Jefferson Parish’s watchdog is laying blame at Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng’s feet for the litany of problems that have plagued the finance department and caused the delay of multiple audits, the withdrawal of the parish bond rating, and the freeze of nearly $2 million in grants.
Jefferson Parish Inspector General Kim Chatelain published a 38-page letter last week lambasting the administration, saying problems in the finance department had less to do with uncontrollable factors previously cited by Lee Sheng — like a national accounting shortage and surge in emergency grant funding — and more to do with broader mismanagement and a failure to respond to rising problems sooner.
The letter goes on to further chide Lee Sheng for not having a corrective action plan or timeline as the parish pays $8.2 million to consulting firm Deloitte and Touche to bolster and restructure the department, which Chatelain called “an unsustainable solution” in an interview Tuesday.
“The Parish’s unprecedented delay in producing timely audited financial statements reflects more than isolated operational challenges; it signals systemic weaknesses in continuity, leadership stability, process documentation, and internal controls,” the inspector general wrote in her letter.
The parish fell behind on its audits starting in 2022 and earlier this year lost its top-notch bond rating from two major credit rating agencies.
Jefferson Parish Council and of Inspector General Kim Chatelain listens to a Jefferson Parish council meeting at the Jefferson Parish Government Center in Gretna, La., Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025.
The late documents have also caused the freeze of about $1.9 million in grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the downgrade of the east bank’s state water grade from “A” to “B,” according to Chatelain’s letter.
Lee Sheng responds
Lee Sheng said last week that the 2023 audit had been submitted, 15 months late, and the 2024 audit would be submitted by March — at which point the parish can request to have its bond rating reinstated. The parish plans to be back on schedule for the 2025 audit.
She has previously said the finance department struggled to keep up with the millions of dollars in emergency financial aid after recent hurricanes and COVID, creating 18 times the work without an increase in manpower.
Lee Sheng also has attributed the late audits to heavy turnover, hiring difficulties and outdated accounting software that the parish is now transitioning out of with Deloitte’s help. She added that the parish is contemplating major organizational changes and its operating procedures in hopes of preventing future issues.
Lee Sheng said Tuesday she did not disagree with Chatelain’s letter and that her administration is “trying to turn it for the better,” but declined to respond on Chatelain’s comments.
“These are matters of the utmost concern to the administration,” Lee Sheng wrote in a response to the inspector general. “At the same time, we believe the corrective steps already underway — together with continued oversight and support from our partners — places us on a path toward long-term stability.”
Staffing issues
The parish contracted Deloitte in May 2024 to supplement accounting staff and transition to a new software at a cost of $5,730,600 for a period of three years, although it has proven to be a pandora’s box of inaccurate data dating back decades for more than 800 grant projects, according to Lee Sheng, who was elected in 2020.
Chatelain’s letter highlighted the turnover of five accounting directors and four assistant accounting directors since 2023, following the departure of an accounting operations manager with 20 years in the role. Both roles are currently vacant.
It also noted that of 11 accountants hired in an 18 month period, eight of them left the department. Four of them transferred to other departments, and one later returned.
Chatelain argued the turnover erodes institutional knowledge and raises red flags regarding the failure to retain employees, saying, “all roads lead to management failures in the accounting department.”
Pricey contractors
Chatelain also criticized the reliance on Deloitte and raised concerns that the parish doesn’t have a plan to wean off the pricey contractors. According to Chatelain, the parish has spent $4.17 million on Deloitte in just the first year.
She also claimed that before the contractor was hired, “everyone inside the parish knew the accounting department was in a state of meltdown,” and that Lee Sheng “wouldn’t do anything.”
“There is a culture of inaccessibility that creates gaps in communication and damages operations, and accounting happened to be a critical function that was harmed by it,” Chatelain said.
A pelican sculpture outside the General Government Building in Gretna on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
The parish increased the contract cap last month to $8.2 million and will likely have to raise it again before the work is done.
“We’re going to dig our way out of it, and we’re going to be better for it by the end,” Lee Sheng said. “While we’re in the midst of it, we’re going to make it better.”
Chatelain, tasked with identifying waste, fraud and abuse in the parish, has been at odds with the Parish Council and president over the past year, after issuing a letter against a brewpub being built in Gretna using public dollars. Critics said she was acting politically on the matter by publishing the letter without getting a response from subjects.
