Contract probe deepens

Shread-Kuyrkendall sent invoices without documentation

The parish has hired an engineering firm to examine all of their contracts to help determine if the firms that received them were the most qualified.

Working strictly for the parish, C J Savoie Consulting Engineers, out of Paincourtville,  will look over current parish contracts and their specifications. As of now, Savoie is examining the west bank pumping station and the east bank water treatment plant because Parish President V.J. St. Pierre says that those two really stuck out.

“When I saw how much those two were going to cost, I started to wonder about all of the other contracts the parish had,” St. Pierre said. “We have already found a significant amount of savings on those two and we plan on going back out for bids on the west bank pumping station in about three weeks.”

St. Pierre says that the parish sent letters to everyone who currently has a parish engineering contract to discuss its status and percentage of completion. The parish will then evaluate all of the contracts and determine if any get pulled.

Even though the parish will examine all of the contracts, 17 of those going through evaluation are Shread-Kuyrkendall & Associates’ projects.

St. Pierre said a big reason for that is because the parish received invoices from that firm without the proper documentation. That documentation, which includes how many hours were spent on the project and how much materials cost, is used to verify the amount of the invoice.

“I turned the invoices over to the legal department and they said that we shouldn’t pay until we get the proper documentation,” St. Pierre said. “Shread-Kuyrkendall has been cooperative, but I don’t think they’re happy that we’re questioning them.”

In the future, St. Pierre plans to use a board of local residents with engineering backgrounds to help the parish decide the best-qualified candidates for parish contracts.

Currently, the board consists of five professionals, who are mostly engineers from various colleges outside of St. Charles Parish.