By Nolan Mckendry | The Center Square

A recent audit of a Calcasieu Parish water district has revealed widespread financial mismanagement, including missing funds, document tampering, and possible ethics breaches.

According to the report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office, a plant manager used funds for the purposes of  “operating a salvage vehicle business, funding various activities or repairs of personally owned vehicles and equipment, funding various home improvements or home furnishings, funding operations of a separate legal entity…personal hunting or other recreational endeavors, and funding personal or related party medical expenditures.”

Those “misappropriated” funds totaled $291,757, according to the report. Other costs alleged include perfume, credit card payments and hotel rooms during Hurricane Laura in 2021.

“The Parish…denoted that there were employees, tasked with keeping the water system operational, who remained at the facility during the disaster,” the report writes. “There did not appear to be a valid reason for the District to pay for a hotel room to evacuate the Office Manager, much less for two hotel rooms for family members of the Office Manager.”

Both the plant manager and office manager are suspected of tampering with public documents, a violation of state law.

The audit comes after the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury assumed control of the district in January 2024, part of a parish-wide effort to consolidate water services.

With the transition, day-to-day operations were shifted to the parish’s Division of Public Works and Engineering, while financial responsibilities were moved to the Division of Finance. Parish finance staff soon uncovered issues, leading to the independent audit.