Man faces ethics charges
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The chairman of the Baton Rouge Parish Recreation and Park Commission is facing state ethics charges.
The Louisiana Board of Ethics set an Aug. 14 hearing to explore the charges against Baton Rouge businessman Collis Temple Jr.
The board said Temple may have violated state ethics law by participating in transactions between the local park system, better known as BREC, and Unemployment Compensation Control Systems, a company owned by Temple’s father-in-law and which employs his wife.
The board also levied charges against Unemployment Compensation Control Systems — emanating from the relationship.
Temple and UCCS could be fined up to $10,000 each if the board finds that a violation occurred.
When reached for comment Wednesday, Temple said he was “in the middle of a meeting in New Orleans. I can call you back.”
Temple did not call back Wednesday.
A message left for Temple’s father-in-law, Joe Terrell, at UCCS offices went unreturned.
Under state ethics law, “no public servant … shall participate in a transaction in which he has a personal substantial economic interest of which he may be reasonably expected to know involving the governmental entity.”
Neither can they participate in a transaction “to his actual knowledge” in which an immediate family member “has a substantial economic interest,” according to the law.
Immediate family includes the children, brothers, sisters, parents, spouses, and the in-laws of a public servant.
BREC severed business ties with the company in May 2007. At the time, BREC superintendent Bill Palmer said he was canceling the pact because of Temple’s family tie to the company’s owner.
UCCS kept records on BREC’s unemployment compensation checks. It was paid $133.33 per month under the BREC contract for seeing that the funds got deposited with the state Department of Labor.
In May, Temple said he had nothing to do with his father-in-law’s company getting the BREC contract. He said the pact had been in effect since 1982 — before he was a board member and before he married Terrell’s daughter.
Palmer said Temple did not vote on any of the contracts with UCCS because they were handled administratively.
Temple abstained from a BREC vote to file a lawsuit against the firm after some $17,000 in BREC unemployment compensation funds never made it to the Department of Labor, Palmer said.
Under state ethics law, an appointed member of a board — such as Temple — cannot recuse themselves from voting when conflicts of interest arise. The law is designed to stop people with potential conflicts from serving on government boards and commissions.
BREC did not have to file a lawsuit, Palmer said, because UCCS took care of the Labor Department problem.
The company had earlier run into similar problems administering the program for other governmental entities, sparking legal problems.
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