Councilman claims in texts he was trying to ‘hold the votes on P&Z together’

Instructed confidant to contact P&Z member to keep as ‘yes’ vote

Complained to city attorney ‘again’ about perceived ‘no’ vote by other P&Z member

Former councilwoman suggested having P&Z member check voting records of project critics on social media

Texts suggest frequent consultations with project team, project attorney

MANDEVILLE — District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller made claims in text messages with his confidants and consultants that suggest he was trying to influence the upcoming vote on Sucette Harbor by the Planning & Zoning Commission, according to information contained in a public records release.

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Editor’s Note: This is the first part in a series that will explore the recent Sucette Harbor public records release. Mandeville Daily is merely describing what was said in the text messages of those involved in the Sucette Harbor process, adding context where necessary. It is important to remember these are only text messages. Just because someone said they did or would do something, or talked to this person or that person doesn’t mean they actually did. These are public records. Anyone could ask for them and review them at any time. Mandeville Daily believes it is in the public interest for the people to inspect these documents in order to help foster and preserve the public trust. At the end of this multi-part series, we will publish a complete timeline of events from start to finish, including all text messages from all council members and other officials in PDF format for the reader to review independently, but as of the publish date of this article we do not have legible text messages from two of the council members involved due to a technical error by the City of Mandeville.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

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The Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) on April 17th voted 4-3 to recommend the Sucette Harbor project for adoption by the City Council. This split decision came after a series of six special meetings by the P&Z, spanning September 21, 2022, to April 17, 2023. These text messages occurred before and during that series of P&Z meetings.

In January 2023, Kreller told his campaign consultant and Mariner’s Village Master Association (MVMA) President Eric McVicker that Woodward Interests President Bill Hoffman (the project developer) “knows I’m trying to hold the votes on P&Z together,” according to text messages.

McVicker would later pen a press release announcing the “unanimous” endorsement of Sucette Harbor by the MVMA board of directors. That release was submitted to the City Council and mentioned by Hoffman at the initial Sucette Harbor meeting as evidence of community support. However, the endorsement was later disavowed by a group of 45 MVMA property owners.

After one P&Z meeting in March, Kreller — in a text conversation with McVicker and former Mandeville Mayor Donald Villere — said he planned to complain to City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert about P&Z Chairman Brian Rhinehart for his “negative position” claiming that Rhinehart had been opposed to the Pre-Stressed/Port Marigny project before he was appointed to the P&Z, therefore they assumed he would vote no on Sucette Harbor.

In that same text thread, Kreller instructed McVicker to contact one of the P&Z members, saying “need to keep Mike Pierce a yes vote.” However, Pierce ended up voting against recommending the project to the City Council.

The Planning & Zoning Commission members are appointed by the City Council. The council can also vote to remove P&Z members.

A series of texts on March 18th show that Kreller sought and received advice from former Planning and Development Director Louisette Scott concerning the CLURO as it relates to the Sucette Harbor project. He then passed along that information to P&Z member Nixon Adams.

According to a Kreller text message from August 2022, former City Councilwoman at Large and project proponent Trilby Lenfant suggested to Kreller that he ask P&Z member Nixon Adams to check the voting records of people who had made negative comments on social media about the project. They were referring to a Facebook post about Sucette Harbor by Mayor Clay Madden that received a multitude of negative comments from private citizens.

In another text from August 2022, Kreller told McVicker that he and Councilman at Large Rick Danielson had briefed the Woodward Interests team on who would be critical of the project. This appears to be a reference to either the P&Z, the City Council, or both.

Days later, Kreller warned McVicker not to delete any negative comments from Facebook, hoping critics would defame them. Kreller claimed he had consulted Woodward Interests attorney Paul Harrison, who “recommended stay low” on social media.

These and other texts that will be revealed later in this special series on Sucette Harbor suggest a pattern of frequent contact — or at least claims of such — with the developer team by Kreller, his confidants or consultants.

Sucette Harbor Exposed: Part 2 will be published soon.

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Related: OPINION | Text messages make righteous indignation over ‘bribe’ post look bogus

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