ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / October 4, 2000

LAPLACE – An update on the situation at the St. John the Baptist ParishHousing Authority caused rancor and ill-will among a couple of council members, and one councilman angrily left council chambers for awhile.

Recent newspaper reports of financial hanky-panky occurring at the housing authority forced councilman-at-large Cleveland Farlough to call the St. JohnHousing Authority Board of Commissioners before the council to answer some questions.

Thomas Gholson, executive director of the housing authority, handed in his resignation recently after it was disclosed he had allegedly made unauthorized purchases on the housing authority’s credit card. Later, it wasrevealed that either Gholson or someone else had tried to cover up the purchases by changing the credit card receipts.

All this followed in the wake of the resignation of Sheila Morris as chairperson of the board of commissioners. Morris was also accused ofallegedly misusing the housing authority’s credit card.

Farlough said, “For the past nine months we have been dealing with housing.

Now it has gone from bad to worse with improper use of public funds. Now itis time for the people to hear about these allegations…we have beenembarrassed by all this.”Walter Willard, attorney for the housing authority, addressed the council first and assured members the housing authority is in good shape.

“We met today with the director of HUD, and he said our housing authority is better than the housing authorities in the state,” said Willard.

Housing and Urban Development is the federal agency that oversees the operation of the St. John Housing Authority and also finances its operations. “The executive director has handed in his resignation,” Willard continued, “and there are no allegations of criminal conduct. There are no diabolical schemes.The board didn’t question his resignation. And we were lucky to find ErrolWhite to take over as interim executive director.”This is White’s second time as interim director. He performed the samefunction back in September when executive director Patrena Ester was fired by the parish council after reports of malfeasance in office. White is aformer employee of the St. James Parish Housing Authority.Willard continued, “HUD is reaching out and will appoint a new executive director shortly. There is never enough time to tell all the details of a story,and we want to remind you that there are two sides to every story.”Farlough replied, “Actually there are three sides to a story. Your side, hisside and the truth. I’m looking for the truth.”Gholson’s resignation takes effect at the end of September, and this seemed to bother Farlough.

“You now have two executive directors in place?” Farlough asked Willard.

“We need both of them to make the transition easier,” replied Willard. “Mr.White and Mr. Gholson have worked together before.””But who is in charge?” asked Farlough.

“Mr. White is in charge,” said Willard, “and Mr. Gholson will facilitate the quickprocessing of the transition.”Farlough was skeptical of this explanation.

“White has knowledge of the housing authority,” said Farlough. “So now wehave White, Gholson and an assistant director, and all are getting paid. Wouldyou consider this a proper use of public money?” Willard said the assistant director had other duties, and he is only a legal counsel and doesn’t know about pay and salaries.

Farlough then turned his attention to the board of commissioners and asked board chairperson Eulah Young if anybody on the board had been trained.

“We finally got our first training in August,” replied Young. “HUD was too busyto do the rest of the training.”The new board of commissioners was put in place in September 1999.

“We haven’t had any technical training even after HUD said they would train us back in September of 1999,” said Young. “We did the best we could, andwe did it all out of a book.”Farlough asked if board members have gone to any conferences.

Young said the board has been to conferences in Anaheim, Calif., Seattle andon Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

“They were training us to be better commissioners,” said Young.

Young told the council the job of the board is to make housing policies and make sure they are carried out. They do not involve themselves in the day-to-day operations of the housing authority.

Farlough said, “I agree, I want the laws and regulations of housing obeyed, and I want to make sure the funds are used properly.”Young invited Farlough to the next board meeting on Oct. 11 in Edgard andsaid they would be happy to answer any of Farlough’s inquiries.

Dale Wolfe was not happy with Farlough’s investigation.

“I do know what is going on; I go to the meetings,” said Wolfe. “My colleagueswon’t say anything, but they are quick to criticize. If we really cared wewouldn’t be in this position tonight. Tonight is the night we should reunite.”Farlough replied, “Mr. Wolfe spends more time criticizing than anybody else.”Lester Rainey remarked, “We should let HUD handle this matter.”An angry Wolfe got up and walked out of the council chambers.

Later in the meeting, after Wolfe returned, several public housing tenants addressed the council asking that Gholson be re-instated as executive director.

Rachel Anderson told the council, “We, the people in public housing, don’t want Mr. Gholson to leave because of one mistake. He helped us pay ourelectric bills; he never evicted people. He was helping people.”As for the credit cards, Anderson said, “He paid back the money, and he had to rent a car because the housing van was wrecked.”Farlough asked her if she had documentation that Gholson had paid back the money.

“I don’t have it, but I can get it,” replied Anderson.

Delores Martin, another public housing resident and an employee at the housing authority office, pleaded with the council.

“Mr. Gholson did wrong,” admitted Martin, “but for all the right he did, weforgive him this one wrong. We had someone who cared about us. All we’reasking is to give him a chance.”The inspector general of the HUD office in Washington, D.C. is investigatingthe use of the credit cards. Also, Willard told the council HUD is sending ateam of auditors to go over all the books and bank statements of the St. John Parish Housing Authority.

Return To News Stories