Discon leads at-large pack, urging voters only select one
Updated 3/24/2024 with expanded coverage.
MANDEVILLE — Three of the four anti-Sucette Harbor candidates won their races in the March 23rd primary while Parks and Parkways commissioner Scott Discon joins the council after besting the pack of at-large candidates, according to unofficial returns.
Mayor Clay Madden and Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman retained their seats, and newcomer Kevin Vogeltanz easily ousted embattled Dr. Skelly Kreller from his District II seat, an apparent anti-Sucette Harbor mandate for the three. Discon had never endorsed the project except for advocating that the property be developed in some manner. Vogeltanz led Kreller 58 to 42 percent, or 525 to 375 votes.
Madden trounced challenger Jeff Lyons 2,560 to 744 votes, or 73 to 22 percent, which indicates the budget crisis narrative pushed by Lyons supporters, including lame-duck Councilman at Large Rick Danielson, in recent months was overwhelmingly rejected by voters. Billy Rosenthal came in with only 5 percent, or 161 votes.
Discon led Zuckerman 1,949 to 1,760, while former District III Councilman Ernest Burguières fell short with 1,669 votes.
According to the unofficial totals, there were approximately 806 “undervotes” in the at-large race, meaning potentially 806 voters selected only one or no candidate rather than two. There were posts on the official “Discon Council-at-Large” Facebook account advocating voters only select one candidate instead of two. Discon’s campaign also sent out a bulk mailer advising the same.
A bulk-mailer sent out by the Scott Discon for Council at Large campaign, advising voters to only select one instead of two. (Mandeville Daily)
Unofficial results as reported by the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office. (Mandeville Daily)
In his ruling, the judge found that the City had complied with Lyons and Ellender’s public records requests, also admonishing them for misquoting the City’s Home Rule Charter in their original complaint.
“I do appreciate your dedication as a ‘watchdog’ on behalf of your community … but your adding on language to the charter such as the phrase ‘including fund balances’ could be construed by some other judge as an attempt to mislead the court,” the judge said.
“I think the City has a better argument standing on the language of the charter itself. … In a nutshell, the City has no obligation to generate monthly or year-end reports that contain unaudited fund balances. Therefore, I’m going to … dismiss the mandamus proceeding at plaintiffs’ cost,” Badeaux continued.
Ellender, known mostly for his pro-Sucette Harbor social media posts, and Lyons filed for a writ of mandamus in 22nd Judicial District Court on February 27th in an attempt to force the City of Mandeville to provide certain end-of-year financial data, alleging the City had not complied with public records requests nor Section 3-05, Subsection 6 of the City’s Home Rule Charter.
Today’s judgment reads:
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that Defendants timely responded to the Complainants’ public records request, explaining that Defendants had no responsive record to produce, which precludes any cause of action for mandamus under the Public Records Law; and
“IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that Defendants’ Exceptions of No Cause of Action and No Right of Action are hereby granted, dismissing the above-captioned matter with prejudice.”
Review confirms history of $407K in liens on New Golden Shores residence
Delinquent 2022 property tax debt of $2,240 paid June 12th
Sued by credit card company while on council
MANDEVILLE — District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller has a history of financial troubles, including $406,978 in liens placed by the Internal Revenue Service between 1987 and 2015, delinquent payment of his 2022 property taxes in the amount of $2,240.96 for his Dona Drive residence, and a settlement with a credit card company for non-payment in 2022 during his first term on the City Council. While the majority of the IRS liens were associated with income taxes, a substantial portion were also related to payroll taxes.
These bombshell revelations were brought to light by a bulk mailer sent out this week by “Three Rivers PAC LLC.” The information was verified by Mandeville Daily using publicly available resources, including the St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court’s Office, the St. Tammany Parish Assessor’s Office and the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office.
On April 23, 2013, the federal government filed a “Subordination of Property from Federal Tax Lien” on his personal residence in the amount of $406,978, according to records. It appears that a mortgage was used to pay off some or all of this debt. The debt with the IRS is no longer outstanding.
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office’s June 7, 2023, delinquent property tax report — which is posted online and in local newspapers — contained a “Joseph Kreller” of 280 Dona Drive in Mandeville for $2,240.96. That debt was paid on June 12, 2023, according to the Sheriff’s Office tax collection division.
Citibank sued Kreller in September 2022 — during Kreller’s first term on the City Council — for an unpaid balance of $3,259.46.
Mandeville Daily was able to corroborate this information with records on file with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court’s Office, and the St. Tammany Parish Assessor’s Office.
Ellender, known mostly for his pro-Sucette Harbor social media posts, and Lyons filed for a writ of mandamus in 22nd Judicial District Court on February 27th in an attempt to force the City of Mandeville to provide certain end-of-year financial data, alleging the City had not complied with public records requests nor Section 3-05, Subsection 6 of the City’s Home Rule Charter.
The original hearing was set for March 7th at 9:30 a.m. but when the parties arrived for court that day they were notified that a criminal trial had taken precedence and the judge asked if they could return in the afternoon or have the hearing reassigned to a later date.
Excerpt from the City of Mandeville’s memorandum response on file with the St. Tammany Clerk of Court’s Office. (Mandeville Daily)
City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert claims in the memorandum response:
the City complied with all public records requests submitted by both parties,
the plaintiffs are asking for a record to be created where none exists,
they are misrepresenting the actual language of the City Charter, and
the City has fulfilled its obligation according to the charter, with the monthly reports and other documents it already makes available on its website.
The City’s response takes particular exception to the plaintiffs allegedly misquoting the relevant provision of the City Charter.
Lyons and Ellender state in their complaint that the City Charter requires “a complete and final end-of-year financial report, including fund balances.”
However, the actual language of the charter instead reads: “a complete report on the finances and administrative activities of the City as of the end of each fiscal year.”
Sconzert’s response points out that Lyons and Ellender added the words “final” and “including fund balances” which is not part of the Charter.
“Instead, the Charter provides direct instructions of what is required, and the City has not only met those requirements, but made this information available to the Petitioners,” Sconzert argues on behalf of the City.
The relevant subsections of the Charter to which Sconzert’s response refers are:
“(5) Prepare a monthly financial statement comparing the operating budget with income and expenditures for the month and for the fiscal year to date. The report shall be submitted to the council no later than fifteen (15) days after the end of the month.
“(6) Submit to the council and make available to the public, within forty-five (45) days after the end of the fiscal year, a complete report on the finances and administrative activities of the City as of the end of each fiscal year.”
An order to show cause is a court order or the demand of a judge requiring a party to justify or explain why the court should or should not grant a motion or a relief.
Additionally, each year the City is audited by an outside firm and that audit is usually delivered by the end of February and then posted on the City’s website. This year, the audit was completed in the first week of March, and was available on the City’s website at the time of the aforementioned March 7th court appearance.
City informed Mandeville Daily Feb. 27 that Bush, McGuire text messages are ready
Will complete record of Sucette Harbor-related texts from council members
Updated 3/1/2024: Updated to reflect messages were received.
MANDEVILLE — The remaining text messages from council members Rebecca Bush and Jill McGuire — totaling 188 printed pages — were released today (March 1st) as part of a follow-up Mandeville Daily public records request from December 27th, the City has confirmed.
There is often a reproduction fee that accompanies public records requests before they can be released. Mandeville Daily delivered that payment today, and electronic versions of the text messages were received several hours later.
Originally, the text messages from Bush and McGuire were pixelated and not readable, which likely occurred as a result of unintended compression when they were transmitted to the City as part of the original September 11th Woodward Interests public records request response related to Sucette Harbor.
P&Z member delivered printed plea to council member to vote ‘yes’ — out of reach of later public records requests
Handwritten and printed documents excluded from Sucette public records request for Danielson, Kreller and Bush
Adams espoused single criterion instead of 12 in CLURO
Adams wrote ‘half a billion’ revenue basis for his vote
Letter heavily redacted by City before release to Mandeville Daily
Joked local restaurateur should ‘poison’ people opposed to project
Updated 2/28/2024: Expands coverage of City of Mandeville’s CLURO.
MANDEVILLE — Former Planning & Zoning Commission member Nixon Adams delivered a printed letter to District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush in an attempt to persuade her to vote in favor of the Sucette Harbor project before the City Council’s September 5th vote, according to documents released in response to a public records request by Mandeville Daily.
The undated letter was written sometime after the Planning & Zoning Commission’s 4-3 vote to recommend the project on April 17th, 2023, but before the City Council’s vote to deny on Sept. 5th, according to wording in the letter, and confirmed by Bush.
In the letter, Adams for the most part urged Bush to vote in favor of Sucette Harbor, but he also gave his personal opinions as to why each of the P&Z members voted how they did.
One of his assertions is that now-former P&Z member Simmie Fairley voted in favor of the project at least in part due to financial reasons. Adams told Bush that Fairley owns or owned “several” pieces of property in close proximity to the proposed Sucette Harbor project — the Kleber and Lambert streets area — and believed his property value would have increased as a result.
Excerpt from Nixon Adams letter to District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush. (Mandeville Daily)
But Fairley told Mandeville Daily when reached by phone Sunday that his main reason for voting to recommend the project had more to do with jobs and the benefit to Mandeville.
“That would not be my primary reason when that was voted on to send it over to the council at all. Maybe that would have consideration way down, that it would increase property values in that area in general,” he said.
Fairly added, “I believe strongly then and now that the project would have created some jobs in my community, brought in revenue for the City and greatly improved the property value in Kleber Street and Lambert Street area.”
When Adams was explaining his own personal reasons for voting in favor, he cited “a half billion dollars” in tax revenue.
“Conversly (sic), developing the two lakefront properties could add a half billion dollars or more to the tax roles, generating perhaps a million dollars a year for schools, fire and law enforcement service, etc.,” Adams wrote.
An economic impact study presented during the Sucette Harbor application process estimated $78,000 tax benefit to Mandeville and approximately $500,000 to parish resources, including schools and fire protection, but those figures were criticized by project opponents as being overly optimistic.
Excerpt from Sucette Harbor economic impact study. (Mandeville Daily)
When describing what he believed the “only criterion” should be for evaluating the Sucette Harbor application, Adams contradicted what the City’s Comprehensive Land Use Regulation Ordinance says in Article 4.3.3.8 “Review and Evaluation Criteria,” a.k.a “the twelve criteria” standard that was often discussed at Sucette Harbor special meetings before the P&Z and City Council.
“I offer the following explantion (sic) of my vote. First, and the only criterion on which the proposal should be judged, the question of whether a planned district like this should be approved is this: when all of the reasonably expected positive gains for the community outweigh probable negative consequences of its development, what the applicant requests, with reasonable tweaks by the P&Z and the council, should move forward to the next step of the development process. That’s it – PERIOD!” Adams wrote.
