Council Vote Null and Void
Homer still has police department
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
The
Homer Police Department has been given a small victory in that a judge ruled
the motion and subsequent vote to disband the police department null and void.
“You
still have a chief and a police department unless further action is taken,”
said 26th Judicial District Judge Jimmy Teat. “The Town of Homer and Chief
(Russell) Mills need to find a way to work together. You need to realize how
serious this will be. I’m hopeful that attorney’s Arceneaux and Patillo will
sit down with the town to go over what they can and cannot do.”
During
a hearing Monday morning, March 4, Teat explained that having the Claiborne
Parish Sheriff’s Office provide law enforcement for the Town of Homer would be
very costly, saying the town would have to pay the sheriff’s office more than
what it is paying for its own police department. He mentioned issues going on
in Jackson Parish in Jonesboro with its city administrators and police
department, and said he is very familiar with municipal law.
Also,
Judge Teat ruled that the town will have to pay attorney’s fees for Mills and
he is entitled to the bond fee he paid for the temporary restraining order against
the town and Mayor Alecia Smith. An itemized list of attorney’s fees is to be
submitted to the court.
“I’ll
have an opportunity to review what those fees are and the town will take a
position on whether those are reasonable or not,” said Thomas Arceneaux, the
town’s outside counsel.
He said
he was pleased with the way the hearing came out, saying the results are what
the results should have been.
“When
we looked at the issue, it was clear that the action was taken without
compliance with the open meetings law, and the right thing to do was
acknowledge that and go on with the town’s business,” he said. “We were
authorized Saturday to acknowledge the town was not in compliance with the open
meetings law, which meant that the judge could have and should have voided
those actions, which is precisely what he did. It’s as though that never
occurred.”
Mills
said he was also pleased with the judge’s ruling.
“I’m
glad that right prevailed,” he said. “There’s laws in place to prevent the
things they tried to do. Had I not fought and hired an attorney, I can assure
you that on March 1, there would have been no police department. We’ve proved
they were wrong. It should not have gone this far.”
Terry
Willis, president of the Claiborne Chapter of the NAACP, said this was a small
victory for the people of Homer, and agreed that it never should have come this
far.
“We
have restored faith back to the people,” Willis said, “and it’s an insult for
them (the town council and mayor) to use the taxpayers’ money on an issue that’s
emotionally decided. The down side is, our city administrators have let us down
and wasted the taxpayers’ money. This is money that could have been placed back
into the police department, back into restructuring this city. This was a
people issue, not a racial issue -- and the people won.”
Pam
Breedlove, Mills’ attorney, also filed a supplemental petition in regards to
actions taken by the council at a special called meeting Saturday, March 2 in
which the council introduced Ordinance 13-003 -- Amending the 2013 Budget of
the Town of Homer with respect to the Police Department and the Town’s General
Fund.”
Breedlove
argued to Judge Teat the council and mayor were trying to do “through the back
door what they couldn’t do through the front door.”
Arceneaux
argued the ordinance was simply introduced at the meeting and no action was
taken, saying this matter was not before the court.
“The
court has no way to know what the town will do with the ordinance because no
action has been taken,” he said.
The
petition argues that if the council adopts this ordinance, it would be a
violation of the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act.
“Upon
information and belief, the Mayor and some members of the Board of Selectmen
are attempting to eliminate or so drastically reduce the police budget as to
make the department inoperable,” the suit states. “However, to the extent the
proposed budget amendment is attempting to remove money from the police
department fund, those actions are in violation of the Louisiana Local
Government Budget Act.”
On
Monday, February 11, the Homer Town Council voted to abolish the police
department on the grounds of over runs in the department’s budget. Also cited
as reasons were concerns of leadership and numerous lawsuits against the
department.
