MARKED TREE -- The Poinsett County Housing Authority board rubber-stamped decisions for years that allowed the director to misuse federal money, hire family members and stall on demolishing two apartments used as meth labs, a federal report shows.
That five-member board and the executive director resigned last year. A new board has been appointed, and an interim executive director was hired in April to fix problems outlined in a May 2017 report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"I had no idea about Poinsett County Housing Authority until the day that HUD contacted me," said County Judge Bob Cantrell. "They asked that I would dismiss the board that was in place there at that present time and re-establish a new board."
Cantrell was in charge of appointing a new board, a task he said was difficult because once he told volunteers about the agency's problems, they often decided they didn't want the position.
"It's alarming to read the report," interim director David Lange said recently. Lange has worked as the full-time director of the Paragould Housing Authority for 15 years.
The Paragould Housing Authority has been hired for $4,500 a month to get the Poinsett County Housing Authority back on track, Lange said.
The new Poinsett County authority's leaders are taking it step by step, first making sure that all the existing housing units are safe and sanitary, and trying to figure out what to do with empty units in Fisher, population 218, that Evalene Tarlton, the previous director, told HUD staff members she wanted to demolish. Tarlton did not respond to phone calls or text messages seeking comment for this article.
"It's like eating an elephant," said Rhonda Davis, chairman of the new board of commissioners. "You just look at it and you go, 'Oh my gosh, what is it that we have to do now?'"
The HUD report notes that most of the problems stemmed from a lack of oversight.
Michael Scott, the former chairman of the board, said board members didn't question the former executive director's decisions because she had been in the position for close to 50 years.
"I grew up with that lady, and I would trust her with my life," Scott said.
The Poinsett County Housing Authority spent $492,517.92 in "unsupported and unallowed costs," from July 1, 2014, to Aug. 31, 2016, according to the federal report. The money was spent on things such as restaurant bills, birthday party supplies and payments to a contractor who did technology work for the agency.
The report recommends that the money be paid back, but that decision rests on the new board members' shoulders. The money can't be repaid in federal dollars, which make up the agency's budget.
"We're going to find a way to do what's right," Davis said. "All of our board is committed to that, and we're going to do what we can. Financially, we are a devastated agency."
Payments to the contractor made up the bulk of the charges -- $442,905. He was given an indefinite contract in 2011 to work with the agency, even though indefinite contracts or contracts given for more than five years are against HUD regulations.
Lange said he is working to adjust the procurement process, which the report said was not properly executed or documented.
"We want to know that we're not only getting the best product line, we're getting good, qualified service providers," he said.
Other changes are in the works to the employee policy manual, which previously allowed employees to accrue an unlimited number of vacation days. At the time of the report, the executive director had accrued 10 weeks of vacation time.
Employees were also working four-day weeks and closing the office often, according to the report. Lange said he has changed it to a five-day workweek, and the office is open during regular business hours.
He also plans to amend the handbook to expressly forbid hiring family members of board commissioners or of the executive director.
The previous director hired at least three family members, including her daughter and grandson, the report shows. But Scott, the former board chairman, said it couldn't have been avoided.
"Anybody who's been in a small community knows sometimes you'll have some nepotism," Scott said.
Scott, who was on the board for about 10 years before resigning in September, said the federal investigation seemed like "a witch hunt."
"They were just trying to find anything they could to get Ms. Evalene [Tarlton] to resign," he said.
HUD officials in Little Rock had complained for about two years about low occupancy levels in the Poinsett County agency's housing stock, Scott said.
The agency had 27 vacant homes in 2017 -- 19 that needed paint and repairs, six in Fisher that had fallen into disrepair and two in Lepanto that were reported as methamphetamine labs, according to the federal report.
The report states that there was no waiting list and recommended that efforts to market open units be expanded.
Tarlton told HUD officials that the two Lepanto units were scheduled to be demolished, but she did not provide a schedule or submit the necessary paperwork to do so, according to the report.
Neither property was listed in the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality database of methamphetamine-contaminated properties as of Friday afternoon.
Lange said he had the electricity turned back on in the Fisher units earlier this month so workers could assess what work needs to be done to make the units habitable.
"They just need a little bit of tender love and care," Lange said. "So if the residents in that area need housing assistance, it would be a shame to destroy them should there be the market out there."
He said he also wants to look into cleaning up the Lepanto apartments to get them ready for new residents. His contract with Poinsett County Housing Authority lasts four months, but he said it will take longer than that to fix the problems.
"I envision it taking a couple of years to really get on track where we think it needs to be," Lange said.
SundayMonday on 05/13/2018