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A driving accident from almost three months ago has continued to hang over Lafourche Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle.
At last week’s meeting, the Lafourche Parish Council raised additional questions about the parish’s drug testing and reporting policies in regards to a May 23 accident involving a parish vehicle driven by Cantrelle. According to police and incident reports, Cantrelle was off of La. Highway 90 near Raceland when he backed his parish pickup truck into Jordan LeBoeuf’s truck, which Cantrelle said was in a blind spot.
The accident caused only minor damage to Cantrelle’s vehicle, with the parish paying about $108 to fix a broken taillight. However, the parish also had to foot a bill of more than $2,200 to pay for repairs to LeBoeuf’s vehicle, which suffered dents on its rear panel, cab and door.
Lafourche Council Member Jerry Jones asked Cantrelle about the payment for LeBoeuf’s repairs at last week’s meeting. Cantrelle said he was not aware of any such payment, but Jones produced a check request for $2,260.90 for the repairs that featured Cantrelle’s signature. Cantrelle said the signature is a stamp the parish’s finance department frequently uses for transactions.
Legislative Internal Auditor Reggie Bagala brought Cantrelle’s accident to light at the July 25 council meeting, noting Cantrelle did not immediately file a police report when the accident happened. The Lafourche Parish Government policy states any employee in a parish vehicle or conducting parish business in a private vehicle must immediately report any accident to law enforcement, the parish’s risk management department and his or her supervisor.
Cantrelle did report the incident to the parish the next day, and the parish made an invoice for repairs to his vehicle. According to Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office records, Cantrelle reported the accident to the LPSO on June 12, three weeks after the wreck. Cantrelle then met with LPSO Lieutenant Ryan Dantin on June 16 to detail the incident.
According to Risk Management Assistant Rita Riviere, the parish has had two accidents with a parish vehicle in the last six months. On a May 3 accident featuring a Public Works vehicle, the employee involved in the accident took a drug test that same day. The other accident was Cantrelle’s, and he has not taken a drug test, according to Riviere. The parish policy clearly states employees are required to take a
drug test following an accident.
“Any employee directly involved in an on-duty vehicular accident shall be required to submit to drug and alcohol testing,” the parish policy states.
The wreck is listed to have happened “around 5 p.m.,” according to Cantrelle’s own report. He said that timing is why he did not take a drug test, as parish employees were off the clock, and he did not know which medical facility he was supposed to take a drug test at.
“It happened after [5 p.m.]. I tried to call, they were all gone. I reported it the next morning,” Cantrelle said. “Actually, [Riviere] didn’t even tell me I had to get an incident report, but I found out that I had to get one, and I got one.”
Cantrelle has still not taken a drug test since then, but said he would take “any test, anytime, anywhere” at the council meeting. Lafourche policy outlines a number of violations that immediately place an employee in the “poor” category of the parish’s Driver Performance Rating. Included in the list of violations is a failure to pass a drug test or a refusal to take one.
“Any driver falling in the ‘poor’ category will immediately be relieved of his/her Parish vehicle driving privileges,” the policy states.
The Times contacted Riviere to get more information on the accident and confirm if Cantrelle still had his vehicle privileges, but she did not return a request for comment. Council Chairman Corey Perrillioux, who has been one of a number of members who often spar with Cantrelle at meetings, said his request for a drug test was not an insinuation of drug use by the parish president but rather a call for a uniform policy for all Lafourche employees.
“I was not implying illegal drug use or anything, I was just implying that if there’s a policy in place, everyone should be covered under that same policy,” Perrillioux said.
Multiple parish officials offered solutions to what Cantrelle deemed a miscommunication. Council member Armand Autin said a Jefferson Parish employee recently got in an after-hours accident in Lafourche, and that employee was brought to Ochsner St. Anne Hospital via ambulance to take a required test. Autin suggested Parish Administrator Leif Haas meet with all parish employees to explain the after-hours vehicular accident policy. Haas said he finds the written policy on accidents as vague and lacking, and the parish is going back to make the reporting and testing process for all hours of the day clearer. Cantrelle said he thought he was following policy when the accident happened.
“I did what I thought was right. Now, if it didn’t turn out to be right, I’m sorry. But I did what I said that I thought was right,” Cantrelle said.
Parish administration also went through previous administration’s records to find other instances of parish employees not following the procedure, which Cantrelle mentioned at the council meeting. Council Member Michael Gros, who has previously spoken up to stop heated and unproductive discussion between the parish president and council, told Cantrelle to focus on Lafourche’s future rather than its past.
“Don’t waste your time on that. Let’s move this parish forward,” Gros said. “We’re here to govern, not to put blame on past administrations or say there was 10 other people that did it. You made a mistake, move on.”
‘Don’t waste your time on that. Let’s move this parish forward. We’re here to govern, not put blame on past administrations …’
Debate was heavy this past week at the Lafourche Parish Council meeting, as council members discusses a traffic accident involving Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle.
