Jefferson Parish, La. - Barry Bordelon recently ended his six-year run as the executive director of the Jefferson Parish Housing Authority under a cloud.
"Just prior to Hurricane Isaac, we received an IG report from the HUD inspector general's office that outlined several issues that needed to be addressed with the Housing Authority," says Parish Councilman Chris Roberts.
Back in August, the HUD Inspector General concluded that the Housing Authority did not always follow federal requirements in awarding contracts. The feds also questioned more than $600,000 in expenditures by the agency.
"So as a result of that the Parish Council called for the resignation of the executive director, Mr. Bordelon, and prior to attention being taken to try and terminate him as executive director, he resigned on his own," says Roberts.
Now, just a month later, Roberts says Bordelon has been rehired by the same Housing Authority he used to head. Bordelon's new title is maintenance supervisor.
"The position that he is holding now actually would fall under the supervision of some of the same people he would manage before," says Roberts.
Roberts believes the action will only raise more red flags and he suspects it's going to warrant even further investigations by the proper agencies.
"The whole scenario is playing out in a way that causes me to very suspicious that there could be more wrongdoing that could be going on," says Roberts.
The Housing Authority manages HUD funds that come to the parish to provide subsidized housing, such as the Section 8 Program.
At a special Housing Authority meeting, board member Jonathan Liberto said he had no idea Bordelon had been rehired and he decided to question Interim Executive Director Dalton Simmons about it. Simmons confirmed that Bordelon had been hired as a maintenance supervisor, but Simmons said he had nothing to do with it. Simmons himself has only been on the job for two days.
The board says it will move forward with its search for a permanent executive director. In the meantime, the Parish Council is requesting the resignation of three current board members: Bill Boada, Huntley Dufour and Patrick Pierson.
"It's out intent to have those new Housing Authority members appointed in the vacancies that we created by forcing some of those members out, so that they can be part of the process of hiring whoever the new executive director may be," says Roberts. He also says the council believes the scathing IG's report is cause enough to remove the members.
Barry Bordelon
