St. Martinville Mayor Accused Of Late Power Bill Payments

Just because you're an elected officials doesn't mean the cost of living your personal life goes away. Also, just because you're an elected official doesn't mean you can manipulate the system to make it easier on yourself when those in your community are not offered the same advantages. Both of these statements could apply to what is going on in the inner chambers of the St. Martinville City Council.

The City Council in St. Martinville is questioning Mayor Melinda Mitchell about her power bill. More importantly, they want to know why the Mayor was late in paying her power bill and why or how she was able to grant herself an extension to get the bill paid without fear of termination of service.

Because of that alleged behavior, the St. Martinville City Council voted in their most recent meeting to remove the Mayor's power over disconnections of electrical service and the granting of extension in cases of non-payment.

According to one member of the Council, the mayor's power should have been shut off multiple times over the past few months. What appears to be inflaming the issue is that some 800 other St. Martinville residents did have their utility service interrupted while the Mayor did not.

If that is proven to be the case then this would be a prime example of an elected official putting themselves above the law and their constituency. Therefore the St. Martinville Council also voted last night to notify the Governor's office of these alleged practices. One of the steps the Governor could take is to remove Mayor Mitchell from office.

According to reports that letter to the Governor's office will be sent in the coming days. Meanwhile, Mayor Mitchell told KATC's Chris Welty that she owed slightly more than $350 on her power bill but the account was current.