BREC Treasurer Says BREC Is Broken, Must Be Fixed Before Any Tax Renewal

Dewayne Rogers, Treasurer, BREC

As a Christian, my faith leads me to believe that “each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12) There really is nothing of greater importance to me, as has been the case most of my adult life. While I understand not everyone believes we are accountable to God, I think that the overwhelming majority of people believe that we should be accountable to someone, and certainly believe that those chosen to represent us should be accountable to whoever “us” might be. That expectation of accountability extends to the entities created on the behalf of the people. That brings me to the purpose of this article — the Recreation and Park Commission of East Baton Rouge Parish, known as BREC. 

BREC is broken, and it must be fixed!

When appointed as one of nine commissioners by the Metropolitan Council, for a term beginning January 1, 2023, I knew that there were some issues that needed to be addressed, but I didn’t have a clue as to the years of poor financial management that was its history. 

It wasn’t until being unanimously elected by my fellow commissioners as the Treasurer of BREC did I really begin to see that there were significant issues, The most glaring of these issues was the fact that BREC had not had an audit completed since 2020. 

Louisiana law requires that an annual audit be submitted to the Legislative Auditor’s Office no later than six months after the entity’s fiscal year comes to an end. BREC’s fiscal year is the calendar year so annual audits are due by July 1 for the preceding year. 

By the time of my assuming the role of Treasurer, 2021’s audit was nearly a year past due according to law. I was to later learn that BREC had not submitted a timely audit report in some 10 years. Each month in 2023 the commission was being told by BREC’s administration that the audit firm was working on the audit. 

By the fall of 2023, I decided to contact the audit firm to verify that they were working on the audit,and to try and understand what was taking so long. It was then that I learned that the auditors were not actually working on the audit at all because the information they needed had never been submitted to them. In fact, it had been requested from BREC nearly a year earlier. 

The audit firm would schedule a time to be at BREC to receive necessary information, but BREC would not be prepared to provide the information, so the auditors would have to stop, and then wait on BREC for the requested information. This time it had been nearly a year since information had been requested, and although some of it had been submitted, all of it had not been.

Upon learning of the outstanding information needed by the auditors, commission members made it clear to the Superintendent that he should devote all necessary resources to ensure the auditors received the information as quickly as possible. Even after the auditors had scheduled another time to visit BREC’s offices to continue on the audit, all of the needed information was not available to them, once again causing a delay. 

It wasn’t until well into 2024 that the audit firm was able to complete and submit the finalized audit — at no fault of the firm. The firm has many clients and has to schedule auditors to work on their various clients’ audits well in advance. They simply are not waiting idly by for a client to get information to them. The firm has started on the 2022 audit, but has had to stop at least once while waiting on information from BREC. 

BREC is broken, and it must be fixed!

Information available on the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s website reveals the repeated issues BREC has had. 

If one looks at the audits just dating back to 2015, the fact that BREC either has too many purchasing cards, or had too little supervision over them, is noted repeatedly. However, there has been no meaningful reform to address this problem. 

To illustrate this, in 2023 it was discovered that a BREC employee had been fraudulently using the purchasing card issued to him by paying tens of thousands of dollars of his personal company’s bills. This had occurred over a long period of time before it was discovered. 

BREC is broken, and it must be fixed!

Upon becoming Treasurer of BREC, I began asking for various financial information, but saw that I either wasn’t getting the specific information requested, or it was taking in some cases over a month for an answer. I continued to run into the proverbial “brick wall” and became frustrated that as Treasurer I could not get what any citizen should be able to get by a simple public records request.

I asked for a legal opinion from BREC’s contracted legal counsel. As per that request, on January 29, 2024, I received the opinion that stated in part, 

“On January 15, 2024, you forwarded me an email asking my legal opinion relative to your ability as Treasurer to access BREC financial information. Your specific question was: ‘…should the treasurer of BREC have immediate access to the entity’s financial information with or without the superintendent’s approval?’ The answer to the question is ‘yes.’ As treasurer of BREC, you cannot be legally denied access, or even delayed access, to BREC’s financial information. It should be made available to you immediately if it has not been done already.” 

The letter was signed by Murphy J. Foster III, partner of the firm Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, L.L.P.  Yet, as of October 23, 2024, I am still being denied access to requested financial records! 

As a person who holds a full-time job, serves a small local church as pastor, and volunteers most of my “spare time” to serving as a BREC Commissioner, I should not have to hire an attorney on my own to force the superintendent, who is an employee of the commission, to follow the law and allow me as Treasurer total and complete access to BREC’s financial information. 

BREC is broken, and it must be fixed.

BREC has not fulfilled what it promised the citizens of this parish when we the voters approved a tax 10 years ago to carry out the Imagine Your Parks II plan. 

That plan specifically promised 12 regional Community Parks would be established. If you were to go to BREC’s website today, you will read that BREC has done that. If you have heard any of the superintendent’s recent presentations on what BREC has accomplished, you have heard him say those 12 Parks have been established.

However, I have publicly pointed out that such is not accurate. One can find on BREC’s online maps that one of the regional Community Parks is the Sandy Creek Park located in the northeast portion of our parish. If you travel there today, you would discover that it is not accessible, because the bridge that once provided access has been closed for a year now due to needed repairs. 

If you were able to gain access to the nearly 400 acres of wetlands that flood frequently, you would find nothing more than woods with an unimproved “bush hogged” trail in it. There are no buildings, pavilions, playground equipment, or other equipment, period. 

The closest BREC park building is miles away at the Pride Park, but that building and the rest rooms have been locked for years due to needed maintenance not being done. 

Instead of investing in the facilities BREC already has, or has promised, there seems to be plenty of funding ($1 million this year to which I voted against) to advertise how great BREC is. 

BREC spends money paying Drag Queens to entertain at Independence Park but doesn’t spend the money needed for maintenance. The Imagine Our Parks III Plan, recently adopted to promote the new 10-year tax (renewal if you so choose), doesn’t have any specific items to which the funds are to be used. That is why I voted against adopting the plan. There simply aren’t specifics that the taxpayers can use to be assured the monies will be spent appropriately. 

This is one of the reasons that I voted not to roll forward the millage on the current tax. There were simply no specifics on why it was needed or how it will be spent. 

BREC is broken, and it must be fixed!

Under state law, the BREC Commission has authority to supervise and hold the superintendent accountable, but that takes a majority of the commission to act. 

The current superintendent, Mr. Corey Wilson, has served in that position or as Assistant for over 10 years. Even when he was Assistant Superintendent, the finance department fell under his chain of command and responsibility. 

BREC is broken and it must be fixed!

There are many other issues that need to be addressed by BREC. Don’t simply take my word for it, check with BREC partners and see what they have to say. 

As you consider how you will cast your vote on the upcoming tax proposals, educate yourself on BREC’s operations and size. 

BREC has a lot of great things about it, including a number of loyal employees, and some great parks, but overall, BREC is broken, and it must be fixed. 

As a single commissioner and Treasurer, I believe BREC must become accountable to the citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish before we ask for more of your money.