Two Central Louisiana municipalities were cited for numerous issues in audits released on Monday that ranged from using public funds to buy flowers for residents to malfeasance in office.

An audit of Forest Hill cited 22 findings with the Rapides Parish village, including four that violated the Louisiana Constitution, along with problems with payroll and utilities. Another audit looked at Rosepine, finding that an employee kept and improperly used a town gas card before and after being terminated.

Both annual financial audits were released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's Office. Forest Hill's was prepared by Rozier, Harrington and McKay in Alexandria, while Rosepine's was done by John A. Windham, CPA, in DeRidder.

The Forest Hill audit, which covers the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2014, cited three separate instances where a clerk made personal charges on the village's credit card. It also found that a clerk made an additional payment to herself "in excess of her authorized wage," reads the report.

The clerk was not named in the audit. However, the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office on Jan. 5 arrested a former village deputy clerk, Trista Nicole Goleman, charging her with 17 counts each of forgery, malfeasance in office, injuring public records and filing false public records. According to a release at the time of Goleman's arrest, she allegedly had been cashing money orders sent to the village by people who were paying fines.

The Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office said Monday that it did not yet have the file on Goleman. The file should be turned over to the DA's office by the end of this week, according to the sheriff's office. The audit does note that the village was reimbursed for the charges and excess payment.

Forest Hill Audit

A message left for Forest Hill Mayor Ann Jeter wasn't immediately returned on Monday.

The audit did cite weaknesses in the village's administration and collection of traffic citations, noting that staff couldn't find some original documents and that some information on payments wasn't received timely nor was properly recorded.

The village also missed about $30,000 in unbilled revenues because it didn't accurately bill natural gas customers. The village, in its response, said its complex billing system led to the situation. It has asked its software vendor "for appropriate procedures and will implement a system to verify billing rate accuracy before any bills are issued in the future," it reads.

In addition, the audit found that utility accounts in arrears by more than 20 days are increasing, and that even some employees were slow to pay their bills. The village responded that it had "slightly lengthened" the time that customers were allowed to pay their bills.

Some village employees who worked for the Louisiana Nursery Festival weren't paid through the village's payroll system, meaning payroll taxes weren't withheld. The village responded that it has told "the appropriate personnel that all paychecks to employees regardless of the function they are performing must be paid using the payroll software and that the applicable payroll taxes must be withheld on all payments."

The village also paid sales taxes on some invoices found during the audit, even though the village is exempt from paying such taxes.

Four findings were violations of the state constitution, including buying flowers for ill or deceased citizens, buying alcohol, buying meals for a Christmas party and donating money to a nonprofit organization.

In all but the donation instance, the village said it was reimbursed before the audit was released. Procedures have been changed, and — in the case of alcohol — the council authorized a change to its employee per diem policy, states the response.

Three problems were found with checks and deposits, according to the audit. In one case, a check with no signatures had cleared a bank despite a village policy that requires two signatures. Blank checks also sometimes were given to clerks "for use during absences of second-party signors," it reads.

The village stated that deposit was a one-time occurrence. It also said that the bank contacted the village to verify the check, and that the bank was given permission to deposit the check "after review of supporting documentation."

In another instance, an employee made up a deposit shortage by using her own money. The audit said the village should have controls to verify what's collected and deposited so errors could be addressed.

Rosepine Audit

Rosepine's audit contained a cautionary message.

"Subsequent to year end the chief of police was charged and indicted on several counts. If convicted this could open up possible lawsuits that could be a substantial expense to the Town of Rosepine," reads the audit.

At the time of the audit, no claim had been filed because of the alleged actions of Chief Dennis Parrot, who pleaded not guilty in March to charges of felony malfeasance, stalking and sexual misconduct. Parrot, who still holds office, had been indicted in December for allegedly stalking his estranged wife and a male friend with police equipment. He also is accused of engaging in sexual activity with two people in custody.

At the time of his plea, a pretrial hearing was set for May 6 with a jury trial scheduled for May 18.

The town also turned over information to the Vernon Parish Sheriff's Office after the audit found an employee who had kept a town gas card after he was terminated. The audit said cards for the town's trucks were stored in the trucks, so town officials didn't discover that the employee allegedly had been using the card over the previous year to fuel his personal vehicle.

Former employee Troy Miers was arrested in late January on one count of unauthorized use of an access card for about $3,000. The town agreed with the audit's finding that a lack of monitoring contributed to the incident. It stated that cards now would have to be checked out and that their usage would be reviewed monthly by the town clerk, public works director and the mayor.

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