In a draft investigative audit report reviewed by The Current, the Louisiana legislative auditor delivers a blistering assessment of the Guillory administration’s decision to secretly remove spoil banks in St. Martin Parish in February 2022.
The newspaper reports that investigators wrote that Lafayette Consolidated Government violated multiple provisions of federal and state laws, and local ordinances, when it decided to move forward on the flood-control project without the knowledge or consent of its neighboring parish.
“LCG executed a public works project outside its jurisdiction, on land it did not fully own, without obtaining the required local and federal permits and in potential violation of multiple state and federal laws,” the report concluded.
The LLA confirmed to The Current that it is finalizing the report. It does not yet have a release date.
As is routine, the report will be forwarded to state and federal prosecutors.
Between 2021 and 2023, The Current documented problems with the flood-mitigation project, which former Mayor-President Josh Guillory and others nonetheless viewed as a success at the time — and to this day.
The overnight operation cost $3.7 million and was authorized through a change order on a $360,000 “as-needed” excavation contract. Both the LLA and LCG’s own auditors concluded the project should have gone out for public bid due to the change in scope and cost.
Guillory, now a radio host on conservative talk station KPEL, provided his response to the draft report to The Current. In it, he accused the LLA of “political prostitution” and defended the controversial project.
“This latest volley of political arrows proves once again that the LLA, a politically-appointed fixture masquerading as a watchdog, is little more than a hitman for the elite’s intent on dragging Lafayette Parish [and our state] backwards,” Guillory wrote. “I hope you see their memo for what it is: petty, rushed, and embarrassingly thin.”
The Legislative Auditor confirmed their investigation of the spoil banks case to KATC more than two years ago.
To read The Current's full story, click here.
At issue is a project that LCG already has completed in St. Martin Parish, which 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 KATC's stories about it, click here, here, here and here.
