The City of St. Martinville will soon be advertising for a new chief financial officer after the current CFO resigned following questions of how the city’s money is being handled.
Shedrick Berard will no longer be in charge of the city’s finances after resigning in a letter addressed to the mayor.
Mayor Melinda Mitchell read that letter aloud during Thursday night’s special meeting of the city council.
“Considering all the hurtful things said about me on the news, I realized that the people that I love should not have to go through this type of stress,” Mitchell read on behalf of Berard.
This comes after city officials reported thousands of dollars in checks and money orders were missing. Police Chief Ricky Martin says he found the money in a bank account and that Berard did not know the name of the account.
Berard’s resignation came as a surprise to some of the council members.
“I think the pressure was mounting, but he did kind of surprise us by [resigning]. And, I think he saved us, you know, the back-and-forth with what would have went forth, so I appreciate him for that,” said District 1 Councilman Mike Fuselier.
The council will now immediately start advertising for a new CFO and hire someone in the meantime to oversee finances.
“A qualified CFO, someone with an accounting and bookkeeping background, and so that search will commence immediately, and hopefully, we’ll have someone in that office soon to get the city’s finances back on track,” said Fuselier.
