BAYBRIEF |
Too close for comfort
HUD SEEKS $1.2 MILLION FROM MHB FOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST BY DALE LIESCH
T
he Mobile Housing Board will take a $1.2 million hit after U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials found a conflict of interest did exist between the board’s nonprofit arm, Mobile Development Enterprises, and a contractor hired to make apartments ready to rent. The conflict occurred when the board hired Superior Masonry to do work on some of the agency’s apartments, MHB Commission Chairwoman Kimberly Pettway said. Superior Masonry is owned by Frank Seltzer, the half-brother of MDE vice president and State Rep. Adline Clarke. The conflict was mentioned in detail in a scathing HUD Office of Inspector General report issued last summer.
in bylaws, Clarke’s salary is not paid through federal funds. An official with the U.S. Office of General Counsel has previously told Lagniappe that 100 percent of her salary would have to come from federal funds in order for a violation to occur. Further, Clarke received an advisory opinion from the Office of General Counsel in 2013 that stated the Hatch Act did not prohibit her candidacy because it was determined that her salary “is not wholly financed with federal funds.” MHB attorney Raymond Bell did not return a number of calls to his office for this story. Clarke did not respond to an email sent to her MDE office or an email to her office at the State House of Representatives on Friday. Nor did Clarke return phone calls made to MHB and MDE headquarEVEN WITH THE CHANGE IT DOES NOT ters. When reached Monday, a receptionist said Clarke APPEAR THAT CLARKE, WHO IS A DEMOCRAT was in a meeting. MHB Executive Director and IN THE STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WOULD BE CEO Dwayne Vaughn also failed to respond to an email IN VIOLATION OF THE HATCH ACT, WHICH IS A FEDERAL message. LAW DESIGNED TO LIMIT FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ The HUD field office will also require MHB to meet PARTICIPATION IN PARTISAN ELECTIONS. occupancy goals outlined in a plan the field office established. MHB is required to In a statement released late last Thursday submit monthly reports that will be monitored by morning, Pettway said the relationship was HUD, according to the statement. disclosed, but according to OIG the board should have obtained a waiver. Interim executive director In a phone interview, Pettway said she would After a somewhat brief executive session, the prefer the board not hire contractors who are board unanimously picked Senior Vice President related to employees. and CFO Lori Shackelford as interim executive Since at least a portion of the money paid to director. Superior Masonry came from HUD funds, the Pettway said Shackelford was chosen because agency’s Birmingham field office is asking that she worked closely with Vaughn, is respected by $1.24 million of MHB’s non-federal funds be the employees and has a “long-term history” with transferred to an internal capital fund, accordthe authority. ing to the statement. Lagniappe has previously “She’s the perfect fit,” Pettway said. reported that MHB paid Superior Masonry a total When he announced his resignation earlier of $3 million from 2011 to 2015. this month, Vaughn told commissioners he would “The $1.24 million transferred will be used to serve as executive director until Feb. 28. Pettway make additional repairs to housing units or repo- mentioned following Wednesday’s meeting that sition communities,” the statement read. “MHB Vaughn would serve until the end of January. must submit a repayment plan to the HUD field When asked the reason for the change, Pettway office by Friday, Feb. 10.” said there was no reason from the board’s perAdditionally, MHB must provide a copy of spective. its “Conflict of Interest Policy” to the field ofWhen asked why he decided to leave early, fice, along with a resolution acknowledging that Vaughn couldn’t give a date and said he would Superior Masonry will not be hired to do any serve at the pleasure of the board. additional work for MHB as long as a conflict In other business from the Jan. 25 board of interest exists. The board had already stopped meeting, Vaughn told commissioners that HUD using the contractor upon learning of the OIG officials would be in Mobile next week to tour concern last year, the statement read. some of the housing complexes. During his last MHB must also change MDE’s bylaws to executive director’s report, Vaughn told commisidentify MDE as an instrumentality, according to sioners that closing for the Downtown Renaisthe statement. MHB has previously maintained sance properties under the Rental Assistance that MDE was a subsidiary of the agency, not an Demonstration program would be delayed until instrumentality. at least March. The change would make MDE a part of The closing would be the first step in a the housing authority rather than an affiliate. portfolio-wide conversion to RAD for the auEven with the change it does not appear that thority. RAD, which converts public housing to Clarke, who is a Democrat in the state House Section 8 housing, means the authority would be of Representatives, would be in violation of the guaranteed steady funding at 2014 levels regardHatch Act, which is a federal law designed to less of changes to HUD funding. The program, limit federal employees’ participation in partisan which allows private partners to get involved elections. in public housing, could threaten employment Pettway confirmed that despite the change levels at MHB.
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