Former Lafayette City-Parish Councilman Chris Williams is expected to be a guest on KJCB radio, 770 AM, Monday morning to address the state's Compliance Audit of the Lafayette Housing Authority.
Former Lafayette City-Parish Councilman Chris Williams is expected to be a guest on KJCB radio, 770 AM, Monday morning to address the state's Compliance Audit of the Lafayette Housing Authority.
Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera has already delivered a copy of the much-anticipated audit of the LHA's operations to District Attorney Mike Harson for possible criminal prosecution. Harson was out of the office Friday and unavailable for comment.
The audit is expected to be made public on the legislative auditor's website next week and is likely to be critical how LHA managed the federal Disaster Housing Assistance Program and, in particular, Williams' role as a case manager. HUD and FBI investigations into the troubled agency are ongoing.
Williams has declined numerous requests by this paper to speak about his role as a case manager for the federally funded program, which was administered by LHA. Williams and four other case managers were fired in August after an independent audit found that their $37 per hour pay was excessive and that they were each paid for 40 hours of work per week without turning in time sheets or any other documentation for services provided.
Williams' attorney, Harold Register, declined to comment Friday morning.
KJCB executive J'Nelle Chargois could not be reached to confirm whether Williams will be a guest Monday morning, and we were unable to leave a recorded message because her box was full.
An Independent Weekly investigation has already uncovered overlapping hours Williams claimed to have worked at both UL Lafayette, where he is employed full-time, and for the DHAP. Sources with knowledge of the audit tell The Independent Weekly the investigation uncovered more than 90 overlapping hours between DHAP and UL work.
Williams is expected to claim that the DHAP contract was with his non-profit Lafayette Training and Career Development Inc., not with him, and that some of the hours claimed on the time sheet were worked by his employees. That will be a tough sell, as all time sheets reviewed by this newspaper were signed by Williams, and the LHA's Jonathan Carmouche, who managed the program, has said in the past that Williams himself was the only person authorized to do the work. Additionally, none of Williams' employees would have had legal access to the federal database where information on cases was uploaded.