The St. Charles Parish legal department is currently reviewing two contracts with a Destrehan-based firm that has reported ties to the recent bribery case of former St. John Parish President Bill Hubbard.
The contracts were recommended by the Laque administration and passed by the previous council, according to Parish spokeswoman Renee Simpson.
Hubbard pled guilty in federal court last Friday to charges of conspiracy to give and solicit bribes involving three companies. According to U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, Hubbard solicited $20,000 in bribes from parish contractors, referred to as Vendor A, Vendor B and Vendor C.
One of those vendors is reported to be Destrehan-based Davezac Consulting Engineers, owned by Ray Davezac, which was hired by St. Charles Parish in 2007 to perform engineering on the Cousins Pump Station bar screen cleaners at a cost of $360,000.
That project is currently in the construction phase.
Another Davezac company, Plan Review and Inspection LLC, reviews plans and performs inspections for the parish to ensure compliance with the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code. Plan Review and Inspection’s contract was extended by the Parish Council in 2007 until 2010. The company charged the parish $276,771 for work performed in 2008.
“Both were professional services contracts. Per the charter, these were not put out to bid,” Simpson said. “The firm was recommended by the previous administration and approved by the council.”
While the federal investigation into the vendors is still ongoing, no one besides Hubbard has been charged with a crime. If Plan Review and Inspection LLC cannot fulfill its contract, there are other firms the parish can contract with for the same services, according to Simpson.
Parish President V. J. St. Pierre said that the recent guilty plea by Hubbard to a federal bribery charge gives all politicians a black eye and creates a lot of suspicion from the public.
But for St. Pierre, the only thing he can do about that is make sure that his directors are reminded about what the laws are when it comes to bribery and other ethics violations.
“We have a directors meeting every month and we are always making sure our people know what’s legal,” he said.
Earlier this year, the parish also had a representative from the state ethics board come to its executive/directors meeting and give an overview of all the ethics laws and an explanation about what constitutes bribes, nepotism and other ethics violations.
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