The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana contends Allen Parish police jurors are jeopardizing $50 million in federal infrastructure funding secured by the tribe for improvement projects to roads and bridges.

In a Dec. 9 letter to the Allen Parish Police Jury, Coushatta Tribal Vice Chairman Crystal Williams expressed concerns that local leaders are actively obstructing federal funding secured by the tribe out of what she says is “selfish spite, denying the citizens they are elected to represent of critical transportation infrastructure.” Williams also says leaders are misleading citizens about the reasons why.

According to Williams, the funding would help upgrade three roads and 10 bridges throughout Allen Parish, many of which are outdated and pose safety risks to the community.

Improvements are planned at no cost to the parish taxpayers, for Powell Road, CC Bel Road and Briscoe Road, two bridges on CC Bel Road, three bridges on Powell Road, a bridge on Bel Oil Road, Willis Courville Road, Hickory Flat Road, Lizzy Cole Road and Ward Life Road, Williams said in the letter.

“These improvements would not only enhance the safety and reliability of vital transportation routes but also support economic growth by ensuring better connectivity for all residents, local businesses, and emergency services,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, local leaders are retaliating against the Coushatta Tribe by blocking the progress of these projects and withholding the authorizations necessary for the work to continue. Local leaders, who would rather lodge false claims against our Tribe than serve and protect those that elected them, must be held to account immediately.”

She is asking officials to set aside misinformation and engage in meaningful dialogue to ensure the community continues to prosper. In addition, she said the tribe is committed to fostering cooperation and mutual respect between the governments and looks forward to building a future of collaboration and progress.

In response, Parish Administrator Jacob Dillehay told the American Press on Tuesday that the police jury cannot allow the projects to happen in its rights-of-way until it can afford maintenance costs.

“At the end of the day, it’s not really delaying it, but we are in a position where they are going to give us some really expensive infrastructure that they want to build in the parish’s rights-of-way and we will be responsible for maintaining that infrastructure,” Dillehay said. “The budget doesn’t allow it and our budget is being cut through the compact fund and trust land movements.”

The proposed improvements will result in a rural road being upgraded to federal highway standards, which means a significant increase in paved area and a much wider rights-of-way that will need to be maintained, resulting in a substantial increase in long term maintenance costs, Dillehay said.

Dillehay said the police jury will always be forward thinking and good stewards of the local tax payers’ money. The Ward 2 Road District, which would be responsible for maintaining the new improvements, relies solely on a limited amount of property taxes, he said.

“Considering recent local funding losses through the loss of Appendix D of the compact and the movement of large amounts of property off the local property tax rolls and into untaxed trust land, the local road maintenance funding simply does not currently exist to maintain these new roads in the long run,” Dillehay stated.

Problems between the Tribe and parish officials began last year after the Bureau of Indians Affairs issued new regulations affirming that federally recognized Tribes are exempt from mandatory payments to local governments under state gaming compacts.

Over the past decades, Williams said the Coushatta Tribe has voluntarily contributed over $80 million to local governments and invested heavily in community resources including public safety, infrastructure and economic development. Those efforts have created 2,900 jobs, contributed $11.2 million annually to the state treasury and supported 29 percent of all jobs in Allen Parish, she stated.

“Despite these contributions, and in a direct attack on our reputation of longstanding voluntary assistance to local government, recent comments from some local officials having knowingly and purposely spread misinformation about the impact of these changes,” Williams wrote.

She said instead of continuing to work in partnership with the tribe, local leaders have falsely and maliciously attacked the tribe’s people and its culture, claiming that the exercise as a sovereign nation necessitates raising property taxes in Allen Parish.

She also accuses leaders of taking steps to purposefully endanger public safety by refusing to house criminals arrested on tribal land in the jail which Coushatta funding helped to build.

Sheriff Doug Hebert Jr. said the accusations are “absolutely untrue” and that Williams is getting bad information from other people.

In the last two months, the parish jail has housed 8 or 9 inmates arrested by the Coushatta Police Department and has been holding one on a $25,000 bond since Dec. 2 for unauthorized use of a movable.

However, Hebert said the sheriff’s office is not holding tribal members for tribal crimes because the Coushatta Tribe has not responded to a proposed contract for those services. Without the contract, the sheriff’s office has no jurisdiction to hold tribal members without proper compensation, he said.