There’s mischief afoot in Ascension Parish and things are getting a little trashy concerning Parish President Clint Cointment and his relationship with the owner of a local company called Trash Rangers which has a long-term sweetheart contract with the parish.
Complicating matters even more, the parish, Trash Rangers and its president, Dustin Clouatre, were named defendants in a lawsuit filed by an unsuccessful candidate for parish president. Cointment promptly fired the parish’s long-time legal counsel, O’Neal Parenton, and hired the same attorney who represents Clouatre. That could conceivably create a conflict of interest in the event that Clouatre and the parish end up pitted against each other over some issue as co-defendants in that litigation.
But the hiring of attorney Jean Paul Robert to represent both the parish and Clouatre means that the parish now appears to picking up the legal costs of Clouatre who is a contractor but not a parish employee.
It’s a tangled story but LouisianaVoice will attempt to pull the string that unravels the entire mess. But to do so, it’s necessary to rewind to Feb. 7, 2019, when Murphy Painter, then a candidate for parish president and on invitation from Clouatre, appeared in Clouatre’s office at Hughes Insurance Agency in Gonzales to discuss the possibility of Hughes Insurance’s possibility of getting the book of insurance for the parish government if he should be elected.
Unbeknownst to Painter, Clouatre taped their conversation and Wade Petite, campaign manager for Painter’s opponent, Clint Cointment, began circulating the news on his Web blog that he was in possession of a tape of alleged wrongdoing by Painter.
The wrongdoing alleged by Petite claimed that Painter covered up the rape of five girls under the age of 12 during his tenure with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Going back even further, Petite and District Attorney Ricky Babin had also taped then-Parish President Kenny Matassa giving money to Gonzales City Council candidate Wayne Lawson in 2016 but Matassa was acquitted of bribery at trial. Matassa’s biggest sin, it appears, was in beating Cointment for parish president that year.
In Painter’s case, Babin called him before a grand jury over the accusations but he was never charged with anything. In fact, the rape case presented to the grand jury occurred at a time when Painter was not even with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office. Painter, however, withdrew from the runoff election after the furor over what he insisted – and still insists – was an altered tape.
Painter has since filed suit against Cointment, Petite, Petite’s online publication, the Pelican Post, Clouatre, Hughes Insurance, and DA Babin. Hughes Insurance was dismissed and the court ruled that Babin had qualified immunity and was also dismissed. The other four remain as defendants and Painter has filed appeals on the two who were dismissed.
Cointment won the parish president’s race by default after Painter pulled out and one of his first official acts was to sign a no-bid $1.4 million contract for the parish’s book of insurance with Hughes Insurance with Clouatre as the agent of record.
But then, as if that were not enough, things began to get really dicey.
It seems that besides being an insurance agent, Clouatre also owns a trash pickup service called Trash Rangers. He’s nothing if not diversified.
In another no-bid situation, Cointment terminated the parish’s contract with its trash pickup company and awarded the contract to Trash Rangers for commercial trash pickup in the parish. The only signatures on the contract, which ran from July 22, 2021 to July 22, 2023, were those of Cointment as parish president and Clouatre as owner/president of Trash Rangers.
The contract also awarded Trash Rangers the right to store its equipment on a corner of the grounds of the parish-owned Lamar-Dixon Expo Center at the brother-in-law rate of $600 per month compared to $3000 per month that it charges other short-term tenants like the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Entergy, Dixie Electric, and Cat5 Resources — entities which would use the expo center as a staging area in the event of an emergency or natural disaster like a hurricane.
There are ethical questions about a public body giving something of value to a private person or company but that doesn’t seem to matter to Cointment who also agreed to allow Trash Rangers to supply a number of dumpster bins and roll-off containers for Lamar-Dixon’s use during events held here and to charge the parish $600 per container it empties when full.
In a magnanimous gesture, Cointment also approved an addendum that gives Trash Rangers, as a sponsor at Lamar-Dixon, the right to use the parking lot area for storage of equipment on a full-time basis, gives full advertising rights at the center, and even provides a link for Trash Rangers on the Lamar-Dixon Web page.
So, now the Ascension Parish government – and parish taxpayers by necessity – are in the trash business with Clouatre.
Clouatre is rumored to host elaborate parties on his $1.4 million yacht and his $400,000 Greek fishing boat that he paid $40,000 to have shipped to him, according to his boasts on his Facebook page.
Louisiana Voice 
No comment about the post, just to correct the spelling of O’Neal’s last name. It’s Parenton. We were in the same law school class.
Thanks. Correction made.
Tom,
To start, your facts are off base but given your source, I understand.
1) Clint Cointment’s attorney in this matter is Timothy Pujol which is not the same as mine so the parish isn’t picking up my bill. I know you already knew this but it didn’t fit your writing style.
2) The parish president doesn’t hire or fire the parish attorney. They DA does. Parenton was moved to another division probably 6 months in by the DA.
3) Murphy’s own nephew has testified (provide email and I’ll send a copy) that Murphy reached out to him to set a meeting up with myself. Never did I ask to set up a meeting more less to discuss insurance. Furthermore, his nephew is an insurance agent and Murphy assured him that he had a very good shot at getting the policies were he elected.
4) Ricky Babin didn’t record Kenny Matassa nor did he have anything to do with it.
5) The insurance contract you speak of was put out for a RFP and the firm I work for won it. It was then voted unanimously by the council.
6) The sponsorship deal you reference was also voted unanimously by the council.
7) The Greek boat isn’t a fishing boat. Bring a fishing pole or bait on it and you wouldn’t be welcomed back.
If I were a teacher with a red pen, you’d have more of my writing on your paper than your own. Let me know when you would like to discuss.