Within
hours of the decision, Mills retained an attorney and filed suit against the
town and the mayor citing violations of open meetings laws, the lack of
authority by the council to reduce Mills’ pay and title and other issues. At
that time, a temporary restraining order against the town and the mayor were
granted by Judge Jenifer Clason until a hearing to show cause could be held.
Phone
calls to Mayor Smith for comment on this story were unreturned as of press
time.
Community members voice concerns with
mayor, council
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
At a
special called meeting of the Town of Homer Saturday, council members
acknowledged the motion they voted on to disband the Homer Police Department
did not comply with open meetings law.
However,
not only did community members leave with no answers to their questions, but
many were baffled by just what occurred. And on top of that, the council
introduced an ordinance which many believe to be another way to rid the town of
its police department.
Following
many comments and questions from the public regarding spending by the mayor and
town council, an ordinance was introduced to amend the budget in regards to the
police department. (Proposed Ordinance 13-003--Amending the 2013 Budget of the
Town of Homer with respect to the Police Department and the Town’s General
Fund) The Guardian-Journal sent a formal request in accordance with the Freedom
of Information Act to the Town of Homer for a complete copy of the proposed
ordinance.
In
Saturday’s meeting Homer Police Chief Russell Mills, speaking as a Homer
citizen, questioned the mayor’s travel expenses.
“On one
particular trip, the mayor and her husband took a trip to Phoenix, AZ, to a
convention from November 8-14, 2011,” Mills said. “The convention was actually
four days, but y’all’s trip was seven days. You receive $71 per day for seven
days for meal expense. The registration fee $375 for the full conference and
the $85 that you paid for Anthony to go, also included was an $80 luncheon for
two people. The total for this trip was $545 and was charged on the town credit
card.”
Another
citizen, Robert Sanders, questioned why the town was “wasting” $36,000 on two
people to run recreation for the town, and instead of hiring someone inside the
town corporate limits, the postmaster, who lives outside the corporate limits,
was hired.
Susan
Herring, a former town council member, acknowledged the town council has a hard
job and big responsibilities to the town. However, she questioned why the mayor
needs a secretary and another assistant to that secretary.
“If the
town can no longer afford to pay our police department, how can they afford a
personal secretary for the mayor with an annual salary of $27,000, plus another
$8,000-$10,000 additional benefits, and an assistant with a salary of $15,000?”
she asked the mayor and council. “Can you explain why Homer needs a full-time
mayor with two assistants when a part-time mayor ran this town for years when
there were more residents and more businesses?”
Buddy
Pixley, a resident of Homer, took issue with one council member in particular,
District 2 Councilman Michael Wade, saying that he is in violation of federal
law because he is a postal worker who sits in a political office. In 2010, The
Guardian-Journal published a story to this effect, and Saturday, Pixley
provided this newspaper with a letter from an attorney with the U.S. Office of
Special Counsel who stated Wade is in fact in violation of the Hatch Act, which
governs federal employees regarding public office.
The
third paragraph of the letter, dated May 4, 2012, states, “After investigating
the allegations set forth in your complaint, we have determined that Mr. Wade
violated the Hatch Act’s prohibition against being a candidate in a partisan
election for public office. However, we have decided not to pursue disciplinary
action and are closing the above-referenced file without further action.
Nevertheless, we have advised Mr. Wade that if in the future he engages in
Hatch Act prohibited activity while employed in a federal executive agency, we
would consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law
that could result in his removal from his employment.”
Others
asked the council and the mayor to resign their posts. Others also listed
several actions that are alleged misappropriation of funds as well. Matt
Simmons listed off several, and ended by saying, “This is not your money --
this is our money.”
Johnny
Harris, one of the ones who called for disbandment of everyone, said, “It
should never have come this far. It’s our fault. We allowed it to happen.”
Kevin
Gray, a local business owner in Homer, said he was concerned about the issues
that have come forth in the last few weeks.
“It
concerns me that y’all don’t seem more concerned about this,” he said. “Is all
this traveling necessary? Leave me a police force, please.”
