When a pipe burst on the Pentagon Barracks in February 2021, the state company that oversees the historic construction throughout from the State Capitol moved ahead in regular vogue to repair the three broken flats.

Officers employed a state-approved contractor, who set about changing the waterlogged flooring and fixtures with a aim of getting all of it performed earlier than that 12 months’s legislative session six weeks later.

However Home Speaker Clay Schexnayder, the chief of the Home, insisted on a extra complete rework of the 2 flats he makes use of on the Pentagon. One unit offers residing quarters, whereas the opposite serves as a lounge for guests.

And Schexnayder ditched the state’s contractor and introduced in a brand new firm to do the work: A small contractor referred to as DAPA Enterprises, owned by his two stepsons, Jonathan and Beau Diez, in keeping with paperwork obtained from a public information request. The paperwork included emails between state officers, invoices, budgets and notes from state officers.

In the meantime, Schexnayder’s spouse Phoebe requested new home equipment, and turned to Gorman Brothers in Prairieville, an home equipment retailer, the place she works as a bookkeeper.

With the modifications sought by the Schexnayders, they changed the Formica counter tops with quartz, a expensive improve; the previous ceramic tile flooring with a extra up to date tile flooring; and the vary and hood of their residing quarters with home equipment price not less than $13,500.

In all, upgrading the place would price taxpayers not less than $44,338.10, in keeping with a state doc.

The state-hired contractor didn’t get the prospect to put in the home equipment or full the rework, nonetheless. Schexnayder locked out the employees after they tried to complete the work, claiming they did a poor job. That’s when he employed his stepsons.

They billed the state for a further $48,462.06, in keeping with state information. Officers on the state Division of Administration ready to reimburse DAPA — till they realized that the corporate was not within the state’s procurement system, which meant the state couldn’t pay the contractor.

DAPA is just not licensed by the state Licensing Board for Contractors, which requires contractors to be licensed in the event that they do work on residence buildings just like the Pentagon Barracks if the supplies and labor exceed $50,000. Whereas the corporate billed just below that quantity, it is not clear whether or not the price of the supplies they used would require them to be licensed.

A day after The Advocate | The Instances-Picayune requested him questions concerning the spending, Schexnayder provided a protection of his actions to the total Home when he offered Home Invoice 756, which might put the Pentagon Barracks and different close by state buildings beneath the lieutenant governor’s workplace. He’s privately saying he would run for the workplace.

Schexnayder advised Home members the delays in repairs by the Division of Administration have been “political” and stated he certainly employed his stepsons to supervise restore work. The speaker didn’t point out that he tried to invoice the state for the work.

Schexnayder stated in a press release he waited too lengthy for the state to complete the work, and ultimately “made the choice to get it performed myself.” He stated when the Division of Administration didn’t pay the $48,462.06 in invoices, “I paid for it myself.”

However Jonathan Diez, one of many stepsons, stated in an interview he has nonetheless not been paid for the work and hasn’t been advised why. He stated it was a “nice query” why he hasn’t been paid but.

Schexnayder added that he “labored out a cost plan and the subcontractors got here first.” His private monetary disclosure for 2021 reveals his solely earnings was $59,787 from his work as speaker and fewer than $5,000 from his development enterprise.

Schexnayder might have paid for the work out of the speaker’s finances or by utilizing cash from certainly one of two legislative-oriented nonprofit teams he co-founded final 12 months that don’t should report their contributions or spending.

Schexnayder’s hiring of his stepsons to work on the Pentagon constructing doesn’t seem like unlawful, even when he paid them utilizing state funds. The Louisiana Board of Ethics has held that stepsons should not thought-about “speedy household,” that are prohibited from contracting with an elected official’s company.

However Daryl Purpera, who served because the Louisiana Legislative Auditor from 2009 to 2021, stated the transactions don’t look good.

“Everytime you begin doing issues with household, it’s essential to guarantee it’s an arms-length relationship,” Purpera stated. “These points should be performed very fastidiously.”

Schexnayder, 53, a Republican from Gonzales, was elected speaker by the Home as his third and remaining time period started in 2020.

Because the speaker, Schexnayder wields monumental energy, deciding which committees Home members sit on, which payments are heard and who will get to stay within the coveted Pentagon Barracks flats, amongst different issues.

The Home speaker receives a couple of perks. One in all them is use of the 2 flats on the Pentagon Barracks, a former army garrison steps from the State Capitol. The sequence of 4 two-story crimson brick buildings encompass a courtyard with a fountain within the center.

Schexnayder pays $500 monthly, in keeping with state information, for side-by-side items that face the Pentagon’s courtyard. A choose group of lawmakers picked by the speaker and Senate president get flats on a budget, paying $200-$400 a month; many have roommates.

One in all Schexnayder’s flats accommodates 1,735 sq. toes and presents him a spot to sleep with a bed room, kitchen and lounge. The adjoining one, with 635 sq. toes, additionally has a kitchen and serves as a lounge for legislators and different guests.

Schexnayder had been speaker for a few 12 months when a three-day freeze in mid-February 2021 ruptured a pipe within the Pentagon attic, sending water cascading right into a second-floor residence and Schexnayder’s two first-floor flats. The lounge suffered the worst harm.

