BATON ROUGE — A decision now has to be made when it comes to Brandon Williams serving on the Baton Rouge Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service board (MFPCSB).
The First Circuit Court of Appeal released its decision Thursday, Jan. 11 reversing the 19th JDC’s ruling that Brandon Williams was eligible to serve on the Fire & Police Civil Service Board despite serving two boards at the same time.
The MFPCSB is the board where Baton Rouge Police officers and BR firefighters who are disciplined, can appeal their discipline before an unbiased board of five members. Their decisions can often impact officers’ and firefighters’ entire lives. Brandon Williams is the chairman of that board.
According to public records, Williams has served on the East Baton Rouge Parish Board of Appeals since 2017. He was appointed to the Louisiana Housing Corporation’s Board of Directors as well. Both of those positions are “public offices” as defined in Louisiana law, and holding those offices makes him ineligible to serve on the Municipal Civil Service Board.
In an attempt to remedy the issue, State Rep. Denise Marcelle was going to propose a bill in the 2023 session that would have allowed Williams to continue serving on the board. The proposed bill would have only applied to the Baton Rouge Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board. The State representative ended up voluntarily withdrawing her bill due to Williams’ then favorable 19th JDC decision that he could serve on the board. Rep. Marcelle also wanted to propose the bill so others after Williams would not have to face the same problem.
The Baton Rouge Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service board members are appointed by the EBR city council members. The appointing body opposed Marcelle’s then proposed bill 7 to 4.
“The role of the civil service board is that they have an impact on our police officers and firefighters’ careers. So we want the board members to be fully focused on that board and if you’re serving on multiple boards, then your full attention is not on this board,” said an EBR councilmember.
When Brandon Williams took the battle to the 19th JDC, the judge ruled he was eligible to serve more than one board. However, the First Circuit Court of Appeal has since reversed the 19th JDC’s ruling and determined that Williams is ineligible to serve on the MFPCSB.
It’s unclear at this time if Brandon Williams will be stepping down or not. UWK did reach out to his attorney, but as of this report, there has been no response.
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