News -> INDReporter MON, NOV 22 12:21PM by Leslie Turk

LHA trio dismissed again

In a letter dated Nov. 19, City-Parish President Joey Durel again notified three Lafayette Housing Authority board members of their dismissal — this time for violating the state's open meetings law. Durel was unsuccessful in his August attempt to remove the members in the wake of a blistering audit of the LHA; the three members were reinstated by District Judge Ed Rubin after they appealed their removal.

On Monday, Durel told The Independent Weekly he does not know whether the dismissed board commissioners will again appeal to the City-Parish Council, which upheld their prior removal. They have 10 days to do so.

Durel, who has appointing authority over the board, on Friday removed the three board members, John Freeman, Joe Dennis and Leon Simmons (the resident representative), for neglect of duty and misconduct in office, specifically for he calls a series of violations of the state’s open meetings law. The letter noted that the board members held an illegal executive session on Tuesday, Oct. 26, the day after Executive Director Walter Guillory and Deputy Director Jonathan Carmouche resigned.

While the board stated on its agenda for the meeting that it intended to go into executive session, writes Durel, it did not indicate the specific purpose for the executive session, which is required by law. Durel also claims that the board did not call a vote while in open session to go into executive session, failed to disclose the particular “personnel issues” it planned to discuss (the state’s open meetings law allows for such sessions to discuss character, professional competence, etc. of a particular person) and failed to give 24-hour notice to the person or persons it would be discussing. The board also failed to vote to go back into open session, according to Durel’s letter.

And while various media, including this newspaper, waited outside of the LHA’s Section 8 office for about 30 minutes while the board was in “executive session,” Dennis has insisted to Durel and The Daily Advertiser that no executive session was held that day. The minutes of the meeting, however, requested several times beginning more than a week ago by this newspaper, have Dennis stating, “We will go into executive session.” As the media was leaving the room, LHA administrative assistant Danielle Carmouche, wife of former Deputy Director Jonathan Carmouche, advised the board that it must vote to go into executive session, the minutes (prepared by Danielle) read.

In contrast to Durel's position, the minutes further reflect that a motion to exit the session was made by Simmons and seconded by Freeman. "My question is, quite frankly, were the minutes doctored?" Durel asks.

When the media returned to the room, the board members confirmed they had gone into executive session to discuss giving Freeman the authority to sign checks. They also stated publicly that while they intended to discuss the employment of Guillory and his deputy director, there was no reason to do so because they had resigned.

City-Parish Attorney Pat Ottinger, who also was unable to obtain the official minutes from the LHA, had to independently verify, through local media records, what took place at the Oct. 26 meeting, Durel says. (The LHA still has not fulfilled The Independent Weekly’s request for the minutes; state Rep. Rickey Hardy obtained them Friday and provided the paper with a copy.)

Reached on his cell phone Monday morning, commissioner John Freeman declined comment, referring questions to his Baton Rouge attorney, Ernest Johnson. Johnson did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

In an email to Durel Friday, Freeman offers to resign from the board immediately following the Nov. 30 board meeting if the LHA compensates him for the legal expenses he incurred fighting to get his board post back. “I cannot speak for Mr. Simmons but he shares my sentiment,” Freeman wrote, citing Louisiana law that he contends makes the board members eligible to recoup their legal costs.

“There is no legal method, ability, for him to get his legal fees paid,” Durel says, noting that the law Freeman references is designed to protect board members from lawsuits, not to reimburse them for filing lawsuits. “They sued as private citizens. They did it out of choice,” he says.



Comments (6)add
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written by Again , November 22, 2010 - 06:12 pm
Really - JD is just gonna stalk these people isn't he?
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written by Eat Prey Kill , November 22, 2010 - 06:20 pm
So is it two strikes you are out or will it be three?
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written by Mr. Common Sense , November 22, 2010 - 07:26 pm
Don't these three guys realize that by hanging on their LHA Board position and having a history of being ineffective, they are only hurting the people that deserve housing assistance.
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written by The Original Northsidian , November 22, 2010 - 09:38 pm
Many times I have disagreed with Mr. Durel, but this is one time I fully agree with him. By the way, what is Danielle Carmouche doing working for LHA? This is nepotism at its best! How did this get to the level it is now? Also what is going on with the Gachasin(spelling may be incorrect) fella doing all of these deals? Who does he know? The deeper they dig the more dirt they find!! This is but a small example of political cronies helping each other. Just think about the big picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , November 23, 2010 - 03:12 am
If you have ever " WITNESSED A GROUP OF BUZZARDS SWOOP DOWN ON FRESH ROADKILL, WEEEEL, NOW THATS WHAT FREEMAN, DENNIS, SIMMONS, AND CARMOUCHE'S BABYMAMA BE GETTIN DOPWN.
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written by realitycheck , December 27, 2010 - 02:52 am
There's too much money to be awarded by HUD for it not to catch Durel's attention and that is likely his only concern and reason for any interest in anything relative to low income people and housing. The city will be no better off with new Durel appointees who will continue dumping low income housing in concentrated areas, continuing segregation, awarding friends over following HUD regs for bids, etc. Hopefully, the fact that FEDS are involved may be the only salvation here. Still wondering exactly what angle the FBI is looking at??? How many agencies does it take to send Lafayette Good Ole boys to jail? Let's see, here we have FBI, State HUD, Federal HUD, State Auditors, State Police and the last to finally step up, our "Let's Make a Deal" Harson.
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