Jeanerette’s Monday evening Board of Aldermen meeting held Monday got heated after Alderman Clarence Clark introduced two ordinances to the board that dealt with the authority granted to Jeanerette’s mayor.

One of the ordinances dealt with the authority structure for the Jeanerette Police Department. Under the current ordinance, Jeanerette police officers are said to report to the mayor in several parts of the rules for the police department.

Clark’s amendment to the ordinance was intended to change that wording to report to the police chief of the city.

“This changes it so the police officers are subject to the supervision of the mayor and aldermen,” Clark said. “We do have a police chief that is the person that runs the department.”

Mayor Carol Bourgeois Jr. said Jeanerette’s model of governance is mayor-council, and although each department has control of their employees the mayor is responsible for the overall supervision of Jeanerette government.

“We have a model where the overall responsibility and accountability is with the chief executive officer,” Bourgeois said.

The ordinance led to several questions from police officers attending the meeting, who asked which person they would report to if the mayor was absent.

“As a police officer, who is in charge of me?” one officer asked. “The mayor or the chief? Who do I report to?”

Other complaints included having no ranking structure within the police department besides the role of police officer and the role of chief, whereas other departments have other ranks such as “captain” or “seargent.”

The board voted to pass the ordinance, however, Bourgeois said he would likely use his veto power to veto the amendment.

“I don’t think this is where we need to be heading,” he said.

In other business, Clark introduced another ordinance that would expand the powers of the mayor pro tem so that he or she would be the person required to sign relevant city documents when it is required.

Clark said the ordinance was brought up because he said he has been “overlooked” in various instances as mayor pro tem.

“If anything happens to the mayor today or tomorrow (then) the mayor pro tem runs the city, but how can I run the city if I dont know whats going on,” he asked.

A particular instance recently involved a grant document that Alderman Louis Lancon signed as head of the city’s budget committee. Clark said he knew nothing about the grant documents when they were signed.

“The council voted to do those grants,” Lancon said. “Once the council votes to approve those grants somebody has to sign saying the mayor can sign that paperwork.”

After several heated exchanges from board members and members of the audience, Alderwoman Charlene Moore said she felt the ordinance was “personal.”

“Councilman Lancon is on the budget committee, of course it’s OK for him to sign this document,” Moore said. “This sounds like a bit of jealousy and it doesn’t make sense.”

Bourgeois added that he had asked Clark three times in late 2020 and early 2021 to hold weekly meetings to stay up to date with city affairs.

“Lies,” Clark said multiple times.

The board ultimately voted to table the ordinance to a future date.