Youngsville: The Mayor Lied, the Law Was Broken, and the Public Was Played

Youngsville taxpayers were lied to. Not misled. Not confused. Lied to. And the lie came straight from Mayor Ken Ritter, who told The Advocate that there was “nothing improper” about Chief J.P. Broussard appointing a new Assistant Chief because “funds were available” inside the police department’s budget.

That statement is false. Not a matter of interpretation. Just plain false. The gaslighting has begun, but no amount of lying can undo over a decade of illegal acts and corruption.

The Law Is Clear — And Youngsville Violated It

Under Louisiana law, an Assistant Chief cannot be paid unless the City Council passes a stand-alone ordinance fixing the salary for that position—something the Council didn’t do before the appointment of Kenneth Duhon in November of this year. The Council debated the position of Assistant Chief of Police twice this year, removed it from the pay plan, and declared it “unfunded.” The Mayor himself said on June 26, 2025, that the position “is not abolished, it’s just unfunded.”

In June and July of 2025, the Youngsville City Council explicitly eliminated the Assistant Chief position from the police pay plan. During the June 26 budget meeting, Chief Broussard withdrew his request to include the position, and the Council confirmed it was “unfunded.” Two weeks later, on July 10, the Council adopted a new pay plan ordinance that rescinded the previous 2022 pay plan and removed the Assistant Chief position entirely. Mayor Ken Ritter stated on the record that the motion before the Council included the “elimination of the Assistant Chief position on the pay plan.” That single action means Youngsville had no salary ordinance, no appropriation, and no legal authority to pay anyone appointed to the position in November.

But once the Chief appointed his hand-picked political ally anyway, Mayor Ritter suddenly pretended that salary ordinances don’t matter, that state law doesn’t matter, and that the position could be paid using “vacancy savings” or “general appropriations.” Louisiana law says otherwise—clearly and without exception.

The Laws the Mayor Chose to Ignore

Louisiana Revised Statute 39:1305, part of the Local Budget Act, states:

Each political subdivision shall cause to be prepared a comprehensive budget presenting a complete financial plan for each fiscal year for the general fund and each special revenue fund.

A budget proposed for consideration by the governing authority shall be accompanied by a proposed budget adoption instrument.

The Lawrason Act, at LARS 33:406, requires that the instrument be in the form and subject to the laws governing the adoption of ordinances:

Any law enacted by a board of aldermen shall be by ordinance.

Any act of the board which would provide for the appropriation of funds, the incurrence of debt, or the issuance of bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall be by ordinance.

An ordinance shall contain only one subject which shall be indicated in its title except for ordinances involving the annual operating budget, a capital improvements budget, or a codification of municipal ordinances.

Lastly, Louisiana Revised Statute 33:404.1 provides:

The board of aldermen shall by ordinance fix the compensation of the mayor, aldermen, clerk, chief of police, and all other municipal officers.”

Youngsville’s compliance with these requirements is dubious for several reasons. The fact is that they aren’t even hiding it anymore. The Assistant Chief is just another clear example of how City officials will look the other way.

• No ordinance setting the salary of the Assistant Chief.
• No ordinance appropriating funds specifically for funding the position.

And without those, funds cannot be expended for the Assistant Chief’s salary.

The Mayor’s Statement Was a Lie — and He Knew It

Emails between the Mayor’s attorney and Citizens for a New Louisiana from May to July this year clearly show the level of incompetence and/or corruption within the City. The City Attorney admitted that:

• Youngsville has not fixed salaries by ordinance in nearly a decade,
• The City relies on verbal instructions to Human Resources to determine what people are paid, and
• The City, after being called out, was “modernizing” the way things were done.

Citizens for a New Louisiana, on July 1, 2025, advised the Mayor and his attorney:

I think it is important to point out that the adoption of a budget is an appropriation. An appropriation may or may not be expended in the fiscal year. For example, the appropriation of $98,351.00 to pay the salary of the Chief Operations Officer for fiscal year 2025-2026 DOES NOT fix his salary. It just appropriates the funds to pay up to that amount towards his salary. I don’t believe the City is fixing the salary of officials as required by state law, despite the language of the ordinance, which suggests otherwise. The addition of Exhibit B was an appreciated move in the right direction, but again it clearly outlines appropriated amounts, not fixed salaries.

