KENNER, La. — Four Kenner City Council members are calling on Mayor Ben Zahn and other top city officials to resign in light of recent revelations of excessive disaster pay in the wake of Hurricane Ida.
The City Council will vote Friday on a resolution expressing no confidence in Zahn’s administration, according to the agenda for the meeting.
The resolution, sponsored by four of the seven City Council members, comes while Zahn faces a tough race for re-election against Kenner Police Chief Michael Glaser. It was also filed in the wake of Tuesday’s report on WWL-TV and in The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate that a federal subpoena was served on the city Friday afternoon.
The resolution is sponsored by Council members George Branigan, Kristi McKinney, Gregory Carroll and Brian Brennan. Resolutions have no real power, so the vote will be symbolic only.
Zahn called it "political theater." He noted that Branigan, McKinney and Brennan are all supporting his opponent and are represented by Greg Buisson, his former political consultant. Zahn secretly recorded conversations he had with Buisson and Jefferson Parish Councilman Domonick Impastato and accused them of "election rigging."
"Look at some of these council people's homes: They have the chief of police's sign in their front yard," Zahn said. "That's fine. It's America. They get to choose who they want to be with. But let this administration do their job. Let this administration continue to have open, transparent government.... This council is controlled by a particular parish councilman and a particular PR person."
The subpoena the FBI issued Friday seeks employment records for Chad Pitfield, Zahn’s Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Field Operations and Logistics, who received more than $86,000 in disaster pay on top of his regular salary in the months after Ida.
Zahn had defended the disaster pay for Pitfield and other city employees. But on Tuesday Zahn said Pitfield had been suspended without pay and was under investigation by the city as well.
Pitfield has also been accused in a recent report by WVUE-TV of filling out timesheets showing he was working for the city at the same time that he filled out timesheets that said he was working for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, where he was a reserve deputy.
The Sheriff’s Office has also received a federal subpoena seeking payroll information on Pitfield.
The resolution calls on Zahn, Chief Administrative Officer Deborah Foshee and Chief Compliance Officer Adam Campo to resign, expresses no confidence in them and urges that Pitfield be fired.
Zahn confirmed he has fired Pitfield, but said he could not say why. Sources inside the administration told WWL-TV and The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate it was because Pitfield changed public records that showed hours he worked as a reserve deputy sheriff when they conflicted with hours he claimed to have worked for the city of Kenner.
Pitfield told WWL-TV that he had not heard he was being fired or about the resolution calling for his firing.
The resolution also cites the Zahn administration’s refusal to turn over public records related to disaster pay to media organizations, resulting in a lawsuit that ended when a state district judge in Jefferson Parish ordered the city to turn over the records in December.
"These examples of mismanagement and needless controversy have cast the City of Kenner in a negative light, cost money on litigation, and have been detrimental to the City of Kenner as a whole," the resolution reads.
It also urges City Attorney Joyce Sallah to refer the matter to the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office, Louisiana Legislative Auditor, Louisiana Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for potential prosecution or other action.
Unlike Zahn, three of the four council sponsors are not facing reelection battles. Branigan and McKinney were elected without opposition, Brennan has two challengers, and Carroll is term-limited.
The election is March 26.
The resolution will be voted on at Friday’s City Council meeting.
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