By Ernest A. Burguières
August 30, 2023
Ernest A. Burguières is a Mandeville attorney who formerly served as District III Councilman. Mandeville Daily is honored to publish Mr. Burguières’ column with permission which is a combined reporting of the goings on in Mandeville government with his personal commentary.
On Tuesday, September 5th, the final act of our shared Sucette experience will be unveiled. There will be a council meeting and there will reportedly be a vote!
If you have enjoyed and/or suffered through the Sucette experience over the past year, it may very well come to a head at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 5th, in the Spitzfaden Center. If there is a capacity crowd, you ought to arrive early or resign yourself to pressing your nose against the window to watch.
There are several reasons why you may want to attend.
It will be a defining experience.
At center stage will be our five beleaguered council members. The Sucette decision that night may have a significant effect on the political future of the council and the mayor.
We are told that our elected officials are supposed to represent the views and desires of the citizens. Each elected official will have to ask himself; do I side with my friends and constituents, or, do I side with the Sucette developers? Will my vote for Sucette be in the best interest of my friends and constituents? Will I be able to look my friends and constituents in the face and say, what I did is in your best interest? Or will I betray those friends and constituents and side with the Sucette developers? Will the city attorney and the Director of Planning make new efforts to thwart the sentiment of council members? Interesting times.
The mayor and the entire council will be up for election in 2024. Qualifying is in 90-plus days, December 13-15, 2023. The primary is March 23, 2024. The run-off, if required, is April 27, 2024.
Provocative questions abound.
Will the vote on Sucette be political suicide for some? You have to wonder how the constituent contact to each council member has been trending over the past 8 months, for or against Sucette? As a point of interest, I learned that my post entitled, “The August 15, 2023, Sucette Experience” had 4,300 views. The vast majority of comments I received were in opposition to Sucette. The numbers speak for themselves.
If the council votes to approve Sucette, what will the mayor do? Will he veto it? What are his chances for re-election in Council Districts II and III if he does not veto Sucette?
If a council member believes the mayor will ultimately veto any Sucette approval, why would that council member risk the political disadvantage of voting for Sucette?
When the vote comes, who will decide the order in which the council members’ names are called out to vote? Will the first council member called upon to vote set the stage for subsequent council members? What will the strategy be? The last council member on this issue will have the advantage of knowing how his four peers have already voted.
And think of the consequences of a vote in favor. You would have approved a change in the zoning from residential to commercial… forever. If this project is not built, it will still be zoned commercial, then what other commercial venture could be foisted on the citizens? We are supposedly still facing a recession in the next 12 to 18 months. There will be the presidential election of the century. Would a subsequent commercial venture be guided by the B-2 rules or B-1 rules? A car wash? A shopping center? A grand music / entertainment venue? How do you control these future potential consequences at this stage? Who wants to shoulder that risk?
An interesting spectacle.
Our opportunity to participate in this theater of the absurd ought to be a no-miss date. You are not likely to see more intriguing brinksmanship and stress in a local government experience. Come on down and sit in the peanut gallery with the rest of us pilgrims while this sausage is made!
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