Marksville to follow stricter agenda rules

Items needing Marksville City Council approval will be taking a more “traditional” route to that all-important vote in the future.

At the City Council’s Nov. 13 meeting, Councilman Clyde Benson told his colleagues that items should be placed on the agenda before the council is asked to vote on them. What apparently brought the issue to mind was a request by Cedar Lane residents for the council to install speed bumps on the residential road to discourage speeding motorists.

The proposal was presented during the agenda item entitled “Delegations.” This standing item is one of the first on every agenda and is intended to give citizens an opportunity to ask the council about a particular item of interest or concern.

The council approved the request with Benson casting the only “No” vote, saying he can’t vote for something without at least an estimate of how much it would cost. In response to his request for a cost estimate, he was told “Not much.”

PUT ITEMS ON AGENDA

Later in the meeting, Benson brought up the need for items to be placed on the agenda ahead of time so council members -- and any concerned citizens -- will know what is expected to be discussed. He said the City Council had slipped into a habit of allowing specific items to be acted upon under very general agenda items.

Benson’s observations are correct. The council routinely receives, discusses and approves/rejects items that come up during the “Delegations” and “Department Reports” agenda items. While the somewhat “informal” nature of the council’s meeting procedure is not unlawful, it could be seen as a way to circumvent the open meetings law by not letting the media and public know a specific issue will be discussed at the meeting.

Most other public boards follow the more structured agenda process of requiring items to be submitted in time for the agenda to be printed at least a day before the meeting date. However, emergency items are allowed to be added to the agenda at the meeting.

In Marksville’s case, no controversial issues have slipped in the back door. Items that pop up for a vote are usually expenditures that need to be made or decisions requiring action before the next meeting. The potential problem is that the backdoor exists and is used so frequently.

Benson’s proposal attempts to seal that door.

Mayor John Lemoine told Benson that sometimes things come up suddenly that have to be addressed at the current meeting and can’t be delayed a month. He said it is more efficient to handle it the way the council has been doing it.

Benson said he is not arguing that the items presented to the council are not time-sensitive and need immediate action. However, he said in most cases the department supervisors are aware of the need in plenty of time to put the item on the agenda as a specific item instead of bringing it up under a general one.

In true emergencies -- a vital piece of equipment breaks down the day before the council meeting, a letter comes in the day of the meeting saying the city must meet a deadline before the next month’s council meeting, etc. -- “all the supervisor has to do is ask a councilman before the start of the meeting to place the item on the agenda,” Benson said.

The decision was made to follow Benson’s recommendation, although Lemoine said it could cause unnecessary delays. Benson said it wouldn’t cause delays if the item was added to the agenda prior to the start of the meeting.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS
When the time for Department Reports came near the end of the meeting, there were opportunities for a few good-natured jokes about the new procedure.

Assistant Police Chief Jason Brouillette was the first up.

With some, “uhs” and “ers,” Brouillette finally said he had intended to ask the council to pay about $9,000 for new bulletproof vests and to authorize him to seek a grant in January that, if received, would allow him to reimburse the city’s General Fund for that expenditure.

Brouillette said he recently received a $7,638 grant to pay some of the cost for new vests.

Councilman Mike Gremillion, who serves as police commissioner, said he told Brouillette to bring it to the council as part of his departmental report.

The council went ahead and voted to buy the vests and authorized Brouillette to apply for the grant.

It was pointed out that the new agenda procedure would be followed next month.

Streets Superintendent Cloyd Clayton also ran afoul of the “Benson Rule” when he pointed out that the backhoe was broken and it would cost over $5,000 to repair it.

Lemoine noted that based on his research, a new backhoe would cost about $100,000.

Clayton said he was going to ask for council approval, but that he could hold off on repairs and put it on the December agenda.

It was quickly determined that the city’s only other backhoe is shared by the Water and Sewer departments, and the equipment is vital to street projects.

That being the case, the council approved the repairs and noted it would follow the new agenda procedure next month.

NEED FOR AERATORS

A few minutes later it was Sewer Superintendent Rondell Jones’ turn. A muffled chortle gave a hint as to what was coming next.

“I was going to bring up these aerators,” Jones said, which brought laughs from the audience and council table.

He explained that the department’s aerators are old and in poor condition. It will cost more to repair them than to replace them.

If the aerators don’t do their job, the city will be fined for environmental violations, Jones added.

He told Benson he has known about the need for several weeks, but had been told to bring it to the council during department reports.

“Starting next month,” Lemoine said with a laugh.

Although it appeared the council was prepared to approve the request for $32,500 for the new aerators, the item was never presented for a vote.

The day after the meeting, Jones said he had previously talked to the mayor and councilmen about the aerators and “all of them were in agreement that we needed to buy new ones.”

Despite that, Jones said he was told Wednesday that a review of the meeting recording indicates the council never voted.

Jones said he will make sure to have the purchase of aerators placed on the December agenda.