It was at the housing board's directive that the Metropolitan Housing Alliance in Little Rock hired a deputy executive director for nearly $92,000 this year despite layoffs at the agency in 2013, Executive Director Rodney Forte wrote in a letter to City Hall released Friday.
The two-page letter, which included seven additional pages of attachments, was meant as an answer to Ward 3 City Director Stacy Hurst's request for a report on the agency's staffing situation.
When reached late Friday, Hurst said she hadn't had time to read the letter yet and couldn't comment. She requested it after a constituent emailed her about Forte declining to comment for a Sept. 8 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article on the hiring of the new deputy director.
The article reported that Forte hired Dana Arnette for the job, which had been dormant for nearly a decade, in June at a salary of $91,998. At the same time, 13 lower-level positions remained unfilled after people had left the agency or been laid off or fired. Many of those positions dealt directly with the low-income tenants.
Agency employees have been on furlough since May 2013, resulting in about a 10 percent reduction in pay. Arnette's furloughed salary is $82,800.
Employees also haven't had a raise in six years, according to Forte's letter.
Forte, who makes almost $132,000 per year or almost $120,000 after furlough, declined to speak with the newspaper about why the deputy director was needed or why funds weren't spent to hire back four mechanics and two assistant housing managers laid off last year. He has not returned numerous follow-up requests for comment.
He wrote to City Manager Bruce Moore in Friday's letter that the housing agency board gave him two orders upon hiring him in 2012: to manage the agency's day-to-day operations with integrity and to stabilize the executive management team.
The board had just fired the agency's former director, Shelly Ehenger, after a more than three-month investigation into employee accusations of nepotism in her hiring practices, falsification of job applications, falsification of training documents and other concerns. Under threats of litigation from Ehenger, the housing boarded voted 4-1 to pay Ehenger $120,000 in exchange for her agreeing not to seek litigation through the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.
Moore didn't return messages Friday seeking comment on Forte's letter.
The letter didn't address why Forte hired Director of Administrative Services Marshall Nash this year for $79,997 (or $72,000 after furlough) when the position's predecessor Kim Travis resigned last year earning $62,296.
Neither Forte nor Nash, who has been handling Freedom of Information Act requests for the agency, has answered questions about whether Travis' salary was the furloughed amount.
Five housing commissioners didn't return messages Friday, and the sixth, Ted Dickey, declined to comment, saying the board needed to respond collectively.
Commissioner Brad Walker previously confirmed that the board had wanted to hire a deputy director when it hired Forte in December 2012, but agreed to allow him to hire his own second-in-command. Forte began that process in March 2013, according to his letter, but delayed the move after the federal sequestration cut the agency's budget by about $1 million.
Walker said he has not yet met Arnette but that the deputy position was needed to help Forte implement his vision.
Forte wrote in the letter that after last year's layoffs "we now average 3 maintenance personnel instead of 4 per site."
The team is additionally supported by a public housing inspector and at least seven private-sector maintenance companies, the letter said, adding that the agency's maintenance scores assigned by the federal Housing and Urban Development Department average 90 percent.
The agency serves 902 public housing units, 843 of which are occupied, according to a regional spokesman for HUD.
A previous Democrat-Gazette article noted that the North Little Rock Housing Authority serves 1,023 units at eight complexes and does not have a deputy director. Forte responded to that in his report to City Hall, noting the North Little Rock agency is in the process of searching for a deputy. The larger agency employs 16 housing managers or assistant managers and has a maintenance crew of 13.
Little Rock's alliance employs six managers or assistant managers and has 11 maintenance personnel.
A few tenants of Cumberland Towers, a public housing complex at 311 E. Eighth St., recently complained among themselves about an elevator they said had been down for at least two months. They would not give their names.
Forte did not respond to an email or phone call Friday asking whether the claim was true.
In closing his letter to the city, Forte listed numerous accomplishments under his leadership, including a recent move to redevelop the former Little Rock Veterans Home site.
He also touted a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award received Wednesday from the Chicago-based Government Finance Officers Association. According to the association's spokesman, entities pay between $185-$690 to be considered for the award and of 1,445 applicants this year, 1,424 were chosen as winners.
Friday's letter also announced that after six years of no raises or bonuses provided to staff, the agency might give raises or bonuses this year out of operational dollars "if our financial projections are realized by year end."
"The MHA Team has been able to achieve our success while working with less," Forte wrote, also stating that it is never easy to eliminate positions, reduce working hours or recruit while trying to retain existing employees and a balanced budget.
Ward 2 City Director Ken Richardson, who serves as liaison between the housing board and city Board of Directors, wasn't available for comment Friday. Richardson had been skeptical of the agency's move to hire another executive before restoring positions that directly impact tenants.
A section on 09/27/2014