Roy Carubba, the head of New Orleans’ flood authority board, has been removed by Gov. Jeff Landry and replaced by newly appointed board member Peter Vicari.
WWNO/WRKF learned of Carubba's dismissal on Tuesday after reporter Eva Tesfaye showed up to his office for an interview. Flood authority spokeswoman Stacy Gilmore informed Eva that she was notified of his dismissal earlier that afternoon, and said that Carubba was no longer comfortable being interviewed and had sent his apologies.
“I’d like to thank Roy Carubba for his leadership as Board President this past year, and I look forward to his continued service on the board. With Peter Vicari stepping into this new role as President, I’m confident that with his leadership and experience SLFPA‑E will become even more effective in serving the great people of southeast Louisiana,” Landry said in a statement.
Carubba’s departure follows a controversial tenure as president of the authority, which oversees the city’s levee system. Landry had appointed Carubba, a civil engineer, to the board last fall after a new law allowed him to pick the presidents of certain state boards, including the Southeast Flood Protection Authority-East.
During Carubba’s tenure, four board members resigned. In their joint resignation letter, three of them cited a loss of focus on flood protection under Carubba’s leadership.
Carubba also clashed with staff at the agency, resulting in a number of departures. Most notably, Kelli Chandler, the regional director of the authority resigned after a a disagreement she had with Carubba about the role of Levee District Police. The regional director position still has not been filled permanently.
Tensions between Carubba and other board members boiled over in June, when he almost got into a physical altercation with former board president and board member Clay Cossé after a meeting. At the meeting, Carubba had defended his decisions as board president, saying he was brought in by the governor to fix longstanding issues.
Gov. Landry chose Peter Vicari, a businessman who owns a vintage car auction, as the new board president. Vicari joined the board just last month. He was picked over Gianna Cothren, the chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New Orleans.
Landry’s appointment has the board’s nominating committee questioning the criteria the governor uses for his selections. Flood protection groups are concerned that the board is drifting away from one of its original goals after Hurricane Katrina–keeping politics out of flood protection.
