The court hearing scheduled for a local activist who filed a lawsuit against the city after requesting public records is rescheduled for September 12. 

When Arthur Sampson requested records from the city of Ville Platte in May he revived a statement saying “1.25 per sheet plus the hourly salary of the individual researching and compiling the documents, which depends on the length of hours of the employee that will research and retrieve the requested documents.”

“It didn’t make any sense, because to me they not following the law. The law says you have a reason to charge when you charge the public for a public record request and you have a reasonable time which is five days,” said Sampson. 

In the city’s response to the public records request, Sampson was also told that “it will be several months before we can fulfill your request of documents.”

Information being requested by the local civil rights activist included an array of things such as the city’s general fund budget, monthly reconciled bank balances and accounts payable for the City of Ville Platte’s bank accounts, a list of the city’s financial responsibilities as it relates to city court, receipts from every trip taken by the mayor, which was paid for by the city between February 1, 2017 to February 1, 2018, a breakdown of the bank overdraft fees totally over $39,000, a list of all certified state licensed and non-state licensed contractors used by the city, and the total cost for the pavilions built at Hargrove Park.

“Why certain people in city hall and the mayor is making these high salaries and city councilmen are making $1,100 a month when you have employees doing all the work barely making $1,000 a month and it’s not fair,” said Sampson. 

Following the release of the city’s budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2018, Sampson addressed the council during an open meeting in June bringing up the issue of the mayor’s salary for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2018, which was listed as $80,141. What the mayor’s salary is listed as in her most recent budget is nearly double the $40,620 she made during her first complete fiscal year as mayor.

Sampson’s hearing is rescheduled for 9 a.m., September 12 at the Ville Platte Parish Courthouse.