WHA still wants to know why manager resigned

As published in the Record Journal, Sunday December 16, 2012

By Laurie Rich Salerno
Record-Journal staff
lsalerno@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@LaurieSalernoRJ

WALLINGFORD - It’s been more than a week since the Wallingford Housing Authority’s board of commissioners received a resignation letter from its management company, and board members say they’re still very early in the transition process.

Board member Nicholas Lombardi said last week that the board was still planning a meeting with DeMarco Management Corp. to discuss the departure.

“We’re going to ask her for the opportunity to sit down and talk about it,” Lombardi said, referring to DeMarco Management representative Maria De-Marco. “Tell us why you have chosen to resign and to get some information.”

DeMarco sent a letter dated Nov. 30 to the board that stated without explicit reason that the firm would be severing its ties with the authority in 60 days, on Jan. 31, 2013.

Reached Friday, DeMarco did not elaborate on her reasons for leaving, but said, “It’s a personal decision.”

“I’ve loved the assignment, it’s been great. I think we’ve done a great job,” she said.

Leaving Jan. 31, 2013, would give De-Marco a full year of running the authority, after taking the helm Feb. 1, 2012.

The company, based in Hartford, manages about 80 other properties throughout the state. The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority recommended De-Marco to the Housing Authority last year to quickly fill the hole left by the retirement of Stephen Nere as executive director in December 2011 and the departure soon after of much of his staff.

In May, the board voted unanimously to renew the DeMarco company’s initial six-month contract for another year, which meant the company was expected to run the authority until June 30, 2013. But the contract stated that either party could end the relationship with 60 days’ written notice.

The authority manages 317 units, including low- and moderate-income and elderly and handicapped housing, on an annual budget of about $1.5 million.

DeMarco was to be paid about 5 percent of each month’s rental income. The company managed day-to-day operations at the authority, including collecting rent, marketing units, tending to tenant concerns and managing the authority’s finances.

As for what could come next for the authority, board members said it’s still too soon to talk about whether they’ll be looking for another management company or another executive director, or whether they will put a bid out for both.

“We’re looking at our options right now,” Lombardi said.

Following Nere’s retirement after allegations of mismanagement in 2011, the board voted, after months of debate, to consider hiring a management company to run its seven properties. It also simultaneously worked out a job description and advertisement for another executive director, before ultimately hiring De-Marco Management.

Board member Thomas Mezzei said he doesn’t have a preference for which type of management he’d like to see at the authority.

“Depends on what comes in — but time is of the essence, the 31st is not that far off,” Mezzei said. He said he is waiting for a meeting to be called to discuss the issue.

Housing manager severs WHA tie - DeMarco gives six-month notice

As published in the Record Journal Thursday December 6, 2012

By Laurie Rich Salerno
Record-Journal staff lsalerno@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@LaurieSalernoRJ

WALLINGFORD - The Housing Authority’s property management company has resigned.

In a letter to the authority’s Board of Commissioners dated Nov. 30, DeMarco Management Co. representative Maria DeMarco said the company would be dissolving its relationship with the authority in 60 days, on Jan. 31, 2013. She offered no explicit reason for the departure.

“I feel it is in the best interest of the Wallingford Housing Authority to move forward with a new management approach,” DeMarco said in the letter. “Please rest assured that we will work with you to effect a smooth and professional transition.”

The letter was copied to the authority’s attorneys, representatives of the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.

“It has been a pleasure working with the Authority, the residents and the greater Wallingford community,” De-Marco said in the letter. She did not return a call to her cell phone Wednesday afternoon.

Reached by phone Wednesday evening, board president Michael Misiti said the authority will set up a meeting next week to figure out what comes next.

“We have some ideas of what to do short term until we find somebody,” Misiti said. “We have a great staff of attorneys that will get us through it again.”

The chairman wouldn’t get into specifics about the transition plans or the departure, because the plans were being developed and he hadn’t spoken with DeMarco since receiving the letter. He said he felt the issue revolved around “a breakdown of some communication” and said the board did not believe the company had mismanaged funds or anything of that nature.

The management company took over the day-to-day operations of the authority in February after the previous director and staff left amid allegations of mismanagement.

