ST. MARTINVILLE — The St. Martinville City Council passed an ordinance Monday night to make sure council members are allowed to add items to the council agenda because councilmen say Mayor Melinda Mitchell has removed several items over the past weeks.

St. Martinville is governed under its own charter which gives council members the right to add agenda items. Mitchell has maintained that under the Lawrason Act, which is a general document setting guidelines for municipal governments, the mayor is given final word on the agenda.

A local home rule charter, however, supercedes the Lawrason Act.

“In my three terms as a councilman, I have never had an item pulled from the agenda,” said District 1 Councilman Mike Fuselier. 

District 2 Councilman Craig Prosper echoed Fuselier’s statement.

“I’ve had seven items pulled from the agenda,” he said. “I never had any removed before.”

The ordinance is the latest salvo in what has become a running battle between Mitchell and the council. At its previous meeting, the council voted to have Mitchell enter into a one-year deal with Poché Pecout Associates, the firm that vetted the city’s new deal with CLECO, so that the engineering firm’s insurance will be available if questions arise with the implementation of the deal.

That contract is still unsigned. City Legal Counsel Allan Durand told Mitchell that if she does not sign it, a judge may order her to do so.

The move to force Mitchell’s hand comes six weeks after she ended a council meeting early when Prosper questioned her move to hire a friend as a part time consultant for one year at a salary of $165,000.