Opelousas City Councilman Floyd Ford doesn't meet residency requirements and should be removed from office, a petition filed this month in St. Landry District Court alleges.
A hearing is set for November 30 at 9 a.m. to decide the issue, court records show.
District Attorney Chad Pitre filed the petition on November 10. It asks the court to declare Ford's council seat, which represents District B, vacant.
Floyd was elected to the seat in 2018, and is running for re-election. He came in second in the primary and faces Delita Rubin Broussard in the December run-off.
It was Broussard who filed the complaint that resulted in the petition, Pitre writes in the document.
Broussard filed a complaint with the DA"s office in October, alleging that Ford no longer lived in the district, as is required by the Lawrason Act, the state law that determines the set-up of Opelousas' government.
The Louisiana Secretary of State's elected officials database lists Ford's address as a residence in the 800 block of Planters Street in Opelousas, but Pitre's petition says he lives in the 1900 block of Meadow Run.
The petition alleges that Pitre conducted an investigation and determined that Ford doesn't live in the city of Opelousas, but instead at the Meadow Run home, which is located outside the city limits.
The petition says that Ford claims his homestead exemption for the Meadow Run home, and that neighbors of that house will testify he lives there. The petition also alleges that neighbors of the Planters Street home will testify that Ford hasn't live there for many years.
We reached out to Ford's attorney in the case, Pride Doran of Opelousas, to see if he has any comment. We'll update the story as soon as we. hear from him.
Here's the petition:
