2 S&WB inspectors ousted in wake of double-dipping allegations |

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Two Sewerage & Water Board officials have been ousted after a WWL-TV investigation last fall found government employees in charge of plumbing inspections and permits in the city of New Orleans were involved in a web of self-dealing with private contractors and other city building inspectors .

Jay Arnold resigned as the head of the S&WB’s plumbing department on Feb. 17, the agency confirmed Wednesday. Documents show one of Arnold’s top deputies, Vernon Marcotte, was fired the same day.

Neither man responded to calls requesting comment Wednesday.

WWL-TV reported Nov. 3 that Arnold and Marcotte had used hundreds of gas installation permits over recent years to collect tens of thousands of dollars in extra pay for private work that was done while they were working at the S&WB, often by plumbers who didn ‘t have the proper license.

Within hours of the broadcast, the FBI raided the S&WB to sixteen all the open permit and inspection records Arnold and Marcotte controlled. The next day, the board launched an internal investigation and suspended Arnold and Marcotte without pay, saying the conduct outlined by WWL-TV “may constitute violations of the Louisiana Code of Ethics and/or payroll fraud.”

At the time, S&WB Executive Director Ghassan Korban said he had not seen warnings from City Hall and from the State Licensing Board for Contractors about Arnold and Marcotte’s actions. Korban said he had not understood the “enormity” of the situation.

“There certainly was a lack of understanding and appreciation to the scale of what was going on,” Korban said. “And no excuse whatsoever, had I known what I knew today, I would certainly have acted differently at the time. I just didn’t.”

After ousting both employees, Korban issued a statement Wednesday.

“Mr. Marcotte and Mr. Arnold are no longer employees of the Sewerage and Water Board, however that is not the final resolution. We are committed to assessing any malpractices and misuse of ratepayers’ funds in order to hold them both accountable. We also are focusing on lessons learned in order to avoid this from happening again.”

Last week, Korban sent a termination letter to Marcotte detailing the internal investigation’s findings. He says Marcotte failed to show for a disciplinary hearing earlier this month where he could have offered a defense.

“You fraudulently filed for gas work permits for which someone other than yourself performed the permitted work,” it says.

It also alleges Marcotte violated state ethics laws and S&WB policies, accusing him of “abuse of power” and “accepting anything of value” from 2017 to 2021.

The WWL-TV investigation uncovered documents and time-stamped photos showing Marcotte, appearing as the gas contractor at city mechanical inspections, during business hours on days when he claimed eight hours of work on his S&WB time sheets.

Marcotte told WWL-TV in October that he did those gas inspections on his lunch breaks.

But the internal investigation found otherwise, with Marcotte’s termination letter citing “an overlap period of (Marcotte) being on company time while either filing permit applications or having permitted work inspected by a city inspector.”

Marcotte’s public salary was about $57,000 and Arnold’s was $104,000.

As the head of the plumbing department, Arnold was on salary, so he did not have to report his hours on time sheets. The S&WB and the Civil Service Commission did not provide any documentation detailing the findings of the internal investigation into Arnold.

Arnold spoke to WWL-TV by phone in October but did not agree to an interview.

In a telephone interview Oct. 26, Marcotte acknowledged he had not actually performed the hundreds of gas installation jobs he had permits for. He said he was just filing permits on behalf of plumbers who lacked the proper gasfitter’s license.

“I was just filing permits. Back then, you know, I just … was filing the permit to have it done. And then a licensed plumber would put in (the gas lines),” he said, adding that the requirements for getting a city gasfitter license were “too onerous” for most plumbers.

Marcotte’s termination letter also accuses him of an “undisclosed conflict of interest” for getting his gas permits inspected by an unnamed city inspector. The WWL-TV investigation found that Buddy Fraiche, a City Hall mechanical inspector, approved most of the work done under Marcotte’s permits.

Fraiche also owned a plumbing company and served as the qualified license holder for another, and both received plumbing permits and inspections from Arnold’s staff. After WWL-TV’s story aired, city permitting director Tammie Jackson said Fraiche was double-dipping, working his private plumbing jobs without proper authorization.

Fraiche resigned from the city and the state contractor’s board stripped him of his plumbing license. He declined to comment after his state disciplinary hearing except to say he had resigned.

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