(Originally published in Citizens for a New Louisiana) — The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office has taken the rare step of suing the City of St. Martinville — something we briefly reported last month. But now, we’re digging deeper into what triggered this action and why it matters. The short version? A crash course in how not to follow Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law.

Our Attorney General and District Attorneys Are Duty Bound

Any member of the public may file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office or the appropriate District Attorney. The law even allows them the narrow window of sixty days to institute a lawsuit if they so choose. But the law goes much further than that. It creates a duty for our Attorney General and District Attorneys to act.

Louisiana Revised Statute 42:25 provides:

The attorney general shall enforce the provisions of this Chapter throughout the state.  He may institute enforcement proceedings on his own initiative and shall institute such proceedings upon a complaint filed with him by any person, unless written reasons are given as to why the suit should not be filed.

Each district attorney shall enforce the provisions of this Chapter throughout the judicial district within which he serves.  He may institute enforcement proceedings on his own initiative and shall institute such proceedings upon a complaint filed with him by any person, unless written reasons are given as to why the suit should not be filed.

It is the duty of Attorney General and District Attorneys to act when open meeting violations are brought to light. Despite this, recent intervention by the Attorney General or even District Attorneys is a rather rare occurrence. So, what happened in St. Martinville that caused such attention?

Our Attorney General

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill may be new to the elected office, but she is far from a freshman. Murrill, raised in Lafayette, obtained her juris doctorate from LSU’s law school in 1991. Her work in public service has included serving as Executive Counsel to former Governor Bobby Jindal and later counsel for the Division of Administration.

Most Louisiana voters noticed Murrill’s work as the Solicitor General for the State of Louisiana. In this role, the narrative changed to focus on state sovereignty and constitutional rights. That passion continues to bring Murrill and her staff before the United States Supreme Court. Litigation is just part of the vital work our Attorney General does, and one of her office’s most important duties is protecting the rights of Louisiana citizens.

St. Martinville: A Masterclass in Open Meetings Violations

Open Meetings violations have plagued St. Martinville for some time. Watch a few council meetings, and you’ll see — it’s become a recurring problem in 2025 alone. There have been many excuses for why it keeps occurring, but it all comes down to one thing—bad actors!

Blaming the City Charter is an intellectually bankrupt excuse, and they know it. While the Charter does have some items that conflict with the current open meetings law, state law preempts the Charter. This essentially means that state law must be followed when a conflict exists. Despite this clear understanding, certain individuals within the City government just ignore the law while legal counsel sits idle.

There have been meetings illegally called without the presence of a quorum as defined by open meetings law. Several topics have been discussed in executive sessions when there was clearly a lack of subject matter warranting an executive session without any executive session notice. There was even an incident where Mayor Jason Willis unilaterally shut off the livestream to the public meetings because he didn’t like the discussion. All of this in the first quarter of 2025!

The Attorney General Filed Suit

In this environment of corruption, where LAWS ARE FLAT-OUT IGNORED, an Open Meetings complaint was lodged. On February 6, 2025, the Professional Association of Law Enforcement Officers filed complaints with the Attorney General and the District Attorney for the 16th Judicial District (which includes St. Martinville). That complaint — stemming from a January 23, 2025, Civil Service Board meeting — became the basis for the Attorney General’s March 27 lawsuit against the Board and its members.

The defendants in the suit are the Board and each of the individual Board members, Michael Formeller, Anastasia Potier, and Jason Boudreaux. Interestingly enough, before this meeting, Formeller went before the City Council seeking to retain a lawyer to represent the Board’s interests. Despite Formeller engaging in conversations with potential lawyers he thought would adequately serve the Board’s interests, City Attorney Allan “Sprinky” Durand directed the Council to retain another lawyer he described as a ‘potential successor’ to him.

Seven Violations in a Single Meeting!?

