Louisiana Legislative Auditor
Daryl G. Purpera, CPA, CFE

August 10, 2015

Town of Many Misused Public Funds

The Town of Many may have overspent public funds and failed to collect money it was owed as a result of cooperative endeavor agreements with Northwestern State University, according to an audit report issued Monday by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s office.

An audit of the University was also conducted in regard to the cooperative endeavor agreements. More information about that report can be found HERE.

From 2003 to 2013, the Town entered into cooperative endeavor agreements (CEAs) with the University to loan police department employees to the University’s Gulf States Regional Center for Public Safety Innovations (GSRCPI). The Town paid salaries and benefits to Town employees loaned to GSRCPI and submitted invoices to the University requesting reimbursement.

According to the audit, Assistant Police Chief Pauline Snell was working full-time as GSRCPI assistant director when Town Mayor Kenneth Freeman asked her to manage the police department’s finances. “Mayor Freeman stated he did not think that the additional work responsibilities required full-time work hours,” the report said. However, Town records indicate that Ms. Snell’s hourly rate of pay increased to $44.75 in March 2009; her new rate appearing to be a combination of her rates as GSRCPI assistant director and administrator for Town police. Town payroll records indicate that Ms. Snell was paid this combined rate for 40 hours per week from March 2009 to June 2013. “It appears that Ms. Snell was paid to perform two full-time jobs,” auditors said.

Ms. Snell stated it was her understanding that the CEA “required her to work a 40-hour work week for GSRCPI, and that she worked 80 hours every week—40 hours per week as the GSRCPI assistant director and 40 hours per week doing administrative work for the Town police department” and that she “only recorded 40 hours each week because the Town did not pay overtime.” Ms. Snell did not complete time sheets or document her hours working for the Town. In addition, Ms. Snell travelled extensively for GSRCPI and would not have been available to work for the Town during those times.

The audit went on to say, that on behalf of GSRCPI, “the Town made payments totaling $21,222 in salary and benefits for [Ms.] Snell after she was terminated from GSRCPI” even though the Town had no legal obligation to do so.

The auditors noted that from May 2009 to December 2013, the Town made payments totaling $21,576 in salary and benefits for two Town employees loaned to GSRCPI and did not obtain reimbursement for these expenses.

Auditors also found that Town management authorized ineligible supplemental payments. Between
June 30, 2008 and November 30, 2011, two Town police department employees received $20,025 in state supplemental payments, but because they were hired to perform non-law-enforcement services for GSRCPI, they appear to have been ineligible to receive the additional pay.


Similarly, the Town used public funds totaling $17,023 to pay employer retirement contributions to the Municipal Police Employees Retirement System for an employee loaned to GSRCPI who may not have been eligible to participate.

Copies of this report have been delivered to the District Attorney for the 11th Judicial District of Louisiana and the United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana.

For more information contact:

Legislative Auditor
225.339.3800



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Office of the Louisiana Legislative Auditor | www.LLA.La.gov