Charlotte Randolph Must Go
Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph must resign or be removed from office by means of an elector suit as provided for in the Parish Charter.
Ms. Randolph has shown she does not possess qualities we critically need in a Parish President at this point in the history of Lafourche Parish. She has displayed poor judgement time and time again and a tendency to crack under pressure. Additionally, she has appointed Department heads who have questionable character, competence and management skills and has relied on alot of bad advice. One of the hallmarks of Ms. Randolph's Administration is its poor communications - with Parish employees, the Council and the Public.
The first revelation of these weaknesses came with her use of the Parish credit card entrusted to her as her personal credit card. She charged plane tickets, meals and alcohol for her husband, George Randolph, on our card. Even though she later reimbursed such charges, in a May 26, 2006 letter, the auditor advised that this state of affairs amounted to a loan of public funds, which is a violation of the Louisiana State Law.
Next, Ms. Randolph permitted her husband to drive a Parish vehicle. On August 24, 2005, Mr. Randolph caused an accident while driving the Parish's Emergency Preparedness vehicle. Mr. Randolph did not have authority from the Parish Council to drive the vehicle. Due to the accident, the vehicle was out of service in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. To add insult to injury, the Parish Council approved the payment of the damages to the other vehicle amounting to over $15,000. This authorization was also likely a violation of State Law.
Ms. Randolph authorized payments of 2 1/2 times of the amount salaried employees normally earned during the emergency after Hurricane Katrina. Lafourche Parish District Attorney Camille Morvant issued an opinion stating those payments were illegal without Council approval. The payments were ordered repaid to the Parish.
Ms. Randolph's Administration signed numerous one-time right-of-ways and performed hundreds of thousands of dollars of outfall canal digging without Council approval. This practice continued until a DA's opinion in late 2005 stating Council approval was required. Furthermore, none of the agreements have been recorded in the Clerk of Court's office, as is common practice with most transactions involving real estate.
Ms. Randolph's appointee for Public Works Director, Ray Cheramie, lent public generators to his family after Hurricane Katrina and used a Parish employee and equipment to perform work on his private property. The latter is a criminal offense. After allegedly being reprimanded by Ms. Randolph on the generator issue, Mr. Cheramie stated he would do the same thing in the future.
As if all this poor decisionmaking were not bad enough, it was revealed within the last three weeks that Ms. Randolph's Administration incurred a debt of $5.3 million renting inflatable flood control devices for a thirty day period after Hurricane Rita. This fact did not come to the attention of the Council for 10 months. Obviously, Ms. Randolph did not seek any input from the Council for a debt which equalled 9% of the 2005 Budget. The Administration has released information on this transaction grudgingly. It asserts that FEMA has agreed to reimburse the Parish for the entire expense, which remains to be substantiated.
Additionally, a survey of Parish employees conducted by Ms. Randolph's Administration earlier this year reveals a demoralized workforce. Several of the employees revealed poor communications within the Adminstration and abuse by supervisors.
After the survey, the Randolph Administration decided to change its employee paycheck policy. The new policy resulted in the June 30 paycheck containing pay for only one week, although two weeks pay had been earned. The policy change was poorly communicated to affected employees and ruined many of their July 4 holidays.
At the July 25 Council meeting, Ms. Randolph's Finance Director Shannon Chiasson retained her position by the vote of one Councilman, with 6 others voting for her termination. The main complaint of the Council was that they were not being sufficiently informed of Parish government's fiscal condition.
When the Randolph Administration became annoyed with public records requests for Ms. Randolph's expenses earlier this year, its response was to illegally censor the requested material and to attempt to hike copy costs, with the latter being rejected by the Council when it lowered the cost to 25 cents per copy from 50 cents.
With each revelation of Randolph Administration gaff, blunder, poor judgement, wrongdoing and scandal, the Public's confidence has steadily eroded to the point where any trust which may have existed is gone.
Ms. Randolph, its time to go.
Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph must resign or be removed from office by means of an elector suit as provided for in the Parish Charter.
Ms. Randolph has shown she does not possess qualities we critically need in a Parish President at this point in the history of Lafourche Parish. She has displayed poor judgement time and time again and a tendency to crack under pressure. Additionally, she has appointed Department heads who have questionable character, competence and management skills and has relied on alot of bad advice. One of the hallmarks of Ms. Randolph's Administration is its poor communications - with Parish employees, the Council and the Public.
