Josh Guillory to hold Monday news conference on return to Lafayette from rehab
Lafayette Mayor-President Josh Guillory on Monday will hold his first press conference since returning from three weeks at an in-patient rehab facility in Texas.
The gathering is Guillory's first planned news event since he returned to Lafayette last week.
Lafayette Consolidated Government spokesperson Jamie Angelle announced the event at 8:15 a.m. Monday, just two hours before it is set to start at 10:30 a.m. The event will not be open to the public.
According to one administration source, the time, date and location for the event was set Friday.
Monday morning's last-minute announcement raises questions about Guillory's willingness to answer questions , as he promised when he left for rehab, since LCG typically gives news outlets much earlier notice of press events outside of emergency situations.
Guillory announced on Monday, July 25, that he had entered a 21-day, in-patient rehab program that weekend for untreated post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use.
His announcement did not specify exactly when he entered the facility or where it was, only that he made the decision to seek treatment that weekend.
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Guillory's return on Friday comes 18 days after his July 25 announcement, raising questions about how long he was at the facility before telling the public and whether he completed 21 full days of treatment.
Guillory’s insistence on remaining in charge during his extended absence threatened Lafayette’s city-parish government with a leadership crisis as city and parish council members weighed their obligation to appoint an interim in his stead with warnings from Logan that doing so would violate state law.
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The councils are required by Lafayette’s Home Rule Charter to appoint an interim mayor-president when Guillory is “absent from and unavailable to Lafayette Parish for more than 48 hours.”
But Guillory's administration argued that his access to email and a daily phone call meant he was not “unavailable” and therefore could not be temporarily replaced.
The issue nearly materialized into the appointment of Parish Councilman Kevin Naquin as interim mayor-president by Parish Council Chair AB Rubin and City Council Chair Nanette Cook on Wednesday, July 27. But threats of fines, jail time and loss of office doused that plan.
His absence has remained a sticking point in the following weeks as his administration has repeatedly refused to release any details about where he was being treated or what accommodations were made with his facility to allow him to govern Lafayette Parish from Texas.
The councils are set to hold their first meetings since Guillory's return from rehab at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at City-Parish Hall.
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This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Josh Guillory to hold Monday news conference on return from rehab
