Safety and Permits Director Zach Smith has been bounced from his position at the head of the troubled department following reporting from WWL-TV Investigative Reporter David Hammer, whose ongoing series probing the Hard Rock Hotel collapse and related issues is continuing to reveal new information. Is this shakeup going to be enough to right the ship? Newell invited Hammer onto the show Tuesday morning to find out.
“I don’t know if this is going to be enough for me,” Newell began. He had previously called for the entire department to be “imploded,” as it was impossible for the public to continue placing any trust in the institution as it currently exists, with or without Zach Smith.
“I guess you can be the judge of that,” Hammer said. “Smith was reassigned within the Department, essentially demoted. You might say, ‘well why wasn’t he removed completely?’ CAO Gilbert Montano said there’s absolutely no evidence that he was involved in any wrongdoing or criminal acts or any of the corruption that’s being investigated in that department, but he was concerned with his leadership and his ability to clamp down on this stuff over a long period of time. They have to keep him on, however, because he is the Chief Building Official and the only one with that designation in the city. New Orleans, by law, has to have a CBO license in that office to be able to do these inspections moving forward, so that’s the reason that was given for keeping him on. We’ll see if he stays on past the transition, but they’re creating a whole new leadership structure, a Director of Compliance who sits in the auditor's office so they’re removed from the internal workings of the Permit office and have a little bit of independence. They want to make sure these inspectors are complying with the rules and regulations and that they’re holding contractors accountable.”“From my perspective, it’s not a question of whether or not you were engaged in criminal conduct or not. He was the manager,” Newell replied. “The question is, a lot of the remedial actions being taken now - why weren’t those taken earlier? Your reporting revealed this secret meeting that someone taped where they talked about how they were under Federal investigation and how this might be a good time to start crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s!”“That was the concern when I interviewed Montano about this yesterday,” Hammer said. “They implemented the GPS vehicle tracking of inspector’s vehicles in March of 2019, notified them directly that they were being watched, and then six months later, we report there’s a sweeping Federal criminal investigation of their office, and they call this emergency meeting to say ‘hey, you actually need to do this stuff, actually go, actually take your own pictures and have your certifications.’ I asked Montano about that and he said it was a ‘cover yourself’ meeting. That was certainly implied, but that was the first time anyone has said it.”“You know, I’ve been to a lot of management schools in my time - both within and outside of law enforcement - including the FBI National Academy and the FBI National Executive Institute,” Newell said. “The way that you cover your butt is to act appropriately. You do what you’re supposed to do as a manager, day in and day out - not just when you’re under federal investigation! He really didn’t provide an answer to your question, in many respects!”“That’s true. In some ways, you’re right - he didn’t,” Hammer said. “But I step back and I look at this… Zach Smith has a track record of being proactive with the school bus situation. He was the first one out there in public calling for them to tamp down on the ‘wild wild west,’ in his words. He was there calling on the City Council to give them the power to step in and regulate the school buses. So it’s not unheard of for this specific manager, and others in the city government to be proactive and take control of a situation that is out of control.”“I think a lot of this wouldn’t have happened without your reporting,” Newell said. “And I would venture to say, there’s not a manager’s letter or director’s letter to the CAO saying ‘Houston, we have a problem.’ It’s one thing to take on the school bus thing, but meanwhile, the home is burning down around you!”
