NEW ORLEANS, July 25 (UPI) -- Mayor Ray Nagin named a new director at the New Orleans health department Thursday in his expanding campaign to overhaul city government and investigate charges of corruption in some agencies.
Nagin's appointment of Dr. Kevin Stephens to improve the city's health services came only three days after he announced a crackdown on alleged wrongdoing in the licensing of taxi cabs and operations of vehicle inspection stations.
Nagin was sworn into office May 6 after defeating longtime mayor Marc Morial, who had served for eight years in the post.
"Mayor Nagin has consistently said he would assess the landscape of City Hall and make changes where appropriate in an effort to make city government more efficient and customer friendly," said Kimberly Williamson, chief administrative assistant.
Williamson said an audit of the health department showed a need for an overhaul. A search is under way for new directors of public works, property management, and the office of emergency preparedness.
Stephens, an obstetrician and gynecologist, has been in private practice for the past 14 years in New Orleans East. He has also served as the women's health medical director for the Office of Public Health in the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Edwin P. Compass also announced several command changes in the department, which has also undergone reforms in recent years. He said the public integrity bureau would also be beefed up with additional officers.
On Wednesday, the former head of the city department that regulates taxi cabs was arrested by police. Raids were also conducted at the city's largest cab company.
About 40 city bureaucrats and taxi cab drivers have been arrested on bribery and other charges since Nagin launched his investigation Monday.
Lilliam Regan is the highest-ranking city official charged so far. She was fired Monday as director of the city utilities department, which oversees the taxicab bureau.
Her husband, attorney Martin Regan, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that his wife would plead innocent to charges of malfeasance. He called her arrest a "bitter pill" because she had worked hard to root out corruption in her agency.
The 10 hand-picked detectives were added to the special New Orleans police task force assigned to investigate complaints of corruption. A special hotline has been loaded with tips from citizens since it was opened this week, according to officials.
The head of the task force told the Times-Picayune he hopes to interview former mayor Morial and his chief administrative officer Marlin Gusman as witnesses. Nagin has said Morial's failure to root out corruption amounted to "complicity."
