Bossier City Councilman Chris Smith, from right, and Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler listen as David Crockett speaks during the Tuesday, July 30, 2024, Bossier City Council meeting at the Bossier City Municipal Complex in Bossier City, La. A member of the group which for two years has been working to now is suing the city in hopes of forcing its council members to allow residents to vote on the issue. A member of the Bossier City Term Limits Coalition on Friday filed a writ of mandamus, a court order directing city officials to perform their legal duties, in a Bossier Parish district court demanding the Bossier City Council call for an election on establishing term limits before Aug.
27. The lawsuit follows months of fighting over the term limits question, most recently after the council voted down a resolution which would've allowed Bossier City residents soon to cast a vote on the issue following the delivery of a new citizen petition. The Bossier City Term Limits Coalition recently delivered to the council a , this one free from the errors which .
The Bossier City Charter required the city council, when presented with a valid citizens' petition calling for changes to the founding document, either be enacted by the council as written or placed the ballot on the next election. The council last week asking the Louisiana Bond Commission to put the matter on an upcoming ballot. After being recently presented with a petition calling for term limits about which the city attorney could find no flaw, the Bossier City Council voted down an ordinance which would have changed the charter to enact a three-term maximum for elected officials.
The council, warned both by residents and the city attorney, was aware the decision to vote down that resolution could lead to legal action against the city due to a timeline outlined for action in the charter. Now the city is being sued. Coalition member Cassie Rogers filed the suit Friday.
The suit calls on the court to force Bossier City to call for an election on term limits by Aug. 27. Rogers is asking for an "alternate writ of mandamus," which is a court order in response to a writ of mandamus requiring the defendant, in this case Bossier City, to perform the act demanded or demonstrate the legal reason why it shouldn't.
Mayor Tommy Chandler and council members Brian Hammons and Chris Smith support term limits. But a majority of the Bossier City Council regularly has opposed the Coalition's efforts, and, originally buoyed by City Attorney Charles Jacobs' opinion the citizens' petition first presented to them was flawed, have held at bay a decision which could render most of them . At last Tuesday's meeting, some council members expressed a belief the Coalition's goal is to get them, specifically, out of office.
"I am not in favor of the language in this petition, and I will not support it ever," said Councilman Jeff Darby, who has served on the Bossier City Council since the 90s. "This is not a representation of good government. People have honorably served and sacrificed to serve, and that's what we've done.
And I believe this petition targets only certain people in the first place. It doesn't address government at all. It targets certain people.
" The Coalition's original organizer, David Crockett, told the council members at that meeting the matter before them isn't about their opinion on term limits, generally, or their feelings on the petition in front of them. "You're discussing whether you want term limits or not. You have a charter that we complied with and a petition that was valid, that was legal.
This isn't a vote about whether you support term limits or not. You have no choice, according to your charter," he said. "If you vote this down, you're inviting a lawsuit because you're in violation of your charter.
This is not about whether you support term limits. This is about whether you support good governance that's defined in your charter." Jacobs told council members his interpretation of the charter sets Aug.
24 as the expiration date of the timeline for action on petitions outlined in the charter, after which time if the council doesn't act the matter is automatically placed on the ballot. However, Louisiana law requires the council send the state bond commission a resolution requesting the matter be added to the next election. The state bond commission application date for December ballot items is Tuesday.
At that meeting last week, Jacobs predicted the Coalition filing a writ of mandamus if the resolution was not passed in time. "That would leave the ball in the Term Limits Coalition's court. They would file what is called a writ of mandamus to try to force the city council to send (the resolution) to (the state bond commission).
Then the city council would present their defenses in court, then the judge would rule on that," Jacobs said. "It's an action to a public body to perform a non-discretionary function.".