But 4.3.3.8 reads:
“The Planning Director, the Planning Commission and the City Council shall review and evaluate and make the following findings before granting a Conditional Use Permit or Planned District zoning using the following criteria…”
Excerpt from the City of Mandeville Comprehensive Land Use Regulation Ordinance. (Mandeville Daily)
The five-page letter was delivered personally by Adams or someone on his behalf to Bush’s law firm, meaning it was not sent via U.S. Mail nor delivery service, according to Bush.
The letter was heavily redacted by City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert, either to protect unrelated personal information for either Adams or Bush, or for privileged legal advice shared by Sconzert with council members and P&Z members related to Sucette Harbor, according to Sconzert.
Overview of Nixon Adams letter to District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush. (Mandeville Daily)
The letter was not turned over as part of the September 11th Woodward Interests public records request because Bush, District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller and Councilman at Large Rick Danielson were not asked for “handwritten notes” nor “hard copy” documents, only documents that had been sent or generated electronically.
Mandeville Daily learned, however, that only Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman and District III Councilwoman Jill McGuire were asked for “handwritten notes” or “hard copy” documents.
Side-by-side comparison of the Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem public records requests to City Council members. (Mandeville Daily)
Here are key claims Adams made in the letter, followed by a link to download the entire scanned city-redacted document:
Claims Rhinehart and Durio were against project from beginning
“First, the vote never was going to be better than 5-2 for approval because Bryan (sic) (Rhinehart) and Clair (sic) (Durio) had made it pretty clear that they were opposed to the project almost before the hearings before us began.” — Page 1
Fairly had financial interest in approval
“Semmie (sic) was strongly for the project from the beginning primarily, I think, because of the potential job opportunities it offered the local black community. Semmie (sic), also owned several pieces of property in the Kleber/Lambert area and was smart enough to know that Sucrete (sic) was almost certainly going to increase the value of his property and all other black property owners in the area.” — Page 1
Adams decided yes early in process
“I was the fourth positive vote and came to that decision pretty early. It was obvious to me that basically it was good for the city, with far more upside than downside. … It should not be killed outright by the usual malcontents from the Old Town who consider any change, bad.” — Page 1
Could add ‘half billion dollars’ to tax rolls
“Conversly (sic), developing the two lakefront properties could add a half billion dollars or more to the tax roles, generating perhaps a million dollars a year for schools, fire and law enforcement service, etc.” — Page 2
Benefits outweighing consequences is only criterion that matters
“I offer the following explantion (sic) of my vote. First, and the only criterion on which the proposal should be judged, the question of whether a planned district like this should be approved is this: when all of the reasonably expected positive gains for the community outweigh probable negative consequences of its development, what the applicant requests, with reasonable tweaks by the P&Z and the council, should move forward to the next step of the development process. That’s it – PERIOD!” — Page 2
Joked Pat Gallagher should poison people opposed to Sucette Harbor
“If I was Pat Gallagher, I would be poisoning the folks in town opposing this project.” — Page 4
Adams and neighbors were likely to move into Sucette Harbor when completed
“Obviously, to me, the benefits vastly outweigh the concerns. The concerns are legitimate, but I believer (sic) that they can be addressed without a whole lot of effort as the project moves ahead. Frankly, I am now totally prejudiced and in fact will probably be trying to move into it as I get more and more decrepit. Two of my neighbors here on Dona Drive have told me the same thing.” — Page 5
Madden out-raises Lyons 7-to-1, with $75K still in bank
Sucette lawyer maxes out to Lyons, $500 to Kreller
RPEC chair maxes (exceeds) limit to Kreller
Danielson gives to Lyons, Discon, Kreller
Former mayor gives to Discon, Kreller
Lyons, Discon finance reports contain math errors
Rosenthal has yet to file
MANDEVILLE — The 30-day campaign finance reporting deadline was February 22nd and so far it appears that Mayor Clay Madden sits atop the 2024 pack of candidates money-wise, out-raising candidate Jeff Lyons seven-to-one and outspending him 11-to-one, according to reports submitted by candidates to the Louisiana Ethics Administration Program’s campaign finance portal.
The incumbent Madden is also reporting $75,788.94 “on hand” or in the bank at the close of the reporting period, while Lyons has only $4,472.44, according to a Mandeville Daily line-by-line tally of Lyons’ expenditures vs. receipts reported to the state.
Campaign finance summaries for mayor’s race. (Mandeville Daily)
Lyons and at-large candidate Scott Discon’s reports would appear to have discrepancies between their cover page summaries and the data contained within the reports. This likely can be attributed to addition or subtraction errors or accidental line item omissions that weren’t corrected in the summaries.
Candidate for mayor Billy Rosenthal has yet to file his report, according to a spokesperson with the State Ethics Administration Program today (February 27th). The deadline for the 30-Day reports was February 22nd. Candidates are only required to file the report if they receive a donation over $200, excluding personal funds, or spend more than $2,500 in the aggregate, according to the spokesperson.
Campaign finance summaries for council-at-large race. (Mandeville Daily)
St. Tammany Republican Parish Executive Committee Chairman Josh Allison gave $1,500 to Kreller, with $1,000 of that coming the night of the P&Z Sucette Harbor vote.
Campaign finance summaries for council District II race. (Mandeville Daily)
The St. Tammany RPEC endorsement forum is scheduled for tonight (February 27th) at 6 p.m. inside the Parish Council chambers at the St. Tammany Administrative Complex, located at 21490 Koop Drive in Mandeville.
According to a spokesperson with the State Ethics Administration Program, Kreller will have to return $500 back to Allison and $500 back to another donor because they exceeded the maximum contribution limit of $1,000 per election.
The spokesperson with the state said this happens routinely due to the nature of political campaigns spanning many months and many fundraiser events. Madden also exceeded the limit with one of his donors this election and will have to return that money as well.
Lame-duck Councilman at Large Rick Danielson donated $250 each to Lyons, Kreller and Discon.
Former mayor Donald Villere gave $1,000 to Discon and $500 to Kreller.
Outspoken Sucette Harbor opponents Larry and Kathleen Grundmann gave $400 to Vogeltanz, $400 to Burguières, and $200 to Zuckerman. Other critics of the project gave varying amounts to Zuckerman, Burguières, and Vogeltanz, but none totaled more than what the Grundmann’s gave, as best Mandeville Daily can determine.
The next campaign reports are due 10 days prior to the March 23rd election. Each candidate’s unaltered forms to date are available here for public inspection as well as on the campaign finance portal:
Disclosure:Mandeville Daily Editor Emeritus William Kropog donated $100 to each of the following candidates, in alphabetical order: Burguières, Discon, Madden, and Vogeltanz.
MANDEVILLE — Candidate for mayor Jeff Lyons asked the City Council Thursday not to accept a pending FEMA reimbursement for Hurricane Ida damages and debris removal that the City of Mandeville funded out of pocket during the aftermath of the storm in 2021.
The money would offset the City of Mandeville’s 10-percent matching funds it spent on damages and debris removal in the aftermath of the storm in 2021.
Public Works Director Keith LaGrange said it would be “silly” for the City not to accept the funds, but Lyons, who has been critical of Madden, particularly when it comes to his budgets, addressed the council before the resolution was unanimously adopted, suggesting the city should not be seeking reimbursement for the Ida expenses.
Lyons, who is running against Madden, asked, “What existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to our community health and welfare? … What’s the urgency? It’s debris removal. … Why can’t we finance this on our own?”
However, the program in question reimburses municipalities for expenses incurred in the aftermath of the storm for damages and debris removal, not for debris that still needs to be cleaned up.
Councilman at Large Rick Danielson asked LaGrange, “Are there any requirements on the backend of this to the federal government, or is this strictly just a straight-up reimbursement from Ida?”
LaGrange replied, “Reimbursement for existing money you’ve already spent.”
According to LaGrange, the State of Louisiana is giving this money to all municipalities who seek it, not just Mandeville.
“So it’d be silly for us not to accept it,” he added.
Candidate for mayor Jeff Lyons, asking to speak during public comment on Resolution 24-08 at the regular City Council meeting February 22nd. (Mandeville Daily)
MANDEVILLE — Newcomer political action committee MandePAC announced its endorsements for the upcoming March 23 primary election today (February 23rd).
MandePAC has endorsed incumbents Mayor Clay Madden and Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman.
Former District III Councilman Ernest Burguières received the other at-large endorsement with Zuckerman, while local attorney Kevin Vogeltanz was given the nod for the District II council seat over incumbent Dr. Skelly Kreller.
Candidate for mayor Jeff Lyons, candidate for council at large Scott Discon and incumbent Kreller had all accepted the invitation to the MandePAC forum but Lyons and Discon cancelled and Kreller was a no-show.
MandePAC hosted its event for Mandeville candidates February 20th at “Frequencies,” located on the second floor of the Spoke and Barrel Restaurant, formerly “Old Rail” at 639 Girod Street.
Kreller texts revealed claims he worked to ‘hold the votes’ on P&Z for developer
Kreller, Sucette attorney later threatened lawsuit against ‘bribe’ accuser at council meeting
2023 contributions posted
RPEC chair listed as $1,000 contributor — RPEC forum looms
Updated 2/20/2024 – See editor’s note.
MANDEVILLE — Embattled District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller did in fact receive a sizable $500 donation from Sucette Harbor project attorney Paul Harrison’s law firm on the night of the Planning & Zoning Commission’s 4-3 vote to advance the controversial project, according to documents posted on the state’s campaign finance portal website today (February 15th).
“If someone defames me… online, you write it down. You will be sued the next day by my firm. Let’s be very clear about that… But you make an insinuation about MY integrity, you will get sued. That’s it,” Harrison told the capacity crowd.
Excerpt from the Alliance for Good Government candidate questionnaire for their January 22nd endorsement forum. (Mandeville Daily)
Kreller participated in and received the Alliance for Good Government’s endorsement at their January 22nd candidate forum. The AGG asks candidates seeking their endorsement to report their five largest contributors. Kreller appears to have reported only his 2023 calendar-year contributors to the AGG, minus Harrison. Kreller’s five largest contributors as specifically reported for the 2024 primary election would have included Joshua Allison APLC, Barry G. Brubacher, Emerald Corner LLC, Emerald Corner LLC, and Anthony A. Indovina DDS APDC, and would not have included the bottom three Kreller reported to AGG, nor Harrison.
Editor’s Note: The initial release of this story accepted Kreller’s AGG list as accurate, except the Harrison omission. Mandeville Daily awaits a clarification from the AGG to confirm whether or not their intent was to have candidates include all contributions to date or just for this election. Kreller’s 2022 annual report was filed as a “future” election, which would mean the upcoming 2024 Primary. In either case, Kreller’s AGG list does not match his state-reported contributors.
District II Councilman Skelly Kreller’s top contributors in 2023. (Mandeville Daily)
St. Tammany Republican Parish Executive Committee Chairman Joshua Allison is listed as a $1,000 contributor. The St. Tammany RPEC endorsement forum is scheduled for February 27th at 6 p.m. inside the Parish Council chambers at the St. Tammany Administrative Complex, located at 21490 Koop Drive in Mandeville.
’Deficit’ caused by lagging delivery of promised funding
Updated 2/12/2024: Expands on budgeting against receivables.
Editorial
A graphic is being circulated on social media highlighting Mandeville’s general fund “deficit” of a negative $2.38 million, and Mayor Clay Madden is being blamed for his “overspending,” including giving city employees “3 huge” raises.
Collage of social media posts critical of the Mayor Clay Madden administration. (Mandeville Daily)
It’s based on the City of Mandeville’s “Governmental Funds Report” dated August 31, 2023, marking the close of the fiscal year. There’s a big orange box magnifying the so-called deficit figure.
Sounds pretty bad, right? After all, a deficit is a deficit and it means you’re spending more than you’re taking in.
Let’s take a look at the graphic this handful of people on social media are posting and re-posting, ad nauseam.
Screenshot of graphic posted by Andrew Ellender on social media. (Mandeville Daily)
Notice the huge orange box containing “$2,375,614.00 Deficit” and its positioning on top of the actual government funds report, specifically toward the upper right of the screen. Doesn’t that placement seem a little odd?
Well as it turns out, this was not by accident. They were hiding something.
The data being covered up by the unnecessarily large orange box actually debunk the false deficit narrative, completely and irrefutably.
Carefully examine the same report below, without obfuscation, but instead with helpful context to show what is actually going on. Don’t take our word for it. Do the math yourself. We’ll let you be the judge.
City of Mandeville Governmental Funds Report analysis. (Mandeville Daily)
The first thing we notice is, Mandeville’s FY 2023 tax revenue exceeded the budgeted or projected amount by 9.77 percent. And the projected amount, set when creating the FY 2023 budget, was a two-percent increase over the FY 2022 actuals.
So knowing that Mandeville only adopts balanced budgets, where did this “deficit” come from?
Good question.
The answer lies in what Ellender’s graphic was covering up — the shortfall in “Grants Revenue” and “Other Revenue” which includes things like FEMA reimbursements, among other sources.
To date, Mandeville has only received a paltry 35.71 percent of those anticipated funds for FY 2023. The FEMA reimbursements can take years to recoup.
This means there are still millions of dollars in receivables the city is owed. Even if the city doesn’t spend a dime on Ida-related repairs in FY 2023, for example, it can still budget against that receivable.
So critics might ask, what kind of municipality would base their budget on money they haven’t received yet?
The answer is simple: the one with a shit-ton of money in the bank, that’s who.
It’s no different than how individuals in the real world budget their money. There are those who live paycheck-to-paycheck, and then there are those who are financially responsible and have plenty of money in the bank — like the City of Mandeville.
Mandeville is in such a strong position financially, we are able to do the things that really count and truly grow our city, without borrowing money, cutting services, or any other form of a compromise just because a hurricane hits and FEMA is slow to pay us back. How many other municipalities can say that?
Madden and this City Council did what the previous administration had only kicked down the road for eight years.
In the ultimate irony, it was Runyon — the chief Madden critic today — who authored the 2020 Mandeville Efficiency Study, which revealed Madden was handed an employee morale issue from the Villere years where pay remained generally flat. That study helped lead to a salary survey, and eventually a pay scale overhaul to help Mandeville attract and keep the best people among its municipal neighbors.
Some members on this very council along with a certain mayoral candidate and their trolls on social media see only misery and despair in what by any honest assessment are good things and are the residue of hard work and responsible leadership.
Response for ‘hard copy’ and ‘handwritten notes’ imminent
MANDEVILLE — The City of Mandeville recently turned over Sucette Harbor-related text messages, emails and other electronic documents from Planning & Zoning Commission members, but Mandeville Daily still awaits the results of two other public records requests made last month.
Originally, none of the text messages from Bush and McGuire were readable.
In addition to the aforementioned records requests, Mandeville Daily requested “hard copy” or “handwritten notes” from certain council members when it was learned that not all on the council were asked for such documents in the Woodward Interests public records request from September 11th.
Only council members Jason Zuckerman and Jill McGuire were asked to produce printed documents. Mandeville Daily had mistakenly thought that the Woodward public records requests to each council member were identical, hence we requested the same. We regret this error.
According to City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert, the printed document results from Danielson, Kreller and Bush are imminent.
Side-by-side comparison of the Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem public records requests to City Council members. (Mandeville Daily)
We will report on the results of the completed public records responses once we have them all.
Updated 2/5/2024: Adds background on efficiency consultant Glen Runyon.
Perhaps you’ve heard about the budget crisis the City of Mandeville is facing. Yes, Mandeville, the same city that has over $19 million in its general fund, over $60 million in the bank, and has zero debt.
Yep… It’s a crisis alright.
So you might be thinking, what happened?
I’ll tell you what happened: Sucette Harbor.
Almost to the man — or woman — it is the exact same group of people who fought tooth and nail to try to ram Sucette Harbor down our throats who have now pivoted almost seamlessly, in the same breath, in the same sentence, just like in 1984, to a new cause — the budget crisis.
I say they’re betting that if they can get Discon elected, somehow manage to keep Kreller from imploding any further, combined with Cynthia Thompson having gone in unopposed, they could win the battle of Sucette Harbor 2.0 later this year or next.
There’s just one problem… It will all be for naught if they don’t eliminate the veto threat, ergo Madden must go.
The fake budget crisis
So now we have a budget crisis.
Their “evidence” is a recent Carr, Riggs & Ingram CPAs and Advisors report in which two slides show hypothetical scenarios of what it would take to deplete the general fund balance.
The graph in question shows what would happen to the $21.4 million general fund if the City of Mandeville paid for every wish-list capital outlay project for the next five years without a single dollar of matching state or federal funds. The result: the general fund drops to a paltry $4.6 million by 2028.
Excerpt from Carr, Riggs & Ingram CPAs and Advisors report. (Mandeville Daily)
Sounds pretty dire, right? Councilman at Large Rick Danielson, District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller, efficiency consultant Glen Runyon, candidate for mayor Jeff Lyons, plus the usual-suspect trolls on social media have been sounding the alarm. Even Discon made mention of it at the Alliance for Good Government forum in January: “I believe that we should be looking at ways to increase our revenue in the city. We’ve got valuable land on the lakefront that needs to be balanced with our quality of life…”
At the November 16th City Council meeting when debating a Mandeville Financial Oversight Committee revival and rewrite, Danielson said, “All of sudden it’s 2028, and your fund balance is gone because that’s what the financial forecast said. It was very clear. In 2028, at our current spend plan, the fund balance is gone.”
But the problem with this narrative is, it’s based on a false-premise hypothetical, which means the result cannot happen. The slide in question even says so: “Does not include any additional revenue sources currently being pursued for fiscal years 2024-2028. If additional funding is not obtained, projects will not commence.”
Thats right. Projects will not commence without additional or matching funding. Period. So the scenario could never happen.
But shouldn’t we look at this graph as a positive? Doesn’t it really illustrate how strong our fiscal position is? Mandeville is so strong and we have so much money in the bank, we could fund every single project that we’ve dreamed up 100-percent on our own and still not run out of money until well after 2028.
How many municipalities can say they could fund their next five years of projects from cash reserves, without additional income, without going into debt, and still have money in the bank? Not many I bet.
Leave it to the Revenge-of-the-Sucette gang to turn a positive into a negative, just to win an election and get their hotel-events-center-old-dude-apartments-restaurant-check-cashing-place-maybe-and-marina built on the lakefront.
And then they throw in a balance sheet for good measure, failing to mention that we’re still missing about $6.2 million in FEMA reimbursements from Ida — which we will eventually get. In their minds, it’s a slam dunk. I guess Hurricane Ida hitting Mandeville was somehow Madden’s fault too.
Tax cuts floated to downsize surplus
Rewind to April 8, 2021. The first regular City Council meeting of the month.
Danielson and Runyon were pushing the idea of lowering sales and property taxes and giving the general fund surplus back to the taxpayers.
Runyon said, “You are a flush with money coming in … You made reference to reducing sales tax but I’d almost want y’all to commit to doing that. Because you’re already running close to … another $2 million general fund surplus this year, by the end of the year, and that money should go back to the taxpayers.”
Danielson seemed to agree, saying the Council was in favor of reducing taxes. “One of the goals of the council was to be able to reduce our sales tax rate that is currently charged and to be more inline with other municipalities across the parish as well as being able to further reduce the property tax rate,” he said.
In 2024, they’re forecasting doom and gloom because the surplus might be nearly gone by 2028 if we were to spend on everything imaginable, which in reality we’re not even allowed to do.
But as recently as 2021, they promoted depleting the very same surplus with tax cuts because we had too much money.
I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t take their advice in 2021, and we certainly shouldn’t be taking it now.
As of late, Runyon frequently attends City Council meetings complaining about the budget and spending. He is often afforded quite a bit of leeway in going beyond the council’s three-minute public comment rule, though it never seems to be enough. He is not an elected official, not an appointed official, not an employee, and no longer a contractor for the City of Mandeville.
I wonder what would happen if Mandeville Daily were to show up at the end of every meeting asking for extended time to complain about the pro-Sucette cabal.
Sucette Harbor: $74,000 to the rescue
We’ve all read the text messages by now, so we know the exact moment that the budget crises took form. It came in late August and early September when the defeat of Sucette Harbor was imminent. Project proponent and lobbyist Rhonda Alleman texted Danielson:
But once again, these people’s statements are easily refuted by on-the-record information. The Sucette Harbor economic impact report shows only a combined $74,000 annually would go to the City of Mandeville.
Whenever someone starts a sentence with the words “it would not be wrong if,” what they’re really saying is, “This is wrong but I think we can get away with it.”
Maybe we should see how they would feel about a hotel-events-center-old-dude-apartments-restaurant-check-cashing-place-maybe-and-marina nestled behind Fontainebleau and Mary Queen of Peace. I’m sure all the trucks could easily make it down Rue Beauvais no problem during the 18 months or so of construction. After all, “Mandeville has to grow.”
