ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- St. Landry Parish President Jessie Bellard said the housing authority is headed in the right direction with recent changes, such as the appointment of a new chairperson.

The previous housing authority chairperson, Willie Haynes, was fired from the role in September. Billard said that role was filled on Monday with the appointment of Cynthia Fontenot as chairperson.

"So, we're in the right direction and we know that the board itself now has an attorney that goes to their meetings," Bellard said

Bellard said he's also ensured the board properly tends to issues around the housing authority, including their meetings and public comments.

"If there's a public body that only meets once a month, and [that meeting] only lasts three or four minutes, something's wrong. There was no agenda posted. There was no meeting notice posted," Bellard said of the past issues.

"We do have that fixed now. People are actually going to the meetings now because they know about it," he continued.

Residents of the housing authority have made complaints about the conditions of the apartments and that it is difficult to get housed.

Bellard said he is prepared to address the board before the situation gets any worse.

"The plan is now to find out what's going on and speed up that process. One of the things that I don't agree with is they work Monday through Thursday and then they only take applications from 8:30 to 11:30 during the week," Bellard said.

"You get paid by the taxpayers and your job is to serve and protect and to do all kind of things for the taxpayers. But if you're not at work, how can you do that? Let's move forward and just take this as a way of trying to do better for the community," he continued.

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