The Metro Council has decided to postpone Wednesday’s special meeting to discuss how grants from the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness have been spent in recent years, says Mayor Pro Tem Mike Walker. Walker says the meeting was pushed back because government agencies are dealing with the rising Mississippi River. “All of our homeland security people, the mayor’s people and DPW (Department of Public Works) are tied up with the river situation, so we decided to put this off to another time,” Walker says. “This can wait. Right now we’re more concerned with what’s going on with the river.” The special meeting was set at the last regular Metro Council meeting, April 27, when some council members voiced questions following a presentation from Mayor Kip Holden’s administrative staff on GOHSEP spending over the past six fiscal years. A new date for the special meeting has not yet been determined.
Holden and Sheriff Sid Gautreaux have been at odds for months over whether the sheriff should be allowed sign off on GOHSEP grant applications. Roughly $4 million in GOHSEP grants awarded in fiscal years 2009 and 2010—75% of which is to go to local homeland security operations and 25% to local law enforcement—has yet to be released to the city-parish due to the flap. Holden contends he hasn’t given the applications to the sheriff to sign off on because the GOHSEP rules requiring the sheriff’s signature, effective since 2009, were put in place without necessary legislative approval. —Steve Sanoski
