UPDATE: An attorney hired by LCG issued an opinion last year that the spoil banks project should have been bid out, our media partners at The Advocate are reporting.
Also today, The Current is reporting that LCG is blaming the appraiser in that case, after LCG paid too much for the property involved.
The Advocate's story is about an opinion issued in September 2022 by Denise Puente of Simon, Peragine, Smith and Redfearn attorneys, concluded the work authorized in the excavation contract amendments “was outside the scope of the contract and should have been let for public bid.” To read that story, click here.
The Current's story reports that LCG filed suit against Jake LaCour and his company Icon Valuation Group last week, just as the Guillory administration defended the project and others in response to a scathing audit.
LCG claims LaCour’s “negligence” and “apparently erroneous” appraisal report caused the local government to pay far in excess of the full-appraised value of the land. LCG paid $84,000 to acquire two-thirds of land that LaCour had valued in total at $42,000, The Current reports.
At that same time, LCG has defended that overpayment, first reported in June 2022 by The Current, by saying it accounted for the cost of an expropriation lawsuit should LCG be forced to seize the land. The overpayment and the authorization of the land acquisition also came under scrutiny in LCG’s annual financial audit.
To read the full story from The Current with all the details, click here.
At issue is a project that LCG already has completed in St. Martin Parish, which removed decades-old levees on property partially owned by LCG. St. Martin Parish officials said that LCG did the project in the dark of night, and without permits from either the parish or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The project currently is the subject of a federal lawsuit, a state lawsuit and investigations by several agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. LCG's own auditor stated actions taken during the project possibly violated city policies on consolidated cash management, sales tax dedications and the state Public Bid Law.
(To read our latest story on this situation, click here. To read our story about the audit, click here.)
