The governing board of Little Rock's public housing authority tapped the agency's interim director of four months to officially fill the position.
Ericka Benedicto took the helm of the Metropolitan Housing Alliance on a three-month contract in September 2021, and the board of commissioners in November extended her contract through Saturday.
On Thursday, Benedicto became the agency's sixth executive director -- interim, acting or on a permanent basis -- in three years.
The board unanimously chose Benedicto from a pool of "fine candidates," Commissioner Leta Anthony said during Thursday's board meeting, and board members "were a lot more earnest in vetting the position" after several former directors clashed with the board.
"She has done due diligence in making decisions, keeping the board informed, representing herself well with our partners ... and basically just putting on the armor to survive along with the board in many of the battle situations that we've been in," Anthony said.
She added that hiring Benedicto should help "to create a system of consistency, integrity, accountability and transparency in this position."
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Benedicto will be paid $125,000 a year for the next two years, according to the contract provided to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
She served as Little Rock's racial and cultural diversity manager from March 2009 to July. She was previously an employee relations specialist at Baptist Health and worked as a volunteer with several nonprofits. Her professional history does not include public housing administration.
The Metropolitan Housing Alliance oversees about 900 traditional public housing units, 200 affordable-housing units and 160 market-rate units. It also administers more than 2,000 Section 8 vouchers. It is the largest public housing authority in Arkansas and provides housing assistance to about 8,000 low-income people.
"I'm grateful and I'm thankful that [the board] would entrust such an important agency with such an important mission to me," Benedicto said after the meeting. "That level of trust motivates me to really give this all I have."
Board Chairman Kenyon Lowe said Benedicto's business skills make her a good fit for the job.
"You don't have to have housing [experience] as long as you've got the skills to run a business," he said.
He also said Benedicto has a good working relationship with the board and can "carry this agency forward," unlike past agency heads.
The previous permanent executive director, Nadine Jarmon, held the position from April to August after nine months as interim director. She filed a 161-page complaint to the Little Rock mayor's office and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Little Rock field office in June, alleging widespread misconduct by the board, including financial mismanagement and excessive involvement in day-to-day agency operations.
The board suspended Jarmon with pay shortly thereafter and fired her two months later. She filed a federal lawsuit in October, seeking damages for wrongful termination.
In addition to Jarmon's suit, the Metropolitan Housing Alliance faces a suit and an insurance claim from two of her predecessors. The commissioners voted unanimously at Thursday's meeting to compose a letter to board attorney, Khayyam Eddings, with the goal of taking all the pending conflicts to court.
Marshall Nash, who was interim executive director from November 2018 to April 2019, sued the board in Pulaski County Circuit Court in October 2020, seeking $40 million in damages for slander, libel and defamation. The board placed him on unpaid administrative leave shortly before his resignation.
Nash said in court documents that he was never actually placed on leave and his reputation was damaged by claiming he was on leave in a report to investigators from the federal housing department's Office of Inspector General.
The housing authority requested sanctions against Nash and sought to have the case dismissed in November. Nash responded Tuesday with a motion to dismiss the request for sanctions, according to court documents. He seeks an additional $1 million in damages and $35,000 in attorneys' fees.
Anthony Snell, Nash's successor and Jarmon's immediate predecessor, filed a constructive discharge claim with the housing authority's insurance provider, Benedicto said.
Constructive discharge is when an employee resigns because of a hostile work environment, meaning the resignation was not truly voluntary.
Snell seeks financial compensation in the form of three years' pay. He was executive director for nine months and resigned in June 2020. He has not filed a lawsuit.
Anthony proposed that the board seek court hearings in an "aggressive" manner and have "no desire for a settlement" with any of the three former directors.
"We have a right to face our accusers and make them come forth with evidence and truth in all of their claims," she said. "It's time the board stops sitting silent when we know there's [truth] that should come out."