From: Joy Rabalais rabalais@bornewilkes.

com
Subject: Re: Rayne Document Production = Public Records Request - Culverts
Date: June 29, 2016 at 11:15 AM
To: whirl400@yahoo.com
Cc: Heather Carrasco CARRASCO@bornewilkes.com, annette.cutrera@rayne.org

Ms. Richard,

I have no idea how the delivery slips were made, drafted or entered. No one with the City ordered the pipes for the
City or on the City's behalf; no one with the City accepted the pipes for the City or on the City's behalf; and there was
not one person who believed this was in any way public property. I have provided to you two affidavits which the City
was under no obligation to obtain, which fully explain what occurred and the order in which it occurred. The City never
ordered pipes, the Mayor's wife did as a personal purchase for their private business. It was an internal bookkeeping
error on Doug Ashy's part. The City has no obligation nor use in keeping a delivery ticket for items that did not belong
to the City, were not ordered by the City, and were not paid for by the City. I simply do not know what else to say on the
subject.

It was no one's intent to deliver any pipe to the City on the "City's account," and Doug Ashy was well aware on the
date of the purchase, May 26th, that this was a private purchase with delivery to be made to the City Barn, as per the
instruction of the Public Works Director, Mr. Senegal, to Mayor Robichaux. Mr. Carter, the salesman, has stated in his
affidavit that he attempted to change the invoice information on the same date, May 26th, but was unable to do so on
that date. The affidavits of Mr. Melancon and Mr. Carter make this perfectly clear. These two gentlemen signed these
affidavits under oath, before a notary and two witnesses. The affidavits are sworn and verified in accordance with law,
and have been provided to you in accordance with La. R.S. 44:34.

The records you seek simply are not public records, and the City has more than adequately explained the reason for
the absence of the record, above and beyond what is required under the Public Records Act.

Joy

Joy
>>> Theresa Richard <whirl400@yahoo.com> 6/27/2016 8:04 PM >>>
Ms Joy,

Thank you for the more detailed information regarding the pipes, the invoices, and the statement.

I noticed, however, that the initial invoice was written sometime after 4pm on May 26th. The credit for the pipe was not
entered until after 9am on the 27th. I know that the pipes were on the city truck and at the location of the installation at
around 6:30am on the 27th. That means that the delivery ticket would have been made out to the City of Rayne, not the
mayor. I understand the city's position, that the delivery slip belongs to the mayor personally, but it was made out to the
city. We know the pipes were delivered, even if inadvertently, as billed to the city because of the time stamp on the
original invoice as well as the time the material was seen being installed.

I'm making a final request for the delivery slip. It is a public record, and should have been presented when I originally
asked.

Thanks again,
Theresa

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 27, 2016, at 6:31 PM, Joy Rabalais <Rabalais@bornewilkes.com> wrote:

Dear Ms. Richard,

I thought that I had sufficiently explained why the Doug Ashy Statement was not presented during your June 2nd
request, but since it appears that you are unsatisfied with my June 24th response, I will try again.
request, but since it appears that you are unsatisfied with my June 24th response, I will try again.

We have learned today that the statement prepared by Doug Ashy was not printed until May 31 or June 1. It was
printed at the Lafayette location, and someone from the Rayne location picked up the statement on June 1. Then, the
statements for Rayne customers were brought to the Rayne location, matched with invoices, stuffed in envelopes and
mailed out. Therefore, the statement was not even put in the mail until some time on June 1st. The City does not
believe that the Doug Ashy Statement was even in its possession when you first inquired about any purchase orders or
work orders for the culverts on June 2nd, as it was likely delivered on June 3 or June 4th (exact date cannot be
confirmed).

By June 16th, when you spoke with Ms. Annette again about the matter, she was searching for purchase orders to
attempt to find an invoice responsive to your request. Since there was no purchase order by the City of Rayne, there
was no invoice. With no purchase order, Ms. Annette would not have looked at any statements, because a statement
only has an amount charged, and not what was purchased. Since she searched by purchase order and there was none,
that was the response made. In fact, no invoice was ever sent to the City of Rayne for the culvert pipes at issue. The
ones that I sent to you on Friday, June 24th were provided to the City of Rayne on June 24th by Doug Ashy in
response to your most recent request, after Ms. Annette's good faith and diligent efforts to locate something responsive
to your requests. It was during this last search for documents that Ms. Annette came upon the Statement from Doug
Ashy with the in/out entry on May 26 and May 27th (thus prompting a call to Doug Ashy to inquire about additional
documents, which were only provided on June 24th, which we have already provided to you).