The transition seemed to be running smoothly, although an authority meeting about a month ago revealed friction between the maintenance staff, the board and DeMarco’s firm. That friction seemed to have abated as of a meeting on Nov. 29. At that meeting, Wharton Brook resident Wendy Liseo brought up the contentious tone of the previous meeting during a public comment session, and DeMarco told her, “Wendy, we’re working things out.“ The resignation letter was dated the next day, Nov. 30.

Misiti acknowledged that there had been a strain in the relationship between the company and the board, but said he was still surprised to see the letter on Monday, when he received it via email. “We were working through it — what happened from Thursday to Friday, I can’t answer that,” Misiti said. “I want to make it clear that it was her decision and none of us pushed her out.”

Commissioner Bob Wiedenmann said after a lengthy bylaws meeting and executive session Wednesday morning that he had not yet seen a signed resignation letter. He said that if it were official, “it would be disappointing that we have to take a couple steps backwards,” but that “we’ve gone through the transition once — whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.” DeMarco was not at that meeting, though company representatives were.

DeMarco Management’s contract with the authority allows either party to terminate the agreement with 60 days’ written notice.

Tenants who were at the meeting had heard rumors of the departure and were disappointed by DeMarco’s move.

“It’s the tenants’ loss, completely,” Liseo said. “Even at the front desk it has been so much different. I feel that I have been respected and treated with dignity by every one of her staff.”

The rumor of the departure attracted three town councilors to Wednesday’s special meeting, including Vincent Cervoni, a Republican, and Democrats Nicholas Economopoulos and John Sullivan.

Economopoulos, who was instrumental in the departure of the previous director and staff, said he was dismayed by the loss of DeMarco.

“They’re the No. 1 management company in the state,” Economopoulos said. “It will be Wallingford’s loss.”

WHA streamlines preparation of vacant units

As published in the Record Journal Saturday December 1, 2012

By Laurie Rich Salerno
Record-Journal staff lsalerno@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@LaurieSalernoRJ

WALLINGFORD - The Wallingford Housing Authority is implementing new measures to speed the process of preparing vacant units to be rented, the property manager said at a board of commissioners meeting Thursday night. The evening was markedly calmer than last month’s heated gathering.

“If we don’t get these vacancies down to an acceptable level, your financial picture won’t improve,” Maria DeMarco told the board.

The maintenance staff is now aiming to turn over a vacated unit in two weeks.

DeMarco told the commissioners that the staff was handling non-emergency work orders only two days a week — Tuesdays and Thursdays — so that workers can focus undisturbed on repairing units on the other days. Outside contractors are also being considered.

Authority staff will be repairing units just to government standards instead of performing major overhauls. The authority had been doing asbestos abatement in units that needed it when they became vacant, and DeMarco said that and other major repairs now would not be done unless required.

“We’re looking at meeting the housing quality standards, period, instead of looking at it as ‘This will be our only chance to renovate this unit,’ ” DeMarco said.

Tenants and board members asked if the less ambitious renovations would be shoddy or end up causing staff to continually make repair calls. De-Marco assured that the housing would be at a government-standard level.

“The point is not to make the housing stock less marketable, less appealing, less safe and sanitary,” DeMarco said. “What standard it must meet — that, we’re always going to meet. We’re never going to do less than that.”

The current number of vacancies is 22, according to the manager, down from September’s 24. Four of those units are ready to be leased; the others require maintenance.

DeMarco also reported that the authority’s efficiency units were leasing well, something councilors had asked about earlier in the year.

The Thursday night meeting was back to business as usual for the board, following friction last month over what appeared to be an issue among the management company, existing maintenance staff and the board. None of the parties would comment on the nature on the dispute.

At that meeting DeMarco asked for a separate meeting with the board to discuss how effective her company is at the authority.

Wharton Brook resident Wendy Liseo asked Thursday night if the special meeting had been held and the issues had been resolved. She was worried that the management company, hired in February to replace administrators accused of mismanagement, would leave and there would be a transition to another company.

“I’d like to know, because if so, I’m not going to stay here,” Liseo said.

The meeting has not yet happened, according to board President Michael Misiti, but DeMarco told Liseo, “Wendy, we’re working things out.”

“That’s what I want to hear. I really like all of you,” Liseo said, including the board.