Lawsuit filed by city council in ongoing battle over term limits

BOSSIER CITY, La. (KSLA) - The Bossier City Council has filed a lawsuit against two individuals in an attempt to keep an election on term limits from happening.

The suit was filed Friday, Sept. 29 and names the Bossier Parish registrar of voters, Stephanie Agee, and a representative of the Bossier Term Limits Coalition, David Crockett, as defendants.

The latter did not expect to be named in the petition.

“Obviously, term limits is the goal for us, and we highly respect the judicial process. We’re going to respect that,” Crockett said. “But we’re not going to stop working for term limits, one way or another. So if we get a ruling that’s not in our favor, we’ll go forward.”

Councilman Brian Hammons, who supports term limits, is against the lawsuit. “I’m very vocal about it, I’m very much against that. I think that people are working every avenue they have from both ends. But it always comes down to the will of the people, and this is what the people want. And we need to stand beside what the people want.”

Even so, Hammons doesn’t see term limits being voted on anytime soon.

“There’s just no way to make it on the ballot right now. We will just have to see, you know, where it goes from in the courts and the term limits coalition, see what they’re doing on their end. We’ll just have to see where it goes from there.”

Crockett said they still are determined to fight for term limits.

“Our goal is to not stop trying, So whatever the decision of the 26 JDC, we are going to continue whatever effort is required to get term limits before the next elections.”

Back on July 10, the city council was presented with a petition requesting an amendment be made to the city’s charter to enact term limits for the mayor and city council. The petition called for an election to be held so residents of Bossier City could decide whether or not they wanted these term limits to be put into place. That petition was certified the same day by Agee.

The Bossier City Council has made a number of attempts to keep the issue from being presented to the public. Mayor Tommy Chandler had the issue put on the city council’s agenda multiple times; however, the council has voted it down each time.

VIDEO: Term limits still a contentious issue at Bossier City Hall

Previously, the petition was challenged because it reportedly failed to include the birthdays of those who signed it. Now, the validity of the petition is still being called into question. The lawsuit asks for a Bossier judge to make a summary judgment on the matter.

The issue was on the council’s agenda for its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

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