A Thibodaux couple who served as volunteer commissioners on their neighborhood’s sewer board are charged with violating state ethics laws for reportedly billing that body nearly $10,000 for lawn mowing that they approved themselves.
Francis and Priscilla Breaux served on Lafourche Parish Sewerage District #7 Board between 2007 and 2022. The couple, who are great-grandparents, are named as respondents in documents filed July 3 by the Louisiana Board of Ethics. The filing followed a vote of ethics board members based on an investigation by its staff into allegations that, while a member of the board, Francis Breaux was paid for grass-cutting, through board checks signed by his wife, Priscilla.
A relative authorized to speak on behalf of the couple says the pair had no idea their actions ran afoul of state ethics laws and that neither they, nor other members of the board — all of whom serve without compensation — never had training on the relevant laws, and for years were left to fend for themselves when it came to such situations.
“These people are 80 years old, and they have health issues,” said the couple’s daughter-in-law, Mary Freeman. “They didn’t know. They are trying to persecute these older people.”
The Ethics Board does not disclose who has made allegations in ethics cases. Freeman alleges it was current board members with axes to grind.
The charges state that in 2020 Francis Breaux, who is a retired commercial fisherman, “entered into transactions with the district to perform grass cutting on district property, which resulted in payments totaling $5,440. In 2021 he entered nine transactions with the district, resulting in payments totaling $4,395.”
Priscilla Breaux, the charges state, signed seven sewer district board checks made out to her husband for the work.
No public servant — which includes volunteer members of boards such as the sewer district — shall, according to state law, participate in a transaction involving the entity on which they serve. Entering into contracts with an entity one serves on, as well as involvement with any such contract or transactions with a family member, is a violation of the law.
The Sewerage District #7 Board is responsible for maintenance of sewers in the Bayou Vista subdivision, a small neighborhood in the St. Charles community south of Thibodaux proper, said its current Vice President, Keith Bergeron, noting it is one of the oldest subdivisions in the Thibodaux area.
The subdivision, sewer board members said, consists of about 125 houses or buildings. Homeowners in the subdivision pay a fee of as much as $21 a month added onto their water bills, Bergeron said, to fund the sewers. It was from these fees, held in the board’s bank account, that Francis Breaux was paid.
Compounding the board’s issues, some current board members said, is their contention that grass cutting was never necessary, as Lafourche Parish routinely cuts grass in areas related to the sewer operations, such as lift stations, with tractors.
According to the couple’s family members, the parish did not do that work. Francis Breaux, Mary Freeman said, had been cutting the grass across from his and Priscilla’s home on a lot from which a house had been removed by FEMA due to flooding, as well as grass surrounding the subdivision’s three sewer lift stations, for several years at no charge. A board member, Freeman said, recommended that he be compensated, and the board voted on the matter in the affirmative.
Freeman also alleged, on behalf of her in-laws, that Priscilla Breaux had called Parish President Archie Chiasson on several occasions seeking guidance for various matters, including the grass-cutting, but that he never called her back.
Chiasson did not return calls for comment.
The sewerage board holds public meetings on the first Tuesday of each month. But during the time Francis and Priscilla Breaux were on the board, former members said, required public meetings were not always held. All the board members, Bergeron said, are homeowners in the subdivision.
Board president Aaron LeBlanc said that after most of the board was replaced in 2022 “we did our due diligence.”
For the years in question, 2020 and 2021, reports filed with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor include the payouts to Francis Breaux, the numbers comporting with those alleged in the Ethics Board charges.
Kathleen Allen, administrator and general counsel to the Ethics Board, said that in cases such as this the board conducts an investigation, “which is a fact-finding process.”
If the board believes that someone has violated ethics law, a formal charge is filed, Allen said.
After the subject of investigation is notified that a charge is filed, a hearing date is set. That hearing, before three administrative law judges, determines if the party is guilty.
Violations of the ethics law can result in a fine of up to $10,000 per offense. Any money improperly gained as a result of the violation must be paid at a rate of 1 ½ times the amount.
Madeline Hebert, who was Sewerage District #7 president during the time Francis Breaux had been paid for cutting the grass, agrees with his relatives that the ethics charge should not have been brought and that he – as well as Priscilla Breaux – did no intentional wrong.
“It is a horrible thing,” she said of the charges. “It’s terrible and it’s a nightmare, and a slap in the face.”
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