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According to Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove, Councilman Gerald Michel is under a human resources investigation for harassing the parish’s chief financial officer (CFO), Kandace Mauldin.
“He has repeatedly for two years, harassed, intimidated, questioned the integrity of my CFO…which is also the council’s CFO,” Dove said. “A document was presented the other night that totally shows he’s wrong, but he would not admit it.”
The document Dove referred to, which he read aloud at last night’s council meeting, is an opinion by Bradley Cryer, Director of Local Government Services with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, which states: “Based on discussions with our attorneys, we do not believe that the $3.1 million transfer violated the Home Rule Charter because the utility ordinance applies parishwide.”
The monies from the $3.1 million transfer originally came from the Utilities Fund, transferred to the General Fund and subsequently transferred to the Group Insurance Fund, according to the email from Cryer to Mauldin dated December 5, 2019.
Michel said he recently requested a copy of the opinion from Mauldin and was later told by Terrebonne Parish Attorney Jules Hebert to go through Mart Black, the parish’s records custodian, for a public records request. According to Michel, he was told by Black the reason it was necessary is it has to do with Louisiana statutes and material that is inappropriate for dissemination. Michel said it was not the proper protocol, citing a section of the Code of Ordinances that addresses disseminating information, and the letter should have been kept in an accessible reading file.
“This, to me, is a typical retaliation bullying tactic of this administration, and I have a problem with that,” he said.
Hebert argued that the proper procedure was followed, backing up his argument with several sections of the ordinances, and that the reading file should not have confidential information.
“If a councilman wants to call a clerk in a department or a secretary and asked to send something that person may not know better. That’s why you have a centralized mechanism where you have a public records custodian as it is set up in our charter…,” he explained. “So in my opinion, everything that was done was done according to the book.”
“We have to do it by the book because there’s an ongoing investigation over Mr. Gerald Michel’s conduct,” Dove noted.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Dove also presented another email from Cryer — which was sent to Michel and dated July 10, 2019. It contained the same response regarding the transfer: “…We do not believe that the $3.1 million transfer violated the Home Rule Charter.”
“Now, he knew this and he continued to harass the CFO of Terrebonne Parish and he ought to be ashamed of himself,” the parish president said. “He didn’t bring this up the other day when he told us he had received nothing from the Legislative Auditor, and he acted surprised with that.”
“He has this while he was harassing this lady,” he added. “…You misled this council. You misled the public — all in an effort to prove her wrong by transferring some money from the Utilities Fund to the general budget. I don’t know what is your [Michel’s] game, but this is the smoking gun that proves you are a liar.”
Michel later admitted that he forgot he received an answer and apologized to the council. He said he continues to disagree with Cryer’s opinion, however.
Michel asked Mauldin about the $3.1 million transfer at a Budget and Finance committee meeting last week. He called it “a move that never should have happened” because money was taken from the city of Houma funds and distributed to the parish’s funds. He also added that he was told at a council meeting that the funds would be put back.
“We did a transfer from the Utilities Fund to the General Fund because the General Fund had to help the shortfall with Group Health. It didn’t necessarily mean that the transfer from Utilities Fund was going directly to health insurance. It could have gone to anything that was in the city limits…So it was transferred that way to help the shortfall that would have been in General Fund that could have been used in the City of Houma,” Mauldin explained.
Mauldin is doing a great job, Michel said during the committee meeting, and he feels for her because “she’s having to come up with a manipulative answer.”
Several council members at last night’s meeting expressed support for Mauldin.
“I’m really sorry that we didn’t come out in your defense last week,” Councilwoman Jessica Domangue said “…You are doing a fantastic job. You’re probably one of the hardest working women that I know.”
“You’re doing an outstanding job, always have with the utmost integrity and reliability,” Council Chairman Steve Trosclair added. “…I got your back.”
Michel, who also added that the issue of the opinion request was being deflected, emphasized that he never questioned Mauldin’s integrity. “And I would never do such a thing,” he continued. “It’s the parish president’s integrity that I questioned.”