Jeff Lyons to the rescue
The best part of this elaborate hoax is that these supposedly smart people want Jeff Lyons for mayor, to save us from Madden.
The former Piccadilly manager has touted his experience as a businessman when addressing the council on the budget. He was afforded the opportunity to describe what kind of mayor he would be at the recent Alliance for Good Government forum in January.
His lackluster performance should give anyone considering his candidacy serious concerns. Maybe he’ll fair better at the upcoming RPEC or Mande-PAC forums.
But the most interesting part of that letter was what Hartman said about Lyons: “your opponent was so weak.”
That’s not very encouraging if you’re a Lyons supporter.
“I congratulate you in advance on your likely endorsement tonight and on your likely victory in March,” Hartman wrote to Madden.
Hartman has been in this line of work for a long time, and admittedly he has an impressive list of clients. Anyone who has ever worked with James will tell you — he’s a straight shooter and won’t sugar coat things for you, which is probably a big reason people are willing to pay for his services.
Interestingly, in Kreller’s text messages, Hartman was the one person giving them the correct advice, which was not to try and fight a social media war. Too bad they didn’t listen to him.
Don’t take the cheese
At the end of the day, these Sucette cabal folks expect you to believe the following:
A projected $67 million in the bank is a crisis when just 30 months ago they favored tax cuts because we had too much money.
A hypothetical scenario in an auditor’s report intended to illustrate Mandeville’s fiscal strength is a harbinger of doom.
Sucette Harbor would have rescued Mandeville from a financial crisis with only $74,000 annually.
But as you are about to read, there was much more revealed than what has already been reported.
In this “Part 4” we are making the entire body of text messages from the council members available here for you, the reader, to inspect for yourself.
The public records requests made by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem to the individual council members are different, depending on the council member. Council members Jason Zuckerman and Jill McGuire’s were identical to each other and broader. The requests sent to council members Rick Danielson, Dr. Skelly Kreller and Rebecca Bush were identical to one another, but were narrower in scope, specifically excluding “hard copy” or “handwritten notes.” Here are the individual Cheezem public records request letters to each council member:
Excerpt from the City of Mandeville’s response, informing Mandeville Daily the public records response documents were ready to be picked up. We received them on a thumb drive. (Mandeville Daily)
The City of Mandeville turned over electronic versions of the requested documents on a USB thumb drive on December 18th. What you see in the linked PDFs is exactly what the City of Mandeville gave us. If they are blurry or pixelated, that is how the City gave them to us. The only alterations are in the form of red-text annotations to provide context to the reader, plus our watermark as a measure to source the aforementioned annotations as our own. Otherwise, according to the City of Mandeville, these are the genuine text messages from the City Council members.
We have assembled a timeline below, cross-referenced with Sucette Harbor-related meetings by the Planning & Zoning Commission and the City Council. We have also added context and bulleted summaries of each conversation so that you can click and open the raw text messages in PDF format. (We recommend you press the “Ctrl” key while clicking the links, which will force the PDFs to open in a new tab or window. On a Mac, the key combination is “Command” plus click.)
The red yarn represents only text threads, meetings or contacts revealed by the Bear Cheezem public records release and nothing more. These are confirmed conversations or reported conversations or contacts. (Mandeville Daily)
Here are the as yet unreported quick takes from what you are about to read among the timeline:
Project proponent District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller’s campaign consultant and Mariner’s Village Master Association President — also an outspoken Sucette Harbor proponent — Eric McVicker told Kreller in texts from October 12, 2022, that the developer should “dump” the event center, indicating it was a non-starter, presenting both traffic and noise issues. “They oughta get rid of the event center. We have enough in Mandeville,” McVicker texted. Ironically, this would turn out to be one of Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman’s primary reasons to vote against the project, according to on-the-record statements by Zuckerman.
Kreller and his confidants or consultants claimed in text messages to have had repeated contacts or meetings with developer team members, including Woodward Interests attorney Paul Harrison, from whom Kreller claims to have solicited advice multiple times. These alleged contacts between the developers and Kreller camp make it appear they worked very closely together throughout the process, according to text messages.
McVicker and Kreller identified District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush as the “swing” vote as early in the process as September 2022, even soliciting feedback from project proponent and former Councilwoman at Large Trilby Lenfant on how Bush was leaning based on meetings with the developer. McVicker also said they needed to “work on jill and jason” (District III Councilwoman Jill McGuire and Zuckerman) to gain their support.
McVicker claimed to be setting up a meeting between candidate for council at large Scott Discon and the developer to discuss the project in September 2022. In the recent Alliance for Good Government candidate forum held on January 22nd, Discon, who was defeated in the 2020 District III race by Jill McGuire, signaled support for the Sucette Harbor project: “Some of the issues you see in district one and district two — which is the west side of Mandeville — they’re in favor of more quality of life projects. A lot of them wanted to see some kind of development on the lakefront. It’s almost one third of the land on the lakefront is vacant… You go over to district three and district two and you might have a little bit more apprehension… You’re going to have to come up with a balance… You can’t stay closed minded. Mandeville has to grow,” said Discon at the event.
We took this step because we believe that what was revealed in Kreller’s text messages raised questions about the supposed independent nature of the Planning & Zoning Commission from its appointing authority, the City Council, during the Sucette Harbor application process. Sources have provided us certain information which should be corroborated by our pending public records requests. We received word on Friday that responses are ready from five of the seven members, but the city is still working to receive responses from two of the other members.
And we’re still awaiting the readable versions of text messages from Bush and McGuire.
We hope that public inspection of all these records — facilitated through our reporting — will restore the public trust in the City Council and Planning & Zoning Commission’s relationship moving forward.
District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller and Councilman at Large Rick Danielson discuss the first public meeting introducing the Sucette Harbor project.
Eric McVicker is the president of the Mariner’s Village Master Association and a campaign consultant to District II Councilman Skelly Kreller.
McVicker suggests finding 30 people willing to support the project to attend meeting, although those numbers never materialized.
Kreller tells McVicker that Bill Hoffman told him multiple times how important McVicker is to the project moving forward. “He (Hoffman) told me on Friday and yesterday your importance moving it forward.”
McVicker helps Kreller with wording Sucette-related social media posts.
Kreller and McVicker criticize Mayor Clay Madden’s initial Sucette Harbor Facebook post on 8/30/2022.
They discuss sharing the post with Woodward Interests, the developer team.
Lenfant tells Kreller to have Planning & Zoning commissioner Nixon Adams check the names of people leaving negative comments about Sucette on social media, presumably the Madden Facebook post of 8/30/2022.
Kreller says he needs to meet with Lenfant and Nixon Adams to help him get a bulk mailer brochure “finalized.”
Kreller sent out a mailer in October 2022 to his constituents as a mid-term update. The only mention of anything Sucette Harbor-related was “Vigilance to assure appropriate new development.”
Kreller says his constituents will remain loyal to him despite him supporting the unpopular project: “[T]hey don’t vote on whether shovels go into the ground!”
McVicker reiterates plan to keep quiet during the Planning & Zoning public hearing process, but not for the City Council process.
McVicker tells Kreller he’s meeting with Councilman at Large Rick Danielson for lunch.
Lenfant reports that District II Councilwoman Rebecca Bush met with the developer.
Kreller polls Lenfant as to how she thinks Bush is leaning.
Lenfant confides in Kreller that they were disappointed that the developer changed the original concept, making the apartments rental-only and not condos that could be individually purchased.
McVicker claims he is arranging a meeting between Woodward Interests, the developer, and current councilman at large candidate Scott Discon, who also sits on the Parks and Parkways Commission.
At the recent Alliance for Good Government forum January 22nd, Discon signaled support for the Sucette Harbor development: “Some of the issues you see in district one and district two — which is the west side of Mandeville — they’re in favor of more quality of life projects. A lot of them wanted to see some kind of development on the lakefront. It’s almost one third of the land on the lakefront is vacant… You go over to district three and district two and you might have a little bit more apprehension… You’re going to have to come up with a balance… You can’t stay closed minded. Mandeville has to grow,” said Discon at the event.
Kreller thanks Lenfant, indicating she played a significant role in “putting this project together!”
This exchange is the first earliest confirmation in text messages that Lenfant was aware that Kreller is a supporter of the project. (Seven months later, she would ask Kreller if he had told anyone publicly that he was in favor of the project, suggesting he feign neutrality publicly.)
Lenfant tells Kreller about meeting with the developer and how she and project proponent Rhonda Alleman, texting “we all want to reserve corner units!”
Kreller shares content of message or social media post he intended to or had sent.
Kreller shares a concern from New Golden Shores resident about 18-wheelers not being able to turn into the development site from Mariner’s Blvd.
Kreller asks McVicker to share the information with Bear Cheezem, vice president of Woodward Interests, the developer, if he thinks it’s helpful or to change it up.
McVicker says he has already spoken to Cheezem about related parking.
10/12/2022
Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting – Second Sucette Harbor special meeting to present project.
McVicker says Woodward Interests did “amazing” job presenting project to Planning & Zoning Commission.
McVicker expresses concern about the “Events Center” portion of the project and suggests they need to “dump” it; says it would be problematic for “parking and noise.”
McVicker says Mandeville has enough such facilities.
McVicker says Planning & Zoning Commission member Mike Pierce, who ended up voting against, made a great point about the events center.
Alleman said she believed it was “deliberate and unfortunate” that the February 13, 2023, Planning & Zoning special meeting on the Sucette Harbor project had not been promoted by the administration.
She told Kreller and McVicker that only the “nay sayers” (sic) would be in attendance, indicating she had hoped for a large pro-Sucette turnout.
Throughout all of the P&Z hearings and City Council meetings, very little support in terms of people attending meetings ever materialized for Sucette Harbor.
2/13/2023
Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting – Third Sucette Harbor special meeting.
Brian Rhinehart is a member of the Planning & Zoning Commission, who would vote against recommending the Sucette Harbor project to the City Council.
Zuckerman and Rhinehart discuss the 55-and-up senior living exemption requirements under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fair housing rules.
Immediately following the March 7, 2023, special Planning & Zoning meeting on Sucette Harbor.
Kreller complains that Planning & Zoning Commission chairman Brian Rhinehart tried to “push his negative position” on the other P&Z members during the public meeting.
Kreller says he planned to complain “again” to City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert about Rhinehart’s actions as chairman during the meeting.
Donald Villere, former Mandeville mayor and recent St. Tammany Parish Council District 10 also-ran, tells McVicker and Kreller that Planning & Zoning members are supposed deliberate on the information presented and not their opinions.
McVicker suggests submitting a public records request to the city Planning Department asking for information on previously approved and denied projects.
McVicker feared the Planning & Zoning Commission would use the needed variances to kill the project.
Kreller tells the others he believes they have the necessary four “yes” votes.
Kreller instructs McVicker to contact Mike Pierce and keep him in the “yes” column. Pierce ended up voting against the recommendation.
Rhinehart ended up voting against recommending Sucette Harbor to the City Council. The recommendation ended up passing 4-3 on April 17, 2023.
Louisette Scott is the former Planning and Development director preceding Cara Bartholomew.
Kreller seeks advice on the Home Rule Charter’s Comprehensive Land Use Regulation Ordinance (CLURO) from Scott that he can use to support the Sucette Harbor project moving forward.
Kreller passes along the information received from Louisette Scott to Planning & Zoning Commission member Nixon Adams, who was still a sitting member of the Planning & Zoning Commission at the time.
Adams would end up voting in favor of endorsing the Sucette Harbor project on April 17, 2023.
Planning & Zoning members are appointed and confirmed by the City Council. The City Council also has the authority to remove them.
Ellen O’Connell is a Mariner’s Village Owner/Investor.
O’Connell was later an outspoken critic of the Sucette Harbor project.
O’Connell was instrumental in a petition of disavowal of a Mariner’s Village Master Association letter of recommendation penned by MVMA President Eric McVicker for the Sucette Harbor project that would be presented to the City Council by the developer at the May 25, 2023, City Council meeting.
Danielson and Zuckerman discuss social media posts by project advocate and frequent critic on social media Andrew Ellender, who was pushing for video conferencing of City Council meetings to allow interactive participation from the public.
Kreller tells McVicker that he is driving Planning & Zoning Commission member Nixon Adams to the Planning & Zoning meeting that night.
McVicker tells Kreller that his suggestion to the developer will be to take control of the narrative by offering a revised proposal to avoid conditions being put on the project: “[M]aybe the p&z will settle for it. And it will be a win.”
Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting – Sixth Sucette Harbor special meeting where commission votes 4-3 to recommend that the City Council approve the Sucette Harbor project.
Kreller holds fundraiser event same night as vote; Sucette Harbor attorney Paul Harrison attends
Lenfant advises Kreller to meet with opposition but tell them he is still undecided, even though by this point Lenfant knows Kreller supports the project, as evidenced by earlier text messages and statements to the media.
Kreller tells Lenfant that Councilman at Large Rick Danielson supports the project.
Zuckerman and Burguières discuss District II Councilman Skelly Kreller purportedly having posted that he would not be meeting with his constituents to take feedback on Sucette. Kreller had met with neighborhood groups much earlier before the project was presented to the Planning & Zoning Commission, according to texts by Kreller.
District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush and Zuckerman discuss her availability for upcoming Sucette Harbor special meetings, and the belief that an actual vote on the project would not occur at one of the meetings she needed to miss do to professional obligations.
Lenfant expresses frustration that District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush will miss a scheduled meeting on Sucette Harbor, advising that a tie vote fails.
Lenfant says she has meeting scheduled that week with Bush.
Kreller complains to Council Clerk Kristine Scherer about District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush having to miss one or more scheduled Sucette Harbor meetings.
Rhinehart shares a screenshot of a post from Nextdoor website where project critic Michele Avery is alleging she is being hit with a barrage of posts from outspoken proponent Andrew Ellender.
Rhinehart shares pictures of a pro-Sucette Harbor mailer that went out and had developer attorney Paul Harrison’s mailing address on it.
Day of City Council meeting when Sucette Harbor is first presented to the City Council.
McVicker informs Kreller and Danielson of the Mariner’s Village Master Association’s letter of endorsement to be included at that night’s City Council meeting when Sucette Harbor is to be presented by Woodward Interests President Bill Hoffman.
McVicker is the president of the Mariner’s Village Master Association and a campaign consultant to District II Councilman Skelly Kreller.
5/25/2023
City Council Meeting – First meeting where Sucette Harbor ordinance is brought to floor and discussed, and social media “bribe” posts addressed with threats of lawsuits.
McVicker tells Kreller and former mayor Donald Villere that Chenier has a greater density than the proposed Sucette Harbor project.
Villere reminds him that Chenier sits on a four-lane highway, the proposed Sucette Harbor does not have highway access, which is one of the primary concerns of project critics.
Donald Villere is the former Mandeville mayor and recent St. Tammany Parish Council District 10 also-ran.
Bill and Kendra Casanova are Tops’l property owners.
They invite Zuckerman to walk the proposed Sucette Harbor property with them.
They express concerns because they say the developer didn’t seem to be aware of the easements. They also talked about what they claim are wetlands issues.
Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman shares a screenshot of a post from social media made by project proponent and frequent Zuckerman critic Andrew Ellender.
The screenshot was of an allegedly fake LinkedIn profile that Ellender claimed to be Zuckerman’s real LinkedIn profile. The “photoshopped” image , according to the text message, claimed Zuckerman is “VP of Field Operations,” which he is not.
In that letter, Sollberger offered his opinion that the Sucette Harbor project was “not compatible” with the area, recommending against it.
Kreller forwarded his email to Danielson to Council Clerk Kristine Scherer to whom Kreller had complained in text messages on April 19, 2023, that Zuckerman should recuse himself. [See Kreller Texts (Kristine Scherer) (4/19/2023) (page 81)]
Larry Grundmann is a Mariner’s Island property owner and outspoken critic of the Sucette Harbor project. Grundmann spoke publicly at multiple special meetings.
Grundmann addresses what he describes as “misapplication” of R-3 base zoning district.
Zuckerman — who was serving as council chairman at the time — instructs Council Clerk Scherer that he wishes to review the agenda for the upcoming July 5th special meeting to make sure it states “adoption of” and not just “discussion of” so that the council would legally be able to have a vote should that be the will of the council.
Zuckerman was elected by the City Council in July to be the council chairman for the next fiscal year. The council chair sets meeting agendas, makes certain appointments, can call for special meetings, among other duties, as per the City Charter. Section 2-06 says the current council chairman serves as the “presiding officer” for City Council meetings, or he or she can appoint one of the other council members as “temporary presiding officer” in their stead. Zuckerman and Danielson made an agreement that Danielson, who started the Sucette Harbor “session” or series of special meetings as council chair and hence the presiding officer of meetings, should serve the remainder of the Sucette Harbor session as the presiding officer for the sake of continuity. But according to the charter, the current council chairman, which is Zuckerman, sets the agendas for all meetings.
Kreller disputes an assertion that P&Z member Brian Rhinehart made at the July 5, 2023, meeting related to the combined votes of P&Z in for the property in question.
Scherer responded that the previous vote for Al Copeland was a 6-1 rejection and not 7-0 like Rhinehart had indicated.
Danielson notifies Andy Canulette, staff writer with Nola.com/Times-Picayune/Morning Advocate, there will be a Sucette Harbor meeting July 12, 2023, for amendments and conditions and then another meeting on July 24, 2023, for amendments and conditions plus “possible final vote.”
Grundmann frequently passes along information in short texts concerning zoning and other concerns to Zuckerman spanning much of the Sucette Harbor process.
Mandeville Daily is not linking to each and every one of those messages in an effort to keep this piece and narrative as concise as possible, but you, the reader, can read them all in the above link. We have chosen not to link to numerous other threads of the other council members for the same reason; however, those messages are still included in the source PDF links as well.
Alleman shares a link to another Mandeville Daily article which was an opinion piece based on the aforementioned reporting. The Mandeville Daily’s editorial position was and remains that despite being advertised in accordance with Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law, Danielson’s halting all votes was an tactic to save the project from potential defeat at that meeting.
Indicates that a backup strategy was to call for vote if the 170 amendment failed, having the ordinance itself fail with 90-units to allow Woodward to file suit and take it to federal court.
This was before the August 15, 2023, City Council meeting where a majority on the council would unsuccessfully attempt to nullify the 90-unit apartment limit that was adopted on July 12, 2023.
District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush advises project proponent Rhonda Alleman she is awaiting revised plans from the developer and that she is encouraged.
Later at the meeting, Bush would tell the public that she had again met with the developer to discuss the project.
This was during the August 15, 2023, City Council meeting where a majority on the council would unsuccessfully attempt to nullify the 90-unit apartment limit that was adopted on July 12, 2023. (Bush had voted yes for that amendment.)
The bulk of this conversation occurred after Kreller’s out-of-order attempt to raise the apartment limit to 170, as was being demanded by the developer.
District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush and project proponent Rhonda Alleman discuss an alternate Robert’s Rules of Order procedure “Motion to Reconsider” which was being suggested in private discussions at that moment by Assistant City Attorney David Parnell Jr. as a means to remove the 90-apartment limit.
Zuckerman tells Clark that Planning and Development Director Cara Bartholomew was wrong about her assertion that R-3 Residential is more like commercial than residential, allowing B-2 site development regulations on the site instead of B-1.
It is unclear why Danielson seems to insinuate that he did not know the reason for the cancellation.
It should be noted that Danielson was no longer the Council Chairman at this point, but he and Zuckerman agreed that for continuity Danielson would be the “presiding officer” at the Sucette Harbor special meetings since he started the Sucette Harbor sessions while still council chairman. The council chairmanship alternates annually between the two at-large council members, Zuckerman and Danielson.
Alleman offers a new strategy, different than the aforementioned motion to withdraw, to allow the ordinance with 90 units to be voted down and immediately reintroduced, in effect stripping it of the 90-unit amendment.
Danielson casts doubt on being able to get three votes if the original ordinance were to have been reintroduced.
Alleman again tries to persuade Danielson how to resurrect the 170 unit ordinance.
Greta Perry is a Sucette Harbor project critic and an administrator for the Facebook group “Mandeville – High Density Development (are you kidding me!).”
Perry discusses what project critics considered a “last-minute” Sucette Harbor endorsement by the St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce.
Zuckerman tells Perry he found their endorsement frustrating.
Editor’s Note:
Rhonda Alleman appears frequently in text messages or emails from most of the council members, where she is seen as a staunch proponent of the Sucette Harbor project.
Trilby Lenfant is a former at-large council member as well as former executive assistant to Madden. She appears in many of Kreller’s text messages, where she is seen offering advice and relaying information to and from developer meetings.
Eric McVicker is a Kreller campaign consultant and Mariner’s Village Master Association (MVMA) president. He appears prominently throughout Kreller’s texts, and in May 2023 he penned a Sucette Harbor endorsement announcement on behalf of the MVMA board of directors.
Andrew Ellender — a social media content provider on local politics— was seen as a project proponent based on the bulk of his social media posts. He was also a frequent critic of Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman, Mayor Clay Madden, and even certain officials in the Mandeville Police Department. Ellender has sent a number of emails to the City Council on various topics, some but not all relating to Sucette Harbor.
MANDEVILLE — Mandeville Daily initiated a new public records request on December 29th for the text messages and emails from the Planning & Zoning members who sat on the commission during the Sucette Harbor application process.
We took this step because we believe what was revealed in text messages from the original public records release has raised questions about the perceived relationship between the Planning & Zoning Commission and its appointing authority, the City Council, during the Sucette Harbor application process.
We hope that inspection of the newly requested public records will serve to answer these questions, dispel all doubts, and restore the public trust in the City Council and Planning & Zoning Commission’s relationship moving forward.
Additionally, sources provided Mandeville Daily information concerning P&Z communications with council members, which we expect to be corroborated by a new public records request.
We await this new information to allow us to complete our series “Sucette Harbor Exposed.”
The City of Mandeville’s legal department acknowledged the new requests in a timely manner as prescribed by state law and provided target dates as follows:
Both the P&Z and Bush-McGuire responses are expected to be completed by February 1st, barring unforeseen circumstances.
MANDEVILLE — The local chapter of the Alliance for Good Government held its forum and caucus last night (January 22nd), announcing its March 2024 primary election endorsements at the conclusion of the event.
The candidates for mayor, city council and district attorney were given the opportunity to answer questions on issues selected by the Alliance, after which the group held a brief caucus where they made their selections.
The Alliance endorsed incumbent Mayor Clay Madden over Jeff Lyons. Billy Rosenthal did not participate.
Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman and 2020 District III also-ran Scott Discon were endorsed over former District III Councilman Ernest Burguières.
Incumbent Dr. Skelly Kreller — the only participant last night for the District II endorsement — got the nod from the Alliance for that race. Kreller’s opponent, Kevin Vogeltanz did not seek the endorsement.
The Alliance also picked Collin Sims over Vincent Wynne for the Washington and St. Tammany parishes District Attorney race.
The St. Tammany chapter of the Alliance for Good Government, a non-profit organization dedicated to informing the public on issues that affect the quality of life in southeast Louisiana, hosted the event for St. Tammany Parish candidates at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, January 22nd, at the St. Tammany Administrative Complex, located at 21490 Koop Drive in Mandeville.
On Wednesday, January 24th, at 6 p.m., the St. Tammany Parish Republican Executive Committee is hosting a forum, also at the St. Tammany Administrative Complex. The RPEC is established by state law and promotes Republican candidates for local elections.
Finally, on February 20th, at 6 p.m., newcomer political action committee Mande-PAC will host an event for Mandeville candidates at Frequencies, which is located on the second floor of the Spoke and Barrel Restaurant, formerly “Old Rail” at 639 Girod Street.
Council authorized mayor to negotiate purchase agreement at November meeting 5-0
Two council members proposed delay that would have forced City to default
$710K for property in question already budgeted
Unrelated $1.4M budget increase passed without debate
MANDEVILLE — The purchase of a Carroll Street property the City Council had authorized unanimously at the November 16th meeting was thrown into doubt at the January 11th meeting when two council members attempted to delay action on the item, which would have had the effect of causing the City to default on a purchase agreement the night before the scheduled closing.
The property, located in Old Mandeville at 407 and 411 Carroll Street — behind Maison Lafitte — had been identified as fitting into the City’s longterm green space property purchase program, which is funded in the current fiscal-year budget.
Purchasing property for the City of Mandeville is a two-step process, according to the Home Rule Charter.
First, the City Council adopts a resolution allowing the mayor to negotiate a purchase agreement for the property. The $710,000 price was based on a professional appraisal and was included in Resolution 23-46 when it was adopted unanimously at the November 16th regular council meeting. Closing was set for January 12th.
Excerpt from Resolution 23-46, adopted unanimously November 16, 2023, authorizing the mayor to negotiate a purchase agreement for the Carroll Street property.
The council then makes the purchase official via ordinance, allowing the mayor to go through with the scheduled closing, which in this case was Ordinance 23-37 as advertised on the January 11th agenda.
But what usually ends up being a perfunctory step in the purchase process suddenly hit a snag when District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller questioned whether or not the city should go through with the sale.
District III Councilwoman Jill McGuire asked City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert what would happen if the council failed to adopt Ordinance 23-37 that night.
Sconzert replied, “We would be in default of the purchase agreement.”
Kreller asked the council, “How can we justify $710,000 to purchase two lots?”
Councilman at Large Rick Danielson also voiced his opposition to completing the purchase, saying, “I just have financial concerns in the process… Do we need to be spending $710,000 at this time?”
Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman took issue with the City potentially backing out of the agreement at this juncture: “The council voted unanimously to spend $710,000 on this property… If there is in fact a discussion about not authorizing the mayor to go to closing tomorrow… that’s what we’re talking about… Reversing what we had authorized him to do and the decision we made unanimously 60 days ago.”
Sconzert reminded the council that the $710,000 was already appropriated in the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget.
Kreller said he was worried about the financial stability of the City and said, “I must have gotten from 50 to a hundred either emails or text messages against this.”
Mayor Clay Madden reiterated what he described as his vision for purchasing green space as part of the Mandeville Flood Resilience Strategy: “I laid out my vision at the November 16th meeting that I’d like to purchase this property because of its proximity to Ravine Aux Coquilles and looked to do our first storm water park at this location because of its proximity.”
He added, “It’s something I believe is supported. Nobody has called me and said ‘don’t do this.’”
Danielson’s motion failed 3-2, with only Danielson and Kreller voting in favor.
Ordinance 23-37 was then adopted 3-2, allowing Madden to complete the act of sale January 12th. Danielson and Kreller voted against.
The next item on the agenda that night — Ordinance 23-38, a $1.4 million capital budget increase to pay for a water line replacement project in the Golden Glen Subdivision in Kreller’s District II — was adopted unanimously, without debate nor motions to postpone.
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Editor’s Note: There is no “motion to defer” under Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 12th Edition. According to RROO, the correct motion would have been “Postpone to a Certain Time.”
Excerpt from Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 12th Edition (Mandeville Daily)
Updated 2/10/2024: Updates with rescheduled RPEC forum date and location.
MANDEVILLE — The St. Tammany Parish Republican Executive Committee’s candidate forum has been rescheduled for February 27th at 6 p.m. inside the Parish Council chambers at the St. Tammany Administrative Complex, located at 21490 Koop Drive in Mandeville.
The event was originally scheduled for January 24th but had to be cancelled due to inclement weather. The RPEC is established by state law and promotes Republican candidates for local elections.
Newcomer political action committee MandePAC will host an event for Mandeville candidates February 20th, at 6 p.m., to be held at “Frequencies,” which is located on the second floor of the Spoke and Barrel Restaurant, formerly “Old Rail” at 639 Girod Street.
March primary races heat up with forums for candidates
Updated 1/21/2024: Adds coverage of RPEC forum.
MANDEVILLE — With campaign season in full swing now that the holidays are behind us, signs for candidates in parish and city races are appearing all over town, and those seeking office will soon have several opportunities to let voters know where they stand on the issues.
Early voting for the March 23rd primary election is right around the corner, starting March 9th.
A collage of photos collected from Old Mandeville showing campaign signs from candidates for Mandeville races. (Mandeville Daily)
The St. Tammany chapter of the Alliance for Good Government, a non-profit organization dedicated to informing the public on issues that affect the quality of life in southeast Louisiana, is hosting an event for St. Tammany Parish candidates at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, January 22nd, at the St. Tammany Administrative Complex, located at 21490 Koop Drive in Mandeville.
On Wednesday, January 24th, at 6 p.m., the St. Tammany Parish Republican Executive Committee is hosting a forum, also at the St. Tammany Administrative Complex. The RPEC is established by state law and promotes Republican candidates for local elections.
Finally, on February 20th, at 6 p.m., newcomer political action committee MandePAC will host an event for Mandeville candidates at Frequencies, which is located on the second floor of the Spoke and Barrel Restaurant, formerly “Old Rail” at 639 Girod Street.
Updated 1/19/2024: Expands coverage of text message excerpts concerning meetings with developer. Updates other references for clarity. Updated 1/17/2024: Expands coverage of former P&Z member comments about project.
MANDEVILLE — Proponents of the controversial Sucette Harbor project were heavily involved in public relations and social media efforts behind the scenes, including rapid response tactics and strategies against those perceived as critics of the proposal, according to information contained in a public records release.
Editor’s Note: This is the third part in a series that will explore the recent Sucette Harbor public records release. At the end of this multi-part series, Mandeville Daily 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.
In the early stages of the Sucette Harbor push — well before the initial Planning & Zoning hearing in September 2022 — former City Councilwoman at Large and project proponent Trilby Lenfant suggested to District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller that he ask Planning & Zoning member Nixon Adams to check the voting records of people who had made negative comments on a Facebook post from Mayor Clay Madden which had drawn a barrage of negative responses concerning the project.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
That same day, August 30, 2022, Kreller and campaign consultant and Mariner’s Village Master Association (MVMA) President Eric McVicker speculated that Madden was setting the stage for the project to be rejected, according to text messages released as part of a public records request made by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem on September 11th.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller appeared to be concerned about the early negative perception of the project on social media, asking former P&Z member and eventual project critic Ren Clark not to post anything negative on social media until after Woodward Interests presented the project to the public: “I am asking you as a friend to hold comments you post about the LSU Project until the public meeting.”
Clark agreed not to make negative comments on social media but expressed his negative feelings with jokes about the name “Sucette” being a double entendre for “sucker” in French.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller was interested in first impressions from residents and other council members who met with the developer before the first Sucette Harbor Planning & Zoning hearing September 21, 2022.
Former City Councilwoman at Large Trilby Lenfant passed along information from meetings that she apparently had sat in on or received information about from the developer. After one such meeting that District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush had attended, Kreller asked Lenfant, “Great, any feel from her(?).”
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
After another meeting which apparently included project proponent Rhonda Alleman among others, Lenfant commented, “[W]e all want to reserve corner units!”
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller complained to city officials, fellow council members, and members of the Woodward Interests team about what he saw as “misinformation” or attacks on the project, according to emails released as part of a public records request made by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem on September 11th.
What Burguières wrote on April 18th, the day after the P&Z voted to recommend the Sucette Harbor project, drew Kreller’s ire. After forwarding it to Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem, he emailed former Planning and Development Director Louisette Scott, asking her to respond to Burguières’ argument publicly. Scott, who has emerged as a proponent of the project based on messages contained in the Cheezem public records release, essentially told Kreller to ignore Burguières.
