Ethics Board won't issue opinion on drainage district issue

One obstacle to consolidating drainage districts serving Morgan City and Amelia has been removed.
The Louisiana Ethics Board said July 2 that it won’t offer an opinion on whether Tim Tregle’s appointment to the new Consolidated Gravity Drainage District 2A board runs afoul of state ethics rules.
The request for an opinion was filed by St. Mary Parish Council Chairman Dean Adams, who questioned Tregle’s appointment because Tregle is also a parish employee. The Ethics Board ruled that Adams didn’t have standing to seek the opinion.
The council merged drainage districts No. 6, in Amelia, and No. 2, in Morgan City, forming Consolidated Gravity Drainage District No. 2A, by ordinance on April 26. Proponents said the consolidation will save on administrative costs and help simplify the patchwork of parish taxing districts.
Tregle was appointed to the District No. 2A board by the Parish Council on May 22 along with Leroy Trim, Larry Aucoin, Charlie Solar Jr. and Hanko Hoffpauir. Plans were made for a June board meeting.
Tregle had also served on the District No. 2 board.
But Adams wanted the legal opinion. He pointed to Tregle’s employment as a senior analyst for the parish with responsibilities for collecting information on other possible consolidations.
In a May 14 letter to the Ethics Board, Adams said he wanted to know whether an employee who deals with financial and operational information about districts should serve on a board for a district that may itself be subject to consolidation.
Adams also wanted to know whether an employee charged with collecting financial and operational data can be required to give the information to the Parish Council on request.
Brandi Braze, writing on behalf of the Ethics Board, cited state law that says such opinions may be sought only by people affected by the question at issue.
Braze said information in Adams’ letter made it clear he was making the request as an individual and not as an affected person. And, Braze wrote, Adams wasn’t authorized to request the opinion on behalf of the Parish Council.
Parish President David Hanagriff has pushed for the consolidation. At a June meeting, he said Adams himself should consider whether his request for an ethics opinion was proper because Adams voted for Tregle’s appointment to the board.
Later, Adams said the board appointments were presented to the council in a single motion, making it impossible to vote against Tregle’s appointment without rejecting the other appointees, too.