NEW ROADS - City council members will discuss the indictment of the mayor at a special council meeting Tuesday.

Mayor Robert Myer was indicted Wednesday on malfeasance and abuse of power charges following a grand jury hearing where nearly twenty people testified.  Immediately, a judge issued a warrant for Myer's arrest. He turned himself in and later bonded out of Pointe Coupee Parish Jail on a $50,000 bond.

Myer's indictment comes five years after previous mayor Tommy Nelson was convicted on corruption charges.  Nelson is nearly half-way through an eleven-year prison sentence.  

The meeting Tuesday is to help people rebuild trust in local government, a councilman told the Baton Rouge newspaper, The Advocate.

"We need to assure the citizens of New Roads that the city government will be good stewards of city funds," Councilman Kurt Kellerman said.

In 2015, the Louisiana Inspector General began looking into Myer’s use of a city-issued credit card for personal purchases. The Investigative Unit has learned between 2011-2014 Myers rang up $134,000 in charges. Those included: $1,700 dollars in dinner and movie tickets, $720 for a New Year holiday stay at the Loews Hotel in New Orleans along with charges to a bedding store and laser tag.  The report also questioned more than $13,000 in credit transactions made by town officials in 2014 because of a lack of receipts explaining the purchases. 

The special council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at city hall. 

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