This Clouatre guy sure does know how to be sloppy and cry about it after. Very similar to Alex Jones.
Dear All,
During the last Finance Committee meeting there was some confusion and misleading statements regarding the contracts with Trash Rangers and LDEC. I’d like to set some things straight. But first, I wish to make my intentions perfectly clear. My intent is for this parish to abide by the laws (and contracts, which is the law between the parties) that are entered into by us and that should be enforced by us. Unfortunately the vetting of these contracts and the adherence to the terms of the contracts are not being done by this administration, thus leading to the Council to have to spend entire too much time on this kind of thing. To put it another way, had the administration done its job, much of the last meeting could have been avoided. It is the expectation that when a contract is executed between the parish and another entity, the administration ensures that the terms of the contract are being met and if they are not being met, that appropriate action is taken. Anything less could be considered malfeasance. So now I will break down some of the confusion and misleading statements and the contract.
I will be referring to the documents provided to me by the administration pursuant to my records request. These records came in two batches. The first came on July 13, 2022 and included minutes of an April 15 meeting, information from Kyle Rogers regarding market value of the LDEC property, the Sponsorship Agreement signed by Clint Cointment on June 28, 2021, an Addendum to the Agreement signed by Clint Cointment on September 1, 2021 and the Contract between LDEC and Trash Rangers signed by Clint Cointment on August 19, 2021. After I reviewed these documents I realized that there was no proof of insurance provided, which was a part of the contract. On July 26, 2022, I asked our legal department if it was just an oversight. It was not. On August 1, 2022 I got the second part of the request which included two insurance documents dated July 27, 2022 and July 28, 2022.
The contracts between AP (this will also be LDEC) and TR are for a “Lay Down yard for Dumpsters”. However, TR is now refueling at LDEC and has an office on the property to which electricity has been run. Moreover, they have admitted to washing vehicles there. If the document from Kyle Rogers is reviewed, the document that was used to determine a cost to lease the property, the non-use of water was a factor. Currently the property is not being used per the terms of the contract.
Representatives and some on the Council made a point of saying that TR was insured and had been since the start of the contract. This may be true. However, Section 10 of the contract requires that TR deliver to the parish “not less than ten (10) days prior to the commencement of this Agreement” specific amounts of insurance AND that “PARISH of Ascension and Employees and Lamar-Dixon ExpoCenter and Employees, shall be named as additional insureds.” There are other requirements that I encourage all to review. The simple fact is that as of this date, the TR has not met the requirements of this contract, thus exposing the parish, LDEC and the employees to potential exposure. Even the documents purporting to address this that were obtained in July 2022 do not meet these requirements, despite the statements of Dustin Clouatre that he knows insurance and gave us his word.
The contract in Section 14 (c) prohibits the storage of hazardous materials, defined as “without limitation, those. Substances included within the definitions of “hazardous substances”, “hazardous materials”, “toxic substances”, or “solid waste” in any applicable state or federal environmental law.” Mr. Clouarte’s contention that the parish stores diesel without permits is not at issue, but does indicate a possible failure of this administration to abide by state or federal law. Moreover, Mr. Clouatre’s contention that he will be getting a permit for the diesel tank is not germane to this issue. Permitting is not at issue. The concern is that the contract prohibits the storage of this substance, not only in section 14 (c), but also as the contract is only for a “Lay Down Yard”. Moreover, because the storage of diesel is outside the terms of the contract, there would arguably be a denial of coverage if there was an accident or accidental spill, thus exposing LDEC and AP to exposure for personal injury, property damage and environmental damage.
Likewise, the placement of an office on the property is outside the terms of the contract, thus may not be covered under the insurance policy. Again, this places the Parish and LDEC at financial risk.
The contract allows TR to dump dumpsters at a cost of $595 per dump with no limit. This places LDEC and AP at financial risk due to an uncapped exposure.
The Parish President was made aware, in writing, of the fuel, insurance and usage issues detailed above on August 1, 2022. I say this because is it his obligation to ensure that the terms of the contracts are being met. Ignorance of the issue was removed on August 1, 2022, but all of these problems persist. The President was given the opportunity to handle this before the past meeting, thus allowing us to avoid much of the talk in that meeting. So this raises a question. Is it only the TR contract this is being unenforced or are there many other contracts that are not being enforced? I don’t know the answer, nor do I know if there is a “right” answer. It is my positions that we should do our best to enforce all contracts, especially in situations that place the parish, its citizens and its assets at risk, both physically and financially.
Mr. President, please advise what action to will take to rectify this situation. Please consider this an official request for a response. (I am not sure of the Byzantine requirements you have for answering questions since you still refuse to answer them if asked during a meeting.)
I would hope to see an immediate cessation of fueling at LDEC and a removal of the diesel tank and the office, thus reducing risk to AP and LDEC, as this would meet the terms of the contract. I would also expect to see the proper insurance documents within a very short period of time. There is no need to renegotiate the contract if the actions and use by TR fit the contract. However, if the actions and use by TR do not fit the current contract and they are allowed to continue, the contract needs to be cancelled and renegotiated subject to council approval. Personally, I think TR is doing a good job with trash pick up. I’d like to see a cap on our cost exposure, but as long as the diesel and office are removed and proper insurance is proven, the contract may remain, provided it is legal and ethical, which I still have concerns about.
Finally, I have not touched on the conflicts of interest, but suffice to say, our insurance agent should not be determining if the insurance he is getting for one of his companies is sufficient to protect the parish. Likewise, there is a conflict of interest with Mr. Jean Paul Robert being both the counsel for the parish in any capacity and the counsel for Dustin Clouatre in any capacity. Both cannot occur at the same time.
Aaron J. Lawler
Ascension Parish Council
District 7