"Louisiana airport commissioners dine on public dime"

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Lafayette airport board bills criticized
Group says public paid for meals, Open Meetings Law violated
By KEVIN BLANCHARD
The Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate
  
  
LAFAYETTE - All but one member of the Lafayette Airport Commission met June
1 at an upscale Italian restaurant and discussed airport matters while
running up a $551.46 bill that taxpayers picked up.

Receipts obtained from the commission show the practice dates back at least
two years, when another quorum of the public body met, talked shop and ate
on taxpayers' money.

An examination of records, obtained by a citizens watchdog group, however,
raises questions about whether the mealtime meetings violated the state Open
Meetings Law, and whether the taxpayers should pay for such meals.

Lafayette Regional Airport Executive Director Greg Roberts said Wednesday
that such post-meeting, taxpayer-funded meals are common, legal and
reasonable.

Generally, the state's open meetings law allows for a quorum of the
membership of public bodies - in this case four - to meet by "chance" or in
"social gatherings."

Several attorney general opinions define those exceptions saying there are
times when a quorum may exist, but that the members do not "deliberate,"
"act" or "receive information" regarding matters under the public body's
"supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power."

In a written statement laying out the airport commission's interpretation of
its actions as it relates to the law, Roberts said the open meetings law
doesn't prohibit the meetings, "provided that no business is conducted."

"No business is conducted at these meetings in the sense of voting, straw
polling, discussion, deliberation or debate," according to Roberts'
statement.

But Denice Skinner says evidence gathered about the post-meeting meals is
but a sample of the questionable expenditures the commission has charged to
the public.

Skinner is a member of a bipartisan group of residents who dug up receipts
that detail the meals and other airport commission expenditures.

The group includes members of the Citizens for Direct Action, Concerned
Citizens for Good Government, the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive
Committee and its Republican counterpart, on which Skinner serves.

They submitted notations on two meal receipts obtained during a lengthy
public records search.

The two meal receipts Skinner released Wednesday are just two examples of
almost 50 other instances of commission expenses the group plans to
question, Skinner said.

"We are trying to be as diligent as possible," Skinner said. "We will not
ignore this."

Handwritten on the back of a credit card receipt from Bella Figura - where
the June 1 meal was held - is a list of what appears to be discussion items,
agenda-like items apparently included on receipts to justify the meal to be
reimbursed by taxpayers:

"LAC meeting issues," "FBO (Fixed-Based Operators) issues," "Wright
Amendment (federal aviation legislation)," "legal matters" and "public
relations."

Each of those subjects is of interest to the airport commission. Some were
even discussed at the meeting held that night.

Skinner's group spent several days looking through commission expense
reports and even brought their own copy machine.

Another receipt - for a Nov. 4 2004. post-meeting meal at Poor Boy's
Riverside Inn, with five commissioners present - lists "committee
assignments," "FBO issues," "budget" and "American Association of Aircraft
Executive."

When asked about the notations, Roberts said Wednesday that issues may "pop
up" during the meals.

"Did we discuss some airport activities?," Roberts said. "Of course."

While "general business" and "goings on" at the airport are a topic of
discussion, Roberts statement reads, there is no "deliberative process."

The staff uses the meetings as a chance to "pass information" to commission
members, Roberts said.

Sometimes a quorum of members attends a meal, sometimes there's not a
quorum, Roberts said.

The airport commission meets at 5:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month
and can last one or two hours, through mealtime, 
Roberts said.

Commissioners are allowed to be reimbursed for expenses associated with
their service, Roberts writes.

But commission members are not the only people getting their meals paid for
by taxpayers, according to the two receipts.

Listed as attending the Bella Figura meal on June 1 are Commission Chairman
Jim Nunn and "Mrs. Nunn," all other commissioners except Carroll Robichaux
Jr., Greg Roberts and Christine Dunn, an auditor with the firm Wright,
Moore, Dehart, Dupuis & Hutchinson, which handles the airports audits.

The $551.46 bill amounted to about $61 per attendee.

The Poor Boy's Riverside Inn meal included Roberts, Jason Devillier, the
deputy director of the airport, commission attorney Glenn Edwards and
Commissioners Robichaux, Dr. Charles Wyatt, Donald Higginbotham, Brenda
Burley and Paul Colomb.

That meal cost $322.86, or about $41 per attendee.

Neither receipt contains a breakdown of what food or drinks were ordered.

A 2002 attorney general's opinion said that using public funds for such
things as meals is allowable, as long as the expenditure furthers a "public
purpose and public benefit" and the expenditure itself is "reasonable" given
the circumstances.

"The meals you question we believe are a reasonable expense of the
commission members," Roberts writes.

Skinner said Wednesday that she can't see why the expenditures her group has
uncovered so far should be paid for by the public.

Skinner and her group are wading through several pages of copies, compiling
them into a report they plan to issue to the public.

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