Sucette Harbor letter of endorsement challenged by Mariner’s Village residents

Mariner’s Island property owners submit disavowal notice to City Council, ask for investigation

MICA residents say they weren’t polled and there were no annual meetings

MVMA president says there weren’t quorums at previously scheduled meetings

Says many in MVMA support Sucette, afraid to speak up

MANDEVILLE — A group of property owners from the Mariner’s Village Master Association is disavowing any connection to a so-called unanimous endorsement of the Sucette Harbor project referenced at the last Mandeville City Council meeting by Woodward Interests President William Hoffman when making his case in favor of the project.

Woodward Interests is the developer behind the controversial Sucette Harbor project, in partnership with the LSU Health Foundation.

At the May 25th City Council meeting, Hoffman said he had a unanimous endorsement from the Mariner’s Village Master Association’s (MVMA) board of directors, which is a five-member body. Eric McVicker serves as president.

However, Larry Grundmann, claiming to represent Mariner’s Island Condominium Association (MICA) property owners, which is part of the MVMA, sent a letter on June 6th to the Mandeville City Council (see letter at end of story) disavowing the aforementioned endorsement, claiming his members were never polled on the issue. Grundmann is opposed to the Sucette Harbor project and is asking the Mandeville City Council to investigate the circumstances surrounding the MVMA endorsement and its presentation to the council and public May 25th.

Grundmann’s letter contains the signatures of 23 individuals claiming to be a “super majority” of property owners of MICA, each having endorsed a statement of disavowal which reads:

“To the Mandeville City Council: The undersigned is a property owner at and a member of the Mariners Island Condominium Association. No one from the so-called Mariners Village Master Association has contacted me about the Sucette Harbor development. Any representation that the development has unanimous approval or property owners in the area is false. I do not agree with the development as proposed for the many reasons given at the recent council meeting. Please vote against the zoning change required for this development to proceed. Best.”

His letter further states that it is unclear who the MVMA board members are, and the endorsement letter referenced at the last meeting could not be found among the Sucette Project materials.

Mandeville Daily received a copy of the endorsement letter from other sources (see letter at end of story). The letter does not name the members of the board of directors.

While the bold title of the letter reads, “Mariner’s Village Master Association Votes to Endorse Sucette Harbor Project,” the actual body of the endorsement letter only makes the claim that “the board of directors voted” and that “the vote was unanimous, 5-0.” The letter does not state that it represents a polling of the membership or residents of MVMA, but one could argue that the title implies it.

However, when contacted by Mandeville Daily, McVicker said “numerous conversations were had with many residents across Mariner’s Village before the vote. A lot of residents are in favor of the project but haven’t publicly spoken out of fear of retribution…”

He described the five board members as being: Jason Dahlberg, Alex Edliamati, Gene Norton, Alejandra Guzman, and himself. They were last elected in 2021, he said.

Guzman is the Executive Director of Business Ventures for the LSU Health Foundation, which is in partnership with Woodward Interests and Hoffman for the Sucette Harbor project. But when asked by Councilman At Large Jason Zuckerman at the May 25th council meeting who the MVMA board members were, Hoffman responded, “That, I don’t know.”

Grundmann’s letter to the council makes a number of other assertions, mostly involving Hoffman and District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller’s display of unfamiliarity with McVicker’s relationship with the MVMA and its board of directors.

“And the Councilman in whose district the project is located (Kreller) certainly knows his campaign consultant’s association, but he did not say so either,” Grundmann wrote. McVicker serves as or has served as a consultant for Kreller’s campaign.

Grundmann also sent links to previous articles by the LSU Health Foundation and the Times-Picayune/Nola.com that quote McVicker, Kreller and even Councilman At Large Rick Danielson as being supportive of LSU Health Foundation’s proposed developments for the land.

As for Grundmann’s complaint concerning MVMA’s annual membership meetings not being held, McVicker said that meetings had been scheduled the last two years but quorums were not present.

Article II, Section 2 of the MVMA bylaws call for annual meetings of the membership and at those meetings “they shall elect by a plurality vote a board of directors, and officers and transact such other business as may properly be brought before the meeting.”

But according to McVicker, Guzman is empowered to proxy vote for the LSU Health Association’s 89-vote interest. That means that combined with the other four board members — if they are indeed property owners too — there would have been a quorum present for the May 23rd vote.

This raises two interesting points. If you have a quorum on May 23rd, why not have the annual meeting, and the vote by the five board members more accurately represents about 50 percent of the ownership. This seems to be Grundmann’s primary issue: The letter was painted as a ringing endorsement when it more accurately represents a 50-percent endorsement of the ownership in MVMA.

According to the vote allocations found in the Master Association articles of incorporation, the LSU Health Foundation controls 89 of the 186 votes, or 47.85 percent.