By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The St. John the Baptist Parish Housing Authority has called a special meeting for Monday, in which the board will discuss the employment of Executive Director Richard “Dale” Wolfe in an executive session.

The meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Housing Authority main office, located at 152 Joe Parquet Circle, in LaPlace. The meeting is open to the public, but the executive session will be behind closed doors. Any action taken as a result of the executive session will be made public.

Neither Wolfe nor any members of the Housing Authority Board were available for comment on the meeting before press time.

Wolfe and some members of the Housing Authority board have struggled to get along since the long-time St. John councilman took over as executive director in October. Wolfe has been accused of failing to move forward in rectifying deficiencies detailed in a scathing audit of the housing authority conducted by the New Orleans branch of the Department of Housing and Urban Development that was presented to the board in January.

Some board members have also accused Wolfe of deceiving other board members to cancel meetings. Wolfe has argued that it is members of the board that are preventing him from completing business to get the agency back on track.

Tensions came to a head during a recent St. John Council meeting in which Wolfe, against the wishes of the housing board, went before the council to give an update on the housing authority and “clear his name.” The housing board had threatened disciplinary action, but instead moved forward from the incident in an effort to look past prior differences.