HADCO accepts director’s resignation

The board of the Housing Authority of Douglas County voted unanimously to accept the resignation of its executive director Thursday, as well as a related severance agreement.

Tonji Carmany, who has been executive director since July 2004, has been on paid administrative leave since Dec. 12. She had worked at the Housing Authority for about 10 years and formerly went by the name Tonji Elye.

The local Housing Authority distributes funds granted from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, or HUD, and provides public housing for 1,100 local households.

As part of the severance agreement, Carmany’s resignation took effect March 18. She will be paid her salary through April 30, which amounts to $7,082.40. The Housing Authority of Douglas County, or HADCO, board also agreed not to contest Carmany’s application for unemployment.

After the meeting, board Chairman Chris Spens said, “... the board is thankful we were able to establish a mutual agreement and identify a way to move the Housing Authority forward in a positive direction.”

Reached by cell phone, Carmany said she was out of town and will make a comment after she confers with her attorney.

Correspondence the board shared with The News-Review revealed relations between Carmany and the board have been strained since April 2007.

The board sent Carmany an eight-page notice of proposed termination in late February of this year, spelling out its concerns. It cited a laundry list of incidents that paint Carmany as someone who consistently made poor decisions, withheld information from or didn’t follow directions of the board, was insensitive to Housing Authority clients and engaged in “unbecoming conduct.”

In her written response to the board, Carmany denied the board’s contentions and claimed board members communