Home Care In Gibsland, LA

ARCADIA, La. – A disregard by town officials of state law, inadequate record-keeping, filing late audits and a failure to reclassify Gibsland because of its population decline may be violations of state and other laws, according to an investigative audit filed Monday.

A copy of the audit has been provided to the Bienville Parish District Attorney's Office for review.

The investigation was initiated after state auditors received multiple complaints about the town's use of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office cited public officials for the following:

Government budget act

The town may have violated state law since it could not provide records to demonstrate a properly adopted budget for the fiscal year ending June 30.

ARPA funds, vehicle purchases, improper incentives for town officials

Gibsland Mayor Ray Ivory and Alderman Julius Pearson appear to have violated state law by disregarding requirements of the Local Government Budget Act, Lawrason Act, and Public Bid Law in the performance of their duties.

Ivory and Pearson signed town checks to pay unbudgeted and unauthorized salary incentives to elected officials and town employees without a board-approved budget or an ordinance to increase pay for the elected officials and town clerk.

Ivory and Pearson also signed town checks to purchase three vehicles for the town without a board-approved budget and without advertising the purchase for bid.

Part-time clerk’s hours

Town Clerk Rockettia Brown works part-time for the town of Gibsland and full-time as the town of Arcadia’s clerk. According to the Gibsland’s QuickBooks (accounting software) records, Brown was paid for 80 hours of work bi-weekly (full-time) until Feb. 4, 2019, when her hours were reduced to 45 hours bi-weekly (part-time).

Brown’s payroll records stopped showing the number of hours worked after Aug. 19, 2019. Ivory did not set a part-time schedule for her, and there is no record of hours she worked. Since the Mayor does not require Brown to work a specified number of hours or keep records of the hours she works, but authorizes her to receive the full budgeted amount, he may have violated the state constitution and state law.

Audit law noncompliance

The town’s last annual audit was for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. Ivory is responsible for ensuring the Town completes its annual audit of its financial statements and submits the audit to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor no later than six months after the end of the fiscal year. Since the town did not complete its audit in a timely manner, Ivory may have violated state law.

Improper classification as town

The town currently operates under the Lawrason Act as a town and has five elected aldermen. Federal census data indicates that Gibsland has had fewer than 1,001 inhabitants since at least 2010.

Based on this information, the town should be classified as a village and have only three elected aldermen. The U.S. Census Bureau put the town’s population at 731 in 2022. Because the town did not adopt a resolution requesting the governor to change its classification, the town may have violated state law.

Management response

Ivory defended the payments to the council and staff in a one-page letter to state Auditor Michael Waguespack. He explained how they worked "tirelessly" to protect the "community and ourselves against COVID-19."

Ivory said the town's aged water system required around-the-clock monitoring so there was no downtime for anyone, including himself, to maintain the town's infrastructure and services.

He said the base pay of $200 for the council and $300 for the mayor were not a concern during the pandemic. "In spite of the pandemic, our involvement with the town never ceased," Ivory wrote.

In a separate letter, Ivory defended the clerk's pay. He said there is no way to keep track of the calls and emails between him and the clerk. He noted when she was off for COVID and surgery she continued to work from home paying bills and handling the town's business.

"It should be noted that Rockettia is a vital element to the town of Gibsland, she has earned a professional reputation and upholds the guidelines for which our town stands. Being said, it is my obligation to ensure that she remains with the town of Gibsland," Ivory wrote. "As mayor, I will continue to upholds my duties and responsibilities including ensuring that my, our staff and council, are treated lawfully and fairly within the guidelines of the Louisiana Municipal Association and our town attorney, Pamela Breedlove."

Terrance James ruled the basketball court in Class C as a Gibsland-Coleman Bulldog. Now he will become an LSU-Alexandria General. James was the 2023 Class C Most Valuable Player and was also on the 2022 Class C All-State First Team. James and the Bulldogs won the Class C 2022 State Championship and reached Marsh Madness again in 2023. The Bulldogs took the defending Division V Non-Select state champions Zwolle Hawks to double overtime where James was called on a controversial technical foul after a dunk which caused him to foul out. James did not let that stymie his swagger as went on to play in six all-star games.

James was not only a basketball star but also a track state finishing as state runner-up in the 400 and high jump and a state champ as part of the 4 x 400 relay team. The Bulldogs were state champions in 2023 for outdoor track and field and state runner-up in 2022.

Although the accolades were there, the recruiting process for James according to him was slow. “I feel like it was slow for me because of the school I went to,” James said. “I believed it was my school’s fault because I wasn’t getting the recognition but I saw that it was also on me too. I wasn’t as active with the coaches as I should have been like going to camps and such. I thought it was just a coach's part to get the kids looked at. If you are good, you still have to put in your part too. I didn’t get an offer until my senior year.”

James’ love, though, is basketball and has had offers from Centenary, BRCC, Dawson CC (Montana), South Arkansas Community College, and LSU-A for basketball. James was impressed with the coaching staff of LSU-A and incoming head coach Dimario Jackson. Jackson was the former head coach of powerhouse Port Allen who won their fourth consecutive state championship in 2023. “I liked the play style,” the Gibsland-Coleman all-star said, “I had a good connection with the coach. Playing under him is going to be something different. We have three freshmen coming, including me and some from Port Allen. We’ve got some transfers. We’ve got some holdovers from last year.” James received his offer after the day after the state banquet for basketball.

Another factor in selecting the Generals team was that they were close to home. “I didn’t want to go far from home,” James said. “If I went to Dawson, well that’s 24 hours from Gib[sland-Coleman].” The offers may have been far off, but the family support to accept any of them was there. His mother was fine even if he had chosen the Montana-based school. “She told me that any one of them was my decision,” James said. “I just didn’t want to go that far. I was thinking about it, but I didn’t want to go that far.”

James is part of the last two classes at Gibsland-Coleman that has brought the hardware home to the Bienville Parish town. In 2022, Gibsland-Coleman boys won the basketball state championship in Class C as mentioned before. The Bulldog girls brought a state championship home in track and field while the boys took the state runner-up in 2022. The two swapped in the state championship for track and field as the boys won state in 2023 and the girls finished as state runner-up. “It feels good to leave on a ‘W’,” James said.

Although James will not be roaming the halls of “Gib” in the future, the small town and school are still close to his heart. “It’s like home,” the future General said. “I still like the school. I stayed loyal to it. I wasn’t going to leave no matter what happened. All the kids in “Gib” look out for me.” James has been a Bulldog from pre-K through his senior year. He had the opportunity to go somewhere but remained loyal as a Bulldog.

The change from the small town of Gibsland to the big town of Alexandria is going to be a transition. “It’s going to be different,” the All-State MVP said. “It’s going to take some adapting. If I get a little homesick, I can make that drive. It’s not that far from Gibsland.”

James has been working on home construction over the summer which he enjoys. He plans on studying kinesiology at LSU-A but may still have a fondness to change over to construction engineering.

The Bulldog will now turn into the General and will be barking orders to seize an attack on the competition. Luckily, LSUA plays in the RRAC (Red River Athletic Conference) which includes such local teams as Louisiana Christian University in Pineville, LSU-Shreveport, and Texas A&M- Texarkana so locally we can still see Terrance James plan out an attack against his opponents.

# Basketball# Bienville Parish# LSUA# Gibsland# College

This is original content from NewsBreak’s Creator Program. Join today to publish and share your own content.

BIENVILLE PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – An investigative audit of the Town of Gibsland not only found irregularities and possible violations of state law, but it also found that Gibsland may not be a town at all.

Released on Oct. 5 by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor, the 45-page report claims Gibsland does not meet Louisiana’s requirements to be a town but instead falls into the village category.

In Louisiana, municipalities with a population of 5,000 or more are classified as cities; those with populations of between 1,000 to 5,000 are classified as towns, and those with 1,000 or less are classified as villages.

The issue is that in Louisiana, towns are governed by a mayor and five aldermen, while villages have only three.

The last time Gibsland had a population of more than 1,000 was 23 years ago in the 2,000 census. The population dwindled to 979 in the 2010 census and down to 772 in the 2020 census, meaning the government of Gibsland has been in violation of state law for at least 23 years.

In addition, the audit found that Gibsland may have violated state law because it could not provide records of a “properly-adopted budget” for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.

Gibsland Mayor Ray Ivory and Alderman Julius Pearson also were cited for disregarding bid requirements and signing checks to pay unbudgeted and unauthorized salary incentives to elected officials and town employees, as well as issuing checks for three vehicles for the town without approval or bids, in violation of state law.

The audit also found a discrepancy in pay to the part-time Gibsland Clerk, who also worked full-time as the Acadia Town Clerk, with payroll records not showing actual hours worked after August 2019.

Finally, Gibsland’s last internal audit, an annual requirement in Louisiana, was submitted on June 30, 2020, but none has been submitted since, meaning Ivory may have violated state law.

In the one-page response to state Auditor Michael Waguespack, Ivory defended his actions, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic for the discrepancies, saying how officials and employees “worked tirelessly to divert the Pandemic and all risks beginning in January 2020.”

He said they worked within the community to ensure safety and to prepare the town with protection that included resources, information, and protective equipment.

Ivory added that Gibsland’s “aged Water System required around-the-clock monitoring” and that there was no “downtime,” presumably to spend time documenting state financial requirements, since the staff, Council “and myself” were obligated to maintain Giblsland’s infrastructure and services.

He also said that Gibsland followed other municipalities on what was provided to their essential workers, including the mayor and council, adding that “there was no clear guidance or understanding of guidelines. Note: Currently, there are still unclear guidelines on meanings.”

Although the letter did not include a plan to remedy the discrepancies found in the audit, Ivory concluded by saying, “We will continue to do what is necessary to protect our communities, infrastructure, and critical services as before. We will not deter from our responsibilities.

