and the original grantee or lessee, or the successor or assign of such grantee or lessee, has conveyed or assigned its rights to the whole or any part of the property and franchise, then the governing authority may by proper ordinance, and without any vote of the people, assent to the conveyance or assignment.
The same rights, duties, privileges, and responsibilities arising from the original sale or lease shall vest in the transferee in regard to that portion of the property which has been transferred.
The transferor, as a result of the conveyance or assignment so assented to, shall retain only the properties, rights, privileges, and franchises owned by the transferor and not so conveyed or assigned and shall remain charged with only the duties appertaining thereto.