He
explained that as a jewelry store owner, he had certain guidelines that must be
followed, and included in that is police protection.
Monday’s Meeting
In
Monday night’s monthly meeting, held in the auditorium at city hall, many of
the same people who came to Saturday’s meeting were also in attendance. Others
spoke out as well, including the pastor of Springlake Church, Woodrow Davis,
who said his church was being accused of not paying City Hall rent to hold services
there.
“I have
the receipts to prove it,” he said.
In the
February 28 edition of The Guardian-Journal, this question was published in the
story regarding the community forum held at Homer High School on Monday,
February 25. The question was submitted to Marie Johnson, moderator of the
forum and a member of the Claiborne Parish Peace Coalition, by a community
member.
Herring,
speaking during Monday night’s meeting, said the town needs unity more than
anything else.
“You
can blame it on the budget if you want to, but this council sits in a position
of service,” she said. “They serve the ones who voted for them and the ones who
didn’t.”
Pat
Clawson, who listed off travel expenses for the last three years as well as
expenses for recreation, said, “We deserve to know that our money is being
spent wisely.”
Stewart
Griffin, a citizen of Homer and District 10 School Board Member, said the town
needs to talk about ways to unite from here.
“The
chief and the mayor didn’t choose each other, but let’s work together,” he
said.
He then
offered up prayer for town officials and cooperation.
District
1 Councilwoman Linda Mozeke said a word before adjournment of the regular
meeting, saying it was good “to see this many people here.”
“It’s
really unfortunate that some of you here are not here for positive reasons,”
she said, “but out of every negative, something positive transpires. And I
think after the last few weeks, something positive has transpired. All of us
are committed to doing a better job for the Town of Homer, from the mayor to
the council to the police department. I have heard all of one side of the issue
for the last two weeks, and there are people who have come to me as a council
person to ask me what was going on. That tells me that most of you didn’t even
know what was going on; you wanted to believe whatever it is that you wanted to
believe. It is my prayer that starting tonight that we will start to work
together.
“When
this council made the decision with the police department, we had done
everything we could do in an attempt to work with the Homer Police Department,”
she continued. “Most of you are not concerned about that, but if you want to
print something, print the facts. We have bent over backwards to help the
police department. That’s facts. From all the meetings, and all the comments
that I’ve heard, a lot of you are not concerned about the facts. I hope that
tonight the ones of you who are concerned will make a concerted effort to make
this a better town, starting with us, with the police department and with you
as citizens.”
The two
items of business on the agenda were tabled, one of which include the proposed
ordinance to amend the budget regarding the Homer Police Department. According
to Town Attorney Marcus Patillo, this proposed ordinance was tabled to give the
people a chance to look at the numbers.
“We’re
going to provide the town with the opportunity to actually see if they’re going
to show the good will which they said they want to do, and if they want to look
at the budgets and look at the actual numbers,” Patillo said. “We’re going to
give you plenty of time to do that. We’re going to take into consideration all
the comments that have been made, and hopefully from this, the best foot of
Homer will be put forward. We will find out if you’re actions are truly true
and if you have something contrary to what you’ve stated that will also come
out.”
In
other business, introduced was Ordinance 13-9004, Authorizing the Issuance of
Three Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars (3,500,000) of Taxable Utility
Revenue Bonds, of the Town of Homer. According to Mayor Alecia Smith, this $3.5
million was approved by the bond commission, of which $2.5 million is for sewer
lines and drainage that haven’t been replaced since the 60s or 70s.
The
motion was made by Wade and seconded by District 5 Councilwoman Patricia
Jenkins and was approved. District 3 Councilman Don McCalman was absent.
