Curt Sprang Staff reporter

July 1, 2009
NEW ORLEANS—
The team of computer contractors hired my Mayor Ray Nagin's office to find Nagin's missing emails cannot find them. Also, the group says 22 gigabytes of information is missing from the city's computer servers.

The team of contractors is working with the Louisiana Technology Council. It includes Chris Reade of Carrollton Technology Partners.

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"There had to be a human action. So, yes, deliberate," Reade said of the deleted gigabytes.

Nagin's office hired the team as part of the controversy surrounding City Hall emails. A block of Nagin's emails turned up missing.

The contractors scoured the city's servers, one of which was replaced last summer. During a news conference on Wednesday, Reade said that old server still contained the email accounts of more than 50 city hall workers. But 22 gigabytes of information was intentionally deleted from the server, and Mayor Nagins emails were also absent from the account. Reade added that the person who deleted the information also needed administrator access to the servers.

Nagin did not respond to the released information. The city's interim Information Technology Director called it unconscionable to say that any member of city government would intentionally remove the information.

Reade and the other contractors say they have about another week's worth of work to do before finishing their effort to search for any missing emails. So far none have been found.