EUNICE, La. ( KLFY )– Four out of the five Eunice Housing Authority board members were removed after the housing authority closed off a public meeting in August .
A complaint was filed against the housing authority to the Attorney General’s Office.
Eunice Housing Authority Executive Director Angelia Guillory said their violation of the Open Meetings law was closed with the Attorney General’s Office before the board members were removed from their positions.
David Guillory is one of the board members who was removed. He said he found out about his removal from a newspaper article before he was notified by the city.
“We were just shocked when this happened,” Guillory said. “Then, we were served a letter from the city.”
$1.2M project underway to give St. Martin Parish Courthouse fresh look The board admitted to breaking the Open Meetings law, saying they were unaware their special meetings had to be open to the public.
Former board member David Guillory said he and the other removed board members were fairly new to their roles, replacing members who served on the board for 20-30 years. Guillory said they did not fully understand the rules and regulations, but they did not intend to hold an improper meeting.
“It is still a public meeting. You can go into executive session. I thought a special meeting was an executive meeting,” Guillory said. “But it was almost a play on words that had to be defined, and not everything in the policy books or the guidelines are defined.”
Guillory said it really bothers him that they volunteered to serve the community and are getting “demonized” for making a mistake.
“I’m a retired deacon. When we commit a sin, we go to Jesus. Well, he doesn’t throw you away. How many times should we forgive? Seven times? No, 70 times seven times,” Guillory said. “He says, ‘I forgive you. Start over. Make it right.’ We made it right, but yet we’re being thrown away.”
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Guillory was one of the three board members who appealed their removal but were denied.
Kevin Johnwell was the only board member facing removal that did not appeal the decision. Johnwell, who says he was locked out of the beginning of this meeting that was closed off to tenants, said he is in “total agreeance” with the decision.
“I had a job. I played a role, and I did my part,” Johnwell said. “With the things that were occurring, that was the necessary procedure, and I’m okay with it. I know in my heart that I didn’t do anything wrong, that I tried to stand up for the people. I did what I could.”
“I just didn’t feel comfortable with appealing it and having the possibility of being back on the board, but still having to deal with the director that we had in charge,” Johnwell said.
Executive Director Angelia Guillory said she worked well with those who were removed from the board and that they did an excellent job.
News 10 reached out to Eunice Mayor Scott Fontenot, but he was unavailable for a comment by news time.
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