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Send a Tip → OnYourSide@wbrz.comCollis Temple Jr. ordered to pay fine after alleged conflict of interest while on Bridge Center board
BATON ROUGE — Businessman Collis Temple Jr., the subject of several 2 On Your Side reports from Brittany Weiss, has been ordered to pay a $25,000 penalty by the Louisiana Board of Ethics.
According to an Oct. 2 opinion from the ethics board, Temple allegedly used his role as a board member of the Bridge Center for Hope to help award a contract to a property he also owned, which the Louisiana Board of Ethics found to be a conflict of interest and a violation of state ethics laws.
The opinion says that in March 2019 the Bridge Center for Hope entered a cooperative endeavor agreement with the East Baton Rouge Parish government to "assign the use of public funds to the Bridge Center to manage the operation of a crisis stabilization program." Less than a month later, Temple was named to the board of the Bridge Center to serve a two-year term.
In August, the board selected Recovery International to provide clinical treatment services for the Bridge Center, with a cooperative agreement between the two authorized in December.
At this same December meeting, the board discussed proposed sites for the center, with Temple suggesting an empty office space for the center, a Florida Boulevard property owned by Human Resource Group, of which Temple is the sole owner.
In January 2020, Recovery International recommended the selection of this property, citing "cost savings and renovation timelines." Temple was not at this meeting, having resigned that day, but the board approved the site unanimously.
Recovery International then paid $150,000 to HRG for the property on Feb. 13, 2020, with additional payments in April 2020 and January 2021.
The board of ethics argues that Temple's actions violated multiple state ethics provisions. According to the state ethics code, no former board member can, for two years after their termination, enter into a contract with that board or commission. Ethics laws also prohibit a former board member like Temple from aiding another person for compensation in a transaction involving their former agency.
