P&Z nominee set for vote Thursday faces long odds

Majority questioned choice, process

Council rules dictate voting on applicants until one gets majority

Possible Open Meetings Law violation

MANDEVILLE — The man nominated to fill a vacancy on the Planning & Zoning Commission faces a tough vote Thursday, as suggested by comments from council members at the last meeting.

The October 24th City Council meeting descended into a shouting match at times amid debate and questions over the selection of a nominee to fill an open P&Z seat.

The nominating committee of Councilman at Large Scott Discon and District I Councilwoman Cynthia Strong-Thompson announced Shawn Potter, also from District I, as their choice to fill the seat left empty when Mike Pierce resigned.

Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman, District III Councilwoman Jill McGuire, and District II Councilman Kevin Vogeltanz voiced their opposition to the nominee.

Discon and Strong-Thompson defended their choice being from District I, explaining that one of the primary reasons they selected Potter was that District I is significantly larger than the other two districts. To illustrate their point, they presented a map on the Council Chamber monitors.

However, each of the three districts has roughly the same population, as is required by the City Home Rule Charter.

And although the charter doesn’t have a requirement for proportional P&Z representation among Mandeville’s equally populated three districts, currently, five of the seven P&Z members live in District III, while one lives in Strong-Thompson’s District I. District II has no representation.

The Potter vote is on the agenda for Thursday’s City Council meeting. Appointment to the P&Z requires a simple majority vote.

Resolution 24-60 created new rules for appointing P&Z members as well as a nominating committee of two council members, who are to be chosen by the council chairman, which is currently Discon.

Discon appointed himself and Strong-Thompson to the nominating committee.

The pool of applicants are: Potter from District I, Judge Pat Rosenow from District II, and Ernest Burguières from District III.

At the October 24th meeting, where Discon and Strong-Thompson nominated Potter, Discon cautioned that if the Potter vote were unsuccessful, the committee would face challenges in selecting a second choice:

“Now, what if the first person does not get in? Do we go back and choose a second? I think that’s what we just said. What if there’s a disagreement between the two (Discon and Strong-Thompson), the council at large and the council district committee over who goes next?”

City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert said, “When the original resolution was drafted, there was a consensus … that at some point you guys would have to be able to agree…”

“OK, so if we can’t agree, what happens then?” asked Discon.

“The resolution doesn’t say,” Sconzert replied.

However, Vogeltanz, who is an attorney, reminded the other two attorneys — Sconzert and Discon — that “shall” is legal verbiage and they don’t have a choice but to make a second nomination if the first fails, and then a third if the second fails.

Resolution 24-60 establishes 10 rules in all, beginning with advertising for applications and ending with the council voting to appoint a nominee.

Discon signaled that rule 10 could pose a problem for him and Strong-Thompson if the Potter vote fails Thursday.

If the committee’s first nomination fails, rule 10 states the committee “shall” make another nomination from the remaining applicants.

By putting the word “shall” into their rules, this council, according to Vogeltanz, has tied its hands and must go through the list of applicants until there is a successful appointment or the list is exhausted. Only then, according to Resolution 24-60, does the process start over.

To further complicate matters, the committee of Discon and Strong-Thompson may have violated the state’s Open Meetings Law when they met to discuss the Potter nomination because they did not open the meeting to the public.

According to Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law (La. R.S. 42:13), all committees and subcommittees created by public bodies are also considered public bodies and, hence, subject to the Open Meetings Law as well.

According to Discon’s on-the-record comments at the October 24th meeting, he and Strong-Thompson met at least once to deliberate their P&Z nomination:

“So, um, without further ado then I guess we’ll do the nomination of the candidate for the Mandeville Planning & Zoning Commission. And, um, Cynthia, uh, Councilwoman Strong and I, Cynthia Strong and I, uh, sat today, this afternoon, and we, uh, conferred and we would like to nominate, um, Shawn Potter for as the nomination for, uh, Planning & Zoning,” Discon told the council at the October 24th regular meeting (1:30:46).

Mandeville Daily could find no record of a meeting by the nominating committee scheduled for that date, nor any other date advertised or posted in accordance with the state’s Open Meetings Law.

It is unclear if this will have an effect on the process at the next meeting.

The Potter vote is set for Thursday, November 21st, at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at Mandeville City Hall.

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