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Zachary Council votes not to remove Planning & Zoning Commissioner for second time this year
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ZACHARY -- Tuesday evening in Zachary, a push by multiple city council members to remove an appointed member of the city's Planning and Zoning Commission failed for the second time this year.
Commission appointee Jason Floyd was summoned to speak before the Zachary City Council and explain why he had been missing planning and zoning meetings.
Councilman James Graves says this was the second time that Floyd has been called to speak before the council since January.
"Specifically, the allegations contained in the letter to Mr. Floyd were that, specifically between February of 2025 and April of 2026, he did miss 12 of the total 19 Planning and Zoning meetings that were scheduled," City Attorney Jacqueline B. Wilson read.
Tuesday evening at the meeting, Floyd told the Council that he tries his best to represent his family, himself, and the city of Zachary, but that he has a very demanding job.
"My job has a high demand on me as a service manager for over 85 different businesses. Some of them are law enforcement, some of them are in the public/private sector. I have a job that if I don't work, I will be fired," Floyd said. "The times that I was late to a meeting, I never have missed three consecutive meetings, I don't believe. They were always notified that I couldn't make it or that I was on my way or that I was in traffic or that I got turned around," He added.
The agenda item to remove Floyd was brought up by Councilman James Graves, who also brought up a vote to remove Floyd back in January. Graves had nominated Floyd to be an appointee to the commission back in 2023.
Graves brought up a statement that he says Floyd made after the January hearing, after the council had voted not to remove him from his position.
"Your comment to The Advocate was, 'I appreciate the vote of confidence and compassion, but I also know that this was a warning for me to be more in place to fulfill my obligations as commissioner of this great city.' Since then, Mr. Floyd, you have missed three of the four regular scheduled planning and zoning meetings," Graves said.
At one point during Tuesday's discussion, Zachary Mayor David McDavid brought up the idea of Floyd resigning.
"There's nowhere in the bylaws that states that absences are considered malfeasance unless they're unexcused," Floyd argued. "There's five non-excuses in a row, and that started from November to January, and I mean you acknowledged it too. I mean, why don't you just do us all a favor and resign, and let's move forward from here?", McDavid responded.
When it was time to vote on if Floyd should be removed, Council Members Brandy Westmoreland, John LeBlanc, and Ambre DeVirgilio voted no, causing the agenda item to fail. Those three members also voted against Floyd's removal in January.
"What precedents are we setting tonight with this hearing?" Westmoreland asked. "This is a volunteer position. We're elected officials, they're appointed, and it's volunteer. I did reach out to my appointee, who serves very well. I asked was there ever not a quorum due to the lack of attendance from Mr. Floyd? He said no. My second question was, could Mr. Floyd's vote have changed the outcome? No," She added.
Floyd told the council that he hopes that this situation is an opportunity to set boundaries to "target certain areas of imperfection."
"If we want to acquire people to be in positions that they don't get paid for, that at times, they sacrifice even pay to be here, then let's compensate them in the area of whatever you can do, it doesn't even have to be payment because everyone that volunteers with the position, they're there because they want to make a difference," Floyd said.
After the meeting, Graves told WBRZ that he was disappointed by the vote.
"We have a commissioner who did not attend over 90 percent of the meetings, and there's no attendance policy required. There was a contradiction in putting Zachary first. Let someone else take on that responsibility and let someone who's able to put Zachary first," Graves said.
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