George Moses, chair of the Rochester Housing Authority,
clearly had one idea of how today’s press conference would go. He would read
a prepared statement, and then take limited questions on why the RHA board
voted to dismiss Alex Castro as the Housing Authority’s executive director —
limited because he could not discuss personnel or employment matters, he said.
The media had other ideas, however, and something else, which
Moses was apparently not aware existed: a letter from
Mayor Lovely Warren, addressed to Moses, demanding an explanation for Castro’s
discharge.
And that’s when the conference took a turn for the ugly.
Castro’s abrupt dismissal followed by the immediate, interim
appointment of City Council member Adam McFadden to lead the agency has the RHA
board under attack from all sides. The Housing Authority’s former chair, Carol Schwartz, says that McFadden cannot keep
both jobs — that’s it’s a conflict of interest barred by the Housing
Authority’s annual contract with the US Department of Housing and Urban
Development.
Attorneys at the
press conference said that the conflict provision in the contract does not
apply to the Housing Authority’s executive director.
HUD officials
said yesterday that they’re reviewing the matter. And Council member Jackie
Ortiz has asked for an investigation into Castro’s dismissal, saying that it
appears to be inappropriate and misguided.
And then the
mayor launched her missile in a letter that every member of the media at the
press conference had, but Moses said he had not seen.
Warren wrote
that she had been promised an explanation for Castro’s removal, but none had
been provided.
“I expect to
hear back from you today with the reasons why Mr. Castro was let go, otherwise
I will have no choice but to further look into the actions of the board, and
publicly call for your resignations,” Warren’s letter says.
Castro’s
dismissal is related to a pattern of questionable business practices, Moses
said. He would not go into detail, but the attorneys present said that an audit
is taking place. Moses said that the audit is looking at the Housing Authority’s
procurement and bidding processes to start.
“We have
concerns,” he said.
Moses said that
McFadden’s appointment is temporary, and then a search would take place for a
permanent executive director. But no one at the press conference would say how
long McFadden’s stint would be.
City asked McFadden,
who was at the Housing Authority headquarters on West Main Street prior to but
not during the press conference, why he’d leave his longtime job as executive
director for Quad A for Kids for a temporary post, and he said, “I can’t do
both.”
The Housing
Authority board is scheduled to hold its regular meeting on Wednesday, October
22.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2014.
Does anyone know if it is true that attorney doing the audit to support Moses’s claim that there were issues with Castro is a relative of Adam McFadden ?
Isn’t this a conflict in itself? This is comical. Moses has to go and Mcfadden has surrender.
Gotta: Langston McFadden, Adam McFadden’s cousin, is an attorney with Pullano & Farrow. And yes, he is on the team doing the audit. He was asked directly if there’s a conflict, now that Adam McFadden is leading the Housing Authority. He denied it.
I am sad to learn that Castro was fired… more so, that Castro does not even live in Rochester. He does live in the Town Of Brighton. How can a person ( Castro) chair a board (RHA) when he does not understand the “two rochester’s” that Warren and McFadden describe to the public… by not living in the City. At least McFadden lives in the City and we will indeed get rid of him forever as Chair of the City Council Committee when it concerns the RPD and the police reorganization plan. We really should put a body camera on MCfadden to see if he serves ethically and without any racist actions or board decisions in the “heat of the moment”.
Craig R. Moffitt
Has the press circled back to the mayor to see if Moses’ prepared statement satisfied her questions in the letter? He certainly didn’t answer the press (as a proxy for the public) questions, seems like resignations are in order. Most of us suspect she will do some foolish acrobatics to protect him, despite overwhelming evidence that he is not up to the task of chairing a $62 m public authority.
Personally, I think the letter and the press conference were just different acts of the same play. Warren, Moses and McFadden have been plotting this for months, publicly denying it all the way, but openly taking about it amongst friends. It’s an incestuous bunch too: Warren’s campaign advisor and donor is Moses’ lawyer. Another RHA lawyer is married to Adam’s assistant. Adam’s cousin reps Adam, hilariously writing a legal opinion abut no conflict of interest.
I hate to be a crass taxpayer, but what’s the pricetag of this amateur hour going to be? Severance package, forensic audits, outside counsel, possible federal penalties, advertising fees for the bogus national search everyone is now talking about. This debacle is costing taxpayers a fortune. Will any of these costs be covered by director’s insurance or does it all come out of the general fund that could be paying for, oh I don’t know, exterminator or painter or locksmith services for residents?
“Back in May, Moses and Page wrote to Warren, complaining of rushed board meetings and that commissioners “were even counseled not to use a lot of the staff’s time in meetings.” The letter questioned an estimated $8 million in RHA loans to various entities shown in a 2012 audit. They also questioned RHA’s commitment to hiring minority and women-owned firms or targeting economic opportunities to low- and very low-income residents, as required by federal regulations — saying the policies should be implemented “without excuses.”
This is coming from D&C. So what happens if RHA board is correct and something was a miss? The knee jerk reaction and overt racism on facebook and stuff is just insane and makes this city look like its ungovernable. 65 Million Dollars is alot of money. If they find even a million in fraud and save that do we not realize how many more affordable housing units can be created with that? I hope they do find what ails our housing stock at RHA and get it back to the intended purpose to provide low cost affordable housing. McFadden and the other stuff is childs play compared to the elephant in the room. Were the fourth poorest city in the country. Whats our plan to fix it.