Auditor: St. Helena road work wrong

• By DAVID J. MITCHELL
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: Oct 7, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The St. Helena Parish Police Jury might have broken state road construction and bid laws and the parish’s own operational plan in administering its 2006 and 2007 road paving programs, the Louisiana legislative auditor reported Monday.

In actions that may open jurors to criminal charges, the Police Jury spent $1.14 million to pave 66 substandard roads that auditors could not determine are public through deed, rights of way or other documents, state auditors said.

The amount spent is a third of what jurors spent on the road program overall, about $3 million for 159 roads under three contracts, auditors said.

Among the roads improperly paved are private driveways, roads blocked by gates, roads through privately posted property and roads that dead-end at driveways, carports, yards and fields, auditors said.

One road, Tanner Lane, cost $22,838 to pave. It was blocked with a metal gate when auditors photographed it.

A resident told auditors the gate was put up to block drug  dealers and asserted the road was on private property.

Posted Monday on the legislative auditor’s Office Web site, the long-awaited, 32-page compliance audit of the 2006 and 2007 road programs details other problems too:

• Jurors amended a 2006 road contract with Diamond B Construction LLC so many times to add roads they increased the price by 120 percent, from $746,446 to $1.64 million.

Under state law, jurors should have put the extra work out to bid.

• Jurors Jule Charles Wascom and Frank Johnson and former Juror Willie Morgan individually, and possibly illegally, directed road contractors or engineers to do road work without Police Jury approval between March and September 2007.
• Jurors instituted changes to their sick leave policy in September 2006 that may violate the state constitution because employees do not have to earn extra sick leave time in certain instances.

Auditors recommended jurors identify roads that were improperly paved and seek restitution from those who were responsible and who benefited.

That could include jurors and landowners, said Dan Daigle, assistant legislative auditor and Compliance Audit Division director.

Auditors said 44 of the 66 roads they inspected could be considered private driveways.

One, Argie Lane, is a 370-foot horseshoe driveway for a single residence that cost $5,311 to pave, auditors said.

Auditors said jurors’ failure to abide by the Parish Transportation Act and the parish’s own master plan of operation, which spell out how road work is to be prioritized and the eligibility criteria for that work, could constitute malfeasance in office.

Daigle said the audit has been forwarded to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office and District Attorney Scott Perrilloux, of the 21st Judicial District.

Perrilloux said Monday he has not seen the report but would consider recusing his office in the event of the audit’s raising allegations of criminal conduct.