Denham Springs City Council - Meetings & Members

A comprehensive overview of the Denham Springs City Council, including summaries of recent meetings, contact information for members, and a detailed analysis of voting trends.

By LRA, published May 13, 2025, updated August 21, 2025.

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Denham Springs City Council

Denham Springs City Council meetings are more than procedural gatherings—they're a window into how local governance shapes community priorities, allocates resources, and responds to public concerns. This page offers a multi-dimensional view of council proceedings, blending official records with public interpretation and media critique.

Editorial Perspectives Podcast Audio Reviews: From meeting minutes only.

For those that need a quick deep dive into what's happening without having your eyes glued to your mobile device, we share our audio reviews in each of our transcribed meeting minutes:

City Council Members:

Poole, Robert William Email | 225-665-4464
Mailing Address: 1403 Weeping Willow Dr. Denham Springs, LA 70726-2735
Williams, Lori Lamm Email | 225-445-0273
Mailing Address: 1565 River Run Dr Denham Springs, La 70726-4954
Dugas, Amber Michele Email | 225-933-5762
210 Carroll St. Denham Springs, LA 70726-2404
Gilbert, Jim G. Email | 225-278-3366
238 N College St. NE Denham Springs, LA 70726-3519
Jeff Wesley Email | 225-921-4306
Mailing Address:

Denham Springs Council: Consensus and Contention in Voting

The Denham Springs City Council typically operates with unanimous consensus on routine administrative, financial, and infrastructure matters, reflecting efficient governance for day-to-day operations. However, a deeper look at their 2025 voting record reveals distinct divisions on contentious policy and regulatory issues, particularly concerning the millage rate, alcohol licensing and buffer zones, and land use. Council members Amber Dugas, Lori Lamm-Williams, and Jeff Wesley often form a bloc opposing changes to existing regulations or advocating for community concerns, while Jim Gilbert and Robert Poole frequently align to push for business-friendly policies and reduced taxation. These predictable 3-2 splits on politically sensitive and economically impactful decisions highlight the council's internal dynamics, where the alignment of these groups often determines the outcome of significant debates.

Key Topics

Denham Springs Council: Consensus and Contention in Voting

The Denham Springs City Council's voting record for 2025 to date reveals a council that largely operates with unanimous consensus on routine administrative, financial, and infrastructure matters, but shows clear divisions on a few contentious policy and regulatory issues [1-7]. Here is a catalog of the council members' voting histories and a summary of their influence based on these records:

Council Members' Voting Records (January 14, 2025 - August 12, 2025)

Amber Dugas:

Consistently voted with the majority (typically 5-0) on nearly all approvals, including departmental reports, meeting minutes, consent agendas, infrastructure contracts, financial payments, and various city agreements [2, 3, 8-55].
Key Minority/Dissenting Votes (against the prevailing motion at that moment):
- Alcohol Sales Ordinance Amendment (March 11, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the initial motion to adopt the amendment, which failed 2-3 [56, 57]. This vote indicated opposition to reducing the 300-foot buffer zone for alcohol sales near protected establishments [56].
- Preliminary Plat Approval (Orecko Development, LLC, June 10, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to deny the appeal of the preliminary plat, aligning with the majority who wanted to approve the plat [58, 59]. She then voted "Yea" on the subsequent motion to approve the appeal [58, 59].
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (July 28, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to approve the permit, which was denied 2-3. This indicated a stance against granting the permit due to church proximity rules [51, 60].
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (August 12, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to overturn the denial of the alcohol license, again opposing the permit [61, 62].
Absent: Amber Dugas was absent from the July 8, 2025 City Council meeting, missing all votes on the agenda, including the millage rate discussions [48, 63].

