Jefferson Parish Council delays new restrictions for IG as she seeks to make peace
By Lara Nicholson
Source: The Times-Picayune | Nola.com
December 11, 2024
After a tumultuous year of fighting between the Jefferson Parish Council and the Office of Inspector General, the two have agreed to come together to hash out their differences instead of voting to enact sweeping changes to restrict the parish watchdog’s speech.
The parish council agreed to defer a proposed ordinance Wednesday that would have restricted public statements made by Inspector General Kim Chatelain and her staff in exchange for her silence on any media appearances and non-investigative reports between now and the next council meeting, set for Jan. 15.
Before the meeting, Chatelain called Council members to ask for the deferral, saying she intends to meet with each of them to discuss their issues with her.
“I have no problems disagreeing,” Chatelain said. “I have no problems in reaching a place where we can agree to disagree, and I don’t necessarily think that we have to agree on a problem to design a solution.”
Council member Arita Bohannan said she remains skeptical that a solution can be found, and that the intent of the ordinance will stay the same even if the language is changed.
“To make it sound to the public that we are somehow muzzling you or putting a ‘gag order’ on you is a completely unfair display, again, of what this body is trying to accomplish,” Bohannan told Chatelain. “For six months this council has had to endure unfair attacks, and so there has to be some kind of media policy put in place.”
The ordinance would have prohibited Chatelain or her staff from making any public statements that could potentially interfere with an investigation or heighten “public condemnation” of anyone that “may be subject of an investigation, potential investigation or report.” It also would have banned OIG employees from working for the parish government for five years after leaving the agency.
Chatelain argued the ordinance would prevent her office from communicating with the public or publishing reports without the threat of retaliation, while ordinance authors said the guidelines — modeled after rules for attorneys involved in criminal trials — are necessary to prevent the IG from acting politically or tainting investigations before they are complete.
The council received letters of opposition prior to the meeting from inspectors general across the country, the Association of Inspectors General and the Bureau of Governmental Research, a New Orleans-based good government group.
“The amendments do not align with recognized best practices for inspectors general, and risk undermining the OIG’s ability to effectively carry out its mission to identify and deter waste, fraud and abuse in parish government,” wrote Rebecca Mowbray, president and CEO of BGR.
Bohannan and Council member Hans Liljeberg, who are leading efforts to crack down on the IG, met with the Association of Inspectors General on Monday to discuss their concerns but failed to reach a compromise.
The new rules would have been the most stringent changes to the OIG since 2019, when the council voted to limit the IG’s investigative powers by requiring requests for documents to be routed first through the parish attorney’s office for review. Those rules were imposed during the tenure of David McClintock, Chatelain’s predecessor, and still stand today.
The decision to renegotiate a media policy for the IG comes after six months of feuding between Chatelain and the five district council members. At the root of the controversy is a public letter issued by Chatelain’s office admonishing the construction of a $10 million brewpub in Gretna using public dollars.
The letter has led elected officials at the local, parish and state levels of government to criticize Chatelain in public meeetings, saying the letter was politically motivated and unfairly places the project in a bad light without finding wrongdoing.
Chatelain, who declined to comment as part of her agreement, has repeatedly denied those allegations.
The Ethics and Compliance Commission, the body that oversees her, agreed last month to hire an outside law firm to investigate Chatelain and her office. Several opponents of the ordinance said the council should wait until after the investigation is complete to impose restrictions on the parish watchdog.
The only vocal backer of Chatelain on the council is at-large member Jennifer Van Vrancken, who took to social media Tuesday to rally opposition to the proposed ordinance.
She said she supported the deferral and would be committed to open communication with her colleagues in the new year.
“The inclination is when five people are banded together for something, it’s usually for good … It can be one person speaking out on an issue and raising an alarm,” Van Vrancken said after the meeting. “Because there are five people who have a different thought on this doesn’t mean that it’s a product that can’t be improved.”
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