VIDALIA, La. — Louisiana Municipal Association officials said Friday that Vidalia Alderman Robert Gardner had registered for but never picked up credentials to attend the February 2024 Louisiana Municipal Association’s Mid-Winter Conference in Marksville after the Town of Vidalia paid for the conference registration and hotel room.

Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft brought up the matter of Gardner’s attendance to the conference during the regular Board of Aldermen meeting on Tuesday. Gardner said he had felt threatened by the mayor at the last conference in January while getting on an elevator and asked for future conferences to be housed on a different floor than the mayor.

Craft said for the previous conference, Gardner collected a check from the town for meals but didn’t go. This made Craft address the town’s travel and meal reimbursement policy at the April 9, 2024, meeting.

“You requested to go,” Craft said to Gardner on Tuesday. “You requested a room, you requested to be signed up for the conference, and the day of the conference, you even came by and picked up an expense check to go. You did not go. You didn’t register in the hotel that we got your rooms for, you didn’t register for the conference, and you took advanced money in City Hall.”

Gardner then called the mayor a “compulsive liar.”

However, LMA officials confirmed Friday that Gardner never picked up his badge credentials at the conference. A badge is required to attend any meetings of the conference, according to LMA. Craft also said Gardner never checked into the hotel room that was reserved for Gardner, yet picked up an advance check to pay for his meals.

The town got back the funds for the meals by withholding them from Gardner’s check but lost the cost of the hotel room and conference registration, which was around $250 or $300, Craft said.

Town Clerk Piara Wilson confirmed this at the Board of Aldermen meeting on Tuesday.

Gardner said Friday he couldn’t recall if he attended the 2024 conference or not but said he never collected money from the town for a conference he did not attend. Gardner said the mayor “garnished his wages” without him knowing.