“This victory goes beyond me,” says Emmanuel Guillaume-Monnery. The opposition elected official from Margny-lès-Compiègne is satisfied with the decision of administrative courtf of Amiens, rendered on December 31, 2024, concerning the case between him and Mayor Bernard Hellal.
“After two years of proceedings, justice canceled several delegations of functions and the corresponding compensation, due to their illegal nature», Comments the opponent. The mayor of Margny-lès-Compiègne will appeal.
In November 2022, she asked the court to annul the mayor’s decrees and a deliberation of the municipal council granting delegations to Perrine Bourgneuf, Sylvia Maury on the one hand, Jean-Jacques De Myttenaere, Franck Norton and Florence Housieaux. She considered these delegations insufficiently precise “to enable their consistency to be assessed”.
Five delegated municipal councilors concerned
The administrative court also considers that this is not the case. By five decrees issued between 2020 and 2022, the mayor of the commune of Margny-lès-Compiègne granted the municipal councilors in question the following functions:
- to Sylvia Maury, artistic and cultural education projects, with the culture and twinning assistant
- to Perrine Bourgneuf, the fight against family violence and the fight against school bullying, with the public security deputy
- to Jean-Jacques De Myttenaere, animation and communication (…) in close collaboration with the assistant for community life, sport and events
- to Franck Norton, security, entertainment and neighborhood life
- in Florence Housieaux, economic development and businesses
“The functions thus delegated, which, for some of them, were also delegated simultaneously and without order of priority to other members of the municipal council, are not identified in a sufficiently precise manner to assess their consistency , concludes the administrative court. While it appears neither from their designation nor from the documents in the file, and in particular not from possible acts occurring during the execution of these delegations, that they relate to legal powers actually exercised by the delegated municipal councilors. »
“Compensation unduly received”
The execution of this judgment “necessarily implies that the mayor of Margny-lès-Compiègne orders the repayment of compensation unduly received by these municipal councilors (…) within two months from notification of this judgment”.
Emmanuelle Guillaume-Monnerat asks the municipality to comply with this judgment “without delay” and to proceed “to reimburse the compensation unduly received”.
“It is time to turn the page on these practices, synonymous with a lack of transparency and respect for those administered,” adds the opponent, to whom the municipality must pay €1,500 in legal costs. My objective has always been to defend the general interest and to denounce practices contrary to the law. By contesting these decisions, I wanted to protect public resources and remind people that elected officials must act in strict compliance with the rules.”
As the 2026 municipal elections approach, she underlines “the urgency of a change in public management, where decisions are made with responsibility and in the interest of all”. She denounces “the excesses of an outdated policy, which persists despite similar convictions, such as the recent one against the city of Compiègne”.
“This decision calls into question the existence of delegated municipal councilors” believes Bernard Hellal
“This court decision calls into question the status of delegated municipal councilor,” considers Bernard Hellal. The mayor of Margny-lès-Compiègne will appeal and will submit this case to the association of mayors of France.
He wonders why this judgment concerns five delegated municipal councilors, out of the nine that make up the majority.
Bernard Hellal notes that the administrative court made the same decision as for the city of Compiègne. In the neighboring commune, Etienne Diot, who also presented himself with Emmanuelle Guillaume-Monnery at the last departmental elections, obtained the cancellation of the delegations of municipal councilors, considering there also that these were insufficiently precise and that there had duplicates. “We had the same lawyer as the city of Compiègne,” explains the mayor. Perhaps the court did not want to reverse its judgment.”
137€ per month
In Margny-lès-Compiègne, this decision implies that the elected officials concerned reimburse the monthly compensation received over the period. “It is €137,” recalls Bernard Hellal. It doesn’t even pay for their gas.” Or approximately €3,800 per assistant over the period denounced (September 2022 to December 2024).
The mayor also recalls that the opponent Emmanuelle Guillaume-Monnery never denounced this operation when she sat in the majority as deputy. He reiterates his questioning on the merits of this issue: “Do we, in this country, have the right to have delegated municipal councilors?”
