Should six-figure, full-time New Orleans city government leaders be allowed to also run highly lucrative businesses on the side? One council member told WWL it’s unethical and he wants to start cracking down on the alleged dereliction of duty by Cantrell Administration leaders.
“City Hall is apparently riddled with people who have full-time work and also have side gigs, so we are paying them a full-time salary and they are also maintaining complete side companies with no disclosure,” Council VP JP Morrell told WWL’s Tommy Tucker.
The council could be set to start tackling the issue as early as today’s regular meeting.
“We’re going to introduce a series of measures which are really going to dig into this whole side gig situation,” said Morrell. “It’s kind of out of control and we have to get a handle on it.
This comes in light of a WWL TV report that the former head of the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center was pulling down six figures from the city while infrequently showing up to work, and making a killing on the side with his insurance company.
“At the very least it is not ethical, whether or not it is illegal has not been determined yet,” said Morrell.
Currently, city workers can get a waiver to work three to five hours a week on a side business. The WWL TV report suggested that JJIC head Dr. Kyshun Webster possibly was exceeding the limits of the work waiver he received in 2020.
