NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The city travel ban imposed by the New Orleans City Council remains ineffective.
On Friday morning, March 28, the judge sided with New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell that the recently passed Ordinance Cal. No. 34,984: Travel Moratorium, is unlawful.
The ordinance states:
“No public officer or employee of the City of New Orleans may engage in non-essential travel, incur any non-essential travel-related expenses or obligation, or be reimbursed, by the City of New Orleans for non-essential travel-related expenses.”
An Orleans Parish Civil District court has issued a preliminary injunction on the travel ban granting Cantrell temporary relief until the court makes a decision.
The judge had granted Cantrell a temporary restraining order against the council’s ban on city-paid travel but it expired Friday.
The ban, which would have prohibited non-essential travel between March 9 and April 30, passed after the Cantrell administration told council there was a cash flow problem.
A problem cited in a letter penned to Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montaño and Director of Finance Romy Samuel from Council President JP Morrell who on Feb. 27 expressed “dismay and concern” surrounding Cantrell’s previous trip to Washington.
That was the base of the argument when Cantrell decided not to sign off on an agreement that would pay the Orleans Parish School Board millions of dollars. Part of Morrell’s letter read:
“Given the administration’s claims that the City is headed for a potential fiscal crisis, it is simply
beyond the pale that the Mayor would ignore an ordinance designed to address the fiscal crisis
that prompted her to withhold funding from Orleans Parish schoolchildren.”
The judge had ruled the ordinance exceeded the authority granted to the council under the city’s Home Rule Charter.
Over the past few months, three different judges in three separate matters have ruled that the council exceeded its charter-granted authority by attempting to exercise both legislative and executive powers, infringing on the Mayor’s authority as granted by the City’s Home Rule Charter. The Mayor remains hopeful that we can move past these disputes and work together to address the issues that matter most to the residents of New Orleans
City of New Orleans
The development comes while Cantrell is in Washington D.C. to participate in the Canada-Mexico trade summit.
