Shreveport mayor Adrian Perkins says “No”. Councilman John Nickelson, an attorney private practice, says “YES”.
Nichelson wanted to review drafts of the management contract for the EPA consent decree between the city and Burns & Mcdonnell. Bonton, the city attorney and outside Baton Rouge counsel were representing the city.
No surprisingly, Nickelson’s running buddies on the “New 3 “ team—Levette Fuller and Grayson Boucher – side with Nickelson. Second term council members James Flurry , James Green, and Willie Bradford—agree with Mayor Perkins.
Council chairman Jerry Bowman, Jr., also in his second term, did not take sides. He said the relationship between Perkins and Nickelson has been rocky, but will get better.
Nickelson says its his job as a council member to pay close attention of a contract that concerns the management of a billion-dollar capital improvement project. Nickelson has been very aggressive in pushing his agenda which he says he was elected to implement.
He has constantly pushed between the envelope between the executive and legislative powers. Whether or not draft documents of the city are public records under the Louisiana Public Records Law is not the real issue. Should council members be involved in major contract negotiations?
Good arguments could be made that they should not be…especially with sensitive matters like a multi-year contract for $10 million a year, YES $10,000,000 to manage consent decree work of $100 million a year during each year of the contract.
Additionally, some could say that too many attorneys—especially one NOT authorized to participate in negotiations—is not a good thing.
Perkins says that Nickelson looks to dilute the authority of his office and dismantle his administration. He says there is a line of demarcation between his duties as the executive branch versus Nichelson as the legislative branch.