LIVINGSTON PARISH - Things went off the rails Thursday at the Livingston Parish Council meeting. 

Councilman Garry Talbert alleged that during a Christmas party, he was told another council member had sexually harassed his step-daughter. An internal investigation found no wrongdoing on Chairman John Wascom's part, but Talbert says the investigation was handled poorly.

"There were women there that Lauren came up to right after the incident that could've spoke to her being visually upset, but they didn't want to talk to those people. They talked to the bare minimum and said there was nothing there," Talbert said. 

"The Chairman at the time told me there were some allegations that he had to look into. I said, 'Absolutely, this is serious, and I think if you get these things they need to be taken seriously.' When it was over I said, 'Hey how'd it go?' and he said, 'Well it's over, nothing was found, and she said she didn't want to pursue it,' Wascom said.

Talbert's step-daughter was a parish clerk. She said she originally filed the complaint with human resources but no action was taken. She was fired and later re-instated around the time Wascom was appointed Council Chairman, making him her boss.

There is a complaint filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from April where she alleged that Wascom harassed her in the form of unwelcome touching.

"She brought a severance package saying, 'I'm going to file suit against the parish, but if y'all give me $60,000 I'll go away for free. I won't file suit against the parish for falsely firing me or harassing me.' I guess anyone could go present allegations to the EEOC, but for it to move forward there has to be merit and she had none," Wascom said.

"We need to know what happened and why it happened and is there a problem and does the parish have some responsibility in a cover up of a harassment claim made by an employee. Given the fact that it's gone to the federal government and they're investigating it, they realize this is something that's going to continue on until it's resolved," Talbert said.