The New Orleans City Council Governmental Affairs committee meets this morning, amid the latest reports of Mayor LaToya Cantrell using a city-owned apartment off of Jackson Square for apparent personal purposes.
When the New Orleans City Council in April banned the mayor from staying overnight in the city-controlled Pontalba apartment, council president J.P. Morrell warned that what they passed was too vague.
"You have prohibited overnight stays, you have not prohibited parties that go the whole night and no one stays there, for example," said Morrell. "We had an opportunity to solve this problem."
After reports the mayor was seen entering the apartment late at night, with guests, the weekend of essence fest, Morrell told WWL's Newell Normand he would not be surprised if there are now amendments to the April ordinance.
"I honestly believe that there is an effort right now amongst several council people with buyer's remorse that there will be an active, swift effort to take away that Pontalba (apartment) as quickly as possible," said Morrell. "By leaving these loopholes, we're going to be right back here doing this again."
The apartment is not on the agenda for today's committee meeting, but Morrell says they will get an update on an investigation into the mayor's office using city money to send out an apparent campaign flyer during the recall drive.
The committee meets at 10 a.m.
