As expected, the search for a new executive director of the Hoboken Housing Authority – the agency that oversees Hoboken’s federally funded housing projects – has been tumultuous, with a marked amount of infighting on the seven-member board.
Even though he is leaving, former Executive Director E. Troy Washington is in the middle of a acrimonious controversy, where a faction of commissioners alleges that “lame duck” Washington abrogated his responsibilities before his contract expired, leading to unsafe conditions. Those who support Washington said that their opposition is just manufacturing an emergency to push through their own political agenda and to hire who they want to replace Washington.
Washington issued his official letter of resignation on Dec. 10 after weeks of speculation. He has accepted the job as the executive director of the Jersey City Housing Authority. Last week, he was in Jersey City working, even though he is still under contract with the Hoboken Housing Authority.
According to his letter of resignation, his resignation was effective on Jan. 16, but there is a faction of the Housing Authority board that charged that Washington has not been coming into work with any regularity since Dec. 10.
The second faction, which supports Washington and to this point has been supported by the Newark branch of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that Washington may have been out of the office, but that he had vacation time coming, and even when out of the office he was still in full control of the authority.
Political divides
The Hoboken Housing Authority (HHA) oversees the city’s approximately 1,383 federally subsidized units of low-income housing, primarily located in the southwest part of the city. The HHA answers to the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is not city-run, but the City Council, mayor and state appoint the seven unpaid commissioners to the housing board. The board hires a paid executive director.
For the past two years, there have been two factions of the HHA board that disagree on just about everything. One faction is more aligned with City Hall than with Troy Washington and believes that Washington should have worked better with City Hall to improve the HHA.
The other faction, consisting of HHA residents on the board, has generally supported Washington and has stated that City Hall should not meddle in Housing Authority business. This is the faction that HUD has supported in recent letters.
The pro-Washington faction consists of Housing Authority residents Arlette Braxton, Lynda Walker, and Vice-Chair Jean Rodriguez. Although there are rumors that Braxton maybe reconsidering her position now that Washington is leaving.
The other faction has tried to push Washington out. The group consists of board Chairman Angel Alicea, Jessica Andreula, Christopher Campos (who is also the City Council president) and Perry Belfiore.
Where’s Washington?
HHA Chairman Alicea said Tuesday that it’s his belief Washington has not “been in control or managing” the Housing Authority for over a month. “Residents have told me, and I have seen with my own eyes, that he has not been there,” said Alicea. “I have tried to contact [Washington] by phone dozens of times, but not a single call has been returned. As the chairman of the Hoboken Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, he has a responsibility to return my phone calls.”
He added that he asked Washington for a report as to how much vacation time he had coming, but as of Thursday has not received any reports.
The Reporter made six calls to Washington’s office in Hoboken, and each time Washington’s assistant’s voice mail picked up. On Wednesday, an employee at the Jersey City Housing Authority said that Washington was present in Jersey City but on another phone call. Washington had not, as of Friday, returned the Reporter’s calls.
Alicea said that he has also received complaints about increased gang activity, a shooting, piled garbage and maintenance concerns, especially as it relates to the operation of elevators.
On Jan. 7 Alicea issued a letter to Diane Johnson, the field director of the Newark branch of HUD. In the letter, Alicea said that Washington’s departure “has created an emergency situation, which has affected the public health, safety and/or welfare requiring immediate attention.”
But the HHA had more than a month’s notice that Washington would be leaving, and as yet has been unable to find a replacement.
Reports of shots fired
According Hoboken Police Chief Carmen LaBruno, two weekends ago there were reports of shots being fired in the Housing Authority. No one was injured and no arrests have been made.
He added that gang activity has also increased in the projects, and said that security has deteriorated significantly in the past several weeks, with several near-violent incidents.
“I, too, share their security concerns,” said the chief of police. “I can say that with confidence. We have made a number of quality arrests after investigations into people that we feel have contributed to the decline of the quality of life in public housing.”
He added that over the past week he has had meetings with Mayor David Roberts and the City Council’s Public Safety committee to specifically address the safety issues in the projects.
But the HHA had more than a month’s notice that Washington would be leaving, and as yet have been unable to find a replacement.
Special meeting
Alicea called a “special meeting” of the Board of Commissioners on Jan. 8 to deal with what he called an emergency situation. The meeting was attended by the four anti-Washington commissioners. It’s important to note that Mayor Roberts, while he generally supports the anti-Washington commissioners, said he did not know about the meeting beforehand. According to Roberts, the commissioners who called the meeting were acting on their own volition.
The agenda had only four items. The first “relieved Director Washington of all duties retroactively” to the date of his notification, which was Dec. 10, 2003.
The second agenda item “assesses how the resignation of Washington… [has] created an emergency situation affecting the public health, safety or welfare requiring the immediate performance of services.”
The third item awarded a no-bid “emergency month-to-month” contract West Side Management Co. of Jersey City for the day-to-day operations of the HHA, for a total not to exceed $9,000 per-month.
The fourth agenda item “rescind[ed] any an all Request for Proposals” that “may or may not have been issued without authorization, direction or approval of the HHA Board of Commissioners by Director Washington since his written resignation on Dec. 10.”
