JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — Wednesday, the Jefferson Parish Inspector General defended a report she issued last week questioning a development project in the works in Gretna.
A public benefit corporation, Jefferson Redevelopment Inc., and an economic development corporation, Jefferson Facilities Inc., plan to construct a new building at the corner of Huey P. Long Avenue and 2nd Avenue that would house a brewery, restaurant, and government information kiosk. JRI and JFI were created in 2000 to build a parking garage next to the Parish Government building.
The Parish owns the land that the new building would be constructed on. Parish Council has already committed roughly $10.3 million in taxpayer money to the project.
Last week, JP Inspector General Kim Chatelain released a 35-page letter to the public questioning how the Parish would benefit.
“The framework for past and planned projects raises significant concerns about fraud, waste, and abuse. The legal safeguards designed to ensure public accountability and transparency ‒ such as Page 2 of 35 Public Bid laws, Public Lease laws, and Open Meeting laws ‒ were circumvented,” it said in part.
Wednesday, Chatelain appeared before Council and doubled down on the report. “We’re gonna turn around and give 10 million to a nonprofit to build a brewpub,” she said, speaking at the podium, “but we are not going to receive any revenue.”
Several leaders criticized the timing and content of Chatelain’s report. Gretna Mayor Belinda Constant said it was “casting a black cloud over something that has been vetted for years.” She asked why Chatelain did not raise the concerns before the council took several votes on the project.
Council members themselves expressed mixed feelings. At-Large Member Jennifer Van Vrancken said she wanted to explore the questions raised in the report, to find out “is this a good deal, are we taking on undue risk, is this something the parish should be pursuing.”
District 4 Member Arita Bohannan said, “I think a lot of those are good questions, fair questions,” but added they “maybe should have been asked before y’all voted on [the project].”
District 1 Member Marion Edwards, who represents the area in which the building will be built, even invited his fellow council members to a planned ribbon cutting for the project on October 4th.
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