Kickin’ back with hip boot joe
July 14, 200863 on NSU’s spring Honor Roll
July 16, 2008Golf course to get $250,000 pavilion, bathroom
By HOWARD J. CASTAY JR.
The St. Mary Parish Council is financing a $250,000 addition – a pavilion and bathroom – on the fifth hole of the Atchafalaya Golf Course at Idlewild in Patterson.
The agenda item was approved without discussion at a recent council meeting. An exact dollar amount of the project was not listed on the agenda, nor was it included in the resolution board members approved.
Parish President Paul Naquin was the first one to publicly explain the cost of the addition and its location.
Acadiane Renovations LTD, a Franklin-based firm, has been contracted to do the work, he said.
The golf course cost taxpayers $4.5 million in 2007 to build, some of which included matching grants. Dubbed the “Cajun Coast’s Premier Golf Experience,” the course is touted for combining a pristine course and natural preservation. It was recently named by Golfweek Magazine as one of the “Best Courses You Can Play” in Louisiana, moving from third place to first.
In another matter, the parish council awarded a $289,940 contract to M. Matt Durand LLC of St. Martinville for road improvements to the main driveways at Franklin’s west-end pickup station.
St. Mary Chief Administrative Officer Henry “Bo” LaGrange said the company will pour new asphalt over existing roadways, which are worn because of heavy use by garbage trucks and other large vehicles.
In other fiscal business, an audit report on the parish’s library system indicates that there is a “failure to design and implement policies and procedures necessary to achieve adequate internal control” when it comes to spending. The Lafayette-based firm of Kolder, Champagne, Slaven & Company LLC conducted the audit.
The audit reported “significant deficiencies” in internal control, which were discovered in a review of the library system’s financial statements. According to the firm, the deficiencies are “considered a material weakness.”
By failing to properly segregate accounting the financial functions, the audit warns the library system is at risk for errors or irregularities, including fraud or embezzlement, which would not be prevented or detected.
According to the audit, “Management and staff lack the training and expertise in the selection and application of generally accepted accounting principles in the financial statement preparation process.”
The audit recommends the parish contract out its accounting practices and controls, saying the job “may not be economically feasible” for the parish library system.
