HOUSING: Array of questions raised by Terrebonne Council on Aging board members at meetings

money without required dedication in its accounts.

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor recommends that governmental entities maintain three to six months of their expenditures in the bank, but the Terrebonne Council on Aging has three times that — $15 million.

“I see them holding more money than I expect to see,” said Joy Irwin, director of local government with the State Legislative Auditor. “I would ask why they’re holding so much money.”

Claudet mentioned the audit in his initial appearance before the board, a topic the body was already sensitive to.

“There are a number of articles that appeared recently that have not been in the best interests of this body,” Claudet said. “The people in the parish have entrusted you with money for elderly affairs. We are fulfilling our mission by utilizing these funds.”

Discussions with board members indicate that they felt like lottery winners put upon by needy relatives once their good fortune was disclosed, and that they saw the pitch as a raid on their accounts.

Executive director Diana Edmonson had maintained that the money was not surplus at all, and that rolling 5-year plans for the agency, which provides meals, transportation, medical assistance and housing to elders accounted for the perceived surplus.

So sensitive was the board to the criticism in January that they recently authored a resolution declaring news coverage of the audit to be unfair.

But Claudet said that coming to the TCOA under such circumstances was logical, and he had difficulty understanding why anyone on the board would oppose contributing money to the proposed project.

RELUCTANT BOARD

Board members said that they were bound to ask about a return because the money they have primarily comes from a 7.5 mil tax recently re-approved by voters. There were also concerns expressed about how the council would be involved in terms of running programs at the apartment site, or indeed if they would have a hand in running the apartment themselves.

“It is good for the community, it is good for the entire parish,” said Claudet in response. “If we did that in parish government, where we had to have a return or some gain, we wouldn’t be doing most of the things that we do,” Claudet pleaded.

The council’s Capital Outlay Committee had already advised a thumbs-down on the project, fueling some of the rancor from board members.

In particular, that committee had advised rejecting the parish proposal and a focus on the potential for elder housing in Schriever. But a cost for the land itself, later board discussions revealed, had not yet been determined.

At a Feb. 23 board meeting Smeltz got a chance to answer questions directly, and he focused on giving detailed information rather than pitching or pleading. He made even more clear a message already delivered by Claudet, that the deadline for needed tax credits upon which financing depended would run out soon.

When the board met again on March 3 a vigorous 90-minute discussion ensued. One of the most vociferous questioners of the proposal, board member H. Rene Rhodes, who seemed a likely opponent when the time came to vote, was among those who ended up supporting a forward move.

A total of seven board members voted favorably on a motion by Natalie Bergeron, who was also a critic of the project, to move forward in favor of TCOA investing in the proposed Houma Elementary School Project, subject to legal and audit review prior to the final intergovernmental agreement with TPCG, TCOA and the Volunteers of America (RNDC).

Two board members voted against, one abstained and one was not present.

ACCUSATIONS

Controversy continued, even after the March 3 vote, outside the TCOA headquarters on Tunnel Blvd.

A Terrebonne Parish ranking sheriff’s deputy and contender for the then-open position of Terrebonne Parish Registrar of Voters, Shane Fletcher, sent a letter to the District Attorney and various media outlets.

He accused Natalie Bergeron, another Registrar contender, of currying favor with Claudet “by changing her vote,” suggesting inappropriate conduct and potential violations of law.

Claudet has since affirmed that he was in no way involved with anything having to do with the Registrar selection. Local law enforcement and prosecutors have since effectively dismissed Fletcher’s allegation. They note that Bergeron did not get the Registrar position, making the allegation particularly difficult to prove.

MOVING TOWARD ACCEPTANCE

The TCOA’s director, Diana Edmonson, appears to be more accepting of the proposal, to which she had first displayed resistance as well. The deal, she noted, is still a work in progress.

“So there’s no money out the door nor will there be any money out the door anytime soon,” Berwick Duval, attorney for the TCOA said of the council’s $5.5 million.

The tax credit filing deadline, meanwhile, has been rescheduled by the state to April 14th.

“We do have a couple of tweaks we’d like to make to it,” Smeltz said last week regarding the deal. “But everything else is on track and we’re ready to go with that. Unfortunately, it does push the schedule back about a month because it will take them a month longer to announce the awards. But it’s all coming together very nicely.”

One of the biggest objections to the proposal had come from questions about whether the concept of the site being exclusively for seniors.

But Claudet, Smeltz and other supporters say that restricting tenancy to seniors is a key component of tax credits now sought for investors.

Still, all involved acknowledge, work remains to be done if the project is to move from concept to reality.

“Our piece is only a small piece of the project and so it’s contingent upon the Renaissance people getting the rest of the money for the project within a certain timeframe,” said Duval, who represents the TCOA. “If they don’t, then our commitment is dead. If they do that, construction begins by a certain timeframe … So, there are certain timelines that if they fail to meet them there’s no commitment. And that, we being the Terrebonne Council on Aging successfully negotiate a cooperative endeavor agreement with the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government, that’s a condition before the money goes out the door.”

HOUSING: Array of questions raised by Terrebonne Council on Aging board members at meetingsHOUSING: Array of questions raised by Terrebonne Council on Aging board members at meetings

Terrebonne Council on Aging Executive Director Diana Edmonson (left) has expressed reservations about the Houma Elementary School senior housing project proposed by non-profit developer Victor Smeltz.

COURTESY