Arsène Lacarrière Latour, a contractor to build the new public market in New Orleans, petitioned the Mayor to order payment of the amount still due him from the City. The City had withheld final payment until he had installed the slate roof specified by the contract. Latour explained that he had been unable to secure slates, but the building was otherwise completed, with a roof of wooden planks, and was producing revenues for the City. He gave several reasons for receiving payment before completion of the job and cited the losses in time and money that he had incurred on the project. Following the petition is a note, dated 1809 June 3, written and signed by Maurice Bourgenois, Recorder of the City Council, that the Council agreed unanimously not to discuss the matter.