“We
moved forward to get those lines replaced, and the council, the staff here in
the Town of Homer office, have worked diligently to get $2.5 million,” Mayor
Smith said. “And on one of my trips I took, I was blessed enough to receive $1
million of that free. Now it’s down to $1.5 million being financed at .985
percent, and the other $1 million will be free for the Town of Homer. The
additional $900,000 was the first request we received -- this is all combined
to be $3.5 million. The additional $900,000 was requested for electronic water
meters, of which if you have a leak in your home, we would know it instantly so
your water bill won’t go to a monstrous price at the end of the month. We are
in negotiations now to reduce that price another $300,000, so that would save
the town more money, and we can use that additional money for water lines.”
In the
mayor’s report, Smith discussed several other grants either approved or in the
process of being approved. She said they were approved in January for $150,000
to repair the roof on city hall and surrounding buildings, where the roof tiles
will be removed, the roof will be re-decked and the tiles placed back on the
roof.
“I
think it has been patched, but it hasn’t been removed as a whole and repaired
as a whole,” Smith said, “which is why it’s leaking everywhere.”
She
said this includes the roofing for the police department and the chambers.
Another
$450,000 has been requested to move council chambers from inside city hall to
the garage area, where the old fire station was.
“This
is going to probably take about three or four years,” she said. “We have been
working diligently with Rep. Patrick Jefferson, along with Sen. (Mike)
Walsworth to complete these projects.”
Also,
the town is requesting LGAP and CWEF grants for the water tank at Joe Michael
Memorial Park (formerly the Jaycees Park) due to rusting. She said they intend
to get that tank removed, and it looks like they will get that grant this year.
The idea is to remove that tank, and repair the tank that’s there, she said.
A
handout, made available to the public at Monday night’s meeting lists other
grant projects that have either been completed or are in the planning stages. A
short list of those include the wastewater treatment facility improvements, new
water metering system, wastewater collection system improvements, water
treatment plant improvements, miscellaneous water and wastewater system
equipment and repairs, Dutchtown Road water main replacement, town hall roofing
improvements and council chambers, wastewater treatment facility improvements,
2012-13 wastewater collection system improvements, replacement of water mains,
water well and water treatment plant improvements, utility rate evaluation and
report, new police vehicles (USDA grant), demolition of abandoned elevated
storage tank, and town hall roofing improvements and council chambers (Phase
II).
The
next regular monthly meeting of the Homer Town Council will be at 6 p.m.
Monday, April 1, in council chambers. For more information, or for questions,
please call their office at 318-927-3555.
Recall petitions circulate for mayor,
council
Police chief’s residency questioned
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
Recall
petitions are now circulating within the corporate limits of Homer to recall
Mayor Alecia Smith and all five members of the Board of Selectmen.
According
to figures from the Claiborne Registrar of Voters Office, the petition to recall
the mayor must have at least 660 signatures in order for a recall vote to be
put on the ballot. The petition went into effect on Wednesday, February 20, and
they have 180 days to get enough signatures. The deadline is August 18.
As far
as the council members, those petitions also went into effect on February 20,
with the deadline set at May 20. The number of signatures required for each
district varies, but they must have 40 percent of each district in order to
push a recall vote on the ballot. The number of signatures are as follows: 168
signatures for District 1 (Councilwoman Linda Mozeke), 150 signatures for
District 2 (Councilman Michael Wade), 178 signatures for District 3 (Councilman
Don McCalman), 158 signatures for District 4 (Councilwoman Carlette Sanford)
and 139 signatures for District 5 (Councilwoman Patricia Jenkins).
The
recalls circulating are in response to the council’s actions to disband the
Homer Police Department and allegations of misuse of funds in the town office.
For weeks, many community members and business owners have been in an uproar
over the council’s actions, many supporting Police Chief Russell Mills and
others supporting the council’s decision.
However,
in district court Monday, March 4, Judge Jimmy Teat declared the action null
and void because it was done in violation of Louisiana’s sunshine laws, the
state’s open meetings law.
Willie
“Hog Head” Curry, chairman of the recall committee, made it clear these
petitions are circulating and they are getting signatures.
