Terrebonne NAACP, feds meet in private session
April 4, 2012OUR VIEW: Sister city act needs cautious exploration
April 4, 2012
The Terrebonne Council on Aging personnel committee is expected to enter a fourth session at 1:30 p.m. today, as it continues to investigate allegations of discrimination and abuse of power against COA Executive Director Diana Edmonson.
“We’ve gathered all of our documentation in regards to the allegations and we will forward it to our legal counsel [Elvidge Cassard],” committee chairman Carroll “Cal” McKey said following Thursday’s meeting, which was held in executive session for two hours and 40 minutes.
McKey said no legal filings had been made against Edmonson or the COA, but that the committee took measures to make sure proceedings and gathered information would stand up to scrutiny in regards to fair treatment of all individuals.
Committee members Billy Foster and Wanda LeBlanc commented with McKey that they wanted to be careful with the handling of evidence. They said they want to keep any recommendations in line with law rather than having to later respond to thoughts of litigation, although no legal filings had been made.
“We are business owners and teachers,” McKey said. “We know how to supervise and monitor people and review financial statements. When it comes to legality on these allegations, we are not lawyers.”
The committee investigation of claims against Edmonson came after former transportation supervisor, Janell Brierley, was fired from her job on March 2, for not meeting the standards of that position, according to Edmonson.
Within a matter of days, Brierley sent correspondence to the EEOC, the COA Board of Directors, Louisiana Board of Ethics and the governor’s office making allegations against her former boss.
“There have been a lot of things going on there,” Brierley said in a telephone interview following the committee’s initial meeting on March 14. “I think that organization would be better run by someone else. Ms. Diana has been in that organization for almost 20 years.”
Brierley kept the committee in executive session for six hours as she presented her case on March 21.
Since then, McKey said that Brierley has continued to send email messages to select people in which she named others who allegedly had information against Edmonson.
“I sent her something imploring her not to release any more names,” McKey said. “She said, ‘Do not implore me to do anything.’”
“[Brierley] had six hours to make her case,” Foster said.
“Until I am exonerated I’m not going to have any comment, Edmonson said when asked about the status of the proceedings.
Neither Brierley nor Edmonson were present during the committee’s third meeting on the matter.
Terrebonne Council on Aging personnel committee chairman Carroll “Cal” McKey listens for a motion and second to enter into executive session as an investigation into allegations brought against COA Executive Diana Edmonson continues. The committee will meet for a fourth time this afternoon at the COA headquarters.
