NEW ORLEANS — The Downtown Development District was thrown into disarray Tuesday when some members of the independent commission tried to install Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s chief of staff as interim president and CEO of the DDD after the board had already voted to give the job to someone else.
DDD Finance Director Anthony Carter was removed as interim CEO at Tuesday’s emergency meeting, just two weeks after the commission unanimously appointed him. But the attempt to rush through Cantrell’s chief of staff, John Pourciau, to fill the job failed when five DDD commissioners voted in favor, three voted against and two abstained.
The sudden move to appoint a top mayoral aide as head of an independent, state-authorized agency caught some commissioners by surprise.
Commissioner Judy Barrasso noted the DDD has been clashing with Cantrell and Pourciau over how millions of dollars from the DDD's tax millage should be used. The district is engaged in a longstanding lawsuit against the city over how it's used the tax collections for years. The DDD agreed to dedicate $2.5 million a year in downtown taxes for drainage improvement projects, but it rebuffed Cantrell's requests to turn over the money until the DDD received proof that improvements were complete.
"How do we go from an 8-0 unanimous vote to appoint Anthony Carter to having it jammed down our throat to appoint the mayor’s chief of staff, without a resume, an interview or any kind of normal hiring process?" Barrasso said. "I can only conclude it’s not for the benefit of the DDD."
Pourciau spoke briefly at the virtual meeting, touting his ability to move the business district group forward amid the challenges of the pandemic.
He vowed to resign from his job at City Hall and not pursue the permanent CEO position if approved as interim leader of the district.
The DDD, the nation’s first-ever taxing business improvement district, has been in flux and struggling to find a permanent leader after its longtime CEO Kurt Weigle resigned last year.
Weigle’s interim replacement, Richard McCall, announced he would resign effective this Friday, Aug. 27. The commission moved quickly Aug. 3 to unanimously appoint Carter, widely praised as a longtime, loyal employee, to take over as interim CEO.
Over the next week, DDD commission chairman Leo Marsh negotiated a contract with Carter. Marsh said he was on the way to the DDD offices to sign the final contract on Aug. 10 when he “began receiving calls from people at City Hall expressing their dismay at Mr. Carter’s appointment.”
Marsh said “Mr. Pourciau’s name was put into the mix” by employees at City Hall, whom he did not name. He said he decided not to finalize Carter’s contract because of the calls.
Both Carter and Pourciau attended Tuesday’s virtual commission meeting. Downtown stakeholders, including the general manager of the Hilton Riverside, spoke glowingly about Carter and urged the commission to stand by its 8-0 vote to confirm him Aug. 3. But commissioners Damon Burns and Cleveland Spears, two of the three members who were absent when Carter was appointed Aug. 3, sought to have the board reconsider Carter’s appointment.
Commissioner J. Gregory Curtis made the motion to rescind Carter’s appointment. Commissioner Chris Ross seconded the motion but disclosed that he had an unspecified relationship with Pourciau. The commission voted 6-4 to rescind the offer to Carter and “place another candidate into consideration.”
Barrasso argued that it could be illegal or a breach of contract to rescind the offer to Carter after he had already accepted the position. She tried to table Curtis’ motion but didn’t have enough votes.
Curtis then immediately called for a vote to offer the job to Pourciau, even though Barrasso and other board members said they were blindsided by the plan to hire Pourciau and wanted to at least see his resume first.
The commission’s attorney, Bill Aaron, warned it could violate the state’s open meetings law if there was not unanimous agreement to separately add Pourciau’s appointment to the agenda. Commissioners Jim Cook and Coleman Adler urged their colleagues to heed Aaron’s legal advice, but Curtis pushed ahead with the vote anyway.
But Ross, who had previously disclosed some kind of relationship with Pourciau, abstained, leaving the pro-Pourciau faction one vote shy of a majority.
The commission is scheduled to take up the interim CEO appointment anew at a meeting Friday, McCall’s last day on the job.
