MONROE, La. (KNOE) – A board member for the Southside Economic Development District (SEDD) has asked the City of Monroe to seize the SEDD’s assets.
Board Member Marty Campbell told the Monroe City Council on January 10 that certain board members are not following the law regarding awarding money.
“It doesn’t line up with the statute on how we are to appropriate and do funds,” SEDD’s Executive Director Charles Theus told KNOE. “Give out contracts.”
Board Chairman Tony Little refutes that claim.
“The citizens of South Monroe have waited too long for this for us to make a mistake,” explained Little. “We are following the letter and the intent of the law.”
Theus is accusing Little of putting a $75,000 budgeted project on hold in favor of a different project.
“It was programmatic stuff, one of them was a legit project, and the others were earmarked for a political action committee,” said Theus. “The chairman wants to run for mayor.”
Little didn’t deny that he would run for mayor, but refuted Theus’ claims.
Little adds that three public meetings will be held in January to debate the proposed changes to the budget.
“No vote that I have ever cast has anything to do with anything political,” Little told KNOE. “It’s what I came to this board for, and that is to improve the blight of South Monroe.”
Despite Little’s denial, Theus goes even further, saying Little has held up a proposed financing tool known as a TIF that would make $25 million available to SEDD over 25 years from Mayor Friday Ellis for political reasons.
“The relationship was to deny the TIF, deny anything to give the mayor some type of recognition that way, they had the hopes of defeating him,” Theus explained. “They knew the TIF would probably make the mayor a very popular person on the Southside.”
Once again, Little denied the claim and added that if the proposal were put back on the table, he would call a special meeting to debate it within 48 hours.
“The TIF is surrounding infrastructure projects. All infrastructure projects require planning,” said Little. “Even if the mayor gave us the TIF, it would be a year or two before citizens would see a direct impact.”
Further complicating matters, Little says Theus was removed as SEDD’s Executive Director, but Theus says the board didn’t have the appropriate quorum when the vote was taken.
Copyright 2023 KNOE. All rights reserved.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/T2ZFVQZWFZBURDXNMUAJMTRV7A.JPG&description=Political+infighting+plagues+Southside+Economic+Development+District){kind=link}