Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board member and current Board Chairman Brandon Williams, is once again facing scrutiny related to his eligibility to serve in this appointed position.
Williams has been the subject of previous Unfiltered with Kiran reports.
Williams was forced off the board once before after he used his business address instead of his home address to qualify for board appointment.
The law was changed specifically for him, which allowed him to serve again when he was appointed in 2020.
Now, Williams appears to be ineligible for another reason. According to public records, he has served on the East Baton Rouge Parish Board of Appeals since 2017. He was recently appointed to the Louisiana Housing Corporation’s Board of Directors.
Both of these positions are “public offices” as defined in Louisiana law, and holding those offices makes him ineligible to serve on the Municipal Civil Service Board.
Williams has previously stated publicly, “I’m not going anywhere,” after being faced with the new allegations. This time, however, the EBR Metro Council appears poised to remove him.
According to agenda item #53 on the upcoming, Aug. 24th East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council meeting, the council will consider asking the State Attorney General for a legal opinion on Williams’ apparent conflicts, if not voting outright to reverse their previous appointment of Williams causing him to forfeit his position.
Councilman Dwight Hudson had the item added to the agenda.
“A violation of state law was brought to my attention in regards to Mr. Williams’ service on the Municipal Fire Police Civil Service Board,” said Hudson. “The violation of law is clear, however, state law did not give a specific remedy for a situation where an appointment has already been made. The item seeks guidance from the Attorney General on the appropriate way to address the violation.”
In recent weeks, the Metro Council has struggled to appoint a person to the Civil Service Board to serve in the position being vacated by the previous LSU appointee, Sharon Lewis, whose term has expired. The last four nominees made by LSU have all been found to be ineligible to serve because of various reasons contained within the law.
The men and women of both the Baton Rouge Fire and Police departments rely on this specific board to protect their constitutional rights as it relates to their public service.
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