Pineville Council hears about former mayor’s alleged card misuse, proposed settlement

PINEVILLE — Before details of a tentative settlement with a former employee were revealed Tuesday, those attending the regular Pineville City Council meeting learned that, according to its annual audit, the former mayor made more than $25,000 in credit card purchases “without a clear business purpose.”

That information has been turned over to the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office for investigation, said the city’s Chief Operating Officer Darrell Basco.

Former Mayor Rich Dupree resigned on Oct. 20 after admitting to an affair with another city employee, Brittany Poston Meshell. She filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last May claiming that she had been discriminated against and later fired after affairs with Dupree and another employee.

Through the EEOC, she and the city entered mediation and “came to a tentative resolution which requires the city to appropriate and pay to Ms. Meshell and her attorneys the sum of $188,500,” city attorney Mark Vilar said in a statement to the council.

Meshell would agree to drop all claims against the city, as well as current and former employees, in exchange for that amount.

Vilar said he recommended that the city agree to this settlement because, under federal law, the city is responsible for the actions of their employees while on the job and for paying damages as a result of those actions. He also said the settlement would shield the city from litigation and greater damages if the matter went to court.

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Resident Eddy Lashney asked if the city could recoup that money from the former employees, and Vilar told him no.

The council unanimously approved the introduction of a resolution to accept the agreement. The resolution will undergo a final vote at a later date.

As for the audit, certified public accountant Steven McKay said the city was in a “very strong financial position” overall, but three compliance issues were found.

One was the alleged credit card use by Dupree, he said. The purchases totaled $25,524, said McKay, and the audit also found that another employee made questionable credit card purchases worth thousands.

Those charges included insurance payments made on behalf of third parties, online fees paid on behalf of individuals and entities not associated with the city, transactions without a clear business purpose, sale taxes paid and items sent to the employee’s home.

This employee no longer works for the city, he said.

Another employee was paid to dress up in a costume outside of regular working hours at several city events, he said. But McKay said checks for that were written to several different parties throughout the year, which “appeared to us to be attempts to circumvent related parties issues.”

The frequency of use and price for those services increased through the year and ended after the employee stopped working for the city, he said, adding that it “would call into question whether the service was needed at all.”

McKay said the city also had paid Dupree’s son’s band to play several times and that the accounting department wasn’t aware of the relationship that existed.

He said, going forward, the city will use a form so they know if someone doing business with the city is related to any employees and vendors will have to certify that they are not related to anyone with the city. There will be a formal credit card policy put in place that will require prior authorization.

The audit was unanimously accepted by the council.

The audit report has not been published on the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s website yet because it still is being reviewed.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Audit: Former Pineville Mayor Rich Dupree spent $25K+ on city cards