ST. MARTINVILLE — The woman who proposed a consulting contract to assist St. Martinville Mayor Melinda Mitchell in her transition to office says there are more than enough issues facing the city to justify the expense of her services, although the city’s auditor says a consultant should not be a priority at this time.

The proposal that Janine Coleman, a former AT&T project manager who currently runs an accounting firm in Lafayette, brought to the council has three tiers of service — a 90-day consulting-only option for $65,000, a more ambitious year-long consulting option at $95,000, or a full team of consultants for one year at $165,000.

“That is probably the best option,” said Coleman, who also served as the transition manager for Mitchell, of the third and most expensive tier. “I know the problems. I spent 60 days there working during the transition.”

Many of the problems she cited, however, either have been resolved or are awaiting action from Mitchell for resolution.

Allegations and solutions

In a conversation Wednesday, Coleman painted a bleak picture. She claimed that people on the city payroll are being paid for work without contracts, or being paid for work without proper approvals. She brought up a personnel issue the council addressed years before in executive session involving employee theft.

She refused to disclose the names of any of the people involved, or cite specific instances to back up her claims.

But research into the issues she raised shows they are not evidence of clandestine skullduggery. They are issues that have been raised at the mayoral and council level and handled, or are on their way to being handled.

According to District 2 Councilman Craig Prosper, the contract for Nolan “Boo” Champagne, a former public works director for the city, is sitting on Mitchell’s desk.

“He does some part-time work for us on an as-needed basis,” Prosper said. “We identified the need for a contract earlier this year, and the council addressed it. The contract is awaiting the mayor’s signature.”

As for the other issue Coleman raised — a city employee who was demoted and removed from any contact with city money after taking $1,200 in 2012, then making restitution — Prosper said the issue was not only dealt with in a council executive session, but then-Mayor Thomas Nelson brought the council’s solution before then-District Attorney Phil Haney before it was implemented.

“The victim always has a say in any prosecution,” Haney said. “They reached a resolution and did not wish to file a charge, which is their right.”

Cleman also said there were issues at the city’s public works barn, specifically that workers were using city fuel cards to steal fuel.

“We have looked into that,” Prosper said. “The council does not do direct oversight. That is the mayor’s job. What needs to happen is she needs to tell her public works managers to verify the fuel purchases. If they do not, then they should be written up and disciplined until the problem is fixed. It’s management.”

Consulting vs. leading

City Auditor Burton Kolder said the immediate problem for St. Martinville is not getting advice from a consultant, but finding the right person to handle the city’s accounting. He had spoken out against the hiring of interim Chief Administrative Officer Shedrick Berard, noting that Berard does not have the heavy accounting background needed for a position handling accounts for what amounts to a $10 million a year business.

“When I saw him say that this was ‘primarily a bookkeeping position,’ I knew he did not understand the job,” Kolder said.

At Kolder’s suggestion, the city council will meet early, at 5 p.m., on Monday evening for a special workshop on the upcoming city audit, and what work that will entail.

During the regular meeting after that session, the city  also is scheduled to hear from former Scott mayor Purvis Morrison, who wants to offer his services as a consultant “to help move the city along with the mayor and council,” according to Monday night’s agenda.

Kolder, however, said the city needs to focus on getting its footing before soliciting advice.

“The problem with the contract Ms. Coleman proposed is twofold,” Kolder said. “First, it is too broad. There are no quantifiable metrics included in her proposal. Second, the city needs to get its finance officer in place before working on these other issues.”

When queried about the details of her proposal, Mitchell said she did not want to name the team members who would be involved in the top-tier option for her proposal.

“I’m not going to give names,” Coleman said. “There is another person who would be involved who is equal to my part at the Public Works barn. There is another who is equal to my part in the business community to look at parks and recreation. There is another person to work in accounting with the antiquated system they have.”

Other sensitive spots

Coleman’s criticisms were not limited to city operations. She also alleged that rampant voter fraud had occurred during the general election which forced the runoff between Mitchell and Nelson.

“I reported it to the Secretary of State’s Office,” Coleman said. “They were marking up ballots for two hours in that room.”

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, multiple complaints of election fraud and electioneering violations were received from the Mitchell campaign. Public Information Director Brandee Patrick said that the Election Compliance Unit investigated the claims and found no evidence of any irregularities.

“There were allegations of election irregularities,” Patrick said. “They were looked into, and no irregularities were found. There were also allegations from people in the Mitchell camp of electioneering issues. A member of our election compliance unit visited St. Martinville during the general election and found none.”

Qualifications

Coleman said that handling a consulting project of this scale would be easy for her.

“Let me tell you, this is nothing compared to some of the projects I have done,” Coleman said.

However, there are indicators that raise flags about her claims. Coleman is listed as an officer or agent for several Louisiana companies, but the one she issued her proposal from — Janine’s Enterprises LLC — is currently not in good standing for failure to file its annual report. Although still active, the company’s corporate status with the state had previously been revoked in 2010 and 2013.

Coleman also misspelled the company’s name on the proposal’s signature line.

The address for Janine’s Enterprises LLC, listed as 809 Cameron St. in Lafayette, is also the home to Big Beavers LLC, another Coleman company which is in good standing with the Secretary of State. Although she referred to it as an accounting firm, it is a primarily tax preparation office, complete with pennants on the street and a big banner tied to the fence alongside the building.

When she appeared before the council to defend her proposal, her only reference was a Fortune Magazine article from 1995 touting the growth of project managers. At the time, she served as a project manager for AT&T, and was quoted several times in the story. But when asked for references of large clients she represented for this story, she demurred.

“Why does it matter?” she said. “I have many business clients.”