Mandeville City Council OKs Madden’s travel expenses

Unlike in the city of New Orleans, the Mandeville mayor and City Council appear to be on the same page when it comes to mayoral business travel.

The Mandeville City Council on May 9 unanimously approved a resolution authorizing travel expenses for Mayor Clay Madden to attend a flood plain manager’s conference June 23-27 in Utah.

Although the exact cost of the trip was not specified, the resolution said the travel expenses to be paid from government coffers include hotel, conference registration fees and airfare.

In New Orleans, some City Council members have been highly critical of travel expenses incurred by Mayor Latoya Cantrell and have sought to curb non-essential travel by the city’s top officials.

The legislative action by the Mandeville council is in accordance with regulations imposed in 2008 requiring out-of-state travel expenses for the mayor, any member of the City Council or any member of standing boards and commissions be authorized by resolution of the City Council in a public meeting.

The 2024 Association of State Floodplain Managers Conference is being held in Salt Lake City next month. Next year the national conference is being held in New Orleans.

City Planning Director Cara Bartholomew said having Madden in Utah for this year’s conference will allow him an opportunity to make valuable contacts in advance of the 2025 event.

Mandeville, which has invested much research in protecting vulnerable waterfront communities from flood threats, is planning to host at least two “field sessions” during next year’s convention, she said.

“It’s going to be great to have the mayor there (in Utah),” Bartholomew said.

The Association of State Floodplain Managers website says the conference in Utah will feature 81 concurrent sessions for a total of more than 200 presentations. This will be the association’s 48th annual conference, which the website bills as “the world’s largest and most comprehensive floodplain management conference.”

Councilman Rick Danielson said the city budgeted just under $39,000 for travel expenses in the current fiscal year. As of the end of March, about $29,000 of that had been spent.

While the city appears to be on track for travel expenses, Danielson said several conferences are coming up before the end of the fiscal year. He noted the Louisiana Municipal Association Conference, being held August 1-3 in Shreveport, may be one newly elected council members may want to attend.

Three of the five council members taking office on July 1 (Scott Discon, Cynthia Thompson and Kevin Vogeltanz) will be new to elected public office. Jason Zuckerman and Jill McGuire return to the board for a second term. 

Danielson asked the administration to provide a projection of upcoming travel expenses at the council’s May 23 meeting.

In other action, the council agreed to keep the St. Tammany Farmer as the city’s official journal for the term July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.