You have been provided the only version of the May statement received by the City of Rayne from Doug Ashy. As per
the two attached Affidavits -- one from the Manager and the other from the Salesperson, both employees of Doug
Ashy -- we are hopeful that your remaining questions are answered regarding the when/where/how all of this
occurred. The mistake was noticed on the same date that the temporary charge was initiated -- May 26th. Doug Ashy
personnel attempted to correct it that same date, but the manager, Mr. Melancon, had to correct it the following
morning via over ride and a Credit Memo.

The pipe was ordered by Ms. Peggy King, the Mayor's wife. The Mayor discussed delivery with Tracy Carter with
Doug Ashy, as per Mr. Robert Senegal's requests, because of impending/anticipated inclement weather on May 27th
and the issue of theft of such a large amount of pipe laying around someone's front yard(s). The City was not
"inadvertently billed" by the Mayor or anyone else with the City (see attached Affidavits).

As I explained in my email on Friday (and Ms. Annette previously advised), the delivery slip was provided to the
purchaser and not retained by the City. The City was never charged for the pipe. As per the affidavits, the
bookkeeping entry was an internal error on Doug Ashy's part. The City has no use to retain delivery slips for items not
purchased by the City, and it is the City's policy to provide such delivery slips to the purchaser of goods. The material
was never delivered to the City as being "purchased" by the City. A bookkeeping error on Doug Ashy's part does not
turn this into a purchase by the City.

Finally, you ask "How could the pipes have been billed to the city, even inadvertently, without a purchase order?" It is
because we are all human beings. As human beings, people make mistakes. This one was thankfully caught by all
parties involved on the same date of the personal purchase by the Mayor and his wife, clarification and correction was
noted, and Doug Ashy, through the Store Manager, Mr. Melancon, corrected that error as quickly as he could. In fact,
the salesman, Mr. Carter, attempted to correct the error the same day the pipe was purchased, May 26th, but was
unable to do so without a manager.

I provided you with all documentation regarding the reason there is no "invoice" per se to produce. I have provided
you with all documentation and explanation as to why there is no "delivery slip" to produce. I have now provided you
with an explanation, although under no obligation to do so nor any obligation to create a public record, regarding the
statement and the entry charging the city in error, as well as the credit memo showing that the charge for the culvert
pipes was reversed and never charged to the City. And I've provided you with an explanation as to why the statement
was not produced to you on June 2nd nor June 16th.

There is no specific document responsive to your request as to "material and labor used" on this project (and, as you
know, there is no obligation for a document to be created to respond to your request), nor are there any other
statements or other documents which are responsive to your request.
Finally, as I promised a supplement to your request regarding CPA and accounting issues, please allow this section to
supplement our June 24th response:

What types of checks and balances are in place in the City of Rayne to prevent public funds being used for private
purchases? How do you verify the accuracy of the expenses of the labor and material used for each project? Please
provide documents that would explain what method of accounting the city uses that doesnt include work orders or
retaining delivery slips.

As per the City's Accounting Firm, Purchase orders are mandatory and all purchases are reviewed by the Mayor and
Clerk prior to payment and the Finance Committee reviews all purchases and payments monthly. When grants are
involved, the City is required to maintain records by project. For all other projects, the city is not mandated to
maintain project cost summaries (hence, the absence of documentation responsive to your inquiry above about
material and labor costs for this project). Therefore, all labor and material costs are maintained in the general ledger
detail and are reviewed through the payroll and accounts payable processes. Nothing in the government standards
or best practices mandates the use of work orders. Delivery slips are compared to purchase orders and purchase
orders are matched with bills and statements. Hence, for the City of Rayne to have kept a delivery slip for a purchase
it did not make simply does not make sense (especially if it is to be compared to purchase orders, especially when
there was no PO for the culvert pipe to the City, since the City did not purchase the culvert pipe)!

In addition, the method of accounting used by the City is, as follows: Governmental funds are reported using the
modified accrual basis of accounting, proprietary fund are presented on the accrual basis and government-wide are also
presented on the accrual basis.

I would appreciate it if you would verify with your contracted accounting service whether or not work orders are
required in governmental accounting:

We have confirmed with our accounting firm that there is nothing in the governmental standards or best practices that
mandates the use of work orders.

***

I am most hopeful that these responses now satisfy your recent public records request. As always, email if you have
any questions.

