Nearly three months after deciding to search for outside management to clean up the Española Public Housing Authority, city administrators are no closer to securing an entity to help the Authority avoid being taken over by the federal Housing Department.
Taos contractor Beatrice Silva turned down a contract to manage the Authority 11 days after it was awarded to her, leaving the city with less than two months to turn around its troubled Authority before the Department decides whether it will take the Authority from the city.
Silva said that after reviewing the city’s contract, she realized she wouldn’t be able to turn around the Authority in three months.
“It wasn’t feasible to do within three months,” Silva said. “I couldn’t justify doing it. It’s not fair to the city and not fair to me. (The city) actually needs to hire an experienced director who can piggyback on another authority to help them along, but they’re not just going to get out of troubled status right away.”
In her response to Interim City Manager Veronica Albin, Silva also cited financial concerns as a reason for turning down the contract. She said the cost of providing liability insurance outweighed the money she would make managing the authority.
The city will now have to go back to the drawing board and appeal to surrounding housing authorities to help correct a multitude of problems facing its Authority.
The Housing Authority Board met July 30 and directed Albin to contact other authorities who might be interested in managing the Authority, but did not take any action on the matter. The Board is expected to convene over the next several weeks to decide its next action pending Martinez’s contact with other public housing authorities.
Albin said she had not contacted any authorities as of Aug. 2.
The Board had voted July 10 to offer a $30,000 contract to Silva, who retired last December from her position as executive director of the Taos County Housing Authority, to manage the city’s Authority until September. In September, the federal Housing Department will review the status of the city’s Authority to see if it has made enough progress to avoid going into receivership.
Silva had worked in housing for more than 14 years at the town of Taos and Taos County Housing Authorities, according to Taos County documents. Silva was fired by the Taos County Commission in May 1999 in connection to a conflict of interest. Silva appealed the decision to state district court but the decision was upheld by a hearing officer.
The conflict arose because Silva had been the owner of three Section 8 properties prior to taking the job at Taos County as executive director. Silva notified the federal Department of the problem within weeks after being hired and subsequently setup a blind trust so that she would not directly be involved in the ownership of the questioned units.
But in 1999, the County Commission voted to fire Silva on the grounds that she had never resolved her conflict of interest. However, the County rehired Silva as executive director four years later.
Aside form Silva, Rio Arriba County Authority Director Angie Pacheco also submitted a proposal to the city. Pacheco has offered her services to the city during several meetings over the past three months, each time being turned down by city officials and staff.
The Council passed on offers to merge with the County during a meeting in May because of fears that city tenants would become a lower priority than the County’s existing tenants. Staff at the Española Authority have also been wary of a County takeover because of fears they would be replaced by County employees, claims which Pacheco has repeatedly denied.
But several people have said the County is the heir apparent to takeover the Española Authority if the Department steps in. During a County Commission meeting in May, Pacheco said she was told by Department administrators that they wanted “keep it within the County.”
Department officials have previously denied that they have any entity in mind to takeover the Española Authority, but they said the city still has to make significant progress to avoid its authority being taken into receivership.
“They need to provide us with a detailed plan,” Department Program Director Floyd Duran said. “There may be some improvements but until someone comes in with a long-range plan, receivership is still out there.”
In addition to overdue reports, Duran said the city’s Authority has failed to correct internal problems as well.
“It’s more than the reports being issued,” Duran said. “There are other issues with the folks being housed that the Authority needs to address.”
Duran specifically cited late audits, missing reporting on tenants and a failure to spend annual funding awarded to the authority by the federal Department. Over the past year the Authority has also overpaid the utility allowances for Section 8 tenants, failed to pay utility reimbursements to some Low Rent tenants, improperly housed tenants in apartments they did not qualify for and failed to maintain complete paperwork for many of its tenants.
Acting Authority Executive Director Eluvina Vigil has contracted with several companies in recent weeks in an effort to spend the $1.1 million in unused federal funding that has accumulated since 2005. So far, Vigil has managed to spend at least $175,000 for improvements at the Authority’s Pajarito, Apple Valley and Duran Street housing areas.
Albin said she now plans to contact other surrounding authorities in hope of attracting someone else to help manage the Authority.
“(Former city manager Gus Cordova) said he contacted other authorities, but I’m not satisfied with the answer that no one else was interested,” Albin said.
Prior to leaving the city, Cordova said he contacted Santa Fe County as well as Rio Arriba County and Silva, whom he knew from when he worked as the Taos city manager. Cordova said representatives fromSanta Fe County told him that they were not interested in signing an interim management contract with the city.
But Rio Arriba County and Silva were the only ones to submit contract proposals to the city, and with Silva out of the picture, the city again has to find willing entities to help its Authority catch up on federal reporting requirements.
Pacheco said she would still be willing to help the city, despite a chilly reception from city staff during two previous meetings.
“They never contacted us after that meeting,” Pacheco said. “We didn’t get anything, positive or negative. The only things we knew were what we saw in the SUN. But I’d be willing to meet with them for whatever they want. It’s a decision that ultimately has to be made by the Commission, though. All I can commit to is that I would still talk with them.”
Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority Director Ed Romero also said he had not been contacted by anyone from the city, but would be willing to discuss the possibility of helping with the Authority.
“If it worked out for the two entities, for our Authority and for the city, we would take a look at it, but we still have to look at the process and what is needed,” Romero said.