“We have
initiated a recall for the mayor and town council and we shall stay the
course,” he said, “irregardless what the town council does or doesn’t do, for
we are persuaded that their actions are at most temporary and are designed to
sway public opinion. They, the council, initiated this fight and we are
obligated to see it to its conclusion.”
And
while the recall petitions circulate all five districts of the Town of Homer, a
complaint was filed to the District Attorney’s Office against Chief Mills
regarding his status of residency within the corporate limits of Homer.
According
to published reports, District Attorney Jonathan Stewart said a complaint was
filed by Azzie Olds, a resident of Homer, alleging Mills does not live within
the corporate limits, but instead has a home and business on Lake Claiborne.
Mills
says he does have a business at Lake Claiborne, but he is domiciled in Homer.
“I
realize that this has been brought to the attention of the district attorney’s
office,” Mills said. “I have a residence in Homer that I’ve rented for over
seven years. I pay water, sewer, gas, rent. I do not believe there is anything
unlawful about my residency.”
As of
press time, phone calls to Stewart were unreturned, as he was in court all day.
Traffic stop yields drug charges
A
traffic stop led to the arrest of a Homer man after a search of his vehicle
revealed drugs.
Kenneth
W. McDaniel, 45, was arrested on Monday, February 25, and charged with improper
lane use with bond set at $500, driving under suspension with bond set at $500
and possession with intent to distribute Schedule I CDS (marijuana) with bond
set at $15,000.
According
to a news release from the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Randy Pugh
was working traffic and observed a vehicle cross over the center line. Pugh
conducted a traffic stop and found the driver to be McDaniel.
A check
with dispatch showed McDaniel to be driving with a suspended license.
Sgt.
Van McDaniel, of the Homer Police Department, arrived on scene to assist.
While
assisting with the traffic stop, Sgt. McDaniel noted a partially burned
hand-rolled cigar (blunt) sitting on the front seat which smelled like burned
marijuana. Further search of the vehicle revealed a green vegetable material in
a white plastic sack sitting on the driver’s side floorboard in front of the
driver’s side seat.
Sgt.
McDaniel retrieved the sack and located large clear plastic Ziploc-type bags
containing suspected marijuana.
Deputy
Pugh arrested McDaniel for driving under suspension and possession with intent
to distribute marijuana. He was transported to the Claiborne Parish Detention
Center and booked on the above charges.
Relay for Life
Meeting set for March 28, fundraiser
March 16
A
fundraiser for the American Cancer Society will be at Brookshire’s on Saturday,
March 16. Plates are $7 each and include a leg quarter, riblet, baked beans,
potato salad, cake and bread as well as a drink or water. All proceeds will go
to Relay for Life.
The
next meeting will be at 5:15 p.m. at the Newell and Newell Law Office on
Thursday, March 28.
The
Relay for Life is set for Saturday, April 13 on the courthouse lawn from noon
until midnight.
Feds investigating Homer Police
Department
The Guardian-Journal
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launched an investigation into the Homer
Police Department last Friday, and no one seems to know why.
According
to Mary Beth Romig, with the FBI’s media relations, a search warrant was
executed at the police department Friday morning. The Claiborne Parish
Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana State Police were on hand to assist.
“We’ve
had excellent cooperation from the Homer Police Department, the Claiborne
Sheriff’s Office and the state police,” Romig said. “We want to thank them for
their cooperation.”
While
Police Chief Russell Mills would not comment as to the nature of the warrant,
he did say it was unrelated to any of the issues that were set to go before the
court on Monday, where Judge Jimmy Teat ruled that the vote the Homer Town
Council took to abolish the police department was voided because it violated
the open meetings law. The town’s outside counsel, Tom Arceneaux, admitted as
much in court, and in Saturday’s special called meeting, District 1
Councilwoman Linda Mozeke made a motion to that effect and it was passed.
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