Murrill says Cantrell wrong to cancel sanitation contract

NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s execution of Henry Consulting’s proposed emergency contract was unauthorized and contrary to state law, according to state Attorney General Liz Murrill.

In a July 21 court filing, Murrill also says the City Council lawfully terminated the mayor’s emergency proclamation before Henry Consulting’s proposed emergency contract ever became effective.

“Thus, that proposed contract is invalid and unenforceable, and the city’s contract with IV Waste must be reinstated,” the office says.

“The mayor cannot manufacture an ‘emergency,’” Murrill said July 22. “I have filed an amicus brief on this matter due to the public’s interest in not having public officials abuse their authority under the Louisiana Homeland Security and Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act.

“New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is blatantly abusing her emergency powers in order to circumvent the public procurement laws.”

Earlier this month, Cantrell terminated the city’s current emergency sanitation contract with IV Waste, which services the French Quarter, and attempted to replace it with a more expensive contract with Henry Consulting.

Murrill said sanitation services in the French Quarter and Downtown Development District are not “merely a matter of routine city services.”

“Those services are essential to public health, tourism and the economic well-being of one of Louisiana’s most iconic and economically vital areas,” she said. “Disruptions or mismanagement of sanitation services in those areas threaten not only the health and welfare of local residents and visitors, but also the stability of the broader business community that depends on a clean, safe, and welcoming French Quarter.”

In the amicus brief, Murrill says she supports longtime taxpayers and citizens of New Orleans by requesting the injunction sought by them be granted.

She argues that the IV Waste contract should be reinstated because there was and is no emergency, rendering Cantrell’s proposed emergency contract with Henry Consulting invalid. She says Cantrell cannot manufacture an emergency and then invoke that fabricated crisis to bypass procurement laws and ignore state law. And even if an emergency had existed, Murrill says the City Council properly terminated it.

Murrill also says, in the alternative, the French Quarter Management District is statutorily authorized to procure emergency sanitation services.n