By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – At a special meeting of the St. John Parish Housing authority Monday, the board moved to fire Executive Director Richard “Dale” Wolfe after a little less than seven months on the job.

Commissioner Art Smith made the motion to terminate Wolfe’s contract on the basis of “contractual and policy violations.” The board had presented a list of 26 contractual violations, along with 25 other violations committed by Wolfe while in office.

The board voted 3-1 to terminate the contract, with commissioners Iona Holloway, Deshonda Firmin and Smith voting in favor. Commissioner Melissa Faucheux voted against termination. Holloway announced at the meeting Tenant Commissioner Clarence Narcisse had resigned from the board effective May 2 because of health reasons.

In the list of “contractual” violations, the board cited a failure to meet specific rent collection goals, failure to submit a balanced budget for the Housing Authority and failure to take proper action to acknowledge and correct deficiencies detailed in a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development consolidated review including development of a plan to determine the cause and use of more than $1 million in undocumented funds by the Housing Authority. It also lists a “professional incompetence as it relates to his ability to adequately and sufficiently perform the duties of executive director.”

The 25 other “policy” violations include improper use of a Housing Authority-issued vehicle, violation of the “personal dishonesty” provision of his employment contract by use of false information to cancel a special board meeting, improper hiring and procurement practices, use of an outside attorney without board approval and failure to pay the agency’s water bill, which has accrued to an overdue balance of more than $170,000.

The vote to terminate came after an hour-long executive session during which the board discussed Wolfe’s terms of employment. Wolfe was sent out of the meeting room twice during the executive session.

“I’m being punished,” Wolfe said. “They don’t want me in there.”

Wolfe also said the board had voted to terminate him while still in executive session and with the agency’s attorney present. All votes are supposed to be done publicly. Agency attorney Randal Gaines said that no vote took place in the executive session and added Wolfe was terminated because none of the HUD-identified deficiencies had been corrected.

“This agency is ready to move forward in a positive direction,” Gaines said after the meeting.

Wolfe had made multiple attempts to make a public statement after the vote, but commissioners quickly moved to adjourn the meeting before he could speak. A St. John sheriff’s deputy then escorted Wolfe out of the building as he continued to try to speak.

“What legal grounds do you have to stop me,” Wolfe asked the deputy. “I’m not doing anything wrong. This is public grounds, and I am a taxpaying citizen.”

Wolfe told reporters he had already intended to resign as executive director because of an inability to work with certain members of the board, but the board refused to wait for him to draft a letter. He said a board-imposed hiring freeze, along with other conflicts, had made it hard for him to do his job.

“They have my hands tied, and I can’t take it anymore,” Wolfe said. “I don’t regret it, but it was a bad choice.”

According to the contract signed in October, Wolfe is entitled to two months of severance pay if the contract is terminated within the first year. Wolfe’s annual salary was $75,000.

Gaines, however, said the board does not intend to issue Wolfe any additional pay because the contract stipulates the severance provision does not apply when reasons for termination include “personal dishonesty” or “illegal acts.”

“No further payments are justified,” Gaines said.

Wolfe said after the meeting that he intends to return to a job as a heavy equipment operator for the St. John Parish School system. Wolfe had taken a one-year leave of absence from the job and said he has until Oct. 21 to reclaim it.

Wolfe, who resigned from the St. John Parish Council after 35 years to take the Housing Authority position, also said he plans have his name on the ballot in October during general parish council elections.