NEW ORLEANS — A new inspector general audit points to a raft of questionable business practices and credit card irregularities at the Orleans Parish Communications District.
From botched emergency responses to his controversial role as the chair of the city’s Violent Crime Reduction Task Force and his part time employment, OPCD Director Tyrell Morris has been on the hot seat.
One day after a contentious appearance before the New Orleans City Council, Morris’s leadership was called into question by the OIG report.
According to the just released performance audit, the agency that runs the city’s 9-1-1 center, did not follow public bid laws and made credit card purchases that may have violated district policies and state laws.
The OIG examined 270 credit card transactions totaling $865,000 from 2019 to 2021 and found nearly half of the transactions were approved after purchase dates, lacked purchase orders and contained other irregularities.
“They spent about $2,500 for hot chocolate and socks as well as about $3,000 for party decorations,” Inspector General Ed Michel said. “None of these things appear to serve a public purpose and are potentially in violation of the Louisiana Constitution.”
City Council Vice President Helena Moreno called the findings, “eye-opening.”
She says a lot of little things in the audit add up to a very big problem for the 911 center and Tyrell Morris.
“He seems to have a lot on his plate," Moreno said. "From running OCPD, he’s got the violent crime task force, we know that he’s got a real estate business. He seems to have a lot of balls up in the air. Running OCPD should be his number one priority."
Morris released a statement in part saying, “the audit has resulted in increased efficiency and transparency.”
The statement went on to say: “The OPCD has deployed new financial, human resources and administrative systems with internal controls and reports and aligned with best practices. The time period of this audit was in the middle of these system changes.”
“At the end of the day, they did accept all of our recommendations,” Michel said.
The Inspector General also notes the communications district originally took him to court to question the OIG’s jurisdiction in auditing the agency. But an appeals court ruled it did, since the district receives more than $9 million a year from the city.
Read Tyrell Morris’s full statement below:
Today, OPCD Executive Director Tyrell Morris issues a statement regarding the recently published report from the New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) which conducted a performance audit of the Orleans Parish Communication District (OPCD) for the period January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2021. The audit, limited to credit card transactions, resulted in several findings to include some positive, and recommendations for training and policy revisions. As an independent political subdivision of the State of Louisiana, OPCD supports the mission of the New Orleans OIG and believes the collective outcome of this audit has resulted in increased efficiency and transparency of agency operations.
When Director Morris was appointed to lead OPCD in August 2018, the organization was in desperate need of administrative reforms. Since that time the OPCD has deployed new financial, human resources and administrative systems with internal controls and reports and aligned with best practices. The time period of this audit was in the middle of these system changes and the agency has accepted all of the recommendations in the audit report, with many of them already completed.
“The report released today is a product of over a year of collaboration and engagement with the Office of the Inspector General and we are glad to have this phase behind us. OPCD thanks the OIG for their thorough audit, and we have already accepted and implemented their recommendations. Even in areas where the two agencies may not have agreed on the findings, this is still a win for us. We are pleased to share that every single dollar spent by our agency was accounted for and necessary to execute our mission and retain our heroes. I would strongly encourage before anyone passes judgement or offers comments on the audit, that they read the entire report to include the agency's response.”
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