Hunt Forest Products and Tolko will collaborate to build a $240 million sawmill in Bienville Parish, LA.

Gov. John Bel Edwards, Hunt Forest Products co-owner James D. Hunt and Tolko President and CEO Brad Thorlakson made the announcement this week.

The joint venture company will create 130 new direct jobs, with an average salary of $57,400, plus benefits. Approximately 300 construction jobs will be created.

Taylor is located midway between Minden and Gibsland, LA, south of Interstate 20.

Sourcing timber locally, the sawmill will require approximately 1.3 million tons of wood annually to produce an estimated 320 million board feet of lumber. The facility will be located on approximately 225 acres in Bienville Parish, near the community of Taylor. Construction on the new facility is expected to start in early 2022, with commercial operations starting in early 2023.

“The partnership of Hunt and Tolko is providing tremendous benefits to our state, particularly in the heart of Louisiana’s timber industry,” said Gov. Edwards. “This new facility will be a great economic boost to Louisiana’s Northwest Region, resulting in hundreds of direct and indirect new jobs across the construction, forestry, industrial services and retail sectors of Bienville Parish and beyond.”

The sawmill in Bienville will be the second project resulting from the collaboration of Hunt Forest Products and Tolko. The two companies partnered to develop a $115 million lumber mill in Urania, LA, in February 2018. Operating under the name LaSalle Lumber Company LLC, the Urania plant has created 120 direct jobs, exceeding the initial plans for 107 new jobs.

The new lumber mill will be a foreign direct investment, or FDI, project, as Tolko Industries Ltd. is a 60-year-old, family-owned Canadian forestry company that produces a wide range of forest products for customers around the world. Based in Vernon, British Columbia, Tolko will own a 50 percent share in the mill. Hunt Forest Products, which is based in Ruston, LA, will own the other 50 percent and will manage and operate the mill on a day-to-day basis.

“Our first venture into the United States was in partnership with Hunt Forest Products, a family-owned company like ours, and that has been very successful,” said Thorlakson. “So, we are looking forward to working with the Hunt family again to bring another state-of-the-art sawmill, and jobs, to Louisiana.”

LED began working with Hunt Forest Products and Tolko Industries on a new sawmill in Northwest Louisiana in October 2020. To secure the project, the State of Louisiana offered the companies a competitive incentive package that includes the comprehensive services of LED FastStart.

FastStart will work in coordination with Bossier Parish Community College, or BPCC, to build and equip the local workforce with the skills required for the mill. The package also includes a performance-based grant of $2 million, subject to the companies reaching specified investment and payroll benchmarks. The companies are expected to utilize the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs for the sawmill.

Experience the hospitality of a small town and celebrate the arrival of spring on Saturday in Gibsland, “The Daffodil Capital of Louisiana,” at the 2016 Jonquil Jubilee Garden Tour.

The hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. with the Jonquil Jubilee pancake and sausage breakfast at the Gibsland Lions Club building for $5 starting at 8 a.m.

Jonquil Jubilee events

•Jonquil Jubilee 5K Run/Walk. Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. at the Merritt Pavilion.

• Shop downtown at the Gibsland Bank Annex. Vendors featuring hand crafted items such as lotions, soaps, teacakes, decorative accessories, jewelry, and garden accessories will be showcasing their treasures.

• Take a chance on raffles, where you might win a hand-made quilt or 1,000 bulbs planted at the location of your choice.

• Enjoy lunch at the Gibsland Grill.

• Tour the Bonnie and Clyde Museum L.L.C., The Authentic Bonnie and Clyde Museum, the Barbara Van Cleave Joiner Memorial Garden and the Burkhalter Gazebo.

Get It Growing: Calla lilies grow well by ponds

• Purchase your $10 ticket which provides you a map and directions to view over 1 million bulbs during your beautiful driving tour. Begin at any location and travel at your own pace. Stop and stroll through fields of beautiful flowers and listen to area experts such as Master Gardeners.

• Visit the First Baptist Church of Gibsland to view beautiful handmade quilts and crafts.

• View a “Celebration of Daffodils” through beautiful tablescapes at the Gibsland United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall.

• Visit the Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church Sanctuary, the oldest continuously operated Baptist Church in LA., established in 1837. Stop by the Mt. Lebanon Stagecoach Trail Museum.

• Visit Russell and Sue Kettler’s Blacksmith Shop and watch demonstrations that will take you back in time.

• Attend a book signing by Marguerite Martin Gray for her new historical novel, “Hold Me Close.”

Come one! Come all! The Barak Shrine Circus is in town

Want to go?

What: 2016 Jonquil Jubilee

When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday

Where: Gibsland

Cost: Much is free, $10 for driving tour

Info: Holly May or Tonya Striplin, 843-6228, [email protected], www.jonquiljubilee.com

Directions: Gibsland is located approximately one mile south of I-20 at the Gibsland/Athens Exit (#61), 45 miles east of Shreveport and 56 miles west of Monroe.