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NEWS + NOTES

March 22

City Council passes Guillory

investigation to legislative auditor
by Andrew Capps

After he failed to get answers about the cost of the Dignitary Protection Unit to protect the mayor-
president, City Councilman Glenn Lazard turned the matter over to investigators.
Photo by Travis Gauthier

The gist: Lafayette’s City Council handed over its months-long investigation of
Mayor-President Josh Guillory to the Louisiana legislative auditor’s office. No
findings have been disclosed yet as the probe moves forward. 

Get caught up quickly: Within weeks of Guillory’s return from rehab last summer
and amid a story about a construction equipment rental company he quietly started
with his wife in 2021, the Council unanimously voted to investigate his
administration. The investigation focused on LCG’s drainage program and Guillory’s
use of public resources, namely his security detail. 

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS

The council is leaving the rest of the investigation to the legislative auditor’s office,
Councilman Glenn Lazard said Tuesday night. The council’s contracted auditor
turned over its findings, which will remain confidential until and unless the LLA
decides to release them. 

“This is really a very complex matter, so [our investigators] will not be issuing any
reports of any findings that they may have. All of their information has been
turned over to the Louisiana legislative auditor,” Lazard told council members at
Tuesday’s meeting.

Read more on the Guillory investigations

January 20 January 17 August 24, 2022

Amid investigation, Legislative auditor FBI said to be

Guillory’s security
detail nixed
Use of Lafayette Police Department officers for
the M-P’s full-time personal security is the
subject of an investigation launched by the
City Council late last year.
launches
investigation into Guillory
administration
The legislative auditor’s office would only
confirm that the agency is conducting an
investigative audit at LCG.
probing LCG
drainage contractor, potential
relationship with Mayor-
President Josh Guillory
The FBI has joined two federal agencies
scrutinizing Lafayette’s drainage projects, this
time with an eye on the relationship between
the contractor and Mayor-President Josh
Guillory.

Though the council initially authorized $100,000 for its investigation, only $49,500
of that had been spent as of Tuesday. 

State auditors launched their own investigation into Guillory’s administration in

January and began by following the path laid out by the City Council’s probe. Council
members met with members of the LLA’s investigation team and agreed to provide
them with any information obtained by their probe. 

Guillory pushed back on the council’s inquiry, calling it a political witch hunt before
dumping thousands of pages of documents before the council at its first meeting
after authorizing the investigation in September. 

The document dump was a belated response to a set of questions the council sent
to Guillory’s administration about several drainage projects and LCG’s dealings with
Rigid Constructors, a contractor that has been awarded many of LCG’s largest
projects. Sources told The Current in August that federal investigators were looking
into Guillory’s relationship with Rigid as part of an ongoing probe. 

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS

Without a final report from the City Council’s investigation, it will be up to the
legislative auditor’s office to release any findings from either probe. Information
about either has been very limited so far. 

“I really wish I could provide more information, but because this matter is still an
investigation, it is not appropriate to do so at this time,” Lazard said Tuesday. 

What will we learn and when? That’s a question with implications during this year’s
election. The M-P faces at least two challengers this fall, and the investigations are
sure to figure into the campaign. The LLA has not released a timeline or scope for its
investigative audit into Guillory’s administration. Typically, the office’s probes either
result in a report of any infractions or fraud it unearths, along with potential
referrals to prosecutors, or a letter verifying that an investigation was conducted
and no wrongdoing was found.

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 Posted on March 22  News + Notes

 City Council, Glenn Lazard, Josh Guillory, Local Government, local politics

ABOUT ANDREW CAPPS

Andrew Capps has covered local government in Lafayette since moving here in 2019 to work for
The Daily Advertiser. A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Andrew first began reporting for
the Knoxville News Sentinel in 2016. Since then, his work has been recognized by the Robert F.
Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, the Institute for Nonprofit News and the Louisiana Press
Association, among others.

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NEWS + NOTES

September 1, 3:27 pm August 31 August 30

Council Preview: ‘Like heat-COVID’: COLUMN: LCG’s

$9.5M to move City Months of extreme budget process is a
Court; Sunday heat wear on physical, bad deal for the city
morning beer sales mental health
City residents are disenfranchised by
Lafayette’s City Council is set to vote Providers warn the duration of this a budget-making process that
Tuesday on setting aside $9.5 million summer’s record-breaking heatwave prevents the City Council from
to buy a new building for City Court, is exacerbating health problems and fulfilling the duties we elected them
while both councils will look at poses a heightened risk all on its to perform.
allowing Sunday morning beer sales. own.
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