Zuckerman says he was not informed of joint meeting, has concern about Open Meetings law
City attorney responds after publication, says meeting arrangement complies with state law
MANDEVILLE — Mandeville’s Civil Service Board will meet with the City Council during Wednesday night’s budget hearing to discuss and vote on a cost-of-living adjustment for city employees, despite the City Council’s public meeting notice making no mention of the board, a joint meeting or the COLA.
The board — formally the Municipal Police Employees’ Civil Service Board and Municipal Employees’ Civil Service Board, which meet as a combined body — was separately advertised to meet at the same time and location as the council.
The unusual arrangement emerged Wednesday morning after Mandeville Daily sought clarification of separate public notices scheduling both bodies to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.
The City Council’s notice, dated Aug. 6, advertises a budget hearing with a single item of new business: “Discussion of the FY 2026-2027 Budget.”
A Civil Service Board notice dated Aug. 14 schedules the board to meet at the identical time and location to consider a “Cost-of-living adjustment for the Police and Non-Police employees of the City of Mandeville for FY26-27.”
Rather than describing the proceeding as a joint meeting, however, the Civil Service Board notice says in its heading that the meeting will be “RUNNING CONCURRENTLY WITH THE CITY COUNCIL’S FY27 BUDGET HEARING.”
The council’s notice contains no corresponding reference to the Civil Service Board meeting.
Asked Wednesday morning whether the proceedings were a joint meeting and whether the bodies would meet in separate rooms, Council Clerk Alicia Watts confirmed that the Civil Service Board will instead join the council for a portion of its budget hearing.
“It is, the Civil Service Board will be present with the Council and available for discussion of the COLA, then they will be voting on the rate they will recommend to Council, then their portion of the meeting will adjourn and it will return to the Council,” Watts wrote.
Mandeville Daily followed up Wednesday morning asking why the proceeding was not advertised as a joint meeting, who called or arranged for the Civil Service Board to participate in the council’s previously advertised budget hearing and who informed Watts of the arrangement.
No response to those questions had been received as of publication.
UPDATE: City attorney says arrangement complies with Open Meetings Law
City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert responded after publication Wednesday, saying the arrangement complies with Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law and that the council was not required to advertise the proceeding as a joint meeting.
Sconzert said the council’s posted agenda item, “Discussion of the FY 2026-2027 Budget,” satisfies the law’s requirement that agenda items be described with reasonable specificity because the COLA and the Civil Service Board’s recommendation are components of the operating budget discussion.
“A COLA and the Civil Service Boards’ recommendations concerning it are components of the FY 2026–27 operating budget discussion,” Sconzert wrote. “The Open Meetings Law does not require that the Council notice separately label the meeting as a ‘joint meeting’ merely because the separately noticed Civil Service Boards will be present for, and participate in, the COLA discussion.”
Sconzert said the council will first call its budget hearing to order and begin its regular proceedings. When discussion reaches the COLA, the Civil Service Board will separately be called to order and participate in the discussion.
The board will then vote on the COLA rate or rates it will recommend to the council and adjourn its portion of the proceeding. The council will remain in session and continue discussing the remainder of the budget. The council is not scheduled to vote on the COLA or any other budget matter Wednesday.
Sconzert cited Maxwell v. Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in arguing that Louisiana courts evaluate agenda descriptions in context and do not require exhaustive detail when the public has reasonable notice of the subject to be discussed.
She also cited Rushing v. Southeastern Louisiana University in addressing the Open Meetings Law provision allowing actions taken in violation of the law to be voided. Because the council will take no final action Wednesday, Sconzert said there would be no council action from the hearing to set aside.
Sconzert did not identify who arranged for the Civil Service Board to join the previously scheduled council budget hearing or address why the arrangement was not disclosed more clearly on the council’s notice as a matter of public convenience, questions Mandeville Daily had also raised in its follow-up.
When reached for comment, Councilman-at-Large Jason Zuckerman told Mandeville Daily he was not informed that Wednesday night’s budget hearing was intended to be a joint meeting with the Civil Service Board and raised concerns about whether the arrangement complies with Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law.
The arrangement closely resembles the follow-up joint meeting that the council and Civil Service Board agreed last month should occur after council members had an opportunity to review Mayor Clay Madden’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.
At a July 1 joint meeting, Civil Service Board Chairman Brian Burke made the board’s customary motion to recommend a COLA, proposing a 2.8% increase matching the increase announced by the Social Security Administration. Madden’s proposed budget, which had been released to council members less than 24 hours earlier, includes funding for a 1% COLA.
Council members declined to commit to a recurring salary increase before conducting their formal budget review.
Zuckerman suggested reconvening after the council had an opportunity to examine the proposed budget and determine the financial effect of a COLA. Other council members similarly expressed concerns about making a compensation decision before reviewing the city’s overall spending plan.
Rather than vote on Burke’s 2.8% recommendation, the Civil Service Board tabled the matter. Officials agreed to schedule another joint meeting after the council’s budget hearings were underway.
Although the council has since held two budget hearings, on Aug. 12 and 13, council members have not yet discussed what COLA, if any, they would support. Zuckerman said the operating budget — including the spending that would fund employee compensation — was expected to be discussed at Wednesday night’s hearing.
Wednesday’s proceeding appears to serve as the contemplated follow-up joint meeting, but it was not advertised as such on the City Council’s notice. Council Chairman Scott Discon is responsible for setting the council’s agendas, yet the Aug. 6 notice makes no mention of the Civil Service Board, a joint meeting or the COLA. Discon was copied on Mandeville Daily’s correspondence with Watts seeking clarification Wednesday morning but had not responded as of publication. It remained unclear who arranged for the Civil Service Board to join the previously scheduled council budget hearing.
It remained unclear who arranged for the Civil Service Board to join the previously scheduled council budget hearing.
Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law requires public bodies to provide advance notice of their meetings, including the date, time, place and agenda. The law also requires agenda items to be separately listed and described with reasonable specificity.
The Civil Service Board’s notice identifies both the COLA and the council budget hearing. The City Council’s notice, however, tells members of the public only that the council will hold a hearing for “Discussion of the FY 2026-2027 Budget.” It does not state that the Civil Service Board will convene with the council during the hearing or that the two bodies will jointly discuss employee compensation.
Wednesday’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Mandeville City Hall.
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