Four EBR-COA employees use taxpayer funds for cruise to Belize and Mexico

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BATON ROUGE- The WBRZ Investigative Unit found taxpayers foot the bill for an annual trip for four employees at the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging to go on an all expenses paid cruise last year. The employees who were called chaperones did not use vacation time during the trip.

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Shannon Battiste is an attorney in town and recently says he donated $1,500 to the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging. He says he would like a refund if the money he donated didn't go to seniors.

Some of it seems to be self-serving especially since the COA has such limited funds," Battiste said. "I understand they just had a great tax passed, those funds could have been converted to something other than a cruise for employees."

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Board Member C. Denise Marcelle, who is new, said it cost about $2,600 for four employees to go. She said this story is "not news worthy" because she says trips occur every year, and not just at the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging. Marcelle said the four employees who went were ATC, also known as Authorized Trip Coordinators, trained for minor medical problems. According to Marcelle, the ATC's had to look after seniors who got sea sick.

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