At a special meeting Tuesday night, the Eunice City Council heard appeals from three of the four board members removed from the Eunice Housing Authority after it was revealed they violated the open meetings law during an August 15th meeting at the Eunice Housing Authority; it was a meeting that was supposed to be open to the public.
"When the open meetings law was brought to my attention through the news, it became a concern for me," said Scott Fontenot, the Mayor of Eunice.
During those appeals, board members, Ronald Dies, David Guillory and Roland Miller, stated that they made mistakes but never tried to hurt any of the tenants living at the housing authority despite violating the open meetings law.
Tuesday morning, before the Eunice city council's special meeting, a legal corporation, Acadiana Legal Service, met with tenants of the Eunice Housing Authority to discuss eviction and tenant rights in private and public housing. That meeting was held at the Eunice South East Community Center, where lawyers heard from a handful of current and former tenants who say that the Eunice Housing Authority officials are mistreating tenants.
KATC spoke to McKenzie Lemaire, an attorney with ALSC,--- at the event, who says the meeting was all about hearing from tenants and educating them about protecting themselves.
"Some of the things that we've been hearing are retaliation, harassment, invasions of privacy, and sort of uneven rulemaking that is affecting tenants differently, really; the rules are different tenant to tenant, and there's really no way for tenants to know what's happening, why it's happening with any sort of confidence," said Lamaire.
Fast forward to the special meeting, Eunice City Council heard the appeals but did not buy any of what was said and denied the appeals from board members Ronald Dies, David Guillory, and Roland Miller. Fourth board member, Kevin Johnwell gave public comment and decided not to appeal but he did speak to what occurred on August 15th, the day that open meeting was held and not open to public.
"They had tenants outside trying to get in, and the door was locked," said Johnwell.
"So when you arrived, tenants were waiting outside?" asked Germain Simpson, the alderwoman of Eunice City.
“Yes,” replied, Johnwell.
Ronald Dies, an appealing board member, admitted to violating the open meetings law but said it's not the board's fault.
"Mrs. Angie contacted Hud from Baton Rouge and spoke to someone; she told me she wanted to do it, and she said you can do it. I asked Deacon if that was true. And he said yes, Sr. I heard her on the phone; she said she could have her closed meeting, and she had her closed meeting," said Dies.
Feeling uncomfortable about the decision to have a closed meeting, Roland Miller says he called HUD to speak to the Housing Director himself.
"I said Mrs. Gibbs, we have a situation we have to clear up here, we had a close meeting here a week or so ago, and the director and the commissioner say they had permission from you and told you what was going to be discussed in the meeting and they asked if we could do it in a close session and you gave them the authority to do it and she said no I did not give the authority to do it and I said, two people told me you did mam, and she responds with well, I didn't give them permission, said Miller.
Miller went on to say that he spoke to the director and Guillory who says HUD did give them permission while on a three way call that was on speaker phone. Miller then went on to say that the closed meeting was approved and asked the council who are you going to believe.
But the Mayor says he had a meeting with the director of Housing and Urban Development, Elvettra Gibbs, last week and that Gibbs told him a different story.
"She denied giving that approval for the meeting," said Fontenot.
Another board member appealing the decision, David Guillory, blamed the violation on the policies.
"We have made one mistake and another thing: these policies are old and need to be updated; the laws are changing all the time," said Guillory.
"The decisions that we make have to be decisions that are made in the best interest of the housing Authority, as well as the tenants, so this like Scott said, should not be anything to take personally; however, when there are legal issues and the law involved it has certain outcomes," said Simpson.
The next council meeting is scheduled for October, and the council will discuss appointing new board members.
The Attorney's General also confirmed to KATC that a complaint was made against the Eunice Housing Authority. KATC will follow up with this complaint and bring you the latest the information.
