4 members of the Kenner Metropolis Council referred to as Saturday for Mayor Ben Zahn to fireplace Finance Director Michael Wetzel after he was arrested twice in eight days, as soon as for allegedly knocking his spouse unconscious and a second time on a drunken driving cost.
“Each allegations are very severe and name into query Mr. Wetzel’s capability to proceed to serve in his place,” the officers mentioned in a letter to Zahn. “We imagine these allegations warrant Mr. Wetzel’s rapid termination.”
Michael Wetzel stays on the job whereas Metropolis Corridor considers ‘what actions needs to be taken’
The letter is signed by Gregory Carroll, George Branigan, Brian Brennan and Kristi McKinney, a majority of the seven-member council.
Zahn did not remark immediately on the problem, as a substitute saying council members have his telephone quantity and will have referred to as him with questions or issues.
“It really works each methods,” he mentioned.
Michael Wetzel
The council members launched the letter the day after NOLA.com reported Wetzel’s arrests, which occurred on Christmas Day and Jan. 2. Additionally they complain they realized of the arrests by information reviews — not from the mayor’s workplace.
“As quickly because the administration was made conscious of the allegations, the council ought to have been contacted as a courtesy,” their letter says.
As of Friday, Wetzel remained on the job. Chief administrative officer Deborah Foshee mentioned Metropolis Corridor was conscious of each arrests.
“Town considers this a really severe matter, and we’re working with the worker to find out what actions needs to be taken,” she mentioned.
Wetzel, who oversees an annual funds of about $81 million for Zahn’s administration, couldn’t be reached for remark Friday. He and his spouse, Nicole, reside in Destrehan.
On Christmas, St. Charles Parish sheriff’s deputies had been referred to as to Ochsner Well being Heart-Kenner after his spouse arrived with a reduce on her head, based on court docket information. She advised a nurse that she and her husband went to a restaurant and a bar then returned dwelling, the place they argued.
Their argument carried into the toilet, the place she advised deputies her husband got here at her aggressively and that she thought he had knocked her out briefly, his arrest report says. She advised deputies she got here to, blacked out once more and awoke a second time to seek out her husband making an attempt to place a bandage on her head. She then drove herself to the hospital.
She additionally advised deputies this was not the primary time he had battered her, the arrest report says.
Deputies went to the couple’s dwelling, the place Michael Wetzel denied getting bodily along with his spouse. He advised them she got here at him aggressively and hit her head on a door body, which prompted the reduce. The deputies wrote that they discovered no blood on the body however did see “small drops of blood close to the bed room dresser.”
They concluded that Michael Wetzel was the aggressor and booked him with second-degree battery. Court docket information present he posted a $10,000 bond and was launched from custody.
On Jan. 2, Wetzel was arrested once more in St. Charles Parish and booked with DWI and reckless driving, court docket information present. Particulars of that case haven’t been launched.
