Caught on Tape: Broussard’s Secret Committees

When a video mysteriously disappeared from the City of St. Martinville’s Facebook page, it raised eyebrows, but also legal questions. What started as a routine search for a March town hall recording quickly turned into a troubling tale of deleted evidence, apparent public records violations, and even a rare open meetings lawsuit that they wanted quietly disappeared. Fortunately for the public, we were on the case.

What Happened To The Video?

It all started one afternoon when we visited the City of St. Martinville Facebook page to review a video that had been posted back in March as part of a series of “Town Hall Meetings” to discuss the upcoming Lawrason Act ballot initiative. What we soon learned was that the recording and all of the comments had been removed from the city’s Facebook page.

It wasn’t just the sole video we were seeking that had been removed, either. Instead, multiple videos, including those of Council meetings, were gone. Those videos contained some very interesting things that had transpired since the beginning of the year. They were evidence of glaring open meetings violations and even criminal acts caught on camera and live-streamed for the world to see.

Our initial endeavor was to find one video, specifically the March 6, 2025, town hall meeting. When we could no longer locate the video through Facebook or other open sources, we requested it from the City of St. Martinville, only to be told it didn’t exist.

The Mandela Effect

No… we are quite sure the video exists. We watched it on Facebook a few days after the meeting had taken place. We are also sure it was recorded. However, in response, we were told “The City of St. Martinville DOES NOT have a recording of the March 6, 2025 Town Hall meeting.” That message came directly from the City Clerk with the City Attorney being copied.

Were we experiencing the so-called Mandela Effect? A phenomenon in which people, typically in groups, share a false memory of an event. Perhaps, but not likely. So we sought clarification from the City Clerk, advising her, “The meeting was recorded and posted online by the City of St. Martinville. It has since been removed. I think it warrants further explanation. You simply can’t create a public record and then destroy it.” That would be a crime.

In response, the Clerk advised: “It was broadcast but not recorded.” No… not so fast. You see, the phrase “broadcast live” has a specific meaning in the context of open meetings in Louisiana. It means “…the publicly available distribution of audio and video of a meeting in real or near real time via the internet or television broadcast.” Certain governmental bodies have no statutory obligation to broadcast their meetings; however, a recording differs significantly from a live broadcast. You can go back and review a recording, but if you don’t capture a broadcast as it is happening, it is generally lost.

The town hall meetings were actually “livestreamed” on Facebook, not only resulting in a broadcast, but an actual recording, which, according to the City, no longer exists. The whole time, City Attorney Allan Durand remained silent.

“Sprinky” the Magician

Allan Durand, also known as “Sprinky,” appears to have a knack for making things disappear. His most recent trick resulted in an entire lawsuit filed by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murril disappearing. Murrill has served as our Attorney General since 2024, and part of her statutory duties include enforcing open meetings laws.

We were very optimistic to see the Attorney General file suit when blatant violations of open meetings laws arose involving the St. Martinville Police and Fire Civil Service Board. We had good reason. When we requested data from the Office of the Attorney General regarding the number of suits filed related to open meetings violations, we encountered some unexpected resistance. As it turns out, this was the ONLY suit related to open meetings violations filed by the Office of the Attorney General since January of 2002.

Apparently, a not-so-eager-to-prosecute Assistant Attorney General and Sprinky the Magician had other things in mind. On July 10, 2025, the Office of the Attorney General and Allan Durand filed a “Joint Motion for Dismissal” with Durand representing to the court that he was “attorney for all defendants.” This was not only blatantly false but also a clear conflict of interest. Durand is the attorney for the City of St. Martinville, not the St. Martinville Police and Fire Civil Service Board or any of its members.

The matter that was on appeal before the Board at the meeting, which formed the basis of the open meetings violations, involved disciplinary action taken by the City, the entity Durand represents. Additionally, Durand allegedly falsely asserted that he had provided notice to the intervenor in the suit, prejudicing the rights of that party by not allowing them to be heard before a judge signed the dismissal. The only question left is whether Sprinky the Magician is clever enough to figure out a way to avoid sanctions and disciplinary action for his misconduct.

The Video Magically Reappears

Would you be surprised to discover that the video existed the entire time? For reasons yet to be determined, it was being withheld by the City of St. Martinville, which could constitute a crime. Not that the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office is going to do anything. Remember the stench on the Teche? That was just the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps the people of St. Martinville will be outraged enough over the recent juvenile murder in their city to demand answers and action. Or perhaps not!

Sadly, our interest in the video, which was concealed and hidden from us, had more to do with the City of Broussard and its Mayor, Ray Bourque, than with the City of St. Martinville. It was at this meeting that Mayor Bourque appeared to speak about how a Lawrason Act municipality operates. Bourque boasted about being a councilman and now Mayor for the City of Broussard, a Lawrason Act municipality. Bourque also told the spectators that night how they get things done in their City. It was those words that caught our attention. Bourque proclaimed:

“David (Forbes) does sit on several committees. Like, you mentioned something about some communities have put council people kind of in departments. We do it in a little different way. We have different committees that councilmen sit on, and I sit on those committees. Recreation committee. We have a Finance committee that helps me with my budget. I walk through the whole budget start to finish with that committee. We meet under the sunshine laws, so it is three for us. But that way, by the time we get to the solution I have three councilman that were part of the solution. So, it’s not hard to get the rest of the votes at that point. We are working on an expansion of our park right now with the recreation committee, built of citizens and three councilmen. And we have several committees like that. Traffic committee. Where they’re engaged in that level of work and our department heads are in there.”

What Committees?

In less than a minute, Bourque mentioned “committees” in his City nine times. After bragging loud and proud about how they get things done in the City of Broussard, they were certainly less than forthcoming when asked about records related to these various committees. In March of 2025, we asked for a list of all committees created, and presently existing, for the City of Broussard, as well as members of said committees. We were told it would take five to seven days to research, but weeks and months passed with no answers. Then we received our final response in July of 2025. We were told there were NO DOCUMENTS responsive to our request. In a separate response seeking similar data, previously we were told, “the city DOES NOT have any advisory committees that are subject to the open meetings laws.”

In an effort to avoid word games, we advised counsel for the City quite clearly of the remarks made by Mayor Bourque at the March town hall meeting in St. Martinville. We further advised that we would submit another request seeking records of the committees, regardless of the City’s opinion on whether they are subject to open meetings laws. We were told:

“After receiving your responses on this issue, we held discussions with the Mayor and City Attorney to further inquire and make sure that no stone was left unturn. We also conducted additional research on the matter. Here is the long and short of it – the words “committee” or “advisory committee” are terms of art in the legal world, but these words are also used by lay people (who aren’t attorneys) in a way that does not intend, imply nor create a committee/advisory committee as those terms are defined or implicated in the Open Meetings Laws. As I’m sure you are most aware, not every gathering or meeting that is conducted with a public official for the City falls under the Open Meeting Laws, nor are these informal group discussions automatically subjected to the requirements under the Open Meeting Laws – i.e., notice of public meetings, publication of agendas, meetings open to the public, and the taking of minutes — despite any statement made that the City has “advisory committees.”

 

To be clear, we have confirmed that there have been informal group discussions between city officials/employees and sometimes some members of the public on various issues. To that end, the Mayor has never made any formal appointments to create any committee/advisory committee and none exist. No votes or formal action has been taken during any such discussions. Plus, gatherings at which there is no quorum present are not meetings under the Open Meetings Law, and we have confirmed that during none of these informational discussions was a quorum present.”

What Bourque referred to as meetings of committees conducted “under the sunshine laws” of Louisiana just months earlier were now relegated to the category “informal group discussions.”

The Broussard Mafia

The elected elites in the City of Broussard have been referred to in many circles as the “Broussard Mafia.” The term originates from the pervasive attitude of ‘I’ll do what I want’ amongst the members of the group. That appears to include violating open meetings laws.

Louisiana law clearly defines what constitutes a “public body” within the context of open meeting law. It “…means village, town, and city governing authorities; parish governing authorities; school boards and boards of levee and port commissioners; boards of publicly operated utilities; planning, zoning, and airport commissions; and any other state, parish, municipal, or special district boards, commissions, or authorities, and those of any political subdivision thereof, where such body possesses policy making, advisory, or administrative functions, including any committee or subcommittee of any of these bodies enumerated in this paragraph.”

That certainly seems to be what Mayor Bourque was publicly describing in March when he referred to groups of individuals, including councilmen, who sit and advise him on the budget, traffic, and recreational COMMITTEES. 

The practice of appointing three or fewer councilmen to these committees to avoid a quorum of the whole body is of no significance. If there exists a committee or subcommittee of the body, even if wholly or in part made up of volunteers, which possesses policy-making, advisory, or administrative functions, it is a “public body” for the purposes of open meetings laws.

This practice, employed by the City of Broussard, is illegal. The law is intended to create a shield to prevent backroom deals, such as shady land purchases and discussions that should be conducted openly in council meetings, from becoming public knowledge. Shame on you, Mayor Bourque and the City of St. Martinville, for your actions. If Louisiana ever wants to address public corruption, it should start reserving some more jail cells for public officials.

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