On Politics: Another mailer on the way from Mayor Cantrell’s office; a new public works chief
By Ben Myers and Sophie Kasakove
Source: The Times-Picayune | Nola.com
December 17, 2023
For the first time in nearly three years, New Orleans has a permanent public works director after the City Council this week confirmed Clinton “Rick” Hathaway to oversee key city infrastructure issues that have caused heartburn among residents.
Hathaway, a New Orleans native and civil engineer with 41 years of experience, left a position as transportation manager with HNTB Corp. to lead the Public Works Department. He told council members he started his career with the city’s streets department, where he worked for 12 years starting in 1982.
“I couldn’t pass it up,” Hathaway said, referring to his new position. “I wanted to come back, end my career here and hopefully do some good.”
The last permanent public works director, Keith LaGrange, left in February 2021. He was succeeded by two acting directors, Josh Hartley and Sarah Porteous, who both left after serving for a little more than one year.
Public works has been a troubled department during Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration. Residents and council members have complained about stalled roads projects, traffic and street light outages and clogged catch basins. Relations between City Hall and contractors have been tense.
Jill Lafleur Photography
The department’s reputation began to improve over the last year, with council members and contractors lavishing praise on Porteous, as well as the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for infrastructure, Joe Threat, who started his position a year and a half ago. Whether that improvement continues will depend on Hathaway’s ability to execute and his communication style, neither of which are well known around City Hall.
Hathaway didn’t let on much about his plans during his 40-minute confirmation hearing as Threat fielded questions about current departmental issues. Hathaway wouldn’t take questions from reporters afterward.
Hathaway seemed caught off guard when Council member Lesli Harris asked if she could text him at night about potholes, as had been her custom with Porteous. Hathaway said he isn’t sure how the communication process works, adding that “whatever is the most efficient, I guess is the way we want to approach it.”
Threat interjected that Hathaway, who started on Dec. 11, is “drinking out of a firehose right now,” and Harris was content to take up chain-of-command issues later.
Landing a qualified director was no small task. The administration received 175 applications during a search that started in January; only 39 were deemed qualified. Some dropped out of the running “due to political atmosphere, low salary and other job opportunities,” according to the administration’s PowerPoint presentation.
The fact that Hathaway lives in Kenner didn’t come up at the confirmation hearing. That would seem to run afoul of the city’s domicile law requiring employees to live in Orleans Parish, with exceptions for certain public safety workers. The Cantrell administration had to do a bit of gymnastics to comply with — or skirt, depending on one’s view — the law.
The rule allows case-by-case exemptions for “extreme hardship.” Threat said in a brief interview that Hathaway received an exemption, though not exactly for the legally allowed reason.
The waiver is “based on the criticality of his position because we went through 175 people,” Threat said.
Flyer, second edition
Remember that now-infamous, campaign-style flyer Mayor Cantrell’s communications team mailed out early this year, as a recall campaign against her seemed to be gathering momentum?
It may not come to mind unless you’re a “likely voter,” since that’s who the glossy mailer with campaign-style sloganeering promoting the mayor was targeted at. Anyway, another flyer is on the way, and this time everyone is on the distribution list — or, at the very least, it won’t be targeted in a way to benefit the mayor politically.
So said Cantrell at her annual “State of the City” speech this week. She was careful to note that, this time around, “we’re going to make sure there are no issues relative to who gets it, or even what picture shows up on it,” referring to criticism that the last flyer prominently featured photos of the mayor.
To recap the whole episode: the story broke, the City Council called foul, a months-long investigation ensued and Cantrell’s communications director, Gregory Joseph, was effectively ousted for spending around $50,000 on what the council said was an illegal electioneering stunt.
The recall turned out to be a spectacular flop, but the controversy sparked by the flyer had staying power. First came the flyer. Then came the formal council hearings about the flyer, which produced Joseph’s memorable admission that as communications director he doesn’t watch or read the local news.
And then there were two hearings over Joseph’s removal — neither of which Joseph attended — that featured Council President JP Morrell taking City Attorney Donesia Turner to task for appearing on Joseph’s behalf. When Turner tried to distance herself from Joseph’s social media, Morrell compared her to “a Donald Trump lawyer.”
Joseph had always maintained the earlier flyer was intended to be an educational, non-political communication with residents about the city’s progress.
That’s what Cantrell said is the point of the next edition.
“All of the accomplishments that will go out to the public, as we did in 2023. We’re going to do the same in 2024,” Cantrell said. The bottom line is it’s about showing that work.”
Council and City Attorney
A simmering quarrel between the City Council and the City Attorney’s Office resulted in a new ordinance that passed unanimously on Thursday.
It requires that any contract for legal services must explicitly list the council as a “client,” along with the city administration.
It’s one of a series of council efforts in recent months to force greater oversight of the law department and Turner, who leads it. Morrell recently called her “possibly the most evasive person” to address the council during recent budget hearings.
The legal issue of greatest concern to the council is the federal consent decree governing the New Orleans Police Department. The council says it has been sidelined in high-stakes legal decisions over compliance. Council members’ outrage grew when U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan issued a sharp opinion in November finding that the NOPD had mishandled an investigation into Officer Jeffrey Vappie.
The council had earlier frozen nearly $7 million from the city attorney’s budget for outside counsel but were dismayed to learn that the contracted consent decree lawyer had continued to be paid out of a separate fund. The ordinance passed Thursday will force outside lawyers to consult with the council.
The council also took a jab at the city’s law department in the budget process, with a budget amendment that gives the council authority over $3 million of the law department’s budget for 90 days.
“Until we, as a council, feel like the law department is truly going to be communicating with this council and treat us like the other client they have, this gives us another 90-day window to improve communication,” Morrell said.
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