The Town of Jonesboro did not properly terminate Fire Chief David Roberts last January when Mark Treadway was appointed to that position, Second Judicial (Bienville, Claiborne, Jackson parishes) District Division B Judge Jimmy Teat ruled yesterday.
It is clear that the statute requires the Town of Jonesboro Board of Aldermen to make a motion to terminate David Roberts, said motion was to be seconded, and if there was a majority vote to terminate David Roberts then he would be terminated as Fire Chief of the Town of Jonesboro. Therefore, it is clear based on the testimony of the Mayor of Jonesboro himself that the statute was not complied with, therefore, it is this Court’s opinion that the Town of Jonesboro did not comply with Louisiana Revised Statute 33:404A(3) in removing David Roberts as Fire Chief of the Town of Jonesboro.
Therefore, it is this Court’s opinion that judgment should be rendered in favor of plaintiff, David Roberts, and against the defendant, Town of Jonesboro, ruling that the Town of Jonesboro did not comply with the law in terminating David Roberts as Fire Chief of the Town of Jonesboro.
As to the damages the Court will give plaintiff and defendant ten days from the date of this Reasons For Judgment to provide the Court with their assessment of what the damages would be to David Roberts and also would give the plaintiff and defendant the same ten days to present a judgment in accordance with these reasons.
See here the ruling.
See here the original petition.
07/25/2012 at 12:06 pm |
I wonder, could Mr. Roberts cut a deal with the judge, say like, I will withdraw my law suit if I get my job back, with back pay, and the Mayor (the Miserable Leslie Thompson) resigns effectively immediately?
07/25/2012 at 12:11 pm |
I am sure Leslie’s attorney predicted this ruling as well….Article in Monroe Paper said she new the outcome of the other trail before it was handed down and had her appeal ready.
She can file an appeal…her writing says it all….hope Les has some money to pay her!
07/25/2012 at 12:28 pm |
Perhaps that’s why all the letters to the black churches went out begging for money.
07/26/2012 at 9:37 am |
Begging for money? Aren’t the black churches getting “tired” of this crap?
07/25/2012 at 12:35 pm |
Since he is acting on behalf of the town, I am sure the town is paying his attorney.
07/25/2012 at 12:40 pm |
You got it hoss.
07/25/2012 at 12:52 pm |
Well then I suggest to EVERYONE in Jackson Parish for at least one month or how ever long you can go. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING IN JONESBORO!! BOYCOT JONESBORO! Let Leslie constinuents pay his “legal fees!”
07/25/2012 at 1:06 pm |
That will not help the good folks in Jonesboro…pull together and support the local businesses..
Unity and pride in Jonesboro will come without the help of Leslie.
Leslie, I am betting, has a stash of cash to pay his bills.
07/25/2012 at 1:20 pm |
I am sure he does… but he WON’T pay the bills he is keeping the money for himself. I know for a fact before he became mayor, he didn’t pay his personal bills and I knew what was going to happen when he became mayor. I was right, the town is in the crapper!
07/28/2012 at 12:23 pm |
Yes, you are right. I heard even as far back as the 70′s about what a numbskull he was.
07/25/2012 at 1:30 pm |
Ok people, Black, White, Hispanic, Oriental, etc, when are you going to own up to the fact that it is “your” towns money being wasted on auditors, law suits, judgements, attorney fees, cell phones, overdraft fees, special pay for some workers, thirteenth checks to some council members (Flowers), undocumented out of town trips by TOJ vehicles, illegal use of personel and town owned equipment. Come on, face the facts, this administration is not up to the challenges of running a town. There has never in the history of the TOJ been such blatant misuse of authority by the mayor and three council members, who I actually think two are pretty good people and one is just a dumb racist, I will leave it up to the readers here to decide who I am referring.
