St. Martinville City Council to hear from accounting firm on finances

Published 7:00 am Tuesday, May 14, 2019

ST. MARTINVILLE — The St. Martinville City Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday to hear from the accounting firm it hired to bring the city’s financial books up to date after the six-month tenure of former Chief Administrative Officer Shedrick Berard.

At Friday afternoon’s special meeting of the council, District 1 Councilman Mike Fuselier said he would call the special meeting so the council would be able to question the representatives of Faulk and Winkler LLC without disrupting the flow of a regular meeting.

“I don’t want to have this discussion during a regular meeting with 20 other items on the agenda,” Fuselier said. “We need to be able to take our time and ask questions to see exactly where we stand.”

As of last week, the accountant who has been assigned to go over the accounts for the city had been able to close out the city’s books for December. At that point, Berard had not assumed full control of the office and was still getting assistance from the previous financial officer.

“It will end up costing us,” Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper said. “This whole episode is going to cost the city probably $50,000. At least.”

At Friday’s special meeting, Prosper brought copies of records showing the city was paying some invoices two and three times while others were not being paid at all. For example, last week city hall was without phone service for a short period after the bill for internet service was not paid.

“We have no idea where our budget stands,” Prosper said.

When Faulk and Winkler Managing Partner Jacob Waguespack addressed the council in April, he said it would take the firm a couple of weeks to evaluate the state of the finances and make a report.

The Daily Iberian made a records request last month for access to the city’s accounts payable records and check registers, but Berard replied that the records are currently unavailable while Faulk and Winkler is working on the records.

The council’s special meeting will begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the city council meeting room of city hall, 120 New Market St. in St. Martinville.