NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – The New Orleans City Council has asked for federal help to resolve chronic problems related to slow payments from vendors, which in turn cause major problems at city buildings.
Some employees are forced to work in sweltering heat in buildings without air conditioning because the city cannot find contractors willing to do work for a municipality that is slow to pay its bills.
Three substations in the city’s police district are experiencing air conditioning problems, and council members have had enough.
“You can’t attract more talent if your building has mold and doesn’t have proper air conditioning,” said City Councilwoman Lesli Harris.
It’s not just problems with the air conditioning. In some city buildings, the elevators have been in poor condition for at least two years under Mayor LaToya Cantrell, and it’s often difficult to find willing repairmen.
“It’s going to be a lot harder to get the job done because there are companies that don’t want to work for the city of New Orleans,” said City Council President Helena Moreno. “One of the vendors that doesn’t want to work with the city is an air conditioning vendor.”
This contractor wasn’t the only one unhappy with the city’s slow payment for maintenance work, so the city council turned to the state for help.
“I called the state assembly’s auditor and asked him to conduct a full investigation of City Hall,” Moreno said. “Ask him why people weren’t paid on time.”
The auditor has now released its report on the slow payments to suppliers through a city system called BRASS, which stands for Budget, Requisition, and Accounting Services. This system was introduced five years ago, and the audit identified obstacles and ways to get around them.
“I think we’re at a point where we can start making long-term improvements,” said Gilbert Montano, the city’s top administrative official.
City Hall staff are currently developing steps to improve billing and payment processing, which council members are hopeful could help eliminate the persistent maintenance backlogs that often make working conditions challenging for hundreds of city employees, including police officers.
“I’ve been dealing with this for 2 1/2 years,” Harris said. “The Sixth Precinct (of the NOPD) hasn’t had air conditioning for over two or three years.”
The auditor presented the city with eight steps to improve the supplier payment system.
The Cantrell administration said in a statement Tuesday that it will “continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure suppliers and contractors are paid on time.”
City spokeswoman Leatrice Dupre said: “We have made progress, but we know there is more work ahead.”
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