Project Front Yard program was launched by LCG in the fall of 2014. The mission of Project Front Yard is to build awareness and stimulate improvement of the face of the local community through initiatives such as revitalization of gateways, improved streetscapes, litter removal and prevention, public art, river cleanup, and education.
In 2016, Skyra Rideaux, an executive assistant to Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux, and William LaBar, Vice President of CGI, developed an idea to create a software application named Gnome Nation Application (Application) that would allow individuals and groups to log Project Front Yard initiatives. In the summer of 2017, summer interns of CGI, who are tasked with working on civic projects, developed the Application. Ms. Rideaux met with the interns to discuss the progress and development of the Application. Carlee Alm-LaBar, the Director of the Department of Planning, Zoning and Development (PZD) and the wife of William LaBar, attended meetings with the interns and Ms. Rideaux and provided feedback pertaining to the aesthetics and interface of the Application. Project Front Yard is not a function of PZD, and Mrs. Alm-LaBar, as PZD Director, has no authority over Project Front Yard and its initiatives.
Upon completion of the development of the Application, LCG and CGI negotiated a Joint Collaboration Agreement, stating in part that LCG desires to use the Application in support of Project Front Yard, which brings together individuals, business, government and media partners to address community beautification through education, and that CGI and LCG desire to cooperate in this work. LCG and CGI have not yet executed the Joint Collaboration Agreement because of uncertainty as to whether a violation of the Code of Governmental Ethics would occur considering Mrs. Alm-LaBar's attendance at the meetings to review and discuss the Application.
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