According to the suit, the defendants violated the Open Meetings law in seven different respects DURING THIS SINGLE MEETING. The violations include:

• Defendants violated R.S. 42:19(A)(2)(a) by failing to properly notice the Agenda for the January 28, 2025 meeting;

• Defendants violated R.S. 42:19 by failing to provide notice that the Board would go into executive session during the January 28, 2025 meeting;

• Defendants violated R.S. 42:20 by failing to keep written minutes of the January 28, 2025 meeting;

• Defendants violated R.S.42:16 and La. R.S. 42:19 by going into executive session during the January 28, 2025 meeting without amending the Agenda, without an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members present, and failing to record and enter into the minutes the vote of each member and the reason for going into executive session;

• Defendants violated R.S. 42:16 by continuing to discuss in person and send text messages while in executive session;

• Defendants violated R.S.42:16 by voting and issuing a written finding dated February 3, 2025, of the appeal from former Police Officer Cody Laperouse while still in executive session; and

• Defendants violated R.S.42:16 by using the executive session as a subterfuge to defeat the purposes of the Open Meetings Law by continuing to communicate verbally and through text messages after the January 28, 2025, meeting was adjourned.

There were more violations, such as not allowing public comment before a vote; however, that gets overlooked when it appears that the intent was to ensure that members of the public didn’t even have an opportunity to attend the meeting.

Was It All Orchestrated?

This wasn’t just incompetence — it appears orchestrated. If we had to speculate, it all started when Durand steered the council to hire someone with limited experience in this area to provide counsel for the Board. Was this someone Durand thought he could exert influence and control over?

Durand also caused the meeting to occur in the first place. He signed the only meeting notice we were able to find. The meeting was not called by the Board Chairman, Formeller, or issued by the Board Secretary, Shekia Garrick. Garrick even denied that a meeting had occurred. It was all authorized by Allan Durand.

Durand was also allowed to enter into Executive Session with the Board. Why? He doesn’t represent the Board; he represents the City. There was no reason Durand should have ever been present in Executive Session. Perhaps he was there pulling the strings all along.

The Meeting

What exactly was going on at this meeting that was so important it had to be controlled every step of the way? The meeting dealt with the termination of Deputy Chief Cody Laperouse. Laperouse was accused of attempting to attack a man, Patrick Valsin, at the police station. Valsin just happens to be the same individual receiving favors in the form of taxpayer-funded lawncare on his personal property courtesy of the City of St. Martinville.

Despite the allegations and a criminal complaint being filed against Laperouse, likely to prevent him from defending himself before the Council, no criminal charges were ever brought against him. Laperouse even paid for a lie detector examination, which showed he was TELLING THE TRUTH when he denied ever attempting to attack or cause harm to Valsin.

Chief Ricky Martin and the recently promoted Deputy Chief, Andrew Broussard, testified at the January 23, 2025, meeting. The record supports their testimony and the likelihood that they both lied under oath when giving their testimony. Those allegations and others form the basis for complaints filed with the Board against Martin and Broussard. The Board has not yet scheduled a date to take up those matters.

A Right to Public Participation

The basis of our open meetings and public records laws is an extension of our right to direct participation, as found in the Louisiana Constitution. Article XII, Section 3 mandates:

“No person shall be denied the right to observe the deliberations of public bodies and examine public documents, except in cases established by law.”

Our Open Meetings law consist of just twenty-four short sections, which are meant to ensure that decisions by our government are made in an open forum to increase public trust and awareness. But what happens when these laws are not followed? It results in a lack of transparency and understanding by the general public and a deduction from the trust account of our public officials. We recently discussed the erosion of trust in our article on Louisiana’s Insurance Catastrophe.

No Credibility.

Additionally, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Office of the District Attorney for the 16th Judicial District have been notified of the allegations against Martin and Broussard. In addition to the criminal implications attached to a person lying under oath, when that person is also a sworn police officer, it impacts their credibility in every other matter they may have handled. There is no way possible to get all this toothpaste back into the tube!

When public officials lie under oath, ignore transparency laws, and use executive sessions to hide from the people, the damage runs deeper than a single meeting. It undermines faith in every institution they represent. That’s why this case matters — not just for St. Martinville, but for every citizen who believes public business should be done in public.

Instances like these have prompted State Representative Dodie Horton (R 9/10) to introduce a bill that criminalizes open meeting violations. Unfortunately, HB81 has already been withdrawn. This is a very disappointing sign for a legislative session that has yet to get underway.