Jim Gilbert:

Consistently voted with the majority (typically 5-0) on nearly all approvals, aligning with the council on routine matters and the bulk of financial and infrastructure decisions [2, 3, 8-55].
Key Minority/Dissenting Votes (against the prevailing motion at that moment or part of a dissenting bloc):
- Alcohol Sales Ordinance Amendment (March 11, 2025): Voted "Yea" on the initial motion to adopt the amendment, which failed 2-3 [56, 57]. This positioned him in favor of reducing the 300-foot buffer [56].
- Adopt 2025 Millage Rate (July 8, 2025): Voted "Yea" on the motion to adopt a reduced millage rate of 2.75 mills, which failed 2-3 [64, 65]. He then voted "Nay" on the alternate motion to maintain the current 2.898 mills, which also failed [64, 65]. He consistently advocated for a millage rate reduction.
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (July 28, 2025): Voted "Yea" on the motion to approve the permit, which was denied 2-3 [51, 60].
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (August 12, 2025): Voted "Yea" on the motion to overturn the denial of the alcohol license, aligning with the successful motion to grant the permit [61, 62].
Often aligned with Robert Poole on contentious issues, particularly millage rate and alcohol permits [51, 61, 64].

Lori Lamm-Williams:

Consistently voted with the majority (typically 5-0) on routine approvals [2, 3, 8-55]. She also frequently made or seconded motions, particularly for adjournment [12, 66-68, 68-71].
Key Minority/Dissenting Votes (against the prevailing motion at that moment):
- Alcohol Sales Ordinance Amendment (March 11, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the initial motion to adopt the amendment, aligning with Dugas and Wesley against reducing the buffer zone [56, 57]. She expressed concerns about the "ramifications" of allowing dual use (church and restaurant serving alcohol) [56].
- Adopt 2025 Millage Rate (July 8, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to adopt a reduced millage rate of 2.75 mills [64, 65]. She then voted "Nay" on the alternate motion to maintain the current 2.898 mills [64, 65]. Her stance appeared to be against changing the millage rate from the established one.
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (July 28, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to approve the permit [51, 60]. She stated, "do you want to be a restaurant or do you want to be a church? You can’t have both" [51].
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (August 12, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to overturn the denial, maintaining her opposition to the permit [61, 62].

Robert Poole:

Consistently voted with the majority (typically 5-0) on routine approvals [2, 3, 8-55].
Key Minority/Dissenting Votes (against the prevailing motion at that moment or part of a dissenting bloc):
- Alcohol Sales Ordinance Amendment (March 11, 2025): Voted "Yea" on the initial motion to adopt the amendment, putting him in the minority for that specific motion [56, 57].
- Adopt 2025 Millage Rate (June 23, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to table the millage rate discussion for two weeks [72, 73].
- Adopt 2025 Millage Rate (July 8, 2025): Voted "Yea" on the motion to adopt a reduced millage rate of 2.75 mills, making him a proponent of the reduction [64, 65]. He then voted "Nay" on the alternate motion to maintain the current 2.898 mills [64, 65].
- Preliminary Plat Approval (Orecko Development, LLC, June 10, 2025): Voted "Yea" on the motion to deny the appeal of the preliminary plat, citing "public safety and quality of life concerns" [58, 59]. He then voted "Nay" on the subsequent motion to approve the appeal [58, 59].
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (July 28, 2025): Voted "Yea" on the motion to approve the permit [51, 60].
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (August 12, 2025): Voted "Yea" on the motion to overturn the denial of the alcohol license, successfully leading to its approval [61, 62].
Absent: Robert Poole was absent for the discussion and vote on the May 13, 2025 ordinance to create council districts [74, 75].
Often aligned with Jim Gilbert on contentious issues [51, 61, 64].

Jeff Wesley:

