Director fired, but for what, and will it stick?

Although Parish President Jimmy Cantrelle fired Lafourche Community Action Director Freddia Ruffin-Roberson on July 9, the question of whether he could do so still remains unanswered, along with the specific reason as to why she was fired.

Lafourche Councilman Jerry Jones said the council is still waiting for a district attorney’s opinion as to whether the administration or the council governs the community action office.

“So now he fires our director, and still no one officially knows why, because all he has stated in a press release is that it is with cause? Ask yourself, what is all this confusion really about?” Jones asked.

Additionally, in the wake of Cantrelle firing Ruffin-Roberson, there exists copies of two letters Cantrelle wrote to the council and to the community action board two years ago, where he admits that the parish administration is no longer in charge of the office.

In the letters, Cantrelle admits that the office answers to a board of directors that are supervised by Lafourche Parish Councilman Jerry Jones and the other members of the council.

The first letter is dated July 5 of 2016, and ends with, “We wish to allow the board and the Lafourche Parish Council full discretion, in all matters regarding the program.”

In the second letter, also dated July 5 of 2016, Cantrelle admitted three times that he understood the Lafourche Parish Council is the governing body in charge of community action, and not the parish administration.

The first was in the second paragraph where he writes, “The main item administration wanted clarification on, was to what extent administration had responsibility for and/or control over Community Action and/or its Director.”

“It was made clear that the tripartie Advisory Board of Community Action makes all recommendations to the Lafourche Parish Council, and that the Lafourche Parish Council is the governing authority over Community Action.”

The second time he admits control of the agency, was in the fourth paragraph, where he writes, “Since administration will not direct the office of community action nor its director or employees.”

And the third time he recognizes who is in control of community action, was in the fifth paragraph, where he wrote, “It has long been the objective of the Board of Community Action to determine the organization’s path. It has been made clear over the last few years that the tripartite board provides all advisory recommendations to the LPC (Lafourche Parish Council), which serves as the governing authority.”

Jones contends that community action answers to the tripartie board which consists of 15 members from private, low-income and public official sector, and the parish council.

“Regardless, we’re waiting to see who is in charge. Then we will deal with the accusations that Mr. Cantrelle has brought against Mrs. Ruffin-Roberson,” Jones said.

Still, in a statement dated July 11, Cantrelle announced that Ruffin-Roberson was fired due to findings from an audit initiated by complaints sent to the executive branch of the government.

“The audit and internal investigation has been underway for several months,” he wrote.

“As a result of multiple interviews, audit findings, and third party reports, sufficient facts became apparent to compel the termination of the executive director.”

“We will continue to keep our promise to protect the interests of the citizens and tax payers of Lafourche Parish. We simply cannot tolerate conduct which violates the trust we place in employees that are charged with helping the poor, elderly and neediest of our people,” he wrote.

Cantrelle then cited the Lafourche Parish Home Rule Charter and Ordinances 3480 and 3495 (Sec 2-124), for being able to fire Ruffin-Roberson, which state that the parish president has the authority to “supervise the program staff including the program manager, consistent with and under the guide of the parish’s administrative and personnel policies. These shall include the authority to discipline and dismiss any and all employees for cause.”

Contacted by phone on Friday July 13, Cantrelle said he sticks by what was issued in his statement on July 11 and did not want to answer any further questions.

Up until Cantrelle firing Ruffin-Roberson, she remained at home with pay since Cantrelle had closed the office abruptly on June 13.

Rev. Richmond Boyd, who is President of the Lafourche Parish Community Action Board, said Monday, not only is he anxiously awaiting the attorney general’s opinion as to who is in charge of the community action office, he feels the constant scrutiny by the parish administration into the various programs the office serves up, needs to stop.

“The scrutiny of this office just didn’t start with the Cantrelle administration – it goes way back into prior administrations. And I’m sick of it,” Boyd said.

The community action president said because of the present and past administration “meddling” into the office, various on-going programs in the parish are handled by community action agencies in neighboring parishes.

“I’m tired of running to Terrebonne, St Mary and St James, to get answers for our people.

My job is to direct our board to bring the execution of these programs back into our parish,” Boyd said.

“How can I do that, with the parish administration keeping us under a microscope?” he said.

“We as a board are not meeting until we get that attorney general’s opinion. That’s when we look at the facts presented, and we make a determination.”

“We didn’t fire Ms. Ruffin-Roberson, the administration did. And if we feel that it was without cause, we can bring her back if we wish, and if she agrees to return,” Boyd said.

Also, the board president said he was not called in to meet with anyone in the parish administration, before Ruffin-Roberson was terminated.

“I was informed after the fact by Parish Administrator Tommy Lasseigne,” Boyd said.

“The poor people of Lafourche Parish are suffering right now. This kind of stuff needs to stop,” he said.

Ruffin