ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — A proposal to have the St. Tammany Parish Government take over the finances of the Coroner's Office has been postponed. This comes on the heels of a WWL investigation exposing the past of Coroner-elect Christopher Tape. But the outgoing coroner says the move is a money grab and doesn't properly address the issue at hand.
Our Whitney Miller was there and explains.
The current Coroner Dr. Charles Preston believes the emergency meeting was a move by the parish to address concerns raised by WWL investigative reporter David Hammer. However, at least one council member denies that, while the parish government declined to comment.
“I think this gives many more people the time to attend," said St. Tammany Councilman Jerry Binder.
Binder led a push Wednesday to have a proposal that gives the parish financial control of the Coroner's Office postponed. A move he said would give residents and council members more time to research.
“The fact that we have all of this news media here that’s because of no competition for the coroner’s office and some things that have come out.”
Binder is talking about coroner-elect Dr. Christopher Tape and a research David Hammer investigation that revealed decades-old child sexual assault charges against him.
“I get it, we would like to have a different coroner-elect. This is not the mechanism to address that issue," said St. Tammany Parish Coroner Dr. Charles Preston.
The outgoing Coroner Dr. Charles Preston says Dr. Tape should either resign, be impeached, or be recalled.
“To say that the new elected coroner, this could be something about his control is not true in my eyes and I think most of the council people up here probably agree with that too," said St. Tammany Councilman Larry Rolling.
If the proposal is to pass it would be sent to state legislators who will make a push to change legislation— giving control of the mill-funded coroner budget to parish officials and the council.
“We have 64 parishes in this state. To my knowledge 60 parishes operate the way this resolution is suggesting," said District 1 Councilman Rick Smith.
Dr. Preston countered by saying St. Tammany's Office is larger and requires more resources than many other parishes, adding he believes the proposal is a money grab.
“The parish government is very hungry and like they said the coroner’s office has money," Dr. Preston said.
And even though he will be out of office by the next scheduled meeting — Dr. Preston says he will be there.
“It’s not right, it just not right. I would say the coroner's office excelled over the last ten years. Yeah everyone who works has some detractors.”
It is worth noting the Coroner's Office and the parish are currently in litigation over the use of land surrounding the office. The parish's attorney made mention of the suit tonight — saying that no one on the council would be able to comment about the lawsuit.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.