Louisiana DOA Out of Control?
Subject: The Louisiana DOA in the New$............................1,2, 3
Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 10:19:08 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read three articles on the DOA:
1.) Auditor blasts no-bid construction Department says that it's saving the state money dated: 12/27/01 By Laura Maggi - Capital bureau/The Times-Picayune. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/newsstory/audit27.html
BATON ROUGE -- Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle Wednesday took a swipe at an unusual program that allows the state Department of Agriculture to construct its own buildings without requesting public bids.
In a financial audit of the agency, Kyle questions the offering of $4 million in revenue bonds in 1998 that allowed the Louisiana Agricultural Finance Authority, or LAFA, to construct seven metal-framed buildings for the department throughout the state by using workers within the department. The bonds were financed with revenue collected by the department when companies register to sell pesticide, feed and fertilizer in the state.
In response, one department official called the report "sophomoric."
LAFA is an entity that operates within the agriculture department, with a governor-appointed board. The authority can direct the construction of new buildings without undergoing the usual public bidding process.
Kyle has criticized LAFA before, concluding in a performance audit in February that the program did not save the state money by allowing the agriculture agency to put up its own buildings, typically using department workers.
Counter audit
Kyle says the Legislature had restricted the use of the pesticide, fertilizer and feed money to pay for projects "connected and related" to the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Louisiana State University's Baton Rouge campus. The agency should require LAFA to repay $1.7 million used to finance the bond interest and principal payments through June 30, 2001, the audit concludes.
Commissioner Bob Odom has disputed Kyle's criticism. Last February he countered Kyle's audits with his own consultants, who found that the program did save the state money, sometimes as much as 50 percent over other contractors. Agency workers who have seasonal hours with substantial down time -- such as forest firefighters or employees of the boll weevil eradication program -- were used as part-time construction workers on projects around the state, Odom said.
Odom noted that the $4 million bond issue was approved by the State Bond Commission, a panel made up of statewide officials and legislators. He also criticized Kyle for questioning the use of the money so long after the bond was approved, saying the state's bond rules allow objections to be heard in the 30 days after a bond is approved by the commission.
In a letter to the legislative auditor included in the report, Assistant Commissioner Skip Rhorer argued that the Legislature did not restrict the revenue from pesticide, feed and fertilizer registration fees to just construction at LSU.
The specific statutes governing the money allow the department to use it to construct buildings not only located on the campus, but "functionally" related to agriculture, he wrote.
'Sophomoric'
Rhorer also questions why Kyle did not include these findings in his earlier report about LAFA, calling the decision to bring up the problem in the department's financial audit "sophomoric." Randal Johnson, Odom's top aide, said that some of the buildings constructed with this bond money are offices for the inspectors that regulate pesticides, feed and fertilizer in the state.
LAFA has come under criticism from many groups in recent years, ranging from a few legislative critics to the groups for licensed contractors within the state. Both the state Licensing Board of Contractors and Associated General Contractors Inc. have sued the department, arguing LAFA violates the principles of the state's public bid law. Although there have been some rulings in the licensing board suit, the department has been allowed to continue building, Johnson said. The second suit, brought by Associated General Contractors, hasn't gone to trial.
For more than a year, Kyle's office has also been working on an investigative audit of the agriculture department in conjunction with the district attorney's office in East Baton Rouge Parish. That report has not been released. . . . . . . .
Laura Maggi can be reached at lmaggi@timespicayune.com or (225) 342-7315. 12/27/01 © The Times-Picayune.
2.) Auditor, agriculture chief at odds Funding feud centers on word 'connected' By PATRICK COURREGES - Capitol news bureau. http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?StoryID=26806
The state's financial watchdog and its agriculture chief are arguing anew - this time over the word "connected."
Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle on Wednesday released a report on the Department of Agriculture and Forestry stating the department is improperly using dedicated funds to pay off bond money raised for construction.
The Louisiana Agricultural Finance Authority, an arm of the department, sold $4 million in bonds in 1998 to build and equip offices at seven sites across the state.
The bonds are to be paid off with money from the Agriculture Department's Feed, Fertilizer and Pesticide funds.
Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom's stance is that the money is being spent within the law and that Kyle is splitting hairs in defining the law on how that revenue may be used.
State law says revenue from the funds may be used for construction connected to an LSU-Baton Rouge campus office building, but "connected" appears to be a subjective term in this instance.
The auditor and the commissioner have squared off several times in the past two years on such issues as Odom's use of in-house employees for construction and questions about his use of campaign funds. Kyle has been working with the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office on an Odom investigation for months.
One of the issues in the latest dispute is that state law allows money from those funds to be used in renovation or construction of an Agriculture Department office building on the Baton Rouge campus of LSU and "connected related facilities."
Kyle's take on that law is that "connected" means physically attached to an LSU office building.
Odom's view is that "connected" means functionally attached with the office's overall mission of regulation and oversight of the agriculture industry.
That doesn't work for Kyle.
"It just shows that Mr. Odom takes a very broad interpretation of the law," he said.
Kyle's recommendation is that the authority reimburse the Agriculture Department for about $1.7 million already paid out from the funds for the construction projects.
Odom's formal response to Kyle's report was that the interpretation of the law was off base, any findings should have gone into the financing authority's audit instead of the Agriculture Department's and that Kyle missed the window for attacking the bond according to the timetable established by the state constitution.
Anyone who had a problem with raising the money to pay off the bond had 30 days to appeal the bond commission's decision back in 1998, Odom said.
The legislative auditor serves in an after-the-fact role, Kyle said.
"We're not there to direct them as they make those decisions," he said.
The bond commission meets independently, and the legislative auditor serves only to determine whether the agency in question has the means to pay back the bond, Kyle said.
The bonds were sold properly, but the money went to improper purposes, the auditor said.
Kyle's office had already tried to apply his theory that the bond was being improperly funded to an audit of the agricultural financing authority but was given the same argument the Agriculture Department is now giving, Odom said.
"He (Kyle) withdrew it in the LAFA (audit)," Odom said. "He withdrew it and put it on this one. I have no idea why he did that."
In a written response to Kyle's report, Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Skip Rhorer said, "No sophomoric effort like this switch of names by the Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle can rectify serious constitutional and legal flaws as those present in the legislative auditor's finding."
As the controlling office for the Feed Fund, Fertilizer Fund and Pesticide Fund, the Agriculture Department is the proper agency to be held accountable for improper use of the money, Kyle said.
He said final disposal of the issue is a matter for the state Legislature to decide.
3.) State sends $800,000 for mosquito costs - The Associated Press - 12/27/01 4:37 PM
MONROE, La. (AP) -- The state has provided $800,000 to help pay for massive mosquito control in Ouachita Parish during the recent encephalitis outbreak.
"That's great news," said Woodson McGuffee, assistant parish administrator for the parish Police Jury. "This will enable us to secure the trucks, equipment, sprays and foggers we need to start early in the spring in our battle with mosquito control.
"Hopefully, by getting an early start, we can avoid another outbreak of the type experienced this past year."
The parish, with no funds for upcoming treatment, had borrowed against next year's revenues to cover unbudgeted expenditures this year when St. Louis encephalitis killed four and hospitalized 62 in northeast Louisiana.
The money was approved in mail ballots by the Legislature, which agreed to pay slightly more than half the $1.467 million sought by the Police Jury.
"The state did not have an obligation to pay us anything," said state Rep. Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe. "Them choosing to pay even half was a great Christmas present."
Walsworth said he believes the area has learned its lesson when dealing with mosquitoes.
"We were lazy and just assumed everything was being done, and it blindsided us,"
Walsworth said. "I don't think it will happen again."
West Monroe Mayor Dave Norris said the money would help replenish the city's general fund.
"We went into our general fund and bought chemicals and equipment for everyone," West Monroe Mayor Dave Norris said. "Some of this money will refund that.
"The rest will refund money paid to Vector Control for spraying and for overtime to our public works employees who worked weekends to combat the spread of encephalitis." Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo said the funds would compensate for overtime paid to city employees.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?n2467_BC_LA--Encephalitis&&news&newsflash-louisiana
Well Mr. Helliker, there are safe and far more effective and economical (unregistered) alternatives but, obviously money is more important than safe pest control to many people.
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
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