PLAQUEMINE - White Castle Mayor Jermarr Williams gave a cloudy explanation when he was pressed about a 20 percent raise he received last year.

The Town Attorney who has to approve all the ordinances when a raise goes into effect said she had no recollection of the Mayor receiving a raise.

Mayor Williams was in court today for a public records lawsuit after a pair of citizens sued. June Landry and Garnell Young said they have both been unsuccessful getting records from the Town of White Castle. They claim the Mayor and the Town Clerk, Monica Hamilton have not complied with public records requests turning over public documents.

The Mayor wouldn't answer questions as to why the records haven't been turned over. So we pressed him about the raise. Payroll records indicate it went from about $20 per hour in April to about $25 in November.

"I didn't give myself a raise," Williams said. "It's in the budget ordinance."

But, Williams could not provide any ordinance that showed where the raise was approved. Again, the Town Attorney said she was unaware of it.

The trial recessed this evening, after the Town Clerk got sick. WBRZ has learned she had to be transported away from the courthouse in an ambulance. All sides are due back in court in February.