NEW ORLEANS — The longest-serving member of the New Orleans 911 emergency communication commission is calling for the immediate removal of the district’s director, Tyrell Morris, because of a lack of public confidence.
Ahead of a scheduled Orleans Parish Communication District commission meeting Thursday, commissioner Dr. Brobson Lutz said Morris needs to be replaced immediately because of what he called “revelations” that have eroded public confidence in Morris’ ability to run the 911 system.
That includes a recent audit questioning credit card charges at the district, lawsuits alleging violations of the public bid laws on million-dollar contracts and spectacular mistakes by 911 call-takers and dispatchers that prevented first responders from getting to emergencies quickly enough.
But Lutz is mostly frustrated that Mayor LaToya Cantrell and OPCD Chairman John Thomas, a member of the Cantrell administration, are doubling down on supporting Morris as the city’s Inspector General investigates allegations that Morris falsified public records, revelations first exposed by a WWL-TV investigation last week.
Morris got in an accident in his district-issued vehicle May 7, then called off New Orleans Police even though a police report after an accident in a public vehicle was required. WWL-TV first reported that Morris’ official accident report claimed the other driver swerved around and into him, but video of the incident shows the two vehicles waiting side-by-side at a red light, and when it turns green, it’s Morris who veers into the other car.
Most significantly, WWL-TV reviewed public records of OPCD’s vehicle policy that showed Morris altered an OPCD policy four days after the accident to make it look like he didn’t have to submit to a drug and alcohol screening.
Loyola Law Professor Blaine LeCesne said Morris appeared to violate several policies. LeCesne also said changing a public record could be a crime. So would be reporting a material misrepresentation of an accident in a public record and in an insurance claim.
The city’s two at-large council members, JP Morrell and Helena Moreno, called on Thomas to immediately suspend Morris while the IG investigates. But at a news conference last week, Cantrell and Thomas said they would not do so. They said they would wait for the IG to complete his investigation, and Morris would serve as director until his resignation date of Sept. 15.
Cantrell reiterated that at a news conference Wednesday.
“Let them have their meeting, let them go through their process,” Cantrell said, referring to Thursday’s OPCD meeting. “At that time, they will make recommendations, they will advise me and I will support them. Right now, it’s all hypothetical.”
Thomas told board members in an email Friday that he was also doing his own investigation and would report his findings in a closed, executive session at Thursday’s board meeting. State legislators, including Reps. Aimee Adatto Freeman and Mandie Landry, told WWL-TV they plan to attend the meeting and use powers granted them under state law to join the executive session.
Morrell and Moreno responded to news of Thomas' internal investigation by sending a letter to Thomas on Wednesday, calling on him to make a report to the City Council on his findings.
“We have already urged the suspension of Director Morris as the IG investigates this matter, which you as OPCD Chair declined to do,” Morrell and Moreno wrote in the latest letter to Thomas. “But now, if your own internal investigation corroborates allegations of a public document being altered, we believe the board will have no choice but to take the necessary action of suspension.”
Lutz said it goes deeper than that. The OPCD needs a new leader as soon as possible.
He has served with the commission for almost 40 years, first as a city Health Department representative in the 1980s, then as an appointee of the New Orleans Medical Society. He said they always tried to stay above politics, and he said he was impressed with Morris’ enthusiasm and energy as a leader. But he said that seemed to wane as Morris worked a side job as a real estate agent and came under fire for critical audits and poor handling of emergency calls.
“But these latest revelations have really upset people’s confidence,” Lutz said.
He added it would be a mistake to keep Morris on as director until mid-September.
“Because there is no public confidence anymore,” he said.
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