ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / August 14, 1999

LAPLACE-Walter Willard, the attorney hired by the St. John Parish Councilto look into charges of mismanagement in the St. John Public HousingAuthority, said he has been forced to subpoena records from the office of Executive Director Patrena Ester.

In a letter dated Aug. 6, Willard requested 14 items from the records ofthe housing authority. So far he has only received one item, the minutes ofthe Board of Commissioner’s meetings for the past 12 months.

“I am not getting any cooperation from the housing authority,” Willard said. “This is going to be an uphill battle.”Councilman Clinton Perrilloux was outraged by the Housing Authority’s behavior.

“I have a problem with the executive director keeping public records from our legal counsel,” he said, almost shouting. “It seems like she is hidingsomething.”Willard hopes to have served the subpoenas next week just before the appeals hearing begin later in the week for the five commissioners who were dismissed on July 6.

“Those documents are vital to this investigation,” Willard told the council.

“I need those papers to get a full picture of what is going on.”Willard is under a strict deadline set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In a letter sent to the council, HUD stated that thecouncil has to hold the appeals hearing and have a new board of commissioners in place by Aug. 23; otherwise HUD will come in and takeover the investigation and public housing.

Adding to the fire, HUD also said that the council cannot request that Ester stop evicting people.

“The Housing Authority will continue full enforcement of its leases,” the letter stated. “The council has no authority to limit evictions.”Willard also said he is puzzled by the HUD report that was sent to the council in mid-July.

“My two readings of the HUD report leave me with a lot of questions,” he told the council. “The report only seems to quote what Ester and themaintenance department said.” Willard wants to know why in an investigation of the Housing Authority board, no board members were questioned and why HUD didn’t talk to any of the commissioners.

“I am at a loss to explain the logic of the HUD report, ” Willard said. “Itjust doesn’t add up.”Then Willard brought up Ester’s job contract. In his legal opinion, he said,Ester should have been terminated in December 1998. After 1998, she didnot receive favorable ratings and thus should have been fired according to her job contract.

Councilman Ranney Wilson wanted to know if Willard could get the 1997 housing report which stated that everything was 100 percent in St. JohnPublic Housing. Willard assured Wilson that he could.This glowing report ensured that Ester kept her job. However, the reporthas to be signed by both Ester and Shiela Morris, chairperson of the Housing Authority board. Morris claims that she never signed the reportand that it is not her signature on the 1997 report.

Councilman-at-large Dale Wolfe intoned, “We are up against dangerous people from Washington on down.”

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