Brighton council blows up over Housing Authority

“If we talk like this and tomorrow 13 people resign, we are not in a position to take over,” Blackhurst said.

housing, help pay single family mortgages or issue mortgage certificates or redevelop blighted areas.

rently vacant, and two alternates. According to city ordinances, only one member can be a City Councilor or staff member.

BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A question of allowing $2.5 million in state bonds allocated for affordable housing go to a project in Aurora turned into a call by some City Councilors to disband the city’s Housing Authority and retask the entity’s mission.

“Aurora can build housing and other communities around us can do programs. Adams County is doing a fine job at trying to make this happen,” Councilor Matt Johnston said during the council’s July 25 study session. “It’s just Brighton that can’t. And I gotta tell you, we are the most supportive of trying to get these done. So why are handing this off to somebody else? We can do it, but the (Brighton Housing Authority) leadership can’t do it, they won’t do it.”

Councilor Mary Ellen Pollack wondered what the actually did, and why Brighton was not seeing them build and open new projects, both saying the housing authority board should be disbanded.

“If you are hired to do a job or you’re appointed to do a job, then do the job,” she said. “It’s not just a title, that you can say you belong to this or that. Yeah, you do. But what have you done?”

City Manager Michael Martinez took a more measured stance, noting that building affordable housing is difficult. He said councilors need more information before they decide the Housing Authority’s fate. And Councilor Clint Blackhurst, however, cautioned his colleagues on the council to be careful with what they said.

Councilors were already scheduled to discuss their concerns with the housing authority. City Councilor Ann Taddeo, the city’s voting representative on the authority’s board, said she has concerns about how the authority operates. She noted the authority is working on projects now.

“But I heard that certain things were not going to be done, like the basements would not be finished, because they don’t have the funds,” Taddeo said. “And then things like, there were not going to have air conditioners put in because there are not enough funds. And I know a lot of it has been inflation and prices, and things that have been in the budget got cut out.”

She also said that a board with better oversight would manage the authority better.

“If we had more councilors on the board and more people from the city, we would have better input and more control over it and we could tighten it up and really start getting some things done.”

Councilor Tom Green, the city council’s alternate member on the board, backed her up.

“I’m just an alternate member, but each time I’ve been there, I sensed nothing but dysfunction,” Green said. “It just was not what I expected from a city board.”

Green, too, argued for disbanding the board.

Weatherstone

A previous item on the agenda, using private activity bonds to help fund Aurora’s Weatherstone Apartment renovation project, kicked off the discussion.

Finance Director Catrina Asher said Brighton has an annual allocation of Private Activity bonds in the amount of $2,481,938 it can use to build new affordable

Since Brighton does not have any qualifying housing projects or programs that can use the money right now, the council has two options, Asher said — return the money to the state, where it will be reallocated somewhere else in Colorado — or allow the money to go to a project in the region.

“Typically, $2.5 million is not enough for a project in and of itself, so developers would work to pool funds with other sources,” she said. “When we do that, we can define who it goes to and what project it can be used for.”

The Weatherstone project in Aurora fits that bill, Asher said.

“When we reached out to the Brighton Housing Authority, they did not have any projects that were in need of funds and that were at a point in their development that they could commit to use the funds within the immediate time frame.”

The project would repair and renovate 204 one, two and threebedroom apartments at the complex at 15594 E. 12th Ave. in Aurora.

Asher noted Private Activity bonds from Loveland help support a project in Brighton a year ago.

The item was scheduled to be on the council’s August 1 meeting agenda, but Mayor Greg Mills was skeptical and several councilors said they would not support it.

“I don’t know. I have not heard a deciding factor here, and I’m hearing ‘nos’ on this side of the room,” Mills said. “Well, we’ll vote on it next week.”

Back to the authority

That led directly into the discussion about the Housing Authority and its board. City Attorney Alicia Calderon said the board has seven member seats, one that is cur-

Members must have been Brighton residents for at least 30 days, unless the city cannot find a resident to fill a vacant spot. Then, Calderon said, the City Council can appoint someone to the board that works in Brighton but does not live there. Two of the current members don’t live in Brighton.

“I think that we are talking around a real issue here,” Johnston said. “We have people here not holding people accountable. And we have an option to make sure all residents are on the board. We are residents.”

Calderon said the City Council could add more members or change the requirements so that only Brighton residents can serve. They can also change the requirements to allow more City Councilors to serve on the board.

But Councilors said they favored eliminating the current board and taking over the authority themselves.

“We need to take this away from them,” Johnston said. “To act like there is a soft way to do this, well there is no soft way to do this.”

Calderon said it would take at least three weeks to get changes for the housing authority on the council’s agenda.

In an email, Debra Bristol, executive director of the Brighton Housing Authority, said she is looking forward to addressing the City Council.

“We’re proud of the work we do in support of the residents of our community, especially those in the greatest need, and the Board and I look forward to continuing this conversation,” Bristol wrote. “BHA will continue to meet the challenge of affordable housing needs to best serve the residents of Brighton.”

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