New Orleans’ regional flood protection authority has hired a new police chief after firing his predecessor Joshua Rondeno, whose self-drafted employment contract added to upheaval at the agency over changes pursued by Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration.
Joseph Picone, a law enforcement veteran with close ties to Landry, will now lead the two police forces at the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East, the agency tasked with overseeing the system of levees and pumps built to prevent a repeat of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation.
His arrival follows more than a year of turmoil under Rondeno, who sought to increase the agency’s spending on its 50-officer force and wrote a version of his own employment contract that would have granted him up to $910,000 in severance pay…