"It's deja vu all over again."
- Yogi Berra
At the last Kenner City Council meeting, District 5 Interim Councilwoman Kelly Hand took her seat. Unfortunately, since the Kenner City Council prematurely voted to appoint her before Dominick Impastato's resignation took effect on 10/31, Mrs. Hand could only sit there quietly and not vote.
Unfortunately for District 5 residents who are left without any official representation, Mrs. Hand may be just sitting there for another meeting or even longer.
At a "Special" Council meeting (and really, aren't they all "Special"?), the Council voted again to appoint Mrs. Hand. But, City Hall missed the deadline for the resolution appointing Hand a second time to be published in the Official Journal (The Times/Picayune).
Article 2.18 of Kenner's Home Rule Charter provides that ordinances and resolutions do not become effective until ten days after publication of the legal notice in the official journal. Kenner's legal notices are usually published in the "Kenner Picayune" section of the Times Picayune every Wednesday.
Publishing the resolution in this Wednesday's (11/8) paper would mean that Mrs. Hand's appointment would not be legal for 10 days, thus not allowing her to participate (other than sitting silently) at the next City Council meeting on Thursday, 11/16.
Ironically, the City used the "10 day rule" both when it appointed Brian Brennan and Mrs. Hand, to convince the Secretary of State that the Council appointments were legal since they would not "take effect" until AFTER there was an actual vacancy.
The Zahn Administration scrambled to get the notice published in the Monday (11/6) "Newsstand" edition of the Times/Picayune. The "Newsstand" Edition is not home delivered and is only available for purchase at area retailers and newspaper boxes.
There is a question as to whether the "Newsstand" Edition constitutes "Official Publication in the City's Official Journal". If it is not considered "Official", any vote Mrs. Hand makes at the 11/16 meeting could be challenged and, possibly, illegal. It would also mean that Mrs. Hand would not be put on the Kenner payroll until 11/18, or two days after the next Council meeting and District 5 would be without "Official" voting representation until December.
That is, assuming that the City of Kenner republishes the Legal Notice in the Wednesday, 11/8 edition.
If it is not republished in the "Official Journal", every vote Hand makes could be challenged and, possibly, illegal.
Of course, the Zahn Administration maintains that the "Newsstand" Edition qualifies as "Official". But, isn't the point of a Legal Notice to be published for the widest available audience? Clearly, the "Newsstand" Edition has a circulation that is not equal to the combined Home Delivered/Newsstand circulation. And really, how many people actually buy a copy of the newspaper at a store anymore?
Since he's been an elected official for over 12 years, shouldn't Ben Zahn get little things like this right? And shouldn't the City Council and Zahn actually know what's in the City Charter?
Several times during his 11 month term, Zahn has either tried to get around the City Charter or pushed for laws before they had been properly vetted.
Zahn has already allowed several of his non-resident political appointees to get waivers so they could get around the Charter residency requirement that was voted on and approved by the people of Kenner.
Zahn pushed the City Council to "do something" regarding TNCs like Uber and Lyft so the City could get a new revenue stream from fees on drivers and passengers, and when the City Council passed an ordinance that Uber and Lyft said would drive them from Kenner, Zahn needed to call another "Special" Council meeting to repeal the ordinance and start again.
Regarding the controversial UDC provision that would ban Kenner residents from parking boats in their driveways, Zahn pushed for the UDC to be passed by the Council but deferred enforcing it for a year after public criticism.
Shouldn't WE push our elected officials to get it right instead of just plowing ahead? Isn't it better, especially regarding LAWS, to get it right rather than get it fast?
This isn't McDonald's - these are laws that impact all of us.
Since Ben Zahn has been on the public payroll much of his adult life, he should know the difference.
