The St. Martinville City Council approved an amendment to an ordinance that specifies the mayor’s authority in relation to citations.

Legal counsel Allan Durand said he was asked to give his opinion in regard to the mayor’s authority to citations since the council has appointed Eddie Guidry as a magistrate to deal with citations in the mayor’s court.

Durand said there is nothing in the city charter that indicates the magistrate is appointed in the place of the mayor and assumes authority, and the Lawrason Act reserves the mayor’s authority to deal with citations.

Chief Ricky Martin said the issue sprang up because a city normally has a prosecutor in citations court, and Guidry working as a magistrate and prosecutor at the same time could not work.

“Being that we don’t have a prosecutor, Eddie has to stay impartial,” Martin said. “The mayor would replace having a prosecutor, which we would all love to have, then (Guidry) wouldn’t have to do it.”

The issue would be brought up if someone contested a traffic ticket, which would require a prosecutor and judge to work in both cases. Councilman Mike Fusilier recommended to table the agenda item in order to have time to answer more questions. When that failed, a motion by Councilwoman Flo Chatman to approve the amendment succeeded.

In other business, Durand clarified a procedural issue for the council having to do with approving bills brought before the municipality.

Durand said when bills are brought before the council, he was unaware they had already been paid. Because the city already approved the payment when they approve a contractor for a project, having a second approval is a waste of meeting time.

“I thought it ought to be brought to your attention that it is an unnecessary step because the check has already gone out,” Durand said.

The council agreed to disregard the second step, but Willis added that the council should see all bills that are paid by the city in order to keep up to date with city finances.