Lawsuit filed to challenge qualifications of Mamou councilman candidate

A week after qualifying ended for the November 6 elections, a civil lawsuit was filed Friday morning with the Evangeline Parish Clerk of Court office that challenges the qualifications of a candidate for District 3 City Councilman in the Town of Mamou.
Ville Platte attorney Chris Ludeau filed the suit on behalf of the incumbent Charles Reed against challenger Eugene P. Manuel. The grounds for the lawsuit are based on the allegations that Manuel does not reside in the district.
Qualifications for the position of councilman, according to state statute, are similar to those of the mayor. These qualifications in part state, “The mayor (councilman) shall be an elector of the municipality who at the time of qualification as a candidate for the office of mayor (councilman) shall have been domiciled and actually resided for at least the immediately preceding year in the municipality.”
According to the Petition and evidentiary information from the Evangeline Parish Assessor that was filed with the lawsuit, Manuel owns property located at 229 3rd Street, which is inside the district, and at 289 Oberlin Road, which is out of the district and out of the city limits.
The lawsuit suggests that Manuel has not resided within district for the past year based on homestead exemption, voter registration, and city utilities.
On the issue of homestead exemption, the Petition alleges that Manuel “removed his homestead exemption from a home outside of District #3 limits (289 Oberlin Road, Mamou, LA 70554) and applied it to the purported residence inside of District #3 limits (the 3rd Street address) on February 8, 2018.”
A similar argument is made in the Petition over the issue of voter registration. It is alleged that Manuel “did not register to become a voter at the purported residence inside of District #3 limits (3rd Street) until September 19, 2017.”
As far as the issue of utilities, the Petition makes allegations that Manuel “did not turn on the utilities for the purported residence inside of District #3 limits (3rd Street) until September 2017.”
It continues, “In further support of this contention, Petitioner would offer to this Honorable Court that in August 2017 (well within the year preceding qualification), utilities for the purported residence inside of District #3 limits (3rd Street) were listed in the name of Mr. Christopher Godeaux.”
Each of the three allegations, according to the Petition, “may not be definitive proof of domicile and residence but is indicative of (Manuel’s) residential status not being within the District #3 limits for the entire year preceding qualification.”
The lawsuit is set to be heard before the Honorable Judge Gary J. Ortego of the 13th Judicial District Court on Monday, July 30, 2018, at 1:30 p.m.