Consistently voted with the majority (typically 5-0) on routine approvals [2, 3, 8-22, 24-55].
Key Minority/Dissenting Votes (against the prevailing motion at that moment):
- All votes at the April 8, 2025 Meeting: Jeff Wesley was the sole "Nay" on 15 distinct items, including approvals for previous minutes, consent agenda, Juneteenth Parade, appeals process amendments, public hearings for Kratom ban and a noise variance, various resolutions, and multiple payment applications for infrastructure projects [23, 76-79].
- Alcohol Sales Ordinance Amendment (March 11, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the initial motion to adopt the amendment, expressing concern about the "correlation between crime rates and alcohol presence" [56, 57].
- Adopt 2025 Millage Rate (July 8, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to adopt a reduced millage rate of 2.75 mills [64, 65]. He then voted "Nay" on the alternate motion to maintain the current 2.898 mills [64, 65].
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (July 28, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to approve the permit [51, 60]. He cautioned that approving it might go against the City Attorney's advice [51].
- Mustard Seed Creamery Inc. Alcohol Permit (August 12, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to overturn the denial of the alcohol license [61, 62].
- Preliminary Plat Approval (Orecko Development, LLC, June 10, 2025): Voted "Nay" on the motion to deny the appeal, stating a lawsuit would be "financially burdensome to taxpayers" [58, 59]. He then voted "Yea" on the subsequent motion to approve the appeal [58, 59].

Summary of Weight based on Voting Record and Subject Matter

The Denham Springs City Council generally exhibits strong unity on most day-to-day governance, financial management, and infrastructure development, with the majority of decisions passing unanimously [1, 4-7, 80-82]. This indicates an efficient decision-making process for routine city operations.

However, divergent viewpoints become apparent on specific, often high-impact, subject matters:

Millage Rate: This proved to be the most divisive financial issue, resulting in the failure of two separate motions to set the 2025 millage rate on July 8, 2025 [64]. Jim Gilbert and Robert Poole consistently advocated for a reduction to 2.75 mills, while Lori Lamm-Williams and Jeff Wesley opposed this reduction, indicating a significant policy split on property taxation [64, 65].
Alcohol Licensing & Buffer Zones: This area generated considerable public debate and council division [51, 83].
- Gilbert and Poole generally favored more flexible alcohol licensing, including supporting the amendment to reduce buffer zones (March 11) and consistently voting to approve or overturn the denial of the Mustard Seed Creamery's alcohol permit (July 28, August 12) [51, 56, 57, 60-62]. They were successful in the August 12 appeal.
- Dugas, Lamm-Williams, and Wesley consistently opposed these measures, often citing concerns about public safety, crime rates, or adherence to existing ordinances, especially regarding proximity to churches [51, 56, 57, 60-62]. The City Attorney's legal opinion that the "church project" met the definition of a church, making the alcohol license illegal, played a crucial role in the initial denial, although this was later overturned on appeal [51, 70].
Council Districts Ordinance: The proposed restructuring of council representation into districts was a significant governance debate that garnered substantial public input but was ultimately denied by the Council on May 13, 2025 [84-88]. Wesley, Poole, Gilbert, and Dugas all voiced the sentiment that such a "major change should be decided by a public vote," indicating a deference to direct democracy on fundamental structural alterations [86, 89, 90].
Land Use and Development Appeals: On issues like the Orecko Development preliminary plat (June 10, 2025), Robert Poole stood as the lone dissenter against its approval, citing public safety and quality of life concerns, while the other four council members voted in favor [58, 59]. This shows Poole's willingness to take a strong, isolated stance on specific development projects.
Routine Operational Expenditures and Agreements: Jeff Wesley notably cast the sole "Nay" vote on numerous administrative items at the April 8, 2025, meeting, indicating a more cautious or scrutinizing approach to even routine approvals than his colleagues [23, 76-79].

In summary:

Amber Dugas and Lori Lamm-Williams tend to form a consistent bloc with Jeff Wesley on social and regulatory issues (e.g., alcohol permits), often prioritizing existing rules or community concerns over new business flexibility.
Jim Gilbert and Robert Poole frequently form a minority bloc that advocates for changes related to business growth, reduced taxation, or less restrictive regulations. Their "weight" is particularly evident in the successful appeal for the Mustard Seed Creamery's alcohol permit.
Jeff Wesley often presents a more independent or highly scrutinizing stance, sometimes being the sole dissenting vote on a range of issues, and strongly advocating for public input on major policy shifts [23, 86, 89].

The council's dynamics are thus characterized by broad agreement on core functions, but with predictable 3-2 splits on politically sensitive and economically impactful decisions, where the alignment of Gilbert/Poole against Dugas/Lamm-Williams/Wesley often determines the outcome.

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