Louisiana Ethics Board: Baton Rouge Businessman Fined Over Clinic Lease
Collis Temple Jr. paid a $25,000 penalty for leasing property to a city-parish partner while serving on its board.
By Alessia Romano ·
The Louisiana Board of Ethics fined Baton Rouge business owner Collis Temple Jr. $25,000 for a conflict of interest involving a clinic facility.
The board issued its opinion on Oct. 2, finding that Temple suggested his own office building as the site for a Bridge Center for Hope location in December 2019. At that time, Temple served on the board of the nonprofit, which operated under a cooperative endeavor agreement with the city-parish to fund a substance abuse and mental health treatment center.
State law creates a two-year cooling-off period for former agency heads before they can enter contracts with the agencies they previously led. Temple resigned from the Bridge Center for Hope board the day after the organization selected his Florida Boulevard property in January 2020. Despite stepping down, the law still restricted his ability to contract with the agency during that period.
The Board of Ethics noted that Temple voted to approve the authorization of a clinical services provider at the December 2019 meeting where he suggested the empty office space. The provider, Recovery International Inc., was required to lease a property to fulfill its services agreement. The Bridge Center for Hope board unanimously approved the lease of Temple’s 3455 Florida Blvd. building on Jan. 21, 2020, a meeting Temple did not attend.
Temple personally executed the lease between Recovery International and Human Resource Group Inc., the company he solely owns. The nonprofit paid more than $200,000 in annual rent under that agreement, with payments beginning in February 2020. The board determined that Temple’s actions constituted an ethics violation because he contracted with the agency shortly after leaving its board.
The board had the option to assess a penalty equal to 150% of the profit generated by the deal. Instead, it resolved the violation with a civil penalty of $25,000 levied against Temple and his company. Temple was the first Black player in LSU basketball history and purchased the 3455 Florida Blvd. office building in 2006.
Temple could not be reached for comment on Friday afternoon regarding the fine.
