Jeanerette’s monthly Board of Aldermen exploded Monday night after Mayor Carol Bourgeois Jr. moved to suspend City Attorney Lucretia Pecantte on several allegations of negligence of duties, leading to the meeting closing without adjournment due to board members walking out. 

The incident seemed to be the culmination of several years of misgivings that some board members had with Bourgeois, which included a former alderman in the audience who also voiced his opinions during the incident. 

Although the agenda item was originally intended to be discussed in executive session, Pecantte chose to keep the discussion open to the public. Pecantte filed suit against Bourgeois in January on allegations of the mayor refusing to pay her in a timely manner. 

At the meeting, Bourgeois said he had the right to suspend Pecantte pending her termination, which has to be voted on by the Board of Aldermen. 

The reasons for the suspension included several alleged instances of Pecantte not performing her services as city attorney. 

They included the failure to provide auditors with materials related to litigation claims and assessments, the failure to provide updates on a legal matter and a city project to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and a failure to provide information to a project manager for the Louisiana Community Development Block Grant Program. 

Bourgeois also said the suit submitted by Pecantte against the city (Pecantte contested the suit was against Bourgeois, not the city) was filed erroneously and had put Jeanerette in a negative media light. 

Responding to the mayor for several minutes, Pecantte went to the speaker’s podium and paced back and forth in front of the council desk. She said that she was never given a job description of her duties since being hired and the timing of her check being withheld made it obvious what it was really about. 

“I didn’t file against the city, if I did I would have had to resign my position,” Pecantte said. “I filed against the mayor for his actions. Would you want your check held?”

Pecantte further said the mayor did not have the authority to suspend her because she was not an officer of the city, but rather a contracted employee. 

As for the failure to render her services, Pecantte was adamant that she had never “refused” to do her job as the mayor said, but rather that for the cases mentioned she did not have the adequate information at the time. 

“I want him to show me an e-mail where I refused to do anything,” she said. “If you can provide me with an e-mail with why I refused to do something, then I’ll walk out this door because I know I never refused. I’m just doing what I was told to do.”

The tense situation led to Alderwoman Charlene Moore making a motion to suspend the agenda item until proof about Pecantte’s refusal to perform those services was shown. 

However, Bourgeois said the suspension did not need a vote and was in effect by his decision alone. 

Alderman Ray Duplechain asked that the matter be taken to executive session as originally intended, but quickly got into a shouting match with former Clarence Clark, who was in the audience. 

The conversation quickly devolved after that with calls to remove Clark and Alderwoman Mariah Clay calling members in the room disrespectful. Alderwoman Charlene Moore left the room, leading to a lack of a quorum and the meeting ending adjourned.