Council and parish attorneys agree to streamline requests after missed meeting appearance

A scheduling dispute that left council members and visiting school-board officials without parish legal counsel at an ordinance committee meeting prompted a broader discussion Thursday about how council members request and receive legal advice from outside counsel.

Councilman Shavers criticized an attorney's absence at a committee meeting where school-board representatives had been invited to discuss school-impact studies. Attorney Steve Irving, who represents the council under contract, apologized and said the firm had been asked not to attend that night in a separate communication. Parish administration and attorneys said the situation exposed process problems: council members often contact parish lawyers individually, producing duplicate work and uneven records.

Parish leaders and counsel proposed a new protocol: council requests for legal advice and appearances should be routed through administration (the clerk's office or the designated clearinghouse), documented by email and placed on a shared calendar the parish and counsel can see. Counsel said billing would continue for research and formal opinions but a centralized scheduling and written request procedure would reduce missed appearances and overlapping work.

Why it matters: The exchange highlighted tension between council members' authority to seek legal advice and the parish's need to track and control outside counsel spending and scheduling. Council members emphasized the need for timely legal access for complex land-use and zoning matters; administration emphasized budget oversight.

Key details: Councilman Shavers said he intended to move to remove the contracted attorney from the parish work but instead pulled the agenda item and requested that administration and counsel draft a clearer procedure. Counsel acknowledged the oversight, apologized publicly and proposed written requests routed to administration and a shared calendar as practical fixes.

Next steps: Administration and counsel said they would draft a formal protocol and place it on the council agenda for approval; staff will work to create a shared calendar and ensure requests are documented by email so appearances can be scheduled and tracked.

Ending: The council did not replace outside counsel but asked administration and counsel to formalize a written request-and-scheduling protocol for legal advice and appearances at committee and council meetings.