At least one member of the BREC commission is raising questions about the deal, announced Nov. 13 by Gov. John Bel Edwards, that BREC, LSU, the city-parish and the state have agreed on to restore to health the oxygen-starved lake system that runs through LSU and City Park.
Under the terms of the deal, the LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation will oversee the restoration and enhancement project, which is estimated to cost more than $50 million and take several years to complete. Each of the stakeholders will contribute financially, starting with BREC, which has been asked to commit $5 million to get design and engineering work underway.
BREC Commissioner Jerry Jones says he’s not opposed to the deal, which has yet to come before the commission for a vote. But he does have concerns about turning over taxpayer money to a project that will be managed by a private foundation.
In a Nov. 13 email to BREC Superintendent Corey Wilson, Jones asks, “Are we going to be placing millions of (BREC) dollars from taxpayers into a private LSU real estate foundation in order to address the lakes we are responsible for?”
In his response the following day, Wilson says, basically, yes, but goes on to explain why the deal—still in somewhat rough form—is structured the way it is.
Wilson says one of the challenges in trying to come up with a restoration plan for the six lakes, which are owned and maintained by multiple entities, has been trying to identify a single entity to take the lead on the project. Though BREC owns and maintains the City Park Lake, “from an expertise and capacity standpoint, BREC is not in a position to serve as the lead on the project,” Wilson writes.
The LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation, on the other hand, does have the experience “based on their familiarity with complex projects such as this,” Wilson writes. He notes that the foundation stepped up and volunteered to serve as lead with encouragement from both the governor’s office and LSU president.
Significantly, Wilson notes that by putting the foundation in charge of the project, public procurement low-bid laws can potentially be avoided, which, he says was seen as “an added advantage.” Wilson goes on to say that even though the LSU foundation will be in charge of the project BREC will have a “seat at the table” every step of the way.
Jones, who also serves as executive director of the Baton Rouge North Economic Development District, says for now he is satisfied with Wilson’s explanation. He’s not opposed to the deal, he says, but is asking many of the same questions taxpayers are, or should be.
“Five million dollars is a lot of money,” Jones says. “But I don’t care if it’s five million or five dollars. Any public money that transfers to a foundation I want to understand why we’re not doing it ourselves, whether they have the capacity to facilitate it and how much transparency there will be.”
It is unclear whether the BREC board will be asked to vote on the $5 million allocation at its December meeting or in early 2020.
