The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
52
http://www.nj.com/columns/jjournal/morgan/...61019238410.xml
Ex-director leaves two agencies reeling
Monday, April 12, 2004
The tale of two housing authorities in trouble seems destined to go on and on as revelation follows revelation, with both agencies - Jersey City and Hoboken - seemingly unable to do anything but lurch from crisis to crisis.
If there is a common cause for the woes afflicting both agencies, it's E. Troy Washington - the man who left the post of executive director of the HHA to take the same post at the JCHA, only to be fired afte
a mere 35 days.
The latest turmoil in Hoboken is the possible layoff of more workers. Last month, the HHA's interim executive director, Robert DiVincent, terminated 11 employees becau
se
f the agency's tight financial situation.
Angel
Alicea, HHA chairman, said that he's received a letter confirming that the authority has been officially designated a "troubled housing authority" by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which supplies the agency's $10 million budget.
That designation could be the first step of a HUD takeover of the agency's day-to-day operations, which "could mean even more layoffs," Alicea said.
"Hopefully, if we are able to pull things together, we can rehire the people we had to let go," he said.
The HHA board is slated to meet Friday, and sources said the agenda could include a resolution to hire a special counsel to attempt to recoup the funds spent under Washington&
#39;s reign on expenses or services now deemed unnecessary.
Washington, as usual, was not available for comment. But at the March 31 emergency meeting of the JCHA - at which he was fired
- W
ashi
ngton said
when he left the Hoboken agency, its finances were in surplus.
HUD's Office of the Inspecto
r General has already launched an investigation of expenditures and contracts entered into during Washington's stewardship of the two housing authorities. HUD investigators have already visited the administrative offices of both authorities several times in the past two weeks, according to sources.
Meanwhile, the JCHA is struggling with its own budgetary crisis. The agency held its first regular monthly meeting of the post-Washington era last Wednesday, at which there was little public discussion of the expenses he ran up during his 35-day tenure.
For example, no one brought up what, if anything, could be done about the $190,000 Washington allegedly spent on furniture, n
ew computers and a host of other accouterments for the executive offices. Nor did anyone say whether there will be an attempt to recover $5,000 given to Washington as a reimburs
ement fo
r tuitio
n to Rutgers Law S
chool.
But the board did talk about a significant pay raise for special counsel Joseph Manfre
di, who handled much of the legal work involving Washington's termination. Manfredi's original $50,000 contract was increased to $190,000 by the JCHA board. That contract will hike the JCHA's legal fees this year to nearly $300,000. At the beginning of the fiscal year, they'd budgeted for $170,000 in legal costs.
The JCHA has a lot of lawyers. Given the nature of running the $58 million-a-year authority, perhaps there is a need for a lot of legal talent. But you have to wonder if it's really necessary to have four or more law firms under contract, especially when they threaten to cost the already financially strapped authority nearly a half-m
illion dollars.
It has to be said that the JCHA is doing a much better job of letting the public know what it's doing with their money. Access to information,
which was h
ard to come
by during Washington's
tenure, is, at least for the time being, considerably easier.
Washington not only refused to talk to reporte
rs, he even balked at talking to members of the Jersey City City Council. Further, he affirmed the night he was terminated that he had instructed the agency's employees not to speak to any JCHA commissioners or attorneys, to City Council members, the mayor or the press.
So much for the First Amendment. I suppose all the legal talent hired by the JCHA failed to impress on Washington that he had an obligation to disclose information to the people who paid his salary - the taxpayers.
I've been in this business in Hudson County long enough to see good lawyers and bad ones representing a host of boards and commissions. Considering recent events at both the
JCHA and the HHA, some of the lawyers for both entities might want to consider a refresher course in ethics.
http://www.nj.com/columns/jjournal/morgan/...61019238410.xml
Ex-director leaves two agencies reeling
Monday, April 12, 2004
The tale of two housing authorities in trouble seems destined to go on and on as revelation follows revelation, with both agencies - Jersey City and Hoboken - seemingly unable to do anything but lurch from crisis to crisis.
If there is a common cause for the woes afflicting both agencies, it's E. Troy Washington - the man who left the post of executive director of the HHA to take the same post at the JCHA, only to be fired afte
a mere 35 days.
The latest turmoil in Hoboken is the possible layoff of more workers. Last month, the HHA's interim executive director, Robert DiVincent, terminated 11 employees becau
se
f the agency's tight financial situation.
Angel
Alicea, HHA chairman, said that he's received a letter confirming that the authority has been officially designated a "troubled housing authority" by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which supplies the agency's $10 million budget.
That designation could be the first step of a HUD takeover of the agency's day-to-day operations, which "could mean even more layoffs," Alicea said.
"Hopefully, if we are able to pull things together, we can rehire the people we had to let go," he said.
The HHA board is slated to meet Friday, and sources said the agenda could include a resolution to hire a special counsel to attempt to recoup the funds spent under Washington&
#39;s reign on expenses or services now deemed unnecessary.
Washington, as usual, was not available for comment. But at the March 31 emergency meeting of the JCHA - at which he was fired
- W
ashi
ngton said
when he left the Hoboken agency, its finances were in surplus.
HUD's Office of the Inspecto
r General has already launched an investigation of expenditures and contracts entered into during Washington's stewardship of the two housing authorities. HUD investigators have already visited the administrative offices of both authorities several times in the past two weeks, according to sources.
Meanwhile, the JCHA is struggling with its own budgetary crisis. The agency held its first regular monthly meeting of the post-Washington era last Wednesday, at which there was little public discussion of the expenses he ran up during his 35-day tenure.
For example, no one brought up what, if anything, could be done about the $190,000 Washington allegedly spent on furniture, n
ew computers and a host of other accouterments for the executive offices. Nor did anyone say whether there will be an attempt to recover $5,000 given to Washington as a reimburs
ement fo
r tuitio
n to Rutgers Law S
chool.
But the board did talk about a significant pay raise for special counsel Joseph Manfre
di, who handled much of the legal work involving Washington's termination. Manfredi's original $50,000 contract was increased to $190,000 by the JCHA board. That contract will hike the JCHA's legal fees this year to nearly $300,000. At the beginning of the fiscal year, they'd budgeted for $170,000 in legal costs.
The JCHA has a lot of lawyers. Given the nature of running the $58 million-a-year authority, perhaps there is a need for a lot of legal talent. But you have to wonder if it's really necessary to have four or more law firms under contract, especially when they threaten to cost the already financially strapped authority nearly a half-m
illion dollars.
It has to be said that the JCHA is doing a much better job of letting the public know what it's doing with their money. Access to information,
which was h
ard to come
by during Washington's
tenure, is, at least for the time being, considerably easier.
Washington not only refused to talk to reporte
rs, he even balked at talking to members of the Jersey City City Council. Further, he affirmed the night he was terminated that he had instructed the agency's employees not to speak to any JCHA commissioners or attorneys, to City Council members, the mayor or the press.
So much for the First Amendment. I suppose all the legal talent hired by the JCHA failed to impress on Washington that he had an obligation to disclose information to the people who paid his salary - the taxpayers.
I've been in this business in Hudson County long enough to see good lawyers and bad ones representing a host of boards and commissions. Considering recent events at both the
JCHA and the HHA, some of the lawyers for both entities might want to consider a refresher course in ethics.