Carencro Government Builds $25,400 Fence On Private Property

For nearly two years, Citizens for a New Louisiana has pursued a series of questions about the City of Carencro, the Carencro C’est Bon Seasoning Festival, and the network of relationships among city government, nonprofit organizations, contractors, and public officials. What began as questions about a local festival eventually led to findings by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Yet despite repeated assurances that everything was in order, many of those questions remain unanswered.

And now, a new question has emerged.

Carencro’s Pas Bon Grift Festival!

The story began with the Carencro Pas Bon Grift Festival and the concerns surrounding the relationship between the City of Carencro and the nonprofit organization that operates the event. Questions were raised about the handling of public funds, the role of city officials, the nonprofit’s financial reporting, and the records available to the public. As additional records surfaced, discrepancies appeared between publicly presented information and internal financial documents. City officials repeatedly maintained that nothing improper had occurred.

Those assurances would later face an important test.

Some critics of Citizens for a New Louisiana dismissed the reporting as over-sensationalized. Reasonable people can disagree, particularly when they have longstanding relationships with the individuals involved. The Legislative Auditor, however, reached many of the same conclusions.

The Auditor’s findings ultimately confirmed many of the concerns raised regarding the mayor’s nonprofit organization and the handling of festival finances. The report identified significant deficiencies in governance, record-keeping, and compliance practices. What had initially been portrayed as unnecessary criticism had evolved into official findings from the state’s highest auditing authority. For many residents, the audit should have marked the end of the controversy. Instead, it raised an even larger question: If the problems were corrected, where is the documentation showing they were?

Friendships

Along the way, another pattern emerged. The issue was never simply a festival or an accounting matter. A recurring web of relationships appeared throughout the various transactions, organizations, and decisions surrounding the controversy. City officials appeared in nonprofit leadership roles. Contractors and vendors appeared connected through overlapping personal and professional relationships. Public resources, nonprofit activities, and municipal decision-making frequently intersected in ways that left residents asking whether proper ethical boundaries are being maintained.

Those relationships don’t necessarily prove wrongdoing. But together they create a recurring theme that is increasingly difficult to ignore. Again and again, the same names seemed to reappear whenever public money was involved. In some instances, public expenditures seem to benefit the same small circle of individuals and organizations.

The Records They Have Failed to Produce

On January 6, 2026, Citizens for a New Louisiana submitted another public records request seeking basic financial documents related to the festival. Among the records requested were:

• The 2025 profit and loss report;
• The cooperative endeavor agreement between the City and the festival;
• The nonprofit’s bylaws;
• The complete 2024 general ledger;
• Bank statements covering the calendar year 2024; and
• Detailed supporting financial records showing how the festival’s financial statements were prepared.

These are not unusual records. In fact, they are precisely the types of records that should exist if proper financial controls are in place. Yet nearly six months later, those records remain outstanding.

The same festival that has been the center of controversy, public debate, and ultimately a Legislative Auditor finding since its very beginning, still has not produced many of the records necessary to fully understand how public funds were handled. Which brings us to the newest chapter in the story.

Fences

Robert Frost famously wrote in the poem “Mending Wall” — “Good fences make good neighbors.” The lesson intended to be relayed is that clear boundaries between people help prevent disputes and preserve good relationships. It also implies the opposite — poor boundaries tend to create disputes and spoil relationships. Good fences, it would seem, require good boundaries.

Recently obtained public records revealed that the City of Carencro paid $25,400.00 to Mutio’s Construction for what was described as a wastewater infrastructure project involving fence replacement. We obtained those records through two public records requests to the City of Carencro:

• Records related to the construction of any chain link fence on or along property owned by the City of Carencro, further identified as parcel 6136647 located on the 500 block of St. Anne Street, including but not limited to: work orders, invoices, records of payments made, and accounts from which funds originated, and records outlining the public purpose of the fence.
• Records related to the construction of any chain link fence on or along property owned by Dorothy Siner, further identified as parcel 6055131 located at 218 Wilda Street, including but not limited to: work orders, invoices, records of payments made, accounts from which funds originated, and records outlining the public purpose of the fence. 

To put those two requests in context, it is important to understand the properties involved. The westernmost border of parcel 6055131 (the Siner Property) is shared with parcel 6136647, property owned by the City of Carencro. In response to our request for records pertaining to the construction of a fence on the City-owned parcel, we were told there were “no documents” responsive to our request.

Improving Private Property with Public Funds

However, regarding whether the City of Carencro constructed a fence on the private property at 218 Wilda Street, we were provided records supporting that it had done so. The records provided by the City of Carencro describe the work as removing approximately 560 feet of chain-link fencing, installing approximately 560 feet of new fencing, and installing two gates. The payment was processed as “WW Infrastructure Ph II.”

On its face, the transaction might seem routine. But a closer look raises questions. The fence appears to have been constructed around a private residential parcel located at 218 Wilda Street. Historical aerial imagery and street-view photographs show fencing existed on portions of the property in previous years, but do not readily reveal a deteriorated 560-foot chain-link perimeter corresponding to the newly constructed enclosure.

Current photographs and assessor records raise questions about whether portions of the City-owned parcel are now enclosed by fencing and used as part of the adjacent private property. If so, taxpayers are left with several obvious questions.

• Why was a municipal wastewater infrastructure project used to construct fencing around a private residence?
• What public purpose was served by the expenditure?
• Where was the 560 feet of chain-link fencing that was reportedly removed?
• And if portions of City-owned property are now enclosed, who controls access to that property?

Those are questions that deserve answers.

It was also easy to overlook the address of the contractor involved — 312 St. Anne Street, Carencro, Louisiana. That property is presently listed as being partially owned by Brian Breaux, the Chief Operations Officer for the City of Carencro. We do not presently know whether Mr. Breaux has any involvement in the fence project itself. However, the overlap once again illustrates how frequently the same names and relationships recur in matters involving public expenditures in Carencro.

The Issues

At first glance, a festival, a nonprofit organization, and a chain-link fence may appear unrelated. But the underlying issue has remained remarkably consistent. Public money is expended, public records are withheld, and public accountability suffers.

• The people of Carencro were told nothing improper occurred. Then the Legislative Auditor arrived.
• The people of Carencro were told concerns had been addressed. Yet key financial records requested in January remain unavailable.
• Now, the people of Carencro are being asked to accept a $25,400.00 fence project that raises an entirely new set of questions.

Other readers may look at a $25,400.00 fence project and wonder why anyone should care. After all, Washington wastes billions. Baton Rouge wastes millions. In comparison, $25,400.00 barely registers. But scale matters, and so does proportion.

A Matter of Scale and Proportion

A city government is not the federal government. Carencro is not the United States of America. The same thought process applied to a trillion-dollar federal budget doesn’t necessarily translate to a municipal government serving fewer than fifteen thousand residents. Twenty-five thousand dollars may be a rounding error in Congress, but it represents real money to local taxpayers.

More importantly, local government is where citizens have the greatest ability to demand accountability. Most residents have little influence over what happens in Washington and limited influence over what happens in Baton Rouge. That is why we focus on local matters. You can more easily attend your local council meeting. Anyone can request public records. You can speak directly to elected officials. You can vote.

If citizens are unwilling to question the use of public funds in their own backyard, they have little hope of controlling waste, favoritism, or corruption at higher levels of government. Accountability does not begin in Washington or even Baton Rouge. It begins on Main Street.

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