by KAREN LAGRANGE COX
Youngsville’s City Council tabled two items on tonight’s regular meeting agenda.
The first item tabled was 3.1 under Special Business. The item was for the appointment to Council Member, Division A, to fill the unexpired terms of Kayla Menard-Reaux, who resigned her position effective April 3, 2023. Eleven applicants sent in their resumes for the position. The applicants are Shannon D. Bares, Jacob Broussard, Chris Darder, La Sonja Dunbar, Jacob H Held, Logan Lannoo, Robbie J. LeBlanc, Eddie Lewis III, Michele Naquin, Nicholas Niland, and Matthew Thomasee.
Current council members voted to table the Council appointment to give them all more time to speak one-on-one with the applicants.
The second item tabled was Resolution No. 2023-09, which would authorize the City Attorney to obtain a law firm for an independent investigation of the Youngsville Chief of Police on behalf of the City of Youngsville. According to City Attorney Wade Trahan, he sent out packets to human resource law firms to handle the investigation and only received one packet. Trahan stated he felt only receiving one packet could be due to the short time frame from the time of the Special Council Meeting held on March 30, 2023,to today, which was over the Easter holiday. The Council Members voted to table the vote until next month’s regular council meeting to allow more time for Trahan to receive additional packets.
During the Special Council Meeting held on March 30, 2023, the council voted to have Trahan seek out human resource law firms to investigate Police Chief Rick Boudreaux. An investigation has been requested on Boudreaux after what the council says is a public outcry after The Advocate published a story on March 26, 2023 regarding a vehicle accident in which Youngsville Council Member Kayla Reaux later admitted to hitting a parked car on November 12, 2022. The accident occurred at Sugar Mill Pond in Youngsville. The article says Reaux called Boudreaux after the accident, who went to the accident scene. The woman whose car was hit called 911, and two police officers responded to the 911 call and went accident scene to investigate the accident. Reaux is reported not having been given a sobriety test or a citation. The investigation request of Boudreaux is to determine if Reaux was shown special treatment by Boudreaux on the night of the accident.
Reaux officially resigned from the City Council position on April 3, 2023. Resolution No. 2023-14 was passed by the council; the resolution orders and calls a special election to fill the vacancy of Council Member Division A of the City of Youngsville, State of Louisiana, and taking other matters in connection therewith. The election is October 14, 2023, with any run-off election to be held on November 18, 2023. Qualifying for the election is August 8 -10, 2023.
