BATON ROUGE — Mayor-President Sid Edwards says that Louisiana Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack will conduct an investigation of East Baton Rouge Parish in an effort to "restore trust" in the government following a corruption scandal involving members of CATS and Metro Councilman Cleve Dunn.

Edwards announced his effort to increase transparency in the city-parish government at a news conference at City Hall on Thursday. Edwards said he met with Waguespack on Tuesday, asking for the review. 

"He will have our total support to look into whatever he deems necessary," Edwards said. 

Edwards said that his office reviewed programs that used state and federal funds when he entered office in January 2025 to "put stronger safeguards in place to ensure integrity across City-Parish government."

"In recent weeks, we have all become aware of charges brought against individuals for possible misuse of public funds that predate my election," Edwards said, in reference to Dunn and members of CATS. "However, the allegations themselves have understandably shaken public confidence in local government, and it is my responsibility to address directly."

Dunn, former Capital Area Transit System Chief Administrator Pearlina Thomas and CATS contractors Jay Colar, Terral “TJ” Jackson, and Erica Jackson were indicted on conspiracy charges related to Dunn's alleged abuse of his elected position of power in order to secure a $50,000 contract with CATS.

Edwards said the purpose of bringing the auditor in for an independent review is not to uncover criminal behavior, but to make sure everything in the parish government's operations is "clean as a whistle," as well as to find more efficient and effective ways to operate.

"Some key areas of this review would include the handling of federal grants, direct state appropriations, cooperative endeavor agreements, contract administration and invoice processing," Edwards added in a statement. 

Edwards, who was joined by city-parish officials, as well as District Attorney Hillar Moore, said that he is not sure how long the process will take, but expects the auditor to begin to look at the city-parish starting in March.