The Workplace of State Buildings, which is a part of the sprawling Division of Administration, instantly set to work.

With the legislative session set to start in six weeks, the company declared the incident an emergency to speed up the work. It employed one firm to take away the water-logged flooring, ceilings, cupboards and furnishings in all three flats. State officers employed one other contractor to return the items to their former situation.

That contractor, Baton Rouge-based Nerams Building, started engaged on Schexnayder’s two flats on March 3, 2021, in keeping with state information, lower than 10 days after the rupture.

However Schexnayder started to vary the plans even because the contractor set to work.

On March 5, Cindy Mancuso, Schexnayder’s govt counsel, relayed that Schexnayder “needs a distinct ceramic tile in his flats” than within the one upstairs that was additionally being reworked due to flood harm. That residence ought to have wooden laminate flooring which can be in different flats, she stated.

“These flats are simply utilized by the members,” Mancuso wrote. “The Speaker’s areas — (items) A-10 and A-11 are public areas, utilized by many outdoors teams, and so forth. He needs one thing ceramic and sturdy, however he may have particular concepts about what, so we’ll should ask him.”

On March 8, Phoebe Schexnayder made her needs recognized when she met with an official from the Workplace of State Buildings to “talk about our present development actions, timeline, and expectations almost about finishes,” in keeping with notes of an company official.

Phoebe needed the quartz counter tops, a extra up to date tile for the ground, a brand new kitchen sink and new home equipment and fixtures.

Within the lounge, the Schexnayders additionally needed the Workplace of State Buildings to take away a wall to open up the kitchen, take away a tub and convert the room right into a closet and renovate one other closet.

Officers on the Workplace of State Buildings signed off on the modifications.

Nerams did its greatest to deal with the modifications sought by the couple and attempt to full the work earlier than the legislative session started on April 12.

On April 9, Schexnayder and an Workplace of State Buildings consultant toured the flats to see what work remained. The speaker identified some touch-ups he needed, however had no complaints concerning the work, in keeping with the Division of Administration.

Nerams labored via the night time to suit the brand new sink, which had simply arrived, with the brand new counter tops. The contractor was set to complete putting in the brand new tile flooring the following day.

However that day, the “Speaker wouldn’t enable Nerams into residence to finish punch checklist objects as a result of reconstruction work was lower than his requirements,” in keeping with notes of a state official.

That’s when Schexnayder introduced in his stepsons’ firm to complete the job. They needed to end putting in slightly over half of the brand new flooring, in addition to kitchen and loo cupboards, two new sinks, a dishwasher, Sheetrock and the brand new home equipment within the lounge. In addition they needed to repaint it. DAPA billed the state $35,526.10 for the work in that unit.

The Workplace of State Buildings had decided that the speaker’s residing quarters had solely a punch-list of things, together with touch-up paint and set up of baseboards. DAPA billed $12,935.96 for work performed in that residence. Mancuso forwarded each invoices to the Workplace of State Buildings, in keeping with emails obtained via a public information request.

“That’s quite a bit,” stated Ivan Quinones, who runs Nerams together with his spouse, stated when advised the value, including that the job took longer than deliberate as a result of he needed to look ahead to the brand new flooring ordered by the Schexnayders.

Being pushed apart stunned Quinones.

“We didn’t also have a likelihood to choose up our instruments,” he stated, estimating the loss at about $1,500.

Whereas Nerams was nonetheless on the job, Phoebe Schexnayder organized for top-of-the-line home equipment from Gorman Brothers. These included a $2,600 Kitchen Help ice maker, an $8,500 vary and a $2,500 wall hood, in keeping with emails.

Whereas it’s not clear who paid for the home equipment, the speaker’s workplace appeared to plan on paying for them with tax {dollars}, emails present. Mancuso emailed Workplace of State Buildings representatives on March 23 to ask concerning the home equipment, and stated if “we” have to organize them, “we will then flip the bill in for reimbursement from (the Workplace of State Buildings) beneath the insurance coverage coverage.” She added that in the event that they have been going to be “Home property,” they would want to subject a purchase order order to Gorman and provides the home equipment a listing quantity.

An proprietor of Gorman Brothers didn’t reply to inquiries concerning the home equipment.

Across the identical time the work was getting performed, in April 2021, Schexnayder and different legislative leaders hatched a plan for funding upgrades to the State Capitol Complicated, a gaggle of historic buildings that features the Pentagon Barracks. They shaped two nonprofits to solicit donations to pay for work privately, with lobbyists requested to write down checks.

The saga of Schexnayder’s flats didn’t finish with the rework.

When the Legislature convened this 12 months, Schexnayder proposed a brand new plan for the Pentagon Barracks.

He filed Home Invoice 756 that will take the State Capitol Complicated — a gaggle of historic buildings together with the Capitol, Pentagon Barracks and Outdated Arsenal Museum — from the Division of Administration and put it beneath the lieutenant governor’s workplace.

The transfer put Schexnayder, who has change into certainly one of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ foremost adversaries within the Legislature since he turned speaker, additional at odds with Edwards’ administration.

Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne has objected to HB756, saying the Workplace of State Buildings can oversee the Pentagon Barracks and the opposite State Capitol Complicated buildings extra effectively and extra cheaply.