By T. Scott Boatright
The Grambling City Council appointed new members for a revamped Grambling Economic Development Corporation (GEDC) as the primary order of business during Thursday night’s monthly meeting held at City Hall.
Revamping the GEDC came during the week of a settlement reached on Tuesday that ended a lawsuit filed by the City Council seeking to dissolve the previous GEDC, which was comprised of GEDC President Edward Jones — Grambling’s former mayor – and board members Linda Butler, Mary Gipson, Phyllis Miller and Eddie Robinson III.
Eddie Milton Jones, brother of the former mayor, also resigned from his position as a GEDC in the wake of the settlement.
In exchange for those resignations, Grambling’s City Council agreed to absolve Jones and the former board from any actions taken that were or could be deemed questionable.
Previous board members were also ordered to turn over all keys, passwords, and other data necessary to access any computerized account or data.
The settlement included dismissal of a criminal contempt of court motion filed Saturday by the city and council against Jones and the previous GEDC board in regards to the sale of the Legends Square shopping center for $700,000 on December 30, 2024, to a Texas company, appearing to violate of a court order issued in December of 2023.
Edward Jones was also ordered to return a Chevrolet Malibu owned by the previous GEDC and the former members and employees were given until 6 p.m. Sunday to remove any personal belongings from the GEDC office located in the Legends Square Shopping Center.
Terrence Bradford, Jauna Creer, Kenneth Koroma and Grambling City Council members DeVaria Ponton and Delores Smith Wilkerson were appointed as the new members of the GEDC during Thursday’s meeting.
During that meeting city attorney Ronald Lattier stressed to the new GEDC members that while the committee is a separate entity from the city, it will be overseen by the City Council.
“That does not mean it runs the GEDC, it just means that certain transactions that relate to economic development, economic and economic development projects have to be shown to Grambling City Council members — that is what the law says,” Lattier said.
“Secondly, the GEDC is required by law to report its assets, liabilities and disbursements to the city of Grambling. It must report them. That’s what the statute says, and it has to be a complete financial report that includes every financial activity of the GEDC. Failure to do so can result in certain consequences.”
Lattier also stressed that the new DEDC members will be performing a nonprofit and unpaid volunteer service.
“You do not get paid for sitting on this board,” Lattier said. “A payment for sitting on this board is a direct violation of (a state statute). This is a nonprofit corporation. It’s not a for-profit corporation representing the city of Grambling and its citizens for defined economic projects.
“It’s also a transparent nonprofit corporation subject to the open meetings laws as established by the Attorney General’s office of the state of Louisiana, which means before you have a meeting, the taxpaying citizens of Grambling and others must be given 24-hour notice. Failure to do so results in a violation of the open meetings law and subjects you to fines and penalties.”
The new GEDC met at 7 p.m. Thursday following the City Council meeting and immediately amended its agenda after reviewing the minutes of the old GEDC’s final meeting from last August that included approval for Jones to sell the Legends Square property.
And then the new GEDC then went into an hour-long executive session.
When the new GEDC came out of that session and resumed the official meeting, it voted to retain attorney Todd Benson, one of the attorneys representing the city in the lawsuit against the previous GEDC for limited purposes and then adjourned its meeting.