Joy C. Rabalais
Borne, Wilkes & Rabalais, L.L.C.
337-232-1604 Ext. 232
P. O. Box 4305
Lafayette, LA 70502-4305

rabalais@bornewilkes.com

OUR SYSTEM NOW SCANS AND FILTERS ALL INCOMING E-MAIL FOR INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT.
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hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copy of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received
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>>> Theresa Richard <whirl400@yahoo.com> 6/27/2016 11:46 AM >>>

>>> Theresa Richard <whirl400@yahoo.com> 6/27/2016 11:46 AM >>>
Ms Joy and Annette,

I spent my weekend reviewing the records that were sent to me Friday as per my PRR.

I am confused about a few things and wanted to touch base with you to see if you could offer some clarification
regarding the reason the invoice and statement from Doug Ashy were not presented when I initially asked.

I spoke to Ms Annette on June 2 about the issue with the culverts and who paid for them. Annette told me than that the
city had no invoices for the pipe and that the property owner, the mayor, held the invoice because he paid for the pipe.

Annette told me the same thing again on the 16th of June, that the city had no invoice ect for the purchase of the pipe
and that the mayor purchased them.

When I looked at the documents presented, specifically the statement for the City of Rayne business account at Doug
Ashy, it is dated as being generated at the end of May. I'm curious why the city wouldn't have presented me with the
statement when I initially asked for it. Where was it? When did the city receive the statement? Was this the only
statement the city received for the month of May or was I presented with a corrected version of the statement? When
was the exact date the mistake was noticed? And who took the corrective action to have the charge credited?

Also, who ordered the pipe from Doug Ashy? The invoice shows the order date to be May 26 and mentions the city
would need the pipes delivered the morning of the 27th "as per the mayor". Did the mayor order the pipe and
inadvertently bill the city? Or did a city employee order the pipe? Does the City provide Doug Ashy with a purchase
order when they order material? How could the pipes have been billed to the city, even inadvertently, without a
purchase order?

Lastly, where is the delivery receipt? These pipes were delivered to the city barn and received by someone with the
Street Department. The pipe were initially billed to the city. Even if the account was credited later, the delivery slip
should have been retained because the material initially came in as being purchased by the city. What happened to this
document?

Please provide me with the delivery slip with the signature of the person who accepted this delivery and any other
public records that have been withheld regarding the documentation of all material and labor used in this drainage
project including any other statements received by the city that were not previously provided.

Please also provide me with an explanation as to the absence of the statement and invoice on June 2 when I made my
written record request.

Thank you for your time and attention to my requests for information. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.

Theresa Richard

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 20, 2016, at 1:58 PM, Joy Rabalais <Rabalais@bornewilkes.com> wrote:

Dear Ms. Richard,

Your public records requests of this morning have been assigned to this law firm for formal response.

The documents which you have requested need to be pulled and pieced together from various city departments;
thus, there is no way that they will be ready today.

As is my usual practice, I will make a "rolling" response as documents responsive to your request become
available.

In total, it appears as though you have asked for documents regarding culverts installed on 2nd Street, as well as a
"Do Not Enter" sign that was placed on Adams Ally. Within each of these subjects, you have 16 separate inquiries
 "Do Not Enter" sign that was placed on Adams Ally. Within each of these subjects, you have 16 separate inquiries
therein. We are working diligently to get with the appropriate city personnel to determine whether documents
responsive to your requests exist and obtain them for you.

We anticipate that it can take up to 3 business days to research, review, retrieve and redact (if necessary) any of the
documents responsive to your request.

Should you have any questions in the interim, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Joy

Joy C. Rabalais
Borne, Wilkes & Rabalais, L.L.C.
337-232-1604 Ext. 232
P. O. Box 4305
Lafayette, LA 70502-4305

rabalais@bornewilkes.com

OUR SYSTEM NOW SCANS AND FILTERS ALL INCOMING E-MAIL FOR INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT.
ANY SUCH E-MAIL WILL NOT BE DELIVERED TO THE INTENDED RECIPIENT. IF YOU DO NOT
RECEIVE A TIMELY REPLY TO YOUR E-MAIL, PLEASE CALL 337-232-1604.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE

The information contained in this e-mail message is legally privileged and confidential information intended only for
the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are
hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copy of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received
this e-mail transmission in error, please immediately notify us by telephone (337-232-1604). Thank you.

<EXECUTED AFFIDAVITS - Doug Ashy Employees.pdf>

<DOUG ASHY INVOICE & CREDIT.pdf>
<DOUG ASHY STATEMENT FOR MAY 2016.pdf>