Rec board members resign. Now what?

Two members of a Terrebonne Parish recreation board have handed in their resignations following scathing accusations of mismanagement.

But so far, no agency has come to bat promising a look further into unanswered questions of possible wrong-doing by board members. And without an agency having subpoena power or similar authority, questions of how and why the alleged mismanagement at Recreation District 11 occurred may remain largely unanswered.

Accusations in the audit include repeated awarding of contracts for construction and related work to firms that were not the lowest bidders, and payments being made to those companies without board approval.

The Terrebonne Parish Council voted unanimously on May 6 to accept resignations from board members Sidney Smith and Joseph Thompson Jr.

Parish council members had requested the audit after receiving anonymous complaints.

“We would like the Attorney General to find out if there was any wrong-doing,” said Councilman Dirk Guidry.

District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr.’s office was originally contacted but council members said they were told a conflict existed because one of Waitz’s assistants had in the past represented the board or one or more of its members. Council members said it was their understanding that the Attorney General would pick up the matter, which is common when local prosecutors cannot proceed.

However, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Buddy Caldwell said Friday the matter is not yet on that agency’s radar.

“The Attorney General’s office has received no such request to investigate this matter,” said the spokeswoman, Laura Gerdes Colligan, in response to an e-mail inquiry.

Council members have been told the resigned board members’ questionable conduct was the result of mere inattention to detail.

Cornell Robinson, owner of C.M. Janitorial Services, whose contracts and invoices drew the attention of auditors, said he is not aware of anything regarding his own handling of the recreation district’s account that was untoward.

Asked if he had ever been approached for favors from board members he said “no,” adding that at all times his own dealings with the district were above-board and appropriate.

“I have done everything by the book,” said Robinson, who has contracts with other recreation districts as well as other entities within Terrebonne Parish government, and has been a vendor to the parish for at least a decade.

Houma attorney Craig Stewart, whose company, Absolute Contractors LLC, garnered significant attention from auditors, did not return calls.

Auditors pointed out that checks made out to Stewart’s firm – in some cases for $10,000 and more – were at times negotiated with a check cashing company rather than deposited in a bank.

The checks were cashed at Cheap Smokes on West Park Avenue. Proprietor Lester Naquin said in response to questions from the Tri-Parish Times that it was not unusual for Stewart to cash checks with him, that he had known Stewart for many years and that he was also familiar with Stewart’s articles of incorporation. There was no reason, Naquin said, for him not to cash the checks made out to Absolute.

Small businesses, Naquin said, sometimes cash checks with him or other local moneychangers because they need to make payroll or pay vendors, and cannot wait for checks to clear through their banks.

Smith and Thompson did not return phone calls last week and the week before.

At a parish council meeting last week, chairwoman Beryl Amedee said that the matter, for the council, is now closed.

The focus now, Amedee and other board members said, is selection of members to replace those who resigned.

Prosecutors in Terrebonne said they sent a request for the Attorney General’s office to follow up on the matter last week.