After several years of investigation, the Legislative Auditor has released a detailed audit of the Guillory administration's controversial spoil banks project.
Here's the auditor's press release overview:
"Investigative auditors found that the Lafayette Consolidated Government (LCG) undertook a public works project involving the removal of a spoil bank on the St. Martin Parish side of the Vermilion River and its reconstruction on the Lafayette Parish side of the river, allegedly for flood mitigation purposes. Auditors determined that LCG carried out the project without obtaining the required legal authority, land rights, or permits — raising significant legal, regulatory, and intergovernmental concerns. Specifically, LCG expended public funds outside of its jurisdiction without a joint service agreement or cooperative endeavor agreement, as required by its Home Rule Charter and Louisiana law; performed work on land it did not fully own, without documented consent from a known co-owner; failed to obtain a local permit from St. Martin Parish Government; and withdrew its federal permit application from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but then proceeded with the project anyway."
The report is directed to LCG, with a letter that says "copies of this report have been delivered to the District Attorney for the 15th Judicial District of Louisiana, the United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, and others as required by law."
The audit echoes previous findings by LCG's regular audit; you can read our story about that here.
It's 133 pages, and you can read it yourself by scrolling down. It includes details - including screenshots of texts - of the way the spoil banks project unfolded, as well as former Mayor-President Josh Guillory's 25-page response sent to the media after a draft of the document was reported by The Current, and the LLA's responses to his allegations. There are letters from several attorneys who currently represent or have represented LCG, including current City-Parish Attorney Pat Ottinger, Guillory's City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan and legal opinions on some of the issues that was written by two attorneys who have represented the city for decades.
The investigation looked at the spoil banks project that happened in St. Martin Parish three years ago and spawned multiple lawsuits and investigations. The project, which auditors say was given the "code name" of "Apollo," was completed in St. Martin Parish. It removed decades-old levees on property partially owned by LCG. St. Martin Parish officials said that LCG did the project in the dark of night, and without permits from either the parish or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. LCG already had filed for a permit at a different location with the Corps; that permit application was withdrawn after St. Martin told the Corps that no parish permits for it would be granted. The project has reportedly sparked numerous investigations, including ongoing probes by the Legislative Auditor, the FBI, the EPA and the Corps. To read some of our stories about it, click here, here, here and here.
"Our investigative audit determined that LCG executed this project without securing the required legal authority, land rights, or permits — raising significant legal, regulatory, and intergovernmental concerns. Specifically, LCG expended public funds outside of its jurisdiction without a joint service agreement or cooperative endeavor agreement, as required by its Home Rule Charter and Louisiana law; performed work on land that LCG did not fully own, without documented consent from a known co-owner; failed to obtain a local permit from St. Martin Parish Government (SMP); withdrew its federal permit application from USACE but proceeded with the project regardless. These actions potentially violated LCG’s charter, an SMP ordinance, and multiple provisions of state and federal law," the audit states.
The investigation started with complaints, the report notes.
"The Louisiana Legislative Auditor initiated this audit to determine the validity of complaints we received regarding LCG’s use of public assets and funds," the audit states.
To conduct the investigation, they interviewed LCG employees and officials as well as "other persons," reviewed documents and records, and reviewed the law.
The audit addresses a 25-page response that Guillory released, accusing the LLA of various and sundry things, including bias, political motivations and misconduct. Both he and Logan offered detailed arguments as to why the auditors' findings aren't correct.
"This criticism reflects a broader pattern in Mr. Guillory’s response: ordinary, professional, and voluntary interactions are presented as evidence of misconduct. By characterizing routine cooperation as “interference,” the response misstates the facts and invites conclusions not supported by the record. Such mischaracterizations call into question the reliability of this, and other allegations contained in his response," the audit states.
The audit's reaction to Guillory's response - which is attached to the audit - notes that the LLA was never able to interview Guillory about any of the findings, and that the report focused solely on the spoil banks project and how it occurred.
"This report is silent on the lawsuits that LCG lost during Mr. Guillory’s term in office. There was ample information available to report on, including the millions of dollars LCG paid in response to lawsuits and the legal fees paid to attorneys. However, we took the position that because the courts had already decided these matters, there was no need to address them further in this report," the report notes.
In addition to Guillory's detailed responses, the report also includes detailed legal opinions from Logan, as to why the processes involved were, in fact, in compliance with the law. In that letter, Logan accuses former St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars of misconduct, accuses a property appraiser of "professional malpractice" and alleges that the Executive Chief of Staff at the time was the one who proceeded with the project.
"The former Chief of Staff, who had been on the job for seven weeks at the time, recalls events differently. He told us at the time he was still learning names and was in no position to lead a project that was planned before he arrived. He also told us the Mayor-President gave the spoil bank removal project a codename — Apollo — because, according to the Mayor-President, it was “very secretive.” The former Chief of Staff said that to the best of his knowledge, only a handful of people at LCG knew about the project. There was concern that the SMP president would get an injunction if he discovered the project was about to begin," the audit states.
That appointment of that chief of staff, Michael Hicks, was announced by Guillory on January 25, 2022, via a release from Guillory's administration. The spoil banks project happened the week of February 20, 2022.
The release announcing Hicks' appointment identifies him as "a retired US Army Colonel and combat veteran" who had "30 years of military service" and whose responsibility would be "troubleshooting and providing support to departments to ensure legal and regulatory compliance for the completion of critical projects that will enhance the overall quality of life in Lafayette Parish."
When we asked, we were told back then that Hicks would be paid a $280,224 salary for a two-year period, with funds coming from the Parish Council's reserve. A few months later, in May 2022, we got a tip that he had been terminated, so we reached out to Guillory's office.
"Michael Hicks is no longer employed by LCG, I have no further information to release," then-Chief Communications Officer Jamie Angelle told us in an email.
The current administration, that of Mayor-President Monique Boulet, responds to the audit via Ottinger, the current City-Parish Attorney.
"We have carefully reviewed the Draft Report and do not find that anything contained therein has been in any manner misstated as pertains to any material fact of which we are aware, after appropriate investigation or inquiry, or review of pertinent documents. As no one in the current administration was privy to any conversations or discussion noted in the Draft Report, our understanding of the relevant facts is principally based on a review of such documents as are available to us," Ottinger writes.
His letter contains a response to each of the report's recommendations for future LCG policy changes, and adds that Boulet has issued specific directions that safeguards must be in place to "avoid occurrences of this type in the future."
"This particularly includes presentation by the Legal Department of in-houses seminar that addressed a number of the issues presented in connection with the St. Martin Parish spoil banks project. In doing so, we are particularly mindful of the recommendations set forth" by auditors, Ottinger wrote.
Here's the full audit report:
