REQUESTED LEGISLATIVE AUDIT- Thursday morning Shreveport City councilman John Nickelson of District C requested a legislative audit of the city’s finances just days after a former Shreveport city employee made open allegations of problems in the accounting department. On Monday the former employee City Controller and Certified Public Accountant Ben Hebert held a press conference and said he notified the Interim City Finance Officer Kasey Brown of his findings and Hebert alleges he was fired afterward and filed a lawsuit, the details were made public, prompting Nickelson’s request.
According to a post on Nickelson’s Facebook page, less than an hour after he made the audit request he says he was stripped of his Chairmanship of the City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee, a post he says he’s held for the past 3 years. The letter to the legislative auditor concern what Nickelson states as “…a wide range of allegations concerning incompetence and malfeasance in the Finance Department.” Nickelson’s letter also states the allegations from a former member of the city’s senior management team are serious AND require a transparent investigation from a legislative auditor.” The Shreveport City Council postponed a vote on appointing a CFO after the allegations were made.