Marksville mayor, councilman exchange allegations of ordering work on private property

   Allegations of improperly ordering city employees to do work on private property are being exchanged between the Marksville mayor and the lone hold-over from the previous City Council.

  Councilman Mike Gremillion began the latest battle with Mayor John Lemoine at the Sept. 9 council meeting. Gremillion said he “questions” work done on Tony Saucier’s  property on Bontempt Street.

   Lemoine admitted that he instructed employees to cover an exposed sewer line running through the property. Lemoine said the city was granted a servitude for the sewer line in the 1970s. 

    “The work was done on the city’s servitude and it is considered city property,” Lemoine said. 

    He said the sewer line had to be replaced at one time, but was never covered after it was replaced.

   “Mr. Saucier called and asked if we would cover the pipe,” the mayor said.

   Lemoine then accused Gremillion of giving city employees orders to install a culvert on private property on Bordelon Street. 

   Gremillion said that whenever he asks that a culvert be installed, “the property owner buys the culvert.” Gremillion said it has always been the city’s policy to install culverts “to ensure that they are properly installed at the proper grade” so as not to impede drainage. The city has never charged property owners for that installation.

   The Police Jury has been discussing the issue of culverts for the past year. Jurors have noted that an attorney general’s opinion now forces them to not only require the property owner to purchase the culvert, but also to charge them an hourly rate for the labor and equipment used to install the culvert.

     Lemoine did not name the property owner in the culvert case.

    He also accused Gremillion of cutting grass on private property. He said that infraction occurred when the city grass cutter’s extended arm reached outside of the right-of-way onto private property.  The street in that incident was not named.

   However, Gremillion appeared to be familiar with the referenced event, saying the additional cutting was necessary to clear a vision obstruction in a corner. Lemoine disputed that explanation.

    Gremillion said that even if the work on Saucier’s property is not considered work on private property, he said the city dumped 14 loads of dirt on the project, “which is excessive.”

    Lemoine said he could not confirm that Gremillion’s load count was accurate. Gremillion said it is.

   A district attorney’s office investigator did go to the Saucier property. There is currently no action being pursued by that office, but District Attorney Charles Riddle said he believes an Ethics Board complaint has been filed.

   Gremillion addressed that issue at the council meeting as well, noting that an Ethics Board attorney told him that “if you know about a violation and don’t report it, then you are also guilty of that violation.”

    Lemoine promised that he will also be “reporting ethics issues on Mr. Gremillion to the Ethics Board.”

 

   The “private property” spat was reminiscent of the kind  of arguments between Lemoine and the council prior to the April 2014 elections, where each side questioned the other’s positions on issues. Four of the five incumbents were defeated. 

    Gremillion is also the only councilman to have opposed Lemoine’s recommendation to reduce Marksville’s funding of the City/Ward 2 Court. 

    After the city drastically cut the budget, and then agreed to pay only half of that reduced amount, City Judge Angelo Piazza III filed suit to force the city to pay at least half of his requested budget and for the Police Jury to pay half. The Police Jury immediately agreed. The city agreed after a court hearing led to a judge instructing the city to make the payments while the matter proceeds through court.

    The state statute that created the city/ward court calls for the city and parish to provide equal support of the court. Under a previous agreement, Marksville paid most of the operating costs of the court and received all of the fines and fees received by the court. The Police Jury has indicated it will ask the district attorney to prosecute cases in City Court as offenses under the state statutes rather than as violations of city ordinances, which would then entitle the parish to receive those fines and fees. 

    The 12th Judicial District Court has combined two related suits into one action, City Attorney Derrick Whittington said. Motions in the case will be heard Sept. 28. A trial date for the suit has not been set.