The New Orleans flood protection authority’s embattled police chief, whose pay and self-drafted employment contract had drawn scrutiny from state lawmakers, has been placed on administrative leave, an adviser to Gov. Jeff Landry said Thursday.
Joshua Rondeno was placed on leave with pay late Wednesday “pending an investigation that we can’t discuss while it’s going on,” said Landry adviser Shane Guidry, who has been overseeing changes at the agency though he holds no official or elected office. Guidry declined to answer further questions about the nature of the investigation.
Stacy Gilmore, a spokesperson for the agency officially known as the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East, initially said only that “Superintendent of Police Joshua Rondeno has not been terminated.”…