|
Waiver request submitted by Ashely M. Spears, former member of the New Beginnings Charter School Board/New Orleans, regarding a $1500 late fee assessed for filing her 2018 Tier 3 annual pfd 44 days late. |
|
Ashley Spears is requesting a waiver for the late filing of her 2018 PFD Statement for the following reasons:
Ms. Spears stated she called the BOE regarding her late fee assessment and was informed the NOD was signed and the letters "A" and "P' resembled her signature; also the first Late Fee letter was returned to our agency by the post office. She has been living at her residence since 2015 and has received all other certified letters sent to her address by others. The fact that the mail was returned cannot be attributed to her failure to act, as she did not receive our NOD from the post office. She quoted LA R.S. 42:1124.4(A) (1) states that "the board shall notify the person of such failure, omission, or inaccuracy by sending certified mail or service of process a notice of delinquency immediately upon discovery of the failure, omission or inaccuracy". However since she did not receive the notice as it was returned to sender, she is asking that the Ethics Board waive her late fee assessment. After receiving a copy of the NOD issued in July 2019 and a copy of the signed NOD Green Card, Ms. Spears said she had never received the NOD, nor did she sign for the NOD when it was issued. She asserts that the NOD was signed by a postal worker and left in her mailbox. While she understands the issue here is timeliness of the filing, she is asking for the waiver as there was no intent to not file or conceal her financial information. She hopes the Ethics Board would take the issues with the certified mail into consideration. This has never happened before and she can guarantee that should she be required to file disclosures in the future, this will not happen again.
Staff Notes:
Only one NOD was issued on 7/8/2019 and never returned. The signature on the green card appears to match the signature on other green cards sent to the same address. The Late Fee Order issued 10/2/2019 was the only letter returned by the Post Office on 1/9/2020.
|
|
TYPE OF REPORT: 2018 Tier 3 Annual Report
ORIGINAL FILING DATE: May 15, 2019
DATE NOD RECEIVED: 7/27/2019 (personally signed green card)
DATE REPORT FILED: 9/19/2019
DAYS LATE FROM NOD: 44 days
DAYS LATE FROM ORIGINAL DUE DATE: 127 days
ASSESSED LATE FEE: $1500
PRIOR PFD LATE FEES: None
PRIORCF LATE FEES: None
OUTSTANDING DISCLOSURE REPORTS: None
PRIOR EXPERIENCE: has filed 6 reports or amendments
|
|
La. R.S. 42:1124.3
requires persons holding a public office who represent a voting district having a population of less than 5,000 and each member of the governing authority or management board of a charter school created pursuant to Chapter 42 of Title 17 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 to file a financial disclosure statement on or before May 15th of each year during which the person holds office and the year following termination of the holding of such office.
La. R.S. 42:1124.4 of the Code provides that upon discovery of the failure to file, failure to timely file, omission of information or inaccurate information, the Board shall notify the filer by sending him a notice of delinquency by certified mail. The notice of delinquency shall inform the person that the financial statement must be filed, or that the information must be disclosed or accurately disclosed, or that a written answer contesting the allegation of such failure, omission, or inaccuracy must be filed no later than seven (7) business days after receipt of the notice of delinquency.
|
|
|
Suspend all based on future compliance with the reporting requirements under the Code of Ethics.
|
|
| Assigned Attorney: |
Tracy Barker |
|
|