The first revelation of these weaknesses came with her use of the Parish credit card entrusted to her as her personal credit card. She charged plane tickets, meals and alcohol for her husband, George Randolph, on our card. Even though she later reimbursed such charges, in a May 26, 2006 letter, the auditor advised that this state of affairs amounted to a loan of public funds, which is a violation of the Louisiana State Law.
Next, Ms. Randolph permitted her husband to drive a Parish vehicle. On August 24, 2005, Mr. Randolph caused an accident while driving the Parish's Emergency Preparedness vehicle. Mr. Randolph did not have authority from the Parish Council to drive the vehicle. Due to the accident, the vehicle was out of service in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. To add insult to injury, the Parish Council approved the payment of the damages to the other vehicle amounting to over $15,000. This authorization was also likely a violation of State Law.
Ms. Randolph authorized payments of 2 1/2 times of the amount salaried employees normally earned during the emergency after Hurricane Katrina. Lafourche Parish District Attorney Camille Morvant issued an opinion stating those payments were illegal without Council approval. The payments were ordered repaid to the Parish.
Ms. Randolph's Administration signed numerous one-time right-of-ways and performed hundreds of thousands of dollars of outfall canal digging without Council approval. This practice continued until a DA's opinion in late 2005 stating Council approval was required. Furthermore, none of the agreements have been recorded in the Clerk of Court's office, as is common practice with most transactions involving real estate.
Ms. Randolph's appointee for Public Works Director, Ray Cheramie, lent public generators to his family after Hurricane Katrina and used a Parish employee and equipment to perform work on his private property. The latter is a criminal offense. After allegedly being reprimanded by Ms. Randolph on the generator issue, Mr. Cheramie stated he would do the same thing in the future.
As if all this poor decisionmaking were not bad enough, it was revealed within the last three weeks that Ms. Randolph's Administration incurred a debt of $5.3 million renting inflatable flood control devices for a thirty day period after Hurricane Rita. This fact did not come to the attention of the Council for 10 months. Obviously, Ms. Randolph did not seek any input from the Council for a debt which equalled 9% of the 2005 Budget. The Administration has released information on this transaction grudgingly. It asserts that FEMA has agreed to reimburse the Parish for the entire expense, which remains to be substantiated.
Additionally, a survey of Parish employees conducted by Ms. Randolph's Administration earlier this year reveals a demoralized workforce. Several of the employees revealed poor communications within the Adminstration and abuse by supervisors.
After the survey, the Randolph Administration decided to change its employee paycheck policy. The new policy resulted in the June 30 paycheck containing pay for only one week, although two weeks pay had been earned. The policy change was poorly communicated to affected employees and ruined many of their July 4 holidays.
At the July 25 Council meeting, Ms. Randolph's Finance Director Shannon Chiasson retained her position by the vote of one Councilman, with 6 others voting for her termination. The main complaint of the Council was that they were not being sufficiently informed of Parish government's fiscal condition.
When the Randolph Administration became annoyed with public records requests for Ms. Randolph's expenses earlier this year, its response was to illegally censor the requested material and to attempt to hike copy costs, with the latter being rejected by the Council when it lowered the cost to 25 cents per copy from 50 cents.
With each revelation of Randolph Administration gaff, blunder, poor judgement, wrongdoing and scandal, the Public's confidence has steadily eroded to the point where any trust which may have existed is gone.
Ms. Randolph, its time to go.
posted by Carl A. Chauvin at 5:44 PM
7 Comments:
carl,
check out http://www.terrebonneunderground.com forum Lafourche parish.
can you explain this elector suit? is this something we as the public need to bring forward. should we contact our councilmen and ask for her removal.
See "Who's Going To Pull The Trigger?" below. There's a partial explanation to your question.
With each epidode the administration's m. o. is the same.
Secrecy,concealment,supression,scandal,and denial,are what appear in response to each paragraph of your article.
When Carl said "Who's going to pull the Trigger" I though he meant who was going to knock him off for causing all this to come to light. Carl better looking into getting a ballistic vest or jacket.
http://www.bulletproofme.com/PHOTO%20pages/Jacket_Vests_PHOTOS.shtml
Yes, there is a pattern. Screw-up, then cover-up. Charlotte and her gang ain't that complicated. Their motto seems to be "keep it simple and stupid, the public will never find out".
As to a vest. I won't live in fear and I am probably the safest person in Lafourche Parish. Although, I am always aware of my surroundings and circumspect.
I can't believe that someone would actually say that Carl Chauvin should be wearing a bullet proof vest. To the person who wrote that comment, why would you be against someone letting the public know about what is going on with in the council? It must be because you probably benefit from some of their under the table dealings. Oh and let me guess, you probably own cows to.
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