The acting head of the Federal Emergency Managment Agency said in New Orleans Friday that she is shaking up the staff at the local FEMA office.
Ward said she is reassigning Doug Whitmer, the local chief of staff, to a regional office, but said that is the only change so far she is announcing.
This comes in the wake of allegations of cronyism, nepotism, sexual harrassment and other alleged misconduct in the New Orleans FEMA office.
The allegations include claims that managers in the office have been intentionally slowing the post-Katrina recovery in an effort to keep their jobs longer.
Ward said the first task was for the agency to conduct an internal review of the allegations about the New Orleans office.
"We are ready to make changes, but we want to make sure everyone has due process, and that we have all the facts before we make changes," she announced after hours of meetings in the New Orleans FEMA office.
Listen to Ward talk about the issue:
Louisiana Congressman Joseph Cao today said that reassignment may not be enough.
"There will be changes that will be made," said Cao. "I would like to Mr. Jim Stark to step down."
Stark is the Assistant Administrator for FEMA's Gulf Coast Recovery Office.
Cao commented after the meetings at the New Orleans FEMA office but did not offer specifics.
Listen to Cao's comments:
Cao said that with changes in upper-level management of the local FEMA office, morale should improve and recovery should move more quickly.
A congressional hearing earlier this week aired allegations of sexual harassment, cronyism, nepotism and other ethics violations at the office. On Thursday, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, R-La., called for Whitmer to resign.
Landrieu said Whitmer is the target of more than 30 complaints by co-workers, but a FEMA spokesman wouldn't confirm if Witmer had any against him. Cao also has called for Stark's resignation, but Ward said she wants to fully investigate the allegations before deciding if broader staffing changes are warranted.
Russell's new acting role "has nothing to do with Jim Stark's role," Bahamonde said. "It was a position that was vacant."
FEMA has 400 to 500 employees working at its New Orleans recovery office, with a total of about 950 core employees and 280 contractors working in Louisiana.
Ward said FEMA has fielded 71 formal or informal complaints from its Louisiana employees since the 2009 fiscal year began last Oct. 1. That's compared to 194 informal complaints filed in the previous fiscal year; 154 of those complaints were resolved without a formal complaint being made. In fiscal 2007, FEMA resolved 140 of 181 informal complaints with a formal complaint.
Ward said she spent more than an hour answering questions from rank-and-file employees in New Orleans.
"There were a lot of comments about the work environment being stressful, but there were equally a number of comments about ensuring that we don't rush to judgment," she said.
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