While some Metro Council members say details on a proposed committee to vet applicants for the vacant parish attorney position haven’t been ironed out, others say they haven’t been included in discussions with Mayor Pro Tem Chandler Loupe, who first sponsored an item to create the commitee on Sept. 24. The item has been deferred twice since then.
“I don’t have a clue” why the item has been deferred so many times, Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis says. “Maybe they don’t have those details worked out yet.”
A number of council members say their questions about who and how many people will make up the committee, what their goal will be or if the committee will have final say on who will fill the position have gone unanswered. Loupe did not return repeated requests for comment as of this afternoon’s deadline.
“The problem we have is, we can’t all get together and talk because of public meeting laws,” Councilman Buddy Amoroso says, adding that he intends to push for the item to be discussed in more detail when it comes up again in late November.
Councilman Joel Boé asked for the item to be deferred at the meeting Oct. 8 because of unanswered questions, he says.
“What’s their goals? What’s the mission? What are we going to get them to go do?” are among the questions Boé still has. “We need to make sure that we as a council, if we assign a committee, that they know what they are charged with. I’ve asked [Loupe] a couple of questions about it, and we haven’t gotten to the point we have gotten it resolved.”
Council Administrator Casey Cashio says a committee of this kind hasn’t been used to vet previous parish attorneys. In the past, officials within the parish attorney’s office and the council administrator would present the council with all applicants who met the minimum qualifications. The council would then conduct interviews, Cashio says.
