Gonzales’ City Council received 2024-25 Fiscal Year financial audit, focused on “three instances of non-compliance with Louisiana Public Bid Law.” Engaged in mid-2025, Ericksen Krentel completed the audit at the end of February in stark contrast to years past. The firm, without identifying the “vendor,” specifically criticized a sidewalk rehabilitation job given to Liberty Fence & Supply without bid or oversight of performance.
“For the year ended May 31, 2025, the City incurred costs for four public works projects totaling $1,665,318 that exceeded the public works threshold. The City was unable to provide documentation supporting compliance with the public bid requirements for these projects.
In addition, for one project tested, payments were made through multiple invoices for the same vendor and project scope that, when aggregated, exceeded the public works threshold. The City did not provide documentation demonstrating the procurement was publicly advertised and competitively bid as required. Further, the City did not maintain documentation supporting its evaluation of contractor responsibility/qualifications prior to award (Emphasis added).”
NOTE: Louisiana Revised Statute 38:2212 requires public entities to advertise and award public works contracts to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder when the contract amount meets or exceeds the applicable works threshold of $250,000. None of the four “public works projects” cited in the audit occurred during the current administration’s tenure.
“We appreciate Ericksen Krentel’s thorough audit to unearth deficiencies in city governance present for years if not decades,” responded Mayor Tim Riley. “I do wonder why previous audits failed to identify these shortcomings which have been allowed to continue for too long. All recommendations have been or will be implemented in short order.”
Two months into his first term, Mayor Riley’s administration examined Liberty Fence’s dealings with the city, including the $287,000 paid for “improvements” to the sidewalk at Municipal Park (the “one project tested” noted by Ericksen Krentel and highlighted above). A report was delivered to the City Council on March 31 with the administration’s recommendation that legal action be taken against Liberty Fence. That request was ignored by a majority of the council.
The total paid for the Municipal Park job was split into 11 invoices, the first eight paired with the same date, numbered sequentially and all in the amount of $20,500. The last three were singles which, avoiding the rudimentary math, each came in at $41,000. The list:
- Invoices 1505/1506, dated July 15 for $20,500 apiece
- Invoices 1519/1521, dated August 5 for $20,500 apiece
- Invoices 1526/1527, dated August 19 for $20,500 apiece
- Invoices 1565/1566, dated September 17 for $20,500 apiece
- Invoice 1593, dated October 1 for $41,000
- Invoice 1604, dated October 7 for $41,000
- Invoice 1611, dated October 15 for $41,000
In November Louisiana’s Licensing Board for Contractors fined Liberty Fence’s James Saizan for six separate violations of its licensing requirements, all related to work done for the City of Gonzales. Concrete work valued at $50,000 requires a license. During Saizan’s hearing, evidence was introduced that he had held no active license at all since a commercial fencing license expired in 2012.
Licensing Board for Contractors dings Liberty Fence on six charges | Pelican Post – Online Newspaper
Ericksen Krentel’s report included a finding that the city failed to “maintain documentation supporting its evaluation of contractor responsibility/qualifications.” Its chosen verbiage is exceedingly kind to the city which did not require written bids from Liberty Fence as before paying the unlicensed fence company’s 190 separate invoices in the 2024 calendar year.
Early in 2025 Mayor Riley began requiring solicitation of three bids before awarding all but the smallest of jobs. Ericksen Krentel would, prior to formal presentation of its audit, recommend acquisition of three competitive bids for all jobs valued over $5,000.
A secondary finding related to credit card purchases as “statements did not have evidence of review and approval by an individual independent of the cardholder.” The city’s policy “requires employees to submit receipts” but the process was not “consistently enforced” and procedures were not in place to ensure “completeness of documentation.”
Multiple members of the current administration insist the deficiencies predate Riley’s tenure while “all of Ericksen Krentel’s early recommendations have been implemented, and the more recent recommendations will be put in place going forward.”
Riley was sworn into office on January 6, 2025, seven months into the fiscal year audited by Ericksen Krentel.
A third finding concerned the city’s decades old practice of billing customers of gas, with a 5% markup for in-city users and a 25% markup for users outside the city limits. There is nothing improper in the practice, but the city never adopted an ordinance authorizing its implementation. The administration addressed the finding, introducing an ordinance that was adopted by the council some months ago.
No one can answer why prior auditors failed to unearth the deficiency that dates back to former mayor Johnny Berthelot’s tenure that ended in 2008.
Ericksen Krentel’s penultimate finding pointed to the absence of requisite budget amendments for “unfavorable variance…greater than 5%” in total revenue or expenditure. The firm identified two budget funds where that is the case; Tanger Mall Economic Development District Fund, and PACE Center Economic Development District Fund.
Necessary budget amendments to remedy the variance were introduced at the same meeting in time for council approval before the current fiscal year’s end. Tani Budde, who delivered the presentation, conceded that such amendments are typically made near fiscal year’s end.
Finally, Ericksen Krentel cited the “Failure to Adopt Fiscal Year End 2026 General Fund Budget Before End of Fiscal Year 2025.”
Three members of the City Council rejected last year’s General Fund budget on May 27, four days prior to the fiscal year’s end. They did so without a syllable of explanation. A second vote failed to garner the three necessary votes on July 14. On August 25 the General Fund budget, the same one that had been rejected twice before, was adopted by the council.
Gonzales’ 2026-2027 budget is scheduled for council consideration and vote on April 27.
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