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From: Shannon Morris, Eros Alderman
Eros, Louisiana 71238

Subject: Board of Ethics Charges

The time has finally arrived and I would like to share it with you.

Louisiana Board of Ethics, Docket # 2025-144
Charges issued against Kelly Gryder (Public)
Meeting Date: 3/5/2026
Date Published: 4/2/2026

Charges issued against Kelly Gryder, in her capacity as mayor for the village of Eros, regarding her receipt of compensation to which she was not duly entitled and her participation in matters in which both she and her husband had a substantial economic interest.

In March 2019, the Board of Aldermen adopted a budget with an annual salary of $5,928 allocated for the mayor. The Village did not approve any budget for the years 2020 through 2023. Louisiana Law provides that if a budget has not been approved for a political subdivision, then 50% of the amount appropriated for the last fiscal year shall be deemed appropriate.

From April 1, 2022, through October 12, 2023, Kelly Gryder received $63,200.69 in compensation from the Village, paid through 146 checks written from the Village’s general checking account and the Eros Utilities checking account. Kelly signed each one of those checks, the majority of which were post- dated and cashed prior to the date of the check. In 80 weeks, Kelly Gryder wrote herself 146 checks. That number is just 14 shy of two checks on average every week. In addition to the 146 checks she paid herself, Ms. Gryder also paid her Verizon cellphone bill with Village municipal money totaling $3563.86 that was unauthorized.

In July 2023, Ms. Gryder issued a check from the Village to her husband, Todd Holton, in the amount of $1,500, purporting materials and labor for Mr. Holton to make Village repairs.
These charges do not address the findings of the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s review of the Village of Eros that he submitted on June 22, 2022.

In that investigation, the Auditor found that Kelly had claimed more than $10,000 in unemployment benefits from the Louisiana Workforce Commission while working full-time at the Municipality of Eros.

The Auditor also found over $28,000 in bookkeeping discrepancies, where Utility customers paid the money they owed to the Village, but the money never got deposited in the municipal Utility account at the bank.

This should clear up any reluctance there is that Kelly Gryder did not do anything wrong. What she did was steal from her family and friends, and that is about as wrong as it gets.

Thank you for your time.

Shannon G. Morris