By Tiffany Flournoy
MINDEN, La. — A member of the Minden Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board has filed a lawsuit against the board and its chairman, alleging they violated Louisiana’s open meetings law while investigating and ultimately dismissing a grievance involving the Minden Police Department’s handling of an internal disciplinary complaint.
The lawsuit, filed June 5 in Webster Parish by Minden Police Lt. Kenneth James, head of the Criminal Investigations Division, also targets Board Chairman Tommy Davis. The legal action asks the district court to completely void the board’s May 14 decision to drop the matter, demanding a transparent, public hearing where evidence and witnesses can be brought to light. James is being represented by attorney Pam Breedlove.
The lawsuit comes just weeks after a controversial civil service meeting last month, where the board decided to end its probe into allegations that Police Chief Jared McIver failed to forward an internal police disciplinary complaint to the Minden City Council for review. Matters of this nature are normally only forwarded to the council if disciplinary action has been imposed in connection with the complaint. In this case, no disciplinary action was reportedly taken.
Executive Session
The lawsuit challenges the legality of the events surrounding the board’s meeting last month. Moments after roll call was taken at the opening of that meeting, Chairman Tommy Davis called to entertain a motion to go into executive session.
However, the possibility of an executive session was not noted on the posted agenda, and no motion was made to add the session to the agenda.
Instead, Davis addressed the room to explain that he and board member Benjamin “Corey” Plunkett needed to brief the rest of the panel in private before speaking to the public.
“At this time I would entertain a motion that the board go into executive session,” Davis said. “Mainly I’ll just tell you what we’re gonna do… when the investigation started, the board chose two people to look into it, and to see if we’d go any further, and that was Corey and I, and we have not had the opportunity to give a report to the other two members. So we want to go into executive session and do that. And then we’ll be right back out, and we’ll basically do the same thing with everybody here, but we think we need to tell them first. So I look for a motion to go in executive session.”
Board member Sedric Moody made the motion, which was seconded by Jamie Williams, followed by a 4 to 0 roll-call vote to enter the closed session. James recused himself from acting as a board member in the related procedures.
When they emerged roughly 16 minutes later, the board voted unanimously to decline further action. Davis later acknowledged that the board’s probe yielded no written report and no recordings, in an investigation that Davis acknowledged relied on memory rather than written documentation.
When asked at the meeting if the board’s investigation relied solely on memory, Davis responded, “Yes. There was no recording of the investigation, but we interviewed these people…”
The board’s attorney was not present during that meeting.
Public Comment Omitted from Agenda and Held Post-Vote
At the May 14 meeting, public comment was not listed on the meeting agenda, and no opportunity for public comment was offered before votes were cast in the matter and a decision had been rendered.
Instead, Davis opened the floor to the public immediately after the board had already voted and finalized its decision, isolating public input from participating before a binding conclusion was reached.
James’ lawsuit claims that entire sequence of events violated Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law, specifically alleging:
Secret Witness Interviews: Davis and the board’s vice chairman allegedly interviewed key witnesses together behind closed doors with no public notice, locking out both the public and James.
Illegal Executive Sessions: The board failed to notify the public of its intent to enter an executive session on the posted agenda, and failed to declare a valid legal reason before doing so.
Denial of Timely Public Comment: By failing to provide a venue for public input prior to taking action, the board failed to meet state requirements for timely public participation on binding votes.
Davis Accused of “Willful” Violations
A centerpiece of the lawsuit is the direct targeting of Board Chairman Tommy Davis.
James’ suit, argues that Davis cannot plead ignorance regarding state open meeting laws and transparency mandates, noting that prior to joining the civil service Board, Davis served an extensive career in local government, including five years as the Mayor of Minden (2013–2018) and six years as a Minden City Council member (2007–2013).
Because of his decades of public service governed by transparency laws, the lawsuit alleges Davis’ scheduling of unnoticed interviews and improper executive sessions constitutes a “knowing and willful” violation of La. R.S. 42:28. The suit seeks individual civil penalties against Davis, which can run up to $500 per violation. (While Benjamin “Corey” Plunkett participated in the underlying investigation alongside Davis, the lawsuit’s explicit demand for civil penalties focuses specifically on Davis in his capacity as chairman.)
James is seeking a judgment that will:
Declare the board’s interviews and executive sessions illegal.
Formally void and throw out the board’s May 14 vote to drop the case.
Issue a writ of mandamus forcing the board to conduct a fully public, transparent hearing where James can present evidence and question witnesses regarding the original Internal Affairs file.
According to court records, the case has been assigned to Judge Michael Nerren. As of Tuesday a court date had not been set.