The cold war to date that has evolved between Monroe’s City Council majority Democrats and independent Mayor Friday Ellis erupted to hot – and at taxpayer expense – as the majority councilors admitted to their intentions, but just in time for their bargaining position erode over the issue of a new fire chief.
Twice Ellis has nominated experienced individuals to the post, and twice the majority has turned him down for changing reasons that on the surface seem more like excuses rather than serious objections. Multiple attempts by Ellis asking for Council majority input on the matter were ignored almost entirely. But then Ellis made an end run by encouraging what would become statute giving Republican Gov. Jeff Landry the power to appoint the chief.
That touched off a special Council meeting earlier this month with the issue revisited at the last regular meeting. At both, the Council majority – Democrats Rodney McFarland, Verbon Muhammad, and Juanita Woods – initiated a long shot law suit to overturn legally the statute, Worse, that measure allowed the Council to bypass city counsel and hire legal help from the outside, guaranteeing extra needless expenses imposed on taxpayers because it is constitutionally correct for the state to override portions of charters it grants local governments and it was done in a procedurally correct manner.
