Another interim director has been removed from New Orleans leadership. This time it's a woman who has been at the head of the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission since May.
The decision to terminate Maya Wyche came after NORDC held an emergency meeting Wednesday.
"I'm making a motion at this time to terminate employment of the interim CEO effective immediately," said Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
Mayor Cantrell, shortly after opening up the meeting with that motion, explained the search for a replacement has actually been underway for the past few months, and there were close to 100 responses, which has been narrowed down to about 25 candidates.
Why she had to be removed so suddenly is unclear. The meeting went into executive session at Wyche's request, a right she has to discuss employment matters in private. In the audience were several supporters including, Daisy Taylor.
"My biggest thing about Ms. Wyche is that she had to put on a lot of hats when she became and took the courage to become the interim until they could get somebody new," said Taylor.
Others spoke of some of the issues under her leadership, including state health violations at playgrounds.
"23 violations, that's not acceptable," mentioned a speaker.
And a NORDC employee spoke directly about communication and conflict resolution, "To speak to her leadership I had to email and email and email about sexual assault that was on one of my site facilitators in my district over and over so much so that she didn't want to speak to Ms. Wyche without me there."
Commissioners then voted 6-2 in favor of removing Wyche.
Afterward, Mayor LaToya Cantrell would not elaborate on details of the discussion earlier, or allegations that came up during the public portion, saying only she stood by the commission.
"Well the allegations if you know me, we cannot stand for that type of environment in the City of New Orleans, and it has been demonstrated by actions that's been taken by me directly," added Mayor Cantrell.
Wyche wasn't the only one who left NORDC Wednesday. The Commission's liaison Lindsay Lewis also resigned.
In April, WWL-TV reported that the chair of NORDC's board of commissioners, suspended Judge Byron Williams, was stepping down amid allegations of sexual improprieties while serving on the Orleans Criminal District Court bench.
Though Williams' attorney denied the allegations, he said Williams resigned so as not to be a distraction to the work of NORDC. Williams also took a leave of absence from the court during an investigation into the allegations, by the Louisiana Judiciary Commission.
Jacqueline Quynh can be reached at jquynh@wwltv.com.