Charla, Devin and LaStevic, are you ready to come up with the repayment of the mayor’s salary increase when the Court of Appeals rules in favor of Planitiffs? That’s right, you are “personally” liable under the Rule of Judgement in the suit concerning the misguided leadership of our current mayor. Read the Rule of Judgement, it states specifically that you as council member and the mayor were “NOT” to pay out anything under the illegally sponsored ordinances. I can tell you, the plaintiffs are ready to file suit for remedy in that suit which is the return to the general budget all funds paid in opposition to the judgement. That amount is approaching $55,000.00 (salary, social security taxes, medicare taxes, retirement, etc). Glad you have deep pockets, we the taxpayers will appreciate the money being returned to its rightful owner, the people of the TOJ.
07/25/2012 at 1:54 pm |
AMEN!
07/25/2012 at 2:20 pm |
And when the Mayor has exhausted all his appeals and not won any of them, he will still blame someone….he and Herb Simmons will blame his attorney for her ineffective work.
The folks supporting Leslie will NEVER accept the root of this problem is Leslie.
it will continue to be someone elses problem….
07/26/2012 at 1:32 pm |
You are absolutely right. And, to think, I am so disappointed in Herbert Simmons. I thought he KNEW right from wrong. I guess it does not matter. He will always side with corruption. As I have said before, I knew his father many, many years ago, and I always thought him to be a kind, respectable person. But, his son…………..I don’t think so.
07/26/2012 at 2:28 pm |
Some people may still have some of the people fooled, but someone’s rant about “his” tax dollars being used to pay for mowing the cemetery, opened the eyes of a great group of folks that someone had managed to convince that particular person was the greatest individual with such a philanthropic heart…..yeah right. I do find it quite interesting that that person never complains about “his” tax dollars being unaccounted for by the puppet. I find it quite humorous that person chases every politician he can stop long enough to listen to a rant about how the puppet is being abused. The puppeteer is no better than the puppet, if someone had the best interest of the (entire) town, not just a personal operation, things would have been approached totally differently, but I hope
the FA helps the puppeteer and his puppet understand one thing: you don’t own everything and you can’t buy or bluff everyone. We ALL have rights, and eventually WE ALL will have them recognized. The great idea of declaring the town Wet so the bar could be put in the imaginary hotel was just another indication of what one person does to try to propel themselves forward at price of stomping on everyone else’s rights.
07/28/2012 at 12:36 pm |
Absolutely. There is NOTHING at TJ that is actually ol’ Leslie’s even though he thinks it all belongs to HIM. TJ belongs to the people (taxpayers) as a whole.
As examples of him not owning anything……the building is not his, the town car is not his. His desk is not his. The commode in his bathroom is not his and on and on.
07/28/2012 at 12:37 pm |
Sorry, I left out the most important thing…….the MONEY is not HIS.
07/29/2012 at 7:51 am |
There is nothing owned by the TOJ that belongs to Thompson or Simmons, but they both have been allowed to run roughshod over everyone and everything else and continue to do just as they please by pulling out the race card and whining. Thank all the politicians that have turned a blind eye and helped grow this monster…..may they have to live with this for the rest of their lives.
07/25/2012 at 3:49 pm |
LOL Sounds like the poor CTIC is having a very bad week!!!!!
07/25/2012 at 3:50 pm |
Looks like all the mayor has built is now coming crashing down! Good! His lawyers comment “i know the outcome before it is handed down..” that my friends is racism at its finest. Good job mayor at laying a good foundation that can lead the way in so easily destroying your under handed ways.
07/25/2012 at 4:05 pm |
Leslie,
Doug Stokes allowed you to get in this mess.
You need to fire him asap.
He is not on your team as a player.
Hire your own attorney for the town.
Trust me on this!
07/25/2012 at 4:24 pm |
Yeah…his attorneys have done so well that they’ve lost every case they’ve tried.
07/25/2012 at 4:31 pm |
Doug Stokes is helping to drive a stake through the heart of the CTIC and it won’t be long before there is no mo les. Les and mes need to ride off into the sunset before the shit hits the fan any harder.
07/26/2012 at 6:24 am |
really? how?
07/26/2012 at 1:37 pm |
If you ask me, Doug Stokes did not create anything. It was all ol’ Les’s doing because he is too inept to handle an entity of this magnitude. If he had the smarts, this would not have happened, and Jonesboro would be sailing on smooth seas instead of stormy seas.
07/26/2012 at 1:43 pm |
I beg to differ with you, Sunrisesunset.
Douggie Stokes has been paid quite nicely to “oversee” the functions of the mayor and his trio.
Those payments make him accountable.
The Mayor should not have so many lawsuits filed against him since he has always acted on Douggie’s advise.
I do not recall any meeting where Douggie advised Leslie to not do something and Leslie went against Douggie’s advise.
Leslie trusted douggie and look at all THE MESS there is….it is time for a new town attorney
07/27/2012 at 5:58 am |
What do ya’ll expect out of Stokes? Doesn’t he also serve as an ADA in the office of our esteemed District Attorney?The same DA that does nothing but sit in his chair? Stokes is proof of “when in Rome do as the Romans do”! He hangs with corrupt people so how can he be expected to do anything else. He is definitely just as bad as the CTIC and the “Make believe DA”!!
07/28/2012 at 12:47 pm |
That is perfectly fine to disagree. I know you are, in all probability, right about this. However, I still maintain my statement that Stokes was not the creator of this mess. It was ol’ Les who was the author of this novel. But, I know, also, that Stokes did not help the situation either.
08/24/2012 at 5:28 pm |
Doug Stokes is not at fault in this matter. Doug has given the mayor opinions of law on matters when requested and Leslie has chosen to do what Leslie deems right against the advise of Doug. Leslie has refused the advise of several leaders in the black community in many of these matters. Leslie has even ignored the advise of Herbert in a few matters. The paralegal narcissist has an ego bigger than imaginable. Doug also does not control Jonathan Stewart. If you want to place blame directly where it belongs…… this is the pecking order:
Leslie – inept in business matters, inept in matters of law, inept in being able to run a town for the benefit of its citizens,
possible criminal actions (to be determined).
Jonathan Stewart – this matter has progressed to the boiling point due to the inaction of Jonathan. Once the materials had been presented to him from the Sheriff-LSP-AG team he should have issued a statement that he felt the case had no merit or moved on to a presentation to a Grand Jury. Once at Grand Jury it would have had to be returned a True Bill or a No True Bill. If the later, then the issue would have been closed. If a True Bill would be returned then Leslie would have his day in court before a jury of his peers. As it is now, Jonathan Stewart has allowed this to fester to the point that this whole matter has divided the town and the parish with racial motives being proclaimed over and over and it actually has nothing to do with race…..just apparent stupidity on the part of Leslie and Jonathan Stewart.
3/5 of City Council – I do not cast aspersions on these people but they are apparently blindly following what Leslie and his people are telling them rather than using their heads and looking at the facts of budget, government and the fact they are to oversee the safety and well-being of the citizens of Jonesboro which includes a balanced budget comprised of EXPENSES vs INCOME. ASSETS are NOT used to balance a budget or determine the ability a an entity to meet its financial obligations.
The Citizens of Jonesboro – I’m not going into the voting percentage for that would imply that if more people voted then Leslie wouldn’t have been elected……we have no idea if that would be correct or not. I lay blame at the citizens of Jonesboro not contacting the correct public officials concerning this matter rather than some railing at all of our elected officials. If you are not happy with things, start with the mayor and let him know how you feel. Your councilperson, call them and let them know your feelings. Our officials on the state level have done all that can be done by law to help in this matter of apparent mismanagement. There is no venue to remove the mayor or a councilperson other than malfesance in office. If you feel the mayor, councilperson or the DA is not doing their job to your satisfaction, then contact the Sec. of State office and register to start recall petitions on any or all of the above.
Side Note: Mr. Lamkin, foolishly and honestly upholding to advise given to him abstained on the budget where the police department was de-funded. He holds a position with the Coroner’s Office and was advised that anything having to do with that office he should abstain. There is a line item in the budget concerning expenses reimbursed to the coroner’s office. Therefore he felt he should abstain – honesty. Foolishly – his first priority is to represent the people of his District. His NO vote would not have affected the outcome of the vote and he would have properly represented his constituents. If someone wanted to later challenge his vote then so be it.
Most of the agnst of this situation can and should be resolved by the immediate action of Jonathan Stewart. If you are a citizen of Jonesboro just pick up your phone and call JONATHAN STEWART and ask for action on this matter, one way or the other……..just get it resolved.
INNOCENT-BY-STANDER
07/26/2012 at 8:06 pm |
We need to hold Doug Stokes accountable for the egregious and reckless conduct of Leslie Thompson. Thompson was under the influence of Stokes
07/26/2012 at 9:32 pm |
Maybe someone was giving good Ol’ Les enough rope to hang himself.
07/28/2012 at 12:48 pm |
Do we think it was Stokes? If so, maybe he was smart after all. Just sayin……..
07/25/2012 at 7:29 pm |
The FA needs to take ole Les salary to pay the Roberts what is owed to them! Let him see how it feels to be without a paycheck for his stupidity!
07/25/2012 at 9:18 pm |
All this talk about racism may have gotten some attention before, but they are taking on the state of Louisiana now, and they don’t care what color you are. It may still work with some of the locals, but it is falling on deaf ears now.
The rest of the state is seeing what Jonesboro residents have seen for 5-1/2 years now.
07/26/2012 at 8:37 am |
what les said…he works 24/7…he knows the lawrason act…he understands the budgeting process…he and “his council” will “move the town forward”
what les did…used town equipment as a personal vehicle…fired a dept head contrary to lawrason act rules…ignored town attorney advice…hired more employees with less ability than any mayor in town history…has most no opinion audits in the state of la…bad mouthed every mayor who served before him and then used the CDs prior mayors saved to keep the town running…killed the police dept as a personal vendetta…”his councilmen” openly confrontational with citizens and some news reporters…thinks its a town’s responsibility to entertain citizens with gospel concerts and budgets money for that…thinks the answer to revenue is more taxes and selling some liquor license…has spent the town dry hiring lawyers and cpa firms trying make sense of the town records…etc.
May I suggest in the spirit of “moving the town forward” the mayor and council members take a fifty percent cut in salary and let’s see who really “loves jboro”
07/26/2012 at 8:47 am |
Council embers make about 500 a month. That’s not enough to pay anything. So maybe make another suggestion
07/26/2012 at 9:07 am |
If memory serves my 80 year of brain correctly, being a council member is not a full time job. That means that the $500 is something extra for them. One member acutally deserves her full amount; the rest need to step aside and let someone who is competent (and not a thief at heart) do the job. If the salary for council members were any less, you would have a hard time finding someone to sit on the council. You heard it here first: greed breeds greed.
07/26/2012 at 9:08 am |
That should be “old” instead of “of” in the first line. Not only is my brain 80+ but so are my fingers.
07/26/2012 at 2:39 pm |
Council members don’t “make” nothing but a mess(except for ms stringer, who makes sense). You are paid 500, it’s not supposed to be your main job in life. $250 would pay your gas and snacks to meetings and show some love for jberry. Your fans could donate more, send a letter.
07/26/2012 at 11:37 pm |
500 a month with taxes out ain’t nothing. Then you idiots call all the time with stupid crap. So when you call can it be said I am part-time and hang up. Yea then what.
07/27/2012 at 7:10 am |
well stupid you ask for the job, you just called the people in your district idiots for expecting you to work for them. If u had a real job you wouldn’t even care about chicken feed 500.
07/27/2012 at 9:08 am |
Resign!!!
Keep selling your stuff out of your car ….tax free….and move on for a true public minded individual.
You did this for the promise of what from whom????
You only post at late night….whats up with that?
07/27/2012 at 10:06 am |
Make your $500 elsewhere and get the heck out of Jonesboro Town Hall!
07/26/2012 at 1:45 pm |
This is so amazing. How could anyone make so many mistakes in what should have been a “respectable” job. But, ol’ Les does not respect the job he was given.
So, there you go.
07/26/2012 at 9:52 am |
So who is the fire chief now? Will Roberts resume his position as fire chief?
07/26/2012 at 10:10 am |
They need roberts back in there, the chief now is worthless
07/26/2012 at 1:54 pm |
Is the present chief a supportive figure of the mayor? Just asking…….
07/26/2012 at 2:33 pm |
Did the sun rise this a.m.?
07/26/2012 at 7:02 pm |
whats funny is i’ve heard mark treadway call leslie the N word
more than once. of course that was when he was kissing don e. butt.
07/26/2012 at 7:55 pm |
Curious as to what the settlement will be, since he was wrongfully terminated, but accepted the serverance package, and waited almost a year to file suit. Did not really try to mitigae damages.
07/28/2012 at 12:54 pm |
What is your relation to Mark Treadway…..the present fire chief?
07/26/2012 at 8:39 pm |
Heck yes treadway is in with the mayor, are you serious?
07/27/2012 at 9:09 am |
What Says:
07/26/2012 at 11:37 pm | Reply
500 a month with taxes out ain’t nothing. Then you idiots call all the time with stupid crap. So when you call can it be said I am part-time and hang up. Yea then what.
LET US GUESS WHICH COUNCIL PERSON POSTED THE ABOVE POST….
I SAY IT WAS NOT RENEE STRINGER
WHAT IS YOUR BEST GUESS?
07/27/2012 at 9:35 am |
with you – i think it was he too.
07/27/2012 at 9:39 am |
cotton or flower?
07/28/2012 at 12:56 pm |
It was Cottonham. Whom do think made the statement?
07/27/2012 at 11:20 am |
3/4 of the population that hear of the city hall “antics” and read on here about them actually have no idea of the level of incompetence that occurs at city hall on a day to day basis. It is beyond description. No one at city hall has a remote idea of what they are doing. That is why so much stuff gets messed up. They try to wing it, screw it up beyond belief then have to go back and try to fix it, at the expense of citizens, employees etc.! You should have to work there and see. It is ridiculous.
07/27/2012 at 5:02 pm |
Tell us more.
07/27/2012 at 6:39 pm |
Time sheets are never correct. Employees have to basically stand in line on fridays to (hopefully) get their paychecks before the banks close so that something can be done with their earnings instead of holding a check until monday. Then when the checks are finally given out, usually around 3:30 to 4:00 you have to cross your fingers that they are correct. They wait until the last minute of the day to go and deposit the funds in the bank to cover the payroll checks which is what takes so long. Used to the checks were ready (and correct) on Thursday evening or would be waiting as soon as you arrived to work on Friday. Overtime is constantly questioned even after the supervisors are the ones yhat specifically send you out to work. There are employees up here trying to perform duties at such a young age and with a lack of training or expierence that they have no business trying to manage the affairs of a governing body. They will even flat out tell you, “I am not trained in this. Or I have no idea how to do this.”…………
07/27/2012 at 9:27 pm |
Interesting…sounds like you know this first hand…
07/28/2012 at 1:00 pm |
You have a lot of knowledge of what goes on in City Hall. Are you employed in the main office?
Thanks for all the information you provided.
07/29/2012 at 8:14 am |
Not trained, please give us a break. They have had every opportunity provided to them to get trained, you have to be able to absorb the information before you can utilize it. More of the same old song, just a different singer…….were not trained…..that’s the best one of the day! Yes they are trained, trained to make an excuse for not being competent and capable.Period.
07/27/2012 at 10:28 pm |
…..i could go on?
07/28/2012 at 8:59 am |
please go on….
07/28/2012 at 9:22 am |
Wonder if ole les is going to appeal this one too? That seems to be his answer for all his court suits!
07/28/2012 at 12:06 pm |
As long as he has the money to do so, my guess is yes. He will appeal as long and as far as the donation take him.
Maybe there is a grant program available for that….or even an app for that
07/29/2012 at 8:05 am |
I took a ride up to Jonesboro last week, two days had dr. appt, who did I see coming out of James Roy Fannin office, good old herb, then on the way home saw the fire man and on the next day saw james bradferd. Sure does look like they are running to James Roy for something. He gonna send that man home now that they all ran to him? You folks better watch that one.
07/28/2012 at 3:16 pm |
….they follow no basis of guidelines when it comes to payroll. For example a worker takes a sick day from work, they find the worker and tell them that instead of paying them 8 hours of sick time they will pay 4 hours and “put 4 hours back on your time, as if you only used 4 of your sick time.” Problem is you dont get paid for the full 8 hours, then they ” put 4 back”. Which if you ask me is illegal,but these posts are not about my opinions,, but about facts. Nothing is ever consistant. One way they do the time and hours will be completely different the next week. Ms. Houston was terminated due to the fact that 3 or 4 city hall workers said they wanted the holiday pay. They didnt work the qualifying hours torecieve the hours, the mayor told Houston to give them the time,she explained why they should not recieve the pay then refused to pay them and was fired.
Waterbills:I know of several people, supporters, that have came in city hall with extremely high bills, leaving witb a 0 balance without paying a dime, but, thats the next post…..
07/28/2012 at 5:18 pm |
I think somebody should make a copy of this list and let the new FA take a look at it. I won’t take long for him to see if these are true, and rectify some, if not all. Even allowing for the fact that this could be a disguntled employee who has been laid off, it would be a good idea for the FA to look at this for possible cuts in spending and firing of some other employees.It would not be necessary to identify the person making the charges, it is obviously someone who is very familiary with the situation, and it would be easy to identify whether those things are being done.
07/28/2012 at 5:27 pm |
Some of these charges may have been in the investigation of the Sheriff’s Department, which apparently will never get to a courtroom as long as the present D.A. is in office. The fiscal administrator, however, can do something about it right now.
07/29/2012 at 8:09 am |
what authority does the fiscal administrator have other than financial issues?
07/28/2012 at 5:48 pm |
…..I’m not a “former” employee i still work there. I’m just sick of it all.
07/29/2012 at 10:38 am |
Applause to you for speaking out. It take courage to stand up and speak out.
I encourage you to go and speak in private with the FA once he is on site.
Share what you know. Stick to the facts that can be proven. Keep your emotions out of the discuss.
Discovery will follow and this is how things will change and improve.
The Mayor nor Rev Dill can fire you for speaking to the FA.
If they do, it will violate the whistle blower laws.
Again, kudos to you for sharing.
07/29/2012 at 4:10 pm |
Absolutely anonymous. It is your civic DUTY to speak to the FA and advise him of all the MANY items you have listed in your blogs.
We applaud you for standing up and sharing what you know to be the truth. Hopfully, your honesty will reap big dividends.
07/29/2012 at 1:32 pm |
Do you know what type of meetings are held at the Town Hall on Sundays?
07/29/2012 at 4:02 pm |
In response to Thereesa P.’s question about the authority the fiscal adminsitrator has, some of it includes, according to Judge Teat’s judgment: No. 2 – No indebtedness or obligation will be incurred by the Town of Jonesboro
without the written approval of the FA; No. 3 – No expenditures will be made without the written approval of the FA.; No. 8 – If warranted, the FA may furnish an amended budget for all funds for the 2011-2012 fiscal year and following fiscal years; No. 13 – The FA shall have the authority to employ and terminate Town employees in order to prvent or curtail a deficit. So a better question would be: what powers does the FA not have?
and the answer would be : not many.
07/29/2012 at 4:04 pm |
Same question could be asked in reverse about the mayor and town council members now: What powers do they have now? And the same answer: Not many.
07/29/2012 at 9:02 pm |
Wonder who’s treating Jonesboro’s drinking water?? Is it safe to drink???…The old tanks and area sure look run down…
07/29/2012 at 9:29 pm |
whoever it is they are suppose to be certified in water. Maybe we need to contact the Louisiana Rural Water Association to find out.
07/29/2012 at 9:50 pm |
Isn’t that what Cottonham was talking about at the Town Council meeting this month?