Mansura Town Council may cut mayor’s salary

When Alderwoman Judy James introduced an ordinance that would cut the Mansura mayor’s salary in half during the next four-year term, nobody would have imagined it would lead to an armed police officer escorting a citizen from the public meeting for daring to voice support for that proposal.

But it did.

The Mansura Town Council voted 3-2 to introduce the ordinance that would reduce the mayor’s salary from $3,000 a month to $1,500 a month, increase council members’ stipends from $200 to $300 a month and retain the police chief’s $2,900 a month salary, effective Jan. 1, 2019.

A public hearing on the ordinance will be held at 5:45 p.m. June 11 -- just prior to the regular monthly meeting at 6 p.m. The council will then vote to adopt or reject the ordinance at the regular meeting.

After James proposed the ordinance, Mansura Chamber of Commerce President Rodney Barnett rose and pointed out the taxpayers of Mansura are paying their mayor significantly more than other towns pay theirs.

Barnett did not request -- and was certainly not given -- permission to speak on the issue. He was, procedurally, out of order -- but not disruptive.

Pickett pointed out Barnett was out of order. Barnett repeated his comment concerning the mayor’s pay rate.

“I will ask you to remove yourself,” Pickett yelled.

“No,” Barnett replied.

“You don’t respect my authority,” Pickett said.

“You don’t respect the people of this town,” Barnett retorted.

CALLED POLICE

Pickett then called the police station to demand an officer remove Barnett from the meeting room for being disorderly.

Barnett attempted to defuse the situation by telling Pickett he was “taking this personally, and it isn’t.”

While waiting for police to arrive, Pickett demanded everyone in the room remain silent. The audience, including Barnett, complied.

Pickett asked Town Attorney Alissa Piazza Tassin if he had the right to remove Barnett from the meeting room.

Tassin said the mayor has the right to maintain an orderly meeting, but noted Pickett “had not stated clearly” the agenda item was not subject to open discussion from the floor.

She recommended Pickett make such a clear statement prior to taking any action against someone for speaking out on an issue. She said if open discussion is not allowed, it should be clearly stated prior to consideration of an agenda item.

Pickett responded that the council is not required to discuss the introduction of an ordinance because that is what the public hearing is for. He also noted that Barnett and others would have an opportunity to make comments on the ordinance at the public hearing.

He continued to carry out his demand that Barnett be removed from the meeting.

As police officer Kelly Jones escorted Barnett from the Town Hall, most in the packed meeting room stared straight ahead or at the floor, preferring not to watch the spectacle being played out before them.

The council then approved the introduction and called the public hearing.

After the meeting, Barnett said Pickett “was determined he would prevent me from speaking on the issue. He’s made it about him, and it’s not. It is about getting the pay rate for the mayor to where it should be for a town our size.”

Barnett said he wanted to make the point that most municipalities’ combined annual cost of compensation for the mayor and aldermen is about $10 per person while Mansura’s is $34.

He said he obtained that figure by adding the $200 a month pay for alderman and the $3000 a month pay for the mayor, which totals $48,000. He divided that by the 1,406 population in the 2010 Census.

Barnett said Pickett was aware of what he was going to say. Pickett said several times during the night that the “issue is progress, not population” in the town.

“I did not walk out of the room stomping mad,” Barnett said. “I was concerned that I was not allowed to speak. I have that right. He used a heavy hand that I believe was unnecessary. I had a point to make and he would not let me make it.”

Barnett said he will attend the public hearing and present his research at that time.

FOREGONE CONCLUSION

When the ordinance was introduced by James and not by Councilman Gaon Escude -- who had provoked an angry outburst from Pickett last month by presenting a chart showing the salaries of other mayors and aldermen in Avoyelles and surrounding parishes -- the adoption of the introduction was a foregone conclusion.

Escude and Councilwoman Allison Ferguson were considered in the pro-reduction camp and voted in favor of the introduction.

Originally the only salary to be included in the ordinance was the mayor’s. James amended it at the meeting to include all of the town’s elected officials.

The police chief’s salary would remain the same.

For the third time in the past four years, a proposal to raise aldermen’s salaries from $200 a month to $300 a month would be included in the ordinance.

James did not speak in favor or against any of the proposed salary levels in the ordinance. She said she presented the ordinance because she wants the issue decided prior to the adoption of a budget, which would go into effect July 1.

The budget year includes the last six months of 2018 and the first six months of 2019.

Setting the pay rates in June would also let potential candidates know the monthly compensation for those offices before qualifying opens in July for the November elections.

Legally, the council can reduce the salary at any time prior to the new term beginning on Jan. 1, but would be prohibited from reducing it after that time for the duration of the four-year term. However, the council can increase the compensation of elected officials, to become effective immediately, at any time during that term in office.

ET TU, JUDY

Alderwoman Lucille Hayes said the scene reminded her of the play "Julius Caesar," about a Roman dictator who was stabbed to death by people he thought were his friends.

During his assassination, Caesar turned to the man he thought was his closest friend, Brutus, and uttered the classic line, “Et tu, Brute” (“Even you, Brutus.” )

James was obviously the “Brutus” and Pickett the dictator in this rendition of the play.

Hayes said it is not fair to compare Mansura to other towns, noting that while Marksville may pay its mayor $500 a month, “It also has a city manager” that does the same job as Pickett does for Mansura.

She called for letting the mayor’s salary remain the same.

The Mansura mayoral salary of $3,000 a month is the highest in the parish and was the highest of 21 towns, villages and small cities Escude included in his April chart.

Bunkie’s $1,920 a month and Simmesport’s $1,500 a month are the closest to Mansura’s. The parish’s other six municipalities pay their mayors less than $1,000 a month. Seven of the 12 out-of-parish municipalities on Escude’s chart pay their mayors $1,000 a month, but none pay more than that.

By contrast, Mansura’s aldermen are among the lowest-paid in the parish.

Only the villages of Hessmer ($50/month), Evergreen and Plaucheville (both $100/month) pay their council members less than Mansura. Even the Village of Moreauville pays more at $300 a month.

Of the 12 out-of-parish municipalities on Escude’s chart, only two paid their aldermen less ($100) and three paid them the same as Mansura. Six paid $300 a month and one paid $250 a month.

In his reaction to Barnett’s comments, Pickett referred to himself as a “judge” and the meeting room as a “courtroom” before correcting his comment to “mayor” and “council room.”

He said people would not show such disrespect in other judges’ courtrooms.

“I have the gavel,” he thundered.

‘I AM THE MAYOR'

After department reports, Pickett returned to the issue to deliver yet one more tirade.

Among his comments was that God decides his fate, not men. He made the same point in his opening prayer, in which he thanked God for “anointing” him to be mayor of Mansura.

“No matter who doesn’t like that I am mayor, I am the mayor,” Pickett said.

He said he “will have the respect as mayor for as long as I am in this seat.”

He reiterated that position later by saying he will have the same respect all other mayors of Mansura have received in the town’s 158 years of existence.

Some in the audience were visibly and audibly concerned with the mayor’s actions and apparent sense of “ownership” of the public meeting. Others were supportive of Pickett’s actions and assertive attitude.

Pickett told council members they can “have your public hearing,” but added the people will have the final say on election day -- an apparent reminder that even if the salary is reduced as of Jan. 1 by adopting the ordinance on June 11, voters could elect aldermen in November that would restore the salary upon taking office in January.