In the final audit are charges that Iberia Parish President Will Langlinais was responsible for, or oversaw, nearly $500,000 in improper, undocumented spending during the past six years of his 14-year term, though some of those contracts actually began before he took office in the early 1990s.
About $300,000 of the half-million included retainer payments, or contracts, that auditors questioned as unsubstantiated or improper. To that end, the audit alleges Langlinais brokered the contracts with three locals: lawyer Shane Romero; engineer Wayne LaBiche; and architect Gerald Gesser.
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“The audit confirms I have done nothing wrong,” Romero wrote March 5 in a statement.
He did not return phone calls seeking comment.
According to state auditors, Romero and Langlinais brokered a $750-per-month oral contract — Langlinais called it a monthly retainer — that the council did not know about and which “may have violated the Parish Home Rule Charter.”
District Attorney Phil Haney confirmed again last week that, despite the appearance that both men contracted the retainer, it could be Langlinais, not Romero, who is responsible for the transaction that allowed Romero to receive $35,250 from the monthly payments from 2001 to 2005.
Romero made $389,557 in those years as a contractor through the parish’s Risk Management Program, from which lawyers perform legal services for claims filed against the parish.
Romero said the retainer relationship began when Langlinais contacted him and offered to place him on a $750 monthly retainer. Romero said he was on call to provide legal guidance for right-of-way and property-servitude issues, job injuries, employee misconduct and legal claims against Langlinais and the parish.
Wants money back
But auditors found that “without proper documentation, the parish cannot demonstrate that Mr. Romero provided services equal to $35,250,” auditors said.
In addition to his monthly retainer, Romero worked in the parish’s Risk Management budget, managed by a “third-party administrator,” who receives, reviews and approves legal invoices in each legal case or lawsuit. After each invoice is approved, the administrator submits the invoices to the parish for payment.
The council said “at no time” did Romero ever pay back the oral retainer proceeds “despite the fact that the $389,557 provided sufficient funds to do so.”
Also, on six occasions, administrators in parish government submitted duplicate invoices totaling $4,785 to Romero, three court reporters and the clerk of court. He paid his portion back after auditors told Romero he provided legal services “for substantially less than the district attorney’s current arrangement. The DA charges a minimum of $150,000 per year even if work is not needed.
It’s all taxpayer dollars, but Councilman Bernard Broussard clarified that the parish pays $75,000 of that while other entities within the courthouse combine to pay the other half.
Nonetheless, Romero said “that amount is over double the average earned by me, including incurred expenses, during the past seven years.”
He told Steve Theriot, legislative auditor, in a Feb. 8 letter that he met with the auditor’s staff and had the opportunity to review the report and answered all the questions of the staff satisfactorily.
“It is my understanding that all issues have been addressed with the approval of you and your staff,” Romero said in the letter. “I am thankful this matter is now concluded and I want to commend you and your staff for your due diligence.”
He said people’s belief in him and their thoughtful “words of encouragement” have seen him through the ordeal.
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