Two Metro Council members will push for oversight measures for the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging, a nonprofit with questions swirling about its election activities that will soon receive a dedicated funding stream from local taxpayers.
Councilmembers Dwight Hudson and Buddy Amoroso, both Republicans, plan to add provisions to the cooperative endeavor agreement between the city-parish and Council on Aging in early February.
“I would like to be able to fix some of the things I feel are inequities in the Council on Aging,” Amoroso says.
If approved, the measures would force the COA to observe the open meetings law and maintain video archives of its meetings; they would also require the board and executive staff to attend ethics training yearly. Their plan would also give the Metro Council greater oversight, including the authority to approve or reject the Council on Aging’s board members, as well as a requirement that the nonprofit submit regular financial reports to the Metro Council.
But the measures fall short of giving the Metro Council official authority to dictate how the Council on Aging spends the dedicated 2.25-mill property tax voters approved in December, something Amoroso says he does not want. The new leverage instead would rest in the Metro Council’s power over the COA board.
“I’m not asking for, nor do I want, budget authority from the Council on Aging. I just want to be able to see what they’re doing,” Amoroso says. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask for.”
The Parish Attorney’s Office is working on a draft of the cooperative endeavor agreement with the new language, says Assistant Parish Attorney Ashley Beck.
A period during which voters can contest the COA tax ends on Jan. 30, at which time the Metro Council must pass an ordinance levying the tax. The Metro Council typically approves an ordinance within one or two meetings following the contest period, Beck says.
Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera is currently investigating whether the COA broke any laws in its campaign activity last year, and says he is getting close to completing the audit. But any wrongdoing found by his office must be referred to another agency to bring charges. The COA’s lawyer, Murphy J. Foster III, did not return a request seeking comment, but previously has said he is confident no charges will be brought.
The COA is required by state law to be subject to a yearly audit by the Legislative Auditor, Purpera says, because is is a quasi-public agency.
The agency raised eyebrows last year and even sparked an independent attorney, Chris Alexander, to dig into its activities when it allegedly circulated a sample ballot ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Alexander also found an email from a COA staffer soliciting a donation from a Metro Council candidate in exchange for placing her name on the sample ballot. The attorney distributed the email to reporters and attendees of the East Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce meeting in November.
At issue is the COA’s nonprofit status, which prohibits it from engaging in political activities or dedicating public resources to campaigning. The council receives 80% of its funding from public sources. Alexander alleges a comingling of resources between the COA and its super PAC, Support Our Seniors, which is allowed to raise money and campaign in favor of the tax.
Voters approved the tax by 2,135 votes, 51% to 49%. The tax is expected to raise around $8 million per year for the agency, roughly doubling its budget.
Read a recent Business Report cover story on the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging.
—Sam Karlin
