Gesser discusses his part in audit

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office appeared to take issue with the lack of invoicing to support the monthly retainer fee paid to Gerald Gesser, and to other workers on contract with Iberia Parish during Parish President Will Langlinais’ term in office, which began in December 1992.

Gesser, of the Gesser Group, is a local architect who oversees parish-owned buildings in Iberia Parish.

Auditors listed Gesser, engineer Wayne LaBiche and lawyer Shane Romero under the “Undocumented Retainer Fees” section of the 50-page audit. Gesser earned $117,000, according to auditors, though Gesser said Wednesday it’s more like $108,000. LaBiche earned $155,350 in retainer fees during the past two decades and Romero earned $35,250 for his four-year retainer that was approved through an oral contract. All were cited as not properly invoiced, but auditors said it appeared to be more of a fault of parish government policy.

According to auditors, the parish contracted with Gesser in January 1994 to manage all parish facilities at $750 per month. Auditors, which began a compliance audit investigation May 4, noted that the unsubstantiated retainer payments to Mr. Gesser means “the parish cannot demonstrate that Mr. Gesser provided services equal to his retainer amount of $117,000.”

In 2006, former financial director Molly Bouillion told Gesser the parish would not make future payments without invoices. Bouillion died in February 2006.

Simone Champagne — chief administrative officer at the time for Langlinais — and Bobbie Verret, accounts payable clerk, said Gesser had never submitted invoices for his monthly retainer.

Champagne said as of January, the parish had not paid Gesser’s retainer fees for seven months of 2006. Gesser acknowledged that he did not get paid for March, April, May, September, October, November and December.

In his answers to auditors, Gesser included invoices for March, April, May, September, October, November and December, with documentation. Each shows who Gesser met with, the phone calls he made and advice for certain projects he offered for the $750-per-month retainer amount.

Gesser said he did get paid soon after he sent the recent invoices, and that he is still on retainer. Gesser said the issue regarding him was an “old school” method of doing things. He said he should not to be blamed for a policy that was in place long before he was contracted to do work for the parish.

“We’ve been doing this since 1994 and we’ve never furnished any invoices,” Gesser said Wednesday. “The retainer is for professional services. It’s a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year job. We’re on constant call for anything they want you to do — ‘they’ meaning the Parish Council or the president.”

The Parish Council seems to take Gesser’s side.

The council notes that “Gerald Gesser frequently attended twice-monthly council meetings and twice-monthly committee meetings during the audit period.” Further, Gesser’s subject matter at these meetings was often based on the “substantial amount of field work performed by Gesser,” the council wrote.

But Gesser questions why the independent auditors that review parish government each year didn’t find the same items that state auditors found.

“I’m very confused that we have CPAs who don’t find any of these inconsistencies,” Gesser said. “I get a check every month, so the auditors ought to be able to track the documentation for these checks. It (previous lack of findings) only tells me that it’s been OK for the past 10, 12 years (to stay on retainer without invoicing). But no one’s ever told me to do that, and that bothers me.”

After all the hoopla over the audit, Gesser agrees that the parish is not looking too good right now in the eyes of others in the Teche Area and Acadiana.

“It’s not good for anybody, no matter how it turns out,” Gesser said.