Parish Councilman Jacob Groby has made public a letter he mailed to Mrs. Brenda Bertus, Chief Executive Director of the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation (a non-profit corporation and management arm of the District) and Officer of the Development District (a political subdivision of the State, comprising the confines of the Parish of St. Tammany) regarding the Folger’s/J.M. Smucker’s Distribution Warehouse in Lacombe. By Mr. Groby’s account, he has received no less than 30 inquiries from his constituents resulting in five separate requests for information. The requests are for information relating to concerns about the method in which the PILOT agreement was structured in the Folger’s/ J.M. Smucker’s Distribution Warehouse located on Hwy. 434 in Lacombe.
Councilman Groby received a previous response from Mrs. Bertus stating, “As you know, we are under no legal obligation to answer questions from the public or explain the contents of public records. Rather, we are only required to provide requested public records,” along with a heavily redacted document, which still showed a major discrepancy in the number of jobs that were originally stipulated in the agreement. One possible reason for such a cavalier response could be that the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation receives specific exemption from State Ethics Laws. While the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation is considered a ‘private’ non-profit organization, it performs a governmental function as the (financial) management arm of the Development District (political subdivision of the state, comprising St. Tammany Parish).
As such, it should be subject to public scrutiny, no less scrutiny by a member of the Parish Council. The fact that the organization controls public money is cause for public oversight in itself, as well as requiring an adherence to ethics laws that are already in place to regulate such practices. The theme that is beginning to emerge in the exploration of economic development is “corporate welfare,” a term used to describe a government’s bestowal of money grants, tax breaks, or other special favorable treatment on corporations or selected corporations. It is clear that these incentives will only be available to the favored industries of “international trade, defense manufacturing and energy” as described on the website of the Northshore Business Council, an “unrelated” organization.
The Parish claims industries that would operate on the northshore, such as hydraulic fracturing operations, will be held to the highest possible regulatory standards, but it is difficult to believe this when their own governing and management bodies are not held accountable to the public. The St. Tammany West recently reported that the EDF was “crafting a response” to Jacob Groby’s letter.
craft – 1. skill in doing or making something. 2. skill in evasion or deception. – American Heritage Dictionary 3rd ed. copyright 1994
Letter from Parish Councilman Jacob Groby to Brenda Bertus, EDF
Timothy Gates, Correspondent, Covington Weekly
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