GONZALES - Earlier this month, an email was sent to Gonzales City employees by the mayor's Chief of Staff, Wade Petite, informing them that communication with council members must go through Mayor Timothy Riley's office.  

The email goes on to say that if they are contacted by a member of the council, they must refer them to the mayor's office.  

"We want to know what they're being asked because a lot of what they're being asked has nothing to do with city operations; it is political," Petite said

Petite says the decision comes after several complaints by city employees.

"The third time, an employee, one of our senior employees, came to us and said he or she, because I'm not going to rat them out, was tired of being caught in the middle of whatever this council is up to politically," Petite said.

We reached out to all five council members about the email. Councilwoman Terri Lynn Lambert says in a statement:

"The gag order silences and blocks transparency for our citizens. The so-called Chief of Staff is defending it with false claims, and I believe this may be his attempt at job security. It’s time for his position to be vacated so that trust and transparency can be restored in our City." -Councilwoman Lambert.

Councilman Kirk Boudreaux also sent over a statement to WBRZ.

"Council members should be able to talk to city employees to be able to know how things are going in the city. It’s odd for the council not to be able to check into any issues we hear about from our citizens. We wanted the budget to be transparent, and the same applies to the management of the city and its workforce."

Petite says information will not be withheld from the council and that this is not something new, and it has been implemented in previous administrations.

"Mayor Tim Riley, when he was a councilman, was denied. His predecessor instructed employees not to take councilman Riley's calls," Petite said.

We reached out to former Gonzales Mayor Barney Arceneaux, who says he has never required questions from council members to city employees to go through his office. he says he's had an open-door policy for both the council and city employees.

While we did reach out to all five members of the council, we did not hear back from three council members.