Excerpt from emails produced by the City of Mandeville as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Editor’s Note:Mandeville Daily reposted Burguières’ column with his permission starting in June 2023. We mutually ended this arrangement in December 2023 when Burguières qualified for the 2024 council-at-large race.
After the June 20th City Council meeting where a letter from local architect Vaughan Sollberger, who sits on the city’s design review committee, was read aloud by Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman, Kreller emailed Danielson and Scherer to complain.
Kreller said that it was unprofessional and a “conflict of interest” (sic) for Zuckerman to have “read it into the record” because he and Sollberger “are close friends” and they both serve on the design review committee.
However, the Sollberger letter technically was already part of the record because Sollberger had sent it to the entire council on June 16th, therefore Zuckerman reading it aloud did not make it so. Anytime a member of the public sends an email or letter to the City Council, it becomes part of the public record whether it is read aloud or not. What’s more, Zuckerman hasn’t served on the design review committee since before the Sucette Harbor application came before the council.
Excerpt from emails produced by the City of Mandeville as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Posts made to the New Golden Shores Facebook page by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller neighbor and project critic Missie Noel caught the attention of the Kreller camp in late April 2023. This was weeks after the Planning & Zoning Commission voted 4-3 to recommend Sucette Harbor, but before the first City Council special meeting on the project.
Noel posted that she’d be willing to host a meeting with Kreller and residents “so that he can hear our opinions on Sucette, before he votes.”
Kreller had responded to the post in part, “I have decided not to have any meetings or make any comments about the project until the process goes forward with the entire City Council present.”
This drew responses from a number of people, including project critic Michele Avery, Councilman at Large Zuckerman and project critic Kevin Vogeltanz, who would eventually enter the 2024 race to unseat Kreller.
Former City Councilwoman at Large Trilby Lenfant, who by now knew that Kreller was a supporter of the project, asked if he had publicly declared his position yet, to which he adamantly insisted he had not, according to text messages in the Cheezem public records release.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
A collage of excerpts taken from Times-Picayune/Nola.com reporting on an early concept of the Sucette Harbor project. (Mandeville Daily)
“It’s a win-win for everybody,” he told City Business in 2021. “The majority of people in my district want this to happen.”
Lenfant suggested that Kreller should meet with his constituents but to tell them he was still undecided: “I don’t know that you can avoid the opposition…”
She continued, “but I was thinking if you choose to meet with the opposition… you can listen to them, acknowledge their concerns but still be noncommittal…”
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Campaign consultant Eric McVicker sent screenshots to District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller and the two had an exchange that ended with McVicker saying, “Time to slap that bitch.”
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
The next day, Kreller, former City Councilwoman at Large Trilby Lenfant and project proponent Rhonda Alleman, who also lobbied other council members to support the project, discussed potential rebuttal tactics, which included researching Avery and her employer’s campaign contribution history, with Lenfant suggesting contacting her employer.
But roughly nine months earlier it was Kreller who told McVicker not to delete any negative comments on social media, hoping critics would defame them, claiming he had spoken to developer attorney Paul Harrison about it.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Lenfant suggested checking to see if there was a correlation between Avery’s employer’s campaign contributions and audit contracts the company was awarded by the city, according to text messages.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Kreller then shared Avery’s campaign contribution history from the Louisiana Ethics Administration campaign finance portal, information that he claimed McVicker had sent to him.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Andrew Ellender, a local social media content provider and outspoken critic of Mandeville city government officials, was one of the initial people on the Nextdoor website to respond to Avery’s “bribe” post. The two had an often contentious back-and-forth over her post and its responses.
Kreller told the group that campaign consultant James Hartman advised they should not respond on social media.
Alleman texted, “Andrew (Ellender) can get into (it) with her!” Lenfant seemed to agree, confirming that “someone else” should post on social media, later telling Kreller not to respond himself: “Do not say anything on social media.”
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Over the next 24-48 hours, whether by design or by coincidence, Ellender made a barrage of social media posts using the Avery campaign contribution list that Kreller had shared with the group, according to screenshots obtained from social media by Mandeville Daily at the time.
A collage of social media posts by project proponent Andrew Ellender. (Mandeville Daily)
These posts at first included her home address and personal information. Avery eventually filed a complaint letter to the Mandeville Police Department, citing over 60 instances of what she alleged to by cyber-stalking. No formal charges were filed. Ellender’s Nextdoor account was eventually temporarily suspended by site moderators.
Two days after the April 17th Planning & Zoning Commission’s vote to recommend Sucette Harbor to the City Council, campaign consultant Eric McVicker suggested to District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller that Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman should recuse himself from voting on Sucette Harbor over an alleged conflict of interests, according to text messages in the Cheezem public records release.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Kreller even asked Council Clerk Kristine Scherer her thoughts on the matter, indicating he had sought an opinion from developer attorney Paul Harrison on the question.
Scherer responded, “Guess that would be a Paul (Harrison) question.” Kreller told Scherer that he also wanted a third party to ask City Attorney Elizabeth Sconzert about it: “[S]omeone other than me should ask Elizabeth (Sconzert).”
There is no mention of why Kreller would refer to an outside attorney for this advice, particularly the developer’s attorney Harrison, instead of Sconzert.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
McVicker also mentioned “Not gonna send it to him quite yet.” It is unclear from their text messages who he was referring to here.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
But in the weeks that followed — similar to what happened with Avery — Andrew Ellender began making repeated posts about Zuckerman on social media using the same information that McVicker, Kreller and Scherer had discussed in these texts.
A collage of social media posts by Andrew Ellender. (Mandeville Daily)
Zuckerman would eventually express frustration with a friend on June 10th, sharing what he called a “100% photoshop” image that Ellender was circulating on social media as Zuckerman’s LinkedIn profile. Mandeville Daily was able to verify that what Ellender had posted was not Zuckerman’s real LinkedIn profile.
Text messages produced by Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem and a collage of social media posts by Andrew Ellender. (Mandeville Daily)
While the debate and antics inside council chambers were often heated and confrontational, outside the chambers — or the Spitzfaden Center in this case — an all-out war was waged over the controversial project on social media, particularly after the Planning & Zoning Commission voted 4-3 to recommend the project.
This seems to be when the public began to take notice of the project, despite the fact that an early version — described at that time as a $150 million plan with restaurants, retail, hotel and age-restricted apartments — had been announced in local media as far back as mid-to-late 2021.
As the process was winding down in July 2023, project proponent Rhonda Alleman would share links to Mandeville Daily articles with Councilman at Large Rick Danielson, and she once called it “The Zuckerman Daily,” according to text messages in the Cheezem public records release.
Text messages produced by Councilman at Large Rick Danielson as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Sucette Harbor Exposed: Part 4 will be published soon.
Rhonda Alleman appears frequently in text messages or emails from most of the council members, where she is seen as a staunch proponent of the Sucette Harbor project.
Trilby Lenfant is a former at-large council member as well as former executive assistant to Madden. She appears in many of Kreller’s text messages, where she is seen offering advice and relaying information to and from developer meetings.
Eric McVicker is a Kreller campaign consultant and Mariner’s Village Master Association (MVMA) president. He appears prominently throughout Kreller’s texts, and in May 2023 he penned a Sucette Harbor endorsement announcement on behalf of the MVMA board of directors.
Andrew Ellender — a social media content provider on local politics— was seen as a project proponent based on the bulk of his social media posts. He was also a frequent critic of Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman, Mayor Clay Madden, and even certain officials in the Mandeville Police Department. Ellender has sent a number of emails to the City Council on various topics, some but not all relating to Sucette Harbor.
Tactics to break 90-units mulled until final Sucette Harbor meeting
Bush was set to lift 90-unit limit Aug. 15
Advocate pushed 170 units even as Sept. 5 meeting loomed
Danielson dismissive of last-minute maneuver getting 3 votes
MANDEVILLE — Project proponents were working right up until the final Sucette Harbor meeting September 5th in hopes of finding a way to strip the 90-apartment limit from the Sucette Harbor ordinance, well after the August 15th meeting where two such attempts were unsuccessful, according to information contained in a public records release.
Before we delve into what the text messages and emails reveal, it is important for the reader to be familiar with the chain of events from the July 12th meeting all the way through to the final September 5th meeting when the project was rejected. Here is the recap:
After a recess where lawyers and council members huddled and conferred, the meeting continued with Danielson upholding Zuckerman’s point of order and announcing that assistant city attorney David Parnell Jr. advised that the “motion to reconsider” should be used instead. The only caveat was that it would have to be offered by one of the three members who had voted in the affirmative for the Zuckerman amendment July 12th. Bush offered to do so and it appeared things would move forward, although Bush equivocated on whether she would ultimately vote to remove the Zuckerman amendment or not.
The September 5th special meeting on Sucette Harbor was a more somber affair. A chain of amendments offered by Zuckerman and McGuire seemed to be one nail in the coffin after another until Ordinance 23-16 was voted down unanimously by the council.
The Zuckerman amendment from July 12th had become a wrecking amendment. Wrecking amendments usually force even proponents of a piece of legislation to end up voting against it, which at the time seemed to be what had happened.
’And now… the rest of the story…’
To the casual observer, it would have appeared that the August 15th meeting signaled the end for Sucette Harbor, but the reality is, behind the scenes, it had not.
Now we have the texts and emails that were released as part of a public records request made by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem.
These conversations reveal a flurry of behind-the-scenes strategizing to somehow save the project before, during, and after the August 15th meeting.
According to text messages, it appears that Bush was willing to join the minority of Danielson and Kreller to strip the Zuckerman amendment after a meeting with the developer, possibly raising the number of units from 90 to 120, which could have been seen as a compromise.
Text messages between Bush and project proponent Rhonda Alleman show a lengthy conversation in the days leading up to the August 15th meeting, with Alleman also sending Bush an email the morning of the meeting.
Editor’s Note: Rhonda Alleman appears in the text messages from most of the council members as part of the Bear Cheezem public records release, where she is seen as a staunch proponent of the Sucette Harbor project, frequently lobbying council members with talking points, participating in social media response tactics, and offering Robert’s Rules of Order advice to break the Zuckerman amendment.
A text exchange between the two that day makes it appear that Bush was going to allow the Zuckerman amendment from July 12th to be removed.
Low-resolution text messages produced by District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush as part of a a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. Deciphered where possible. (Mandeville Daily)
Bush appeared to be looking past the 90-unit issue, cautioning Alleman that there were still other unrelated issues with the ordinance that she wanted to fix before a vote could be held, to which Alleman replied: “True. I would agree. Thank you so much.”
This email indicates Alleman had prior knowledge the developer would ask for 170 units at the August 15th meeting, and that Bush was prepared to go to 120 but not necessarily any higher. And of course, it ended up being Bush that night who made the “motion to reconsider.”
The City Council received no advance notice from the developer that they would lower their marina cutoff number from 178 down to 170 that night, yet Alleman had this information and was attempting to persuade Bush to go all the way to 170 earlier in the day.
Kreller also seemed to be aware of the 170-unit number the night before the meeting, texting that he would move to kill the ordinance should the 170-unit plan be rejected by the council August 15th, according to texts.
“[I]f their new proposal goes down, then I will probably call for a vote,” he texted.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
It ended up being Kreller who made the first attempt to break the Zuckerman amendment at the August 15th meeting, not Bush.
After Kreller’s motion to raise the number of units to 170 was ruled out of order in a roundabout way, and another recess had been called to discuss Bush’s attempt to allow the Zuckerman amendment to be “reconsidered,” Alleman began texting Bush during the break concerning yet another RROO tactic, the “motion to rescind.”
However, Bush told Alleman that Parnell Jr. had told her the “motion to reconsider” was the correct maneuver.
Low-resolution text messages produced by District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush as part of a a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. Deciphered where possible. (Mandeville Daily)
However, August 21st — during the timeframe of the unreadable texts between her and Bush — Alleman texted Danielson that she believed the votes were there to “resurrect the 170 units” and that “it’s not complicated.”
Text messages produced by Councilman at Large Rick Danielson as part of a a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Below is an exchange between Alleman and Bush a few days before the final September 5th meeting —deciphered by Mandeville Daily as much as possible — in which Alleman still appears to be pleading the case to save the Sucette Harbor project, despite the RROO impasse at the August 15th meeting.
Low-resolution text messages produced by District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush as part of a a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. Deciphered where possible. (Mandeville Daily)
Then, two days before the final meeting, Alleman texted Danielson again, asking that if the ordinance were to be voted down, could it be reintroduced without the Zuckerman amendment. Danielson replied, “I agree but at the moment, 170 would never get 3 [yes] votes from this crew.”
But Ordinance 23-16 did end up with five “no” votes that night plus an eventual federal lawsuit.
Sucette Harbor Exposed: Part 3 will be published soon.
Editor’s Note:
The City of Mandeville was contacted by other members of the public concerning RROO concerns in the aftermath of the August 15th meeting.
Additionally, on September 5th, the day of the final meeting, Mandeville Daily Editor Emeritus William Kropog emailed Zuckerman a RROO order quick reference — based on the content of an article published on August 20th — relating to the parliamentary issues raised at the August 15th meeting.
It was on the same night as the successful 4-3 vote by the Planning & Zoning Commission to recommend the Sucette Harbor project to the City Council.
Avery later shared screenshots of a Facebook post from Kreller’s campaign page showing a photo of developer attorney Paul Harrison at the event.
An excerpt from Nextdoor website showing one of Michele Avery’s posts. (Mandeville Daily)
There’s nothing illegal about Harrison being at that event or even if he were to have given a donation. Avery used the rhetorical hyperbole “bribe” to illustrate her belief that it should be illegal. She later emailed the City Council the images and complained about the appearance of impropriety, urging the City Council to adopt an ordinance restricting campaign contributions by parties having a matter before the council.
All this over a picture of a perfectly legal campaign event that someone added the word “bribe” to. Truth be told, most people might agree with Avery on this subject.
Did it occur to the Woodward Interests folks that maybe, just maybe, it was not a good look to be attending that campaign event on the very same night as the controversial 4-3 vote by the P&Z Commission? And how smart was it to plan the fundraiser for that particular night to begin with?
What a shame.
Because now we have the text messages from Kreller and other council members that were released as part of a public records request made by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem.
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 “attempting to push his negative position on the other members.”
In that same text thread, Kreller instructed McVicker to contact one of the other P&Z members saying “need to keep Mike Pierce a yes vote.”
This is the very same Planning & Zoning Commission that Kreller — as a member of the City Council — can appoint its members, and by the way, can also vote to remove them.
And they were upset about the word bribe? I wonder how they would have felt about the word coercion?
And let’s not forget that Michelle Avery’s controversial post happened in May 2023.
But a text message from August 2022 — almost nine months earlier — reveals that Kreller told McVicker he wanted someone to libel or defame him, and that he had talked to developer attorney Paul Harrison, who would end up being the very person pictured in the Avery “bribe” post.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
Suddenly, the ire and fury expressed toward Michelle Avery seem disingenuous.
These text messages make it sound like Kreller at the very least thought he controlled P&Z votes or that he wanted others to believe he did. And what was he hoping to gain by preemptively complaining to the city attorney about a P&Z member he feared might vote no? Read his words. Judge for yourself.
Even project proponents would have to admit that this new information paints an unsavory picture of what was going on in the Kreller camp behind the scenes.
Maybe he didn’t actually “control” any P&Z votes like he claimed or thought. Maybe the P&Z members didn’t take him seriously. After all, Mike Pierce ended up voting against it. So who knows.
But knowing what we know now, was it really all that outrageous that Avery used the word “bribe” to describe something that Kreller’s own text messages reveal, that at the very least he was bragging that the developer knew he was working to control P&Z votes, he was threatening to complain to the city attorney about a “negative” P&Z member, and he was telling his consultant to reach out to yet another P&Z member to hold their vote, for a vote that occurred on the same night as his campaign event, an event that one of the developers attended as evidenced by pictures posted on social media by Kreller’s own campaign?
It’s starting to sound like someone — maybe several someones — will owe Michelle Avery a huge apology when all is said and done.
Sucette Harbor Exposed: Part 2 will be published soon.
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.
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.
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.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
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.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
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.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
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.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
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.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
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.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
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.
Text messages produced by District II Councilman Dr. Skelly Kreller as part of a public records request by Woodward Interests Vice President Bear Cheezem. (Mandeville Daily)
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.
Text messages from 2 council members pixelated, not legible
Working to get issue resolved
MANDEVILLE — Mandeville Daily is working with the City of Mandeville to resolve a technical issue with the electronic files containing Sucette Harbor-related text messages from two of the five City Council members.
Only the text messages from District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush and District III Councilwoman Jill McGuire are not legible and appear “pixelated” as if they were compressed or reduced before or while sending. The other digital documents from Bush and McGuire are fine.
Mandeville Daily wants to be clear that we believe the issue was caused by human error and was not intentional. We feel we have a duty to be thorough and to keep the reader informed of the process. The City of Mandeville’s legal department insists the pixelated, low-resolution images are exactly how they received them from the two council members in question.
We tried printing the records in question on multiple computers and printers.
Below is a sample of one of the more readable messages. While it is possible to decipher certain groups of words or complete sentences here and there, one cannot do so with absolute certainty and the messages cannot be read as one would expect.
Excerpt from one of District I Councilwoman Rebecca Bush’s text messages. (Mandeville Daily)
What’s more, the recipient/sender’s names or phone numbers are completely unreadable as well as the date and time stamps, which are all necessary to add any form of context or to put them in chronological order. Without this information, they’re meaningless.
This is an example of a text message from McGuire. Her text messages are not legible at all.
Excerpt from one of District III Councilwoman Jill McGuire’s text messages. (Mandeville Daily)
Mandeville Daily was able to decipher some of Bush’s exchanges and place them in context, but with most of her texts we do not know the dates or whom they are with.
The text messages from the other three council members are good and have clearly readable names and date and time stamps.
Mandeville Daily is in the process of putting those text messages in chronological order as well as adding context to everything and everyone mentioned or participating in the message threads. It is an involved process, one we feel obligated to complete before publishing the information.
We would like to complete that process with Bush and McGuire’s text messages too.
The five council members turned over the following numbers of text messages (by screens):
Council Member
Texts
Status
Jason Zuckerman
43
OK
Rick Danielson
68
OK
Rebecca Bush
127
(mostly unreadable)
Skelly Kreller
171
OK
Jill McGuire
61
(all unreadable)
When completed, we will publish a cross-referenced timeline of events, allowing the reader to inspect all text messages in context.
MANDEVILLE — The City of Mandeville has released as part of a public records request a massive trove of Sucette Harbor-related text messages, emails and other documents that the city or its officials, including City Council members, had in their possession.
A first-read reveals a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the entire process from start to finish from the perspectives of those on the City Council.
Mandeville Daily will provide in-depth coverage at a later date, which will include a cross-referenced timeline of events, allowing the reader to inspect the information with context.
These documents were released as part of a public records request made recently by Mandeville Daily, mirroring a request made on September 11th by Bear Cheezem, Vice President of Woodward Interests, the Sucette Harbor project developer.
Text messages, emails and other electronic documents in the custody of elected officials — even those received or created on personal devices — are part of the public record as long as they were created or received while conducting or discussing official business, according to Louisiana State Attorneys General opinions on the matter.
Mandeville Daily believes it was in the public interest to assert the right of the people to inspect these public documents and to report on them.
We believe this will preserve the public trust and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of the controversial Sucette Harbor issue.
Mandeville Daily is contacting each candidate for City Council and Mayor, including incumbents and those who are running unopposed, and asking them to share their positions on key issues. We’re including mayoral candidates too because of the veto power over the City Council. We would love to hear from every candidate.
This is their chance to let the voters know right out of the gate where they stand on key issues. Mandeville Daily will publish the results, unaltered, provided they do not violate one of the rules below or some other editorial policy.
Five questions. Five short answers. Fifty words each. No one is obligated to respond, of course.
We feel it would be in the public interest to know where candidates stand on key issues, side-by-side.
The rules for the candidates choosing to respond are simple:
1) Do not call out individuals or other candidates by name or position. These answers are about you and what you would do.
2) For each question, you have a 50-word maximum (including articles and numbers). We will ignore or truncate anything beyond 50 words. No exceptions.
3) No hyperlinks, web addresses, email addresses or other pointers to external resources. This is an editorial policy. The public is free to search social media or the internet for candidate websites or other resources.
The deadline is Friday, December 22, at 5 p.m. No exceptions. We will email one reminder Thursday evening.
Candidates should email their responses to: editor@mandevilledaily.news. These responses must originate from the email address on file with the St. Tammany Parish Clerk of Court’s Office provided by each candidate when they qualified.
The questions are:
Question 1: What is your position on high-density development in Mandeville?
(50-words are less)
Question 2: After a year of hearings and public meetings, how would you have voted on the Sucette Harbor ordinance and why?
(50-words are less)
Question 3: What are your three favorite things about Mandeville?
(50-words are less)
Question 4: What are the two most important issues you think this next City Council and administration will face?
(50-words are less)
Question 5: What are your thoughts about the upcoming process of updating the City’s Comprehensive Master Plan?
Mandeville Daily 