EPPJ to investigate Crooked Creek's financial operations

By: MICHAEL BORDELON

News Editor

The Evangeline Parish Police Jury will be investigating and evaluating Crooked Creek Recreational Park after discovering some of the park’s funds may be missing at its committee meetings Monday, April 7.

Employees of Crooked Creek were in attendance to answer questions and state their grievances with some of the recent actions taken at Crooked Creek.

The jury appointed Public Works Superintendent Chester Granger to oversee operations of the park and find out exactly how it is being run after the jury had to use $40,000 from its general fund to cover expenses for the park in 2007. The park took in approximately $300,000 in 2007, but expenses were approximately $350,000.

The manager of the park, Elroy George, addressed the jury and stated he was not pleased with recent rumors Crooked Creek employees were stealing money. Jury President Bob Manuel said he has heard the rumors as well, but none of the jurors have accused anyone of stealing.

George added he did not appreciate Granger speaking to the employees without following the “chain of command.” George said it was as if Granger was “going over his head.”

Granger apologized to George, but stated George was not present at the time in question, so he spoke with the employees who were there.

Another employee stated he was unhappy and believed it was unfair that his parish vehicle, a Suburban, was taken from him. He said he used the vehicle to carry his tools and other items for the park. However, Juror Lamar Johnson said he was adamant about the jury not providing employees transportation to and from work on taxpayers’ dollars.

Granger, who has been overseeing the operation of the park for the last few weeks, reported several of his findings. He said there are three money bags at the park, only two of which the jury has ever had documentation. The other bag, according to Granger, was referred to by employees as the dental and xmas party bag.

“I was told by some employees that people take money from this bag for food, dentist visits or to help make ends meet at home,” Granger said. “A lot of the money is put into these bags and never hits the register. We need a paper trail. It’s a problem that these things are not being recorded.”

Juror Eric Soileau said the park is a business and every penny that comes in and goes out needs to be accounted for.

Another issue Granger raised was regarding ice money. The park sells ice for $1.25 per bag, of which the park receives 75 cents. According to Granger, this money goes directly into the third bag, and has never been deposited. This money possibly accounts for as much as $200 in a single weekend, he said.

“No one can say where this money went,” Granger said. “If someone could tell me where it was spent [for park supplies], then fine, but no one can.”

Granger also stated he can prove a large sum of gas is missing from the park’s pump. He said he was told some employees are bringing their vehicles to the pump at night and taking gas. In 2007, $9,571 worth of gas was purchased at the park. Granger said approximately $4,750 of that gas cannot be accounted for.

Yet another issue discussed was the use of the cash register. Granger said, by law, cash registers are made to print double receipts so the customer and business each have a copy. However, he said the register is not being used at the park. He added one employee told him they were told not to use it. A new register was ordered several months ago, according to Manuel, but it was discovered that register remained in storage and was never used.

Granger added he cannot review security footage from the main office to find out who is not following the rules because the camera has been pointed away from the register and window.

“The camera is moved in a way that you can’t see any cash being handled,” he said.

Another issue that needed the jury’s attention, according to Granger was that employees fill out their own time cards.

“Some go for only one hour but have eight on their time sheets,” he said. “In 2007, the parish spent $166,000 on labor at the park.”

In addition to this, Granger stated everytime he has gone to the park, even if it is in the middle of the week and during the day, the park’s slow period, there were at least four employees in the office. And on the weekend, often times there was only one.

Granger also mentioned the phone bill, which was not expensive, but had numerous calls to Nevada, California, Utah, Washington and other states. One month, Granger said there were 90 calls to California.

“To make 90 calls to California in a month, that person must not have had much work to do,” Granger said. “That explains why people always complain the phone is busy at the park when they try to call.”

Finally, Granger said employees have been charging lunches to the parish to the tune of $2,883.09 in 2007.

“This has been stopped,” Granger said. “It was good while they got away with it, but it’s done now.”

District Attorney Brent Coreil said there were several instances in Granger’s report that amounted to criminal acts, and he recommended getting the state police to come in and perform an audit and investigation. Coreil said he has even heard some people say they stayed at the park for free on a regular basis until recently.

“I do want to say that I commend the jury for looking into correcting these issues,” Coreil added.

The jury appointed Irby Chaddrick as temporary park manager while the jury and district attorney’s office investigate further. George will remain at the park under Chaddrick, and Granger will oversee the entire operation.

The jury also forbade employees to live at the park, but will still allow them to use the park at no charge, unless it is abused. The jury agreed to forbid jurors from using the park for free. However, some jurors said they will want to revisit that issue in the future, as they want to encourage jurors to use the park. Johnson said he could not see how it would be right to let jurors use the park at no cost to themselves.

“We can’t give ourselves these things,” Johnson said.

The jury also put an end to jug fishing in the lake, and will now require all day pass visitors to keep their receipts on the dash of their vehicles.

In other business, the jury:

•Approved selling $600,000 of certificates of indebtedness for the purpose of road improvements. However, Manuel said this was not for hard surfaced roads, only gravel roads.

•Approved HUD training for Section Eight employees Anna Frank and Cindy Welch.

•Learned chip sealing will begin in the parish within the next 30 days. Granger said materials for the process are arriving each day and he expects to begin chip sealing roads within a month.

•Denied a claim by Eric Rollins, who said a rock fell from a parish dump truck and cracked his windshield. Granger said the driver was not carrying a load at the time.