Rhinehart reappointed to Mandeville Planning and Zoning Commission
The Mandeville City Council unanimously reappointed Brian Rhinehart to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday, keeping an experienced member in place as the city continues work on a rewrite of its zoning…
Continue Reading…Mandeville adopts FY2027 budget with 2.8% employee COLA
The Mandeville City Council adopted a structurally balanced operating budget for the coming fiscal year Thursday, ending weeks of hearings that began with Councilman-at-Large Scott Discon insisting the city was overspending and promising to identify specific areas where spending…
Continue Reading…Council members propose new spending as Mandeville budget heads to final hearing
After weeks of debate over whether Mandeville is spending too much, City Council members emerged from their fourth budget hearing Wednesday without identifying a specific spending cut — but with several proposals to add expenses to Mayor Clay Madden’s proposed FY2027…
Continue Reading…Financial adviser urges City Council to examine employee benefit costs
As the Mandeville City Council considers increasing employee raises in the proposed FY2027 budget, a local financial adviser who had already raised concerns directly with council members urged them Wednesday to look beyond salaries and examine…
Continue Reading…Mayor documents escalating dispute in police report
Mayor Clay Madden filed a report with the Mandeville Police Department this month documenting a series of interactions with local businessman Robert “Trey” Berning III that Madden said had “escalated to the point…
Continue Reading…Council finds nothing to cut in FY2027 operating budget after earlier claim of overspending
After weeks of warnings about city spending and a pointed challenge from Mayor Clay Madden to identify where Mandeville was overspending, Councilman-at-Large Scott Discon completed his review of the proposed fiscal year 2027 operating budget Wednesday night without identifying…
Continue Reading…Joint meeting devolves into confusion as members of competing bodies shout over one another
An unusual joint proceeding between the Mandeville City Council and Civil Service Board descended at one point into members talking and shouting over one another Wednesday night, exposing the practical consequences of a meeting arrangement the city attorney had defended hours earlier under…
Continue Reading…Civil Service Board to join council budget hearing despite council notice making no mention of joint meeting
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…
Continue Reading…Council adopts expanded public comment rules after 45-minute debate
A City Council effort to give residents more opportunities to speak turned into a roughly 45-minute debate Thursday over when they should speak, what they should be allowed to discuss and how long they should be permitted to…
Continue Reading…Budget hearing erupts over spending claims as councilman questions millions accumulating in restricted funds
What began Thursday evening as the second in a series of largely technical hearings on Mandeville’s proposed FY2027 budget ended in a heated confrontation over whether the city is spending too much — and opened a potentially much larger debate over whether taxpayers should continue pouring money into restricted funds that could accumulate…
Continue Reading…FY2027 budget hearings open with first structurally balanced operating budget in years
Mandeville’s proposed FY2027 budget would pay for recurring city operations entirely with recurring revenues for the first time in years, Finance Director Jessica Farno confirmed Wednesday during the first of five City Council…
Continue Reading…Anonymous mailers, websites mount coordinated campaign against Madden administration
With Mandeville’s next municipal election still nearly two years away, three anonymous political mailers and two anonymously operated websites have mounted a sustained campaign criticizing Mayor Clay Madden’s administration on issues ranging from city finances to water and sewer rates…
Continue Reading…LSU Health Foundation, Woodward Harbor seek to revive dismissed Sucette Harbor appeal
Update (Aug. 7): The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has granted LSU Health Foundation New Orleans and Woodward Harbor’s motion to reinstate the appeal, restoring the case to the court’s active docket. The appeal had been dismissed three days earlier after the appellants failed to timely…
Continue Reading…Federal appeals court dismisses LSU Health Foundation appeal against Mandeville
A federal appeals court has dismissed LSU Health Foundation New Orleans’ appeal challenging the dismissal of its lawsuit against the City of Mandeville, leaving the lower court’s ruling in favor of the city in place unless the appeal is later reinstated…
Continue Reading…Tammany Trace official clarifies electric vehicle rules as Trailhead signage confusion continues
A Tammany Trace official says street-legal electric mobility devices remain permitted on the Tammany Trace, despite confusion stemming from two different sets of signs that govern two separate areas…
Continue Reading…Police respond after parents report teen bicyclists riding through children’s birthday party at Trailhead
Mandeville Police responded Tuesday evening after parents hosting a birthday party for a young child with autism at the Mandeville Trailhead reported that a group of teenagers on bicycles were riding through a party being held under the pavilion and splash pad area in a manner they believed endangered…
Continue Reading…Council postpones meeting rules rewrite, short-term rental vote
The City Council postponed votes Thursday on proposed changes to its meeting procedures and a short-term rental permit, allowing the full council to consider the two matters when they return next…
Continue Reading…Council to consider reversing public comment interpretation in proposed rules rewrite
The City Council is scheduled Thursday to consider replacing its current rules of procedure with a new resolution that would reverse a controversial interpretation of the council’s public comment rules adopted just…
Continue Reading…Police begin targeted enforcement of illegal electric mini-motorcycles, bicycle traffic laws
The Mandeville Police Department made contact with more than 50 individuals Saturday during a targeted enforcement effort focused on illegal electric mini-motorcycles operating in Old Mandeville, Police Chief…
Continue Reading…OPINION | A rule intended for order now threatens open public comment at council meetings
Government meetings need rules. Without them, city councils could never finish an agenda. Time limits, maintaining decorum and keeping discussion orderly are all reasonable restrictions that allow public business to be …
Continue Reading…Water, sewer billing system to get independent review
The City Council unanimously voted Thursday to authorize Mayor Clay Madden to seek an independent consultant to conduct a comprehensive audit and review of the city’s recently adopted water and sewer billing system, reopening debate…
Continue Reading…Low-traffic overlay for Monroe Street corridor to be considered by Council
A proposed zoning ordinance scheduled for introduction Thursday would create a new overlay district aimed at preventing future high-traffic development along the Monroe Street corridor, a move that could significantly affect the redevelopment potential of some of the city’s largest…
Continue Reading…Civil Service Board tables 2.8% COLA recommendation until budget hearings begin
A routine annual discussion over employee cost-of-living adjustments ended Wednesday without a recommendation after members of the Municipal Employees Civil Service Board and Mandeville City Council agreed more time was needed…
Continue Reading…Proposed FY 2027 budget projects structurally balanced operations, reserves above new policy target
Mandeville’s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget would mark a significant shift in the city’s financial planning, projecting a structurally balanced General Fund for the first time under the city’s newly adopted reserve policy while maintaining reserve levels well above…
Continue Reading…OPINION | The goalposts moved after Mandeville adopted its reserve policy
For months, one of the loudest criticisms of Mandeville’s finances was that the city lacked a formal policy protecting its financial reserves. That criticism ended Thursday — or at least it should have ended…
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