New year, new mayor — new direction?
Mayor-President Monique Blanco Boulet showed a key shift in approach to an issue that defined former M-P Josh Guillory’s term at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Mayor-President Monique Blanco Boulet showed a key shift in approach to an issue that defined former M-P Josh Guillory’s term at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Billed as a way to save millions, LCG’s withdrawal from the state municipal pension system has been a drawn-out, messy affair that’s now headed for court.
The legislative auditor’s office would only confirm that the agency is conducting an investigative audit at LCG.
Looking back, we uncovered a program plagued with problems: conflicts of interest, disregard for public accountability processes and a lack of proven need or efficacy.
Most costs will stay on LCG’s books. That turns the idea from a budget-saving blessing into a fiscal Hail Mary.
For a flood project, LCG targeted land that was easy to get — because it was repped by City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan.
Reporters now face more barriers to access public records, on top of new fees the Guillory administration rolled out targeting the press. While a legal challenge and council action crawl forward, the barriers stand. And other public officials are following similar playbooks.
Since his election, the mayor-president has taught classes at UL, formed two LLCs and obtained a license to produce title insurance, on top of processing expungements for clients — all in search of supplementing his income.
The gist: Council members attempted to name an acting replacement for Mayor-President Josh Guillory while he’s in rehab. The administration resisted.
A success in LCG’s eyes, the overnight operation may have violated state law, federal law, a St. Martin Parish ordinance and, it now appears, Lafayette’s Home Rule Charter.
LCG paid quadruple for the land it razed to knock down spoil levees on the Vermilion River and left one of the land’s owners out of the deal. It could spell more legal trouble.
As tensions flared between Lafayette’s two city court judges, Odinet and Saloom, the Louisiana Supreme Court stepped in and appointed a special judge to serve as tie-breaker over administrative matters of the court.
Get it first. Sign up for our free newsletters. Learn more »