ST. MARTINVILLE — The St. Martinville City Council spent more than half an hour Tuesday night untangling a complaint made against city workers for allegedly doing work for District 3 Councilman Dennis Paul Williams both before and after Hurricane Laura delivered a near miss to the city last month.

Resident Florita Chatman said that a tree limb had fallen at her father’s house on Wednesday, Aug. 26, prior to Laura moving through the area, but she could not get city workers to come out and remove the debris, which she claimed was on a utility line.

Later, as she checked on her home, she saw city workers removing a tree that had been uprooted and fallen across lines at Williams’ daughter’s home. After talking to workers, she went to Mayor Melinda Mitchell to lodge a complaint.

“So how can they do work on his property, and not mine?” Chatman asked.

Chatman has been a vocal opponent of Williams in the past, to the point of being removed from council meetings for disruptive and argumentative comments.

“I talk the way I feel,” Chatman said.

Mitchell said that upon hearing Chatman’s complaint, she immediately called Public Works Supervisor Brian Touchet to ask about the work, then called St. Martinville Police Chief Ricky Martin to serve as a witness as she went to the site of the work. By the time they arrived, the work was completed. City Legal Counsel Allan Durand explained that, during a declared emergency such as the time after a named storm passing through the area, the Public Works Department was working to maintain life and property and keep city services and streets running.

“A different set of rules apply during an emergency situation,” Durand said, citing several state attorney general opinions. “Under the law, workers can go on private property after a storm.”

Mitchell said she was going to call Chatman to explain that.

“I was going to let Ms. Flo know,” Mitchell said.

“This item should not even be up here,” said District 1 Councilman Mike Fuselier. “We know why it is up here, and we know who is behind it.”

Williams has been a target of Mitchell supporters since immediately after he won reelection in 2018. After several false starts, a recall campaign was initiated against him. That campaign was unsuccessful.

Williams’ daughter, Ryan Denise Williams, spoke at the meeting to decry the attacks on her father. She had evacuated in Laura’s advance, but said she was in constant contact with her parents throughout the storm.

“This is not the first time Ms. Florita has gone public with accusations of wrongdoing against Dennis Paul Williams to propagate attacks on him,” she said. “She has gone public and made statements that should have been known were false before. It’s harassment, slander, and lies meant to demonize him.”

She added that the constant attacks and disruption have distracted the council and mayor from doing the right things for the city.

“It’s all hocus pocus, smoke and mirrors,” Williams said. “This is not an attack on anyone. This is a call to action.”

Chatman also accused city workers of delivering sandbags to Ryan Williams’ home before the storm, an attack Touchet refuted.

“Councilman Williams drove his little sedan to the Public Works barn and made like five trips delivering sandbags to people,” Touchet said. “Once our preparations were made, I had all of our workers at the barn helping fill sandbags and drop them off until the storm came. Mr. Williams was going to load his car down again, and instead I said, ‘Let us load them on a truck and drop them off.’ That was not preferential treatment. We were doing that for anyone who needed help. We would have loaded yours up if you had asked.”

Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper said it was wrong for Mitchell to have pulled the police chief into the situation, especially during an active emergency.

“That was tasteless and uncalled for,” Prosper said. “It’s disheartening that we had to do this. We need to leave our pride at home.”

Mitchell said she brought the chief along because of the contentious relationship that has existed between her and the council.

“It was not pride,” Mitchell said.

In other business, the council:

• Approved a zoning variance for Dream Team Junkie Studio located at 403 Rousseau St., but denied a request for a loft barn cabin at 208 Rochon Lane.

• Approved rezoning S. Cemetery, Margaret, Elmore, Joseph, Roosevelt, and Durand streets to C-1 commercial use.

• Offered to assist Menda Batiste of the Sisters in Christ in hosting a community healing prayer service.

• Approved a request for a “Kuts for Kids” event to be held Sunday from noon until 4 p.m. at J’s Cut Above the Rest at 809 Main St.