An investigative report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor into Lafayette Consolidated Government's clandestine removal in 2022 of a Vermilion River spoil bank in St. Martin Parish is expected to be released soon, an LCG spokesperson said Thursday.
The Current online news organization reported Friday that it had obtained a draft of the LLA report and that the report doesn't reveal much that hasn't already been reported in regular annual LCG audits.
The spoil bank project, The Current wrote, "violated state law, federal law, a St. Martin Parish ordinance and Lafayette’s Home Rule Charter."
The LLA's final report has not been released. The report will be based on findings of an investigation launched by the LLA in 2023 prompted by findings from LCG's independent audit of the 2021-22 fiscal year, when Josh Guillory was the mayor-president.
"We were informed by the LLA their final report will be coming in the next few weeks," LCG Chief Communications Officer Jaimie Boudreaux said Thursday.
In June, Boudreaux said, parties relevant to the investigation were provided with a copy of the draft investigative auditor's report and given until July 1 to file a response.
Guillory unleashed a diatribe Thursday on Facebook, posting a text exchange between himself and The Current reporter who asked for comment from Guillory on the LLA findings.
In a 25-page statement The Acadiana Advocate obtained from Guillory he says the LLA's report "reeks of lawfare" and that the LLA is "a politically-appointed fixture masquerading as a watchdog."
He added that the LLA is "little more than a hitman for the elite's intent on dragging Lafayette Parish (and our state) backwards."
Guillory told The Acadiana Advocate that the yet-to-be-released report contains nothing new and is serving as a distraction from Boulet's proposed budget, claiming she is wasting money.
Guillory served as mayor-president from Jan. 6, 2020, until Jan. 3, 2024. He was defeated in his re-election bid by Boulet who is the daughter of Louisiana's first elected woman governor, the late Kathleen Blanco.
The legislative auditor's office did not return a request for comment. They do not usually comment on matters still under review.
In February 2022, the Guillory administration launched a plan to ease flooding from the Vermilion River by reducing the height of a spoil bank created in the 1950s when the Corps of Engineers dredged the river and dumped the dredged material near the riverbank, creating a levee that stopped floodwaters from flowing into a swamp in St. Martin Parish.
Without permission from St. Martin Parish or the Corps, and without seeking bids, the Guillory administration used an existing contractor to work at night to remove part of the spoil bank. LCG also purchased part ownership of land in St. Martin Parish to aid in the project.
“LCG executed a public works project outside its jurisdiction, on land it did not fully own, without obtaining the required local and federal permits and in potential violation of multiple state and federal laws,” the LLA findings, according to The Current story, concluded.
Both Guillory and former City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan, in his 31-page July 14 response to the LLA, dispute the conclusions. They previously disputed the findings of the independent auditors who first noted problems with the spoil bank project.
