Purchase orders, targeting resurface at SMCC meet

Concerns about long delays in getting purchase orders signed and alleged targeting of city employees were again a source of tension for the city council during Monday’s meeting.
A possible solution to purchase order delays had been approved in March providing that if Mayor Melinda Mitchell failed to sign a P.O. within three days of receiving it, Mayor Pro Temp Craig Prosper was authorized to approve payment if the funds are in the budget and the council has approved the expenditure.
Police Chief Ricky Martin said that part of the problem may be that he and CAO Avis Gutekunst had found that some of the department purchases were being listed in the wrong budget lines.
Councilman Prosper suggested that a too strict adherence to line-item amounts should probably not be considered grounds to refuse signing. He said it should be easier for department heads to shift funds between line items when necessary.
Attorney Allan Durand suggested that perhaps budget amendments should be made more than once a year to add more flexibility.
Mitchell, however, repeated her insistence that she would not sign anything that is over budget.
“If you want to sign something like that, that’s on you,” she said.
Unsigned P.O.’s have delayed authorized purchases such as concrete for a foundation for weight training equipment at Magnolia Park after the slab was formed and the equipment delivered to the parish barn.
Other needed purchases by the public works department have frequently been delayed, according to Superintendent Brian Touchet.
Unsigned P.O.’s have also interfered with retrieving vehicles from repair shops after service as well as equipment and uniform purchases by the police department.
“This is unacceptable. It’s not going to happen anymore,” Prosper said.

Employee Targeted?
Public Works employee Mike Martin returned to the council to again complain that he continues to be targeted by some residents who are determined to prove he is improperly working on private property.
Martin said he is being harassed because he was one of the witnesses called to testify about work performed by city employees at the mayor’s residence. Mitchell denies the assertion.
However, Councilman Mike Fuselier was critical of the mayor, who had stopped workers from installing electric service to a mobile home belonging to Martin’s daughter.
The mayor’s order followed an anonymous complaint she received.
Fuselier and Prosper said there are copies of all work orders at city hall and if the mayor had just reviewed them she would have seen that the work was properly approved.
Martin said similar acts of surveillance have been carried out numerous times, including by the mayor’s husband.
“I’m not responding to anymore anonymous complaints,” Touchet said. “There is clearly a vendetta against Martin and these people don’t have the guts to ask me before they complain about what we are doing. These anonymous complaints should not even be passed on to me.”
Martin, who Touchet says is an exemplary employee, said, “I’m tired of being watched all the time. I just want to go on doing my job. I don’t have any peace anymore, even though I do everything by the book.”
Mitchell contends there is no targeting going on and she was observing the proper chain of command after receiving a complaint.

In other business:
•The mayor announced that the city will receive a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $626,000 to rehabilitate three sewer lift stations and 67 manholes.
•A more aggressive effort will be made to sell the 90 adjudicated properties owned by the city. The council will take each one independently to determine whether to set prices at the fair market price, tax lien amount, or to sell at a loss.
•Attorney Durand was directed to move forward with negotiations to renew the lease with Races and Aces for space at the old Walmart building.
•Tentative approval was given to proceed with dirt work at Adam Carlson Park when Councilman Juma Johnson presents competing bids.