But There is an Ordinance

In January of 2022, the Youngsville City Council adopted a pay plan for all employees of the Youngsville Police Department. That pay plan fixed the Assistant Chief of Police’s salary for the City of Youngsville. But as you may recall, in July of 2025, the City of Youngsville rushed through a new pay plan, rescinding the previous ordinance entirely and replacing it with a new one. This rescission voided the 2022 salary schedule, leaving no valid salary ordinance for the Assistant Chief position. The new ordinance was introduced at the June 26, 2025, special meeting concerning the budget and later adopted by the City Council on July 10, 2025.

At that meeting, it was made clear that Chief J.P. Broussard had withdrawn his request to have the Assistant Chief of Police position included on the pay plan. As such, the Council action to adopt the new pay plan did not include the position of Assistant Chief of Police. The opening line of the ordinance is clear:

WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Youngsville, Louisiana, desires to establish and adopt a salary schedule and pay plan for the employees of the City of Youngsville Police Department…

The following line is equally telling in spelling out that the pay plan applies to “all competitive, promotional and appointed positions“, such as the Assistant Chief spot. This is further confirmed by Mayor Ken Ritter at the July 10, 2025, council meeting, when he clarifies the motion before the Council, establishing the “elimination of the Assistant Chief position on the pay plan.” 

That admission means the Mayor knew:

• The City had no ordinance fixing any salary for an Assistant Chief before the selection in November,
• The City had not specifically appropriated the funds for the position, and
• Any payment of funds for the position of Assistant Chief is improper.

Yet he told The Advocate the opposite. He lied to the public to cover a decades-long pattern of failures.

The Backstory Exposes the Truth

Then come the text messages. On September 29, 2025, weeks before the appointment, the Chief and his chosen candidate, Kenneth Duhon, discussed coordinating with Mayor Ritter (“I’m going to try” to meet the Mayor).

Two days later, Duhon texted: “Let Eddie know that I am now a Republican.” A political message aimed at Eddie Lau, the Chief’s campaign manager, and a contractor paid by the City of Youngsville, who is also currently under criminal investigation. This wasn’t a lawful appointment. It was a political deal, constructed quietly, coordinated behind closed doors, and shoved into a city budget that explicitly removed the position.

How Youngsville Broke the Law for Nearly a Decade

The most shocking part of this story isn’t the illegal appointment. It’s that Youngsville has been operating outside the law for years. All the laws, government oversight, and audits have failed to prevent it. This is either deliberate or an impressive collection of incompetent baffoons surrounds us.

The City Attorney’s own words admit this:

• “In 2015 they stopped doing this standalone ordinance.”
• “It still did not independently list the referenced salaries.”
• “It is quite possible that HR just received direction verbally…”

In Youngsville, this is treated as normal — because it has become normal. And that is the problem. A government that treats statutory requirements as optional becomes one in which appointments are political favors, budgets are suggestions, and the law is merely background noise.

Whether Mayor Ritter inherited or created this culture is not relevant. Because what he is doing now is protecting it, and he is defending it on the pages of The Advocate. Without a single elected official in the City of Youngsville uttering a word to the contrary,

The Mayor’s Cover-Up, and the Council’s Tacit Approval

Once the illegal appointment was exposed, Mayor Ritter could have admitted the mistake and brought forward the legally required ordinance. Instead, he lied to the public. He told The Advocate that an Assistant Chief could be paid because “funds were available,” the Chief has “wide latitude,” and there was nothing improper.

All three statements contradict:

• state statute,
• the City’s own pay plan,
• the June and July 2025 council meetings discussion and votes, and
• even his own June 26, 2025, statement that the position was “unfunded.”

Was that statement accidental? Or was it strategic?— designed to fool the public into believing a clearly illegal act was normal. It wasn’t normal. And it wasn’t legal. And not a single council member has stepped forward to correct the Mayor or the Chief of Police. In fact, new Assistant Chief of Police Kenneth Duhon at the November 11, 2025, Council meeting thanked both Mayor Ken Ritter and Chief Financial Officer Cathryn Grieg for working to bring him on board. The law be damned!

The People Deserve the Truth

Youngsville residents deserve honesty, transparency, and compliance with the law. That has not been happening. Instead, they have been dealt an illegal appointment, a violated budget, ignored salary ordinances, circumvented statutes, a Mayor who chooses to gaslight the public instead of confronting the truth, and a Council that sits idle, waiting for next month’s rubber-stamp meeting.

How much longer will Youngsville allow its government to operate outside the law?

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