Essentially, this fourth item means that Washington has written a request for proposals for a new executive director. If his resignation was to become retroactive, then, according to Alicea, that RFP would then be void.
Commissioner Walker, a supporter of Washington, said Tuesday that she had major problems with the meeting, and called it nothing more than a “political power grab.” She said that it wasn’t properly noticed, second she said that she was never invited, a claim that Alicea denies.
Walker also said that the four members who opposed Washington are trying to usurp HUD’s authority, and are locking those who supported Washington out of the policy making process.
“It’s horrible that they could call a meeting at the last minute without inviting three commissioners,” said Walker. She added that the opposition commissioners were not following state and federal procurement policies when they hired West Side Management. “There is a process when hiring someone,” said Walker. “They can’t, on a whim, pick and choose who they are going to hire. What they are doing is completely illegal.”
“By acting so irresponsibly they are leaving [the HHA] open for unnecessary sanctions and litigation,” said Walker, “If they continue to operate by their own rules we will lose our [federal] funding and will become a troubled agency once again.”
HUD responds to meeting
In a strongly worded letter, HUD backed up Walker’s position.
“There is no evidence that these services [for West Side Management] were procured or will be procured through any legitimate means,” read a Jan. 8 letter from Edward DePaula, the acting director of the Newark office of HUD. “You are reminded that there are currently two outstanding RFPs that are returnable Jan. 15 for the position of interim executive director, and for the selection of an executive director search consultant.”
The letter added that if Washington, in the eyes of HUD was the executive director until Jan. 16, and therefore, “he continues to have the responsibility of ensuring that all procurement requirements are conducted in accordance with Federal and State procurement requirements.”
This means that the HHA should be hiring a search firm to look for qualified people to be the executive director, a very important position that affects the lives of thousands of Hoboken residents.
The letter ended with a stern threat that HUD policies were not followed future sanctions could be possible.
“It is imperative that the board not act in an arbitrary and capricious manner with regard to the two RFPs that are outstanding and returnable Jan 15, 2004,” said DePaula. “We will not hesitate to impose any administrative or financial sanction at our disposal if the Board persists in ignoring its existing procurement policies and the directives of HUD.”
Lawyer responds
The HHA’s lawyer, Spencer Miller, at the request of Washington, wrote an opinion that the Jan. 8 meeting was not in line with HUD’s procurement policies.
“There is no emergency, and since Mr. Washington is still functioning as the Executive Director of the Hoboken Housing Authority, until he formally begins his tenure at Jersey City,” said Miller.
He added that the three resident commissioners were never informed by Alicea about the hiring of West Side Management.
“The choice of an interim executive director is a matter for discussion and formal action by the full board after review of the responses to the RFP for that position,” said Miller in his letter. “Individual decisions, either by you [Alicea] or any other member with regard to the hiring of an interim executive director, in the absence of a majority decision by the full Board of Commissioners sitting as a body after proper public notice of the meeting, are ineffective.”
Miller also said the Washington is, according to HUD policy, responsible for writing RFPs, and it was inappropriate for the commissioners to resend legal RFPs that have already been sent out.
In a response, Alicea questioned whether Miller was even still under contract with the HHA. Alicea correctly noted that the contract for his firm, Miller and Galdieri, expired in September 2003.
“I must ask,” said Alicea in a letter date Jan. 9, “who is your client? As you know, your contract has expired. The board has never acted to extend your contract further. Nevertheless, you have supplied legal opinion after legal opinion.”
Miller and Galdieri also are under contract as the attorney for the Jersey City Housing Authority.
While Alicea may be right that Miller’s contract has expired, HUD regulations allow for an attorney to stay on holdover status until a new contract is inked.
West Side escorted off
On Friday Jan. 9, a day after the hiring of West Side Management, the firm showed up for its first day of work. After only two hours on the job, according to Alicea, Washington, flanked by two security guards, escorted the West Side employees off the property.
The theory was that the meeting where West Side was hired was not a legal meeting, according to HUD correspondence.
After this incident, Alicea wrote a letter to HUD challenging its opinion that the procurement policy was not followed.
“You are wrong,” said Alicea in a letter dated Jan. 9. “A special meeting was held on Jan. 8, 2004 was called in order to assess the crisis at the Hoboken Housing Authority. At that meeting it was determined an emergent crisis exists. Among other things, there is a total lack of administration or supervision resulting in an imminent threat to life and limb.”
He added that that several residents have told him about an existing dangerous situation. “We were told of a gun fight and how a stray bullet nearly killed her 2-year-old,” he said.
The HHA does have a private security firm to patrol the projects, supplementing the city police.
Alicea also said that HHA procurement policy provides that a contract can be given out without competitive bidding “when an emergency exists which permits no delay because of the possibility of injury to life or destruction of property.”
Mayor meets with HUD
On Thursday morning, Roberts met with Johnson of HUD at City Hall.
“It was a good meeting,” said Roberts, who reiterated the Jan 8. HHA meeting was held without his knowledge. “This situation will be corrected,” said a conciliatory-sounding Roberts, “and we will be able to get things back on track.”v A Housing Authority meeting was scheduled for Friday night, Jan. 16, at 5 p.m. to try and resolve the issue.