Jefferson Parish's chief economic development official accepted deeply discounted rent on an apartment from an influential business owner to comply with a Jefferson residency law but never lived in the unit, instead maintaining his home in St. Tammany Parish, according to a report released Wednesday. That amounts to a potential violation not only of the residency law but also...
Jefferson Parish's chief economic development official accepted deeply discounted rent on an apartment from an influential business owner to comply with a Jefferson residency law but never lived in the unit, instead maintaining his home in St. Tammany Parish, according to a report released Wednesday. That amounts to a potential violation not only of the residency law but also of the state ethics code.
JEDCO Executive Director Lucien Gunter
In a report on the Jefferson Economic Development Commission, the parish government's internal auditor said JEDCO Executive Director Lucien Gunter didn't lease the apartment until Dec. 29, 2011, although the local ordinance required residency in Jefferson within six months of hiring. Gunter was hired in 2007. (Read the audit report and JEDCO's response.)
The apartment was a furnished model unit at one of Henry Shane's First Lake Properties complexes. The lease specified rent of $300 monthly, acknowledged it as a discount price and required that Gunter allow its use as a demonstration unit between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
"He did not spend any nights in the unit," internal auditor Tommy Fikes told the Ethics Compliance and Audit Committee.
Fikes said he was told that a similar two-bedroom apartment would rent for $1,122 to $1,207.
"First Lake Properties owns thousands of apartment units in Jefferson Parish, which could be significantly impacted by actions taken by the executive director in representing JEDCO," Fikes' report says. "Mr. Shane is also a member of the Jefferson Business Council, on which" Gunter is a member emeritus.
The residency issue, but not the discounted rent, was first disclosed in JEDCO's independent audit for 2011. When JEDCO board members, responding to that audit, asked Gunter to comply with the residency law, he declined and announced his resignation. JEDCO recently promoted its assistant director, Jerry Bologna, to succeed Gunter effective Dec. 31.
In its response to Fike's report, JEDCO's board doubted that Gunter's acceptance of below-market rent on the apartment rises to the level of an illegal gift. First Lake Properties' "operations are not 'regulated'" by JEDCO but by the Parish Council and administration, the JEDCO board said. It doubted that Gunter could "substantially affect" First Lake.
"Given the fact that the executive director in question has already turned in his resignation, we are not sure if this matter should be pursued further," JEDCO said.
Fikes also elaborated on Gunter's use of a JEDCO computer and email account for "political" correspondence, also first disclosed in the agency's 2011 independent audit.
The emails centered on the 2010 Jefferson School Board elections, when Shane and other business activists were recruiting and campaigning for challengers to the board's incumbents. JEDCO has refused to release the emails to The Times-Picayune, but Fikes' report says they "included use of his position as executive director to organize the solicitation of fundraising for candidates, endorse specific candidates and direct distribution of funds to candidates.
"It appears that he spent a significant amount of public time in this political activity."
Gunter defended the email activity, saying he was communicating "as a 'private citizen' and/or as an adviser to several private business entities and coalitions that had formed to push for School Board reforms and not from the position or authority of his office," JEDCO said in its response to Fikes' report.
"He contends that he merely responded to requests and that he did not take a formal position nor did he actively and purposefully advocate for one candidate or another."
Nonetheless, the Ethics Compliance and Audit Committee recommended that the Parish Council tell JEDCO to report the matter to the Louisiana Ethics Board as a potential violation
Fikes also questioned $11,041 in reimbursements that Gunter received for meals for himself and others at local restaurants over a 27-month period. JEDCO has no policy on reimbursement for in-town meals, but Jefferson Parish doesn't allow it.
The JEDCO board responded that it sees nothing wrong with Gunter hosting and being reimbursed reasonable amounts for meals with a "specific public purpose."
And Fikes faulted JEDCO for giving Gunter both a $750 monthly car allowance and about $2,000 reimbursement for local mileage and parking payments. JEDCO said both were allowed in Gunter's employment contract.
JEDCO was created by a state law in 1990. It gets its primary funding from a percentage of occupational license fee revenue collected in Jefferson.