April 14
April 14, 2009
Charles "Bob" Craver
April 16, 2009
A state Inspector General’s report criticizes the interim dean of the culinary school at Nicholls State University for using university employees at a wedding reception for one of his relatives.
University officials and Alton Doody, the interim dean at Nicholls State’s John Folse Culinary Institute, defended the employees’ work at the reception, saying it helped promote the institute. They also say the work was performed when the workers were not on the public payroll and that they were paid with private money.
Four culinary institute employees were paid to work at the reception. Payments ranged from $500 to $1,000, according to the report.
“State law prohibits public employees from accepting ‘anything of economic value’ for work done within the scope of their official duties,” the report says. Also, the use of culinary institute equipment at the event violated policies of the University of Louisiana System, of which Nicholls State is a part.
In a response, the university said the employees indicated they would have worked the event for free to promote the institute. The university goes on to emphasize that the function was nonpublic, the workers were working on their own time and were paid by Doody with private funds.
Nicholls State plans to ask the state Board of Ethics to determine whether the use of the facilities and payments to the four institute employees violated state law. Meanwhile, the university said it has instituted a policy “which prohibits the rental of John Folse Culinary Institute kitchens for private functions.”
The report also questions time logs turned in by Doody, including entries indicating phone conversations of up to four hours.
Doody said his time log summarized his activities but did not report what he did minute by minute. “Had I known that it might be important, I would have clearly done so.” Doody noted that he is not a full-time employee at the university and that there was no mechanism for reporting work he did for the university on weekends or holidays. So the times reported “do not reflect the true nature and scope of work put forth,” he said in his response.
The university noted that Doody is not full time and that he is authorized to do his work while not present on campus. “As there may have been some inconsistencies in the appropriate manner of reporting, the university is implementing procedures to make certain that the necessary reporting protocol for Dr. Doody, and others at the university in similar situations, is established.”
In response to the recent inspector general’s report, Nicholls State has instituted a policy prohibiting the rental of John Folse Culinary Institute kitchens for private functions. The report criticized Dr. Alton Doody, the institute’s interim dean, for using university staff to host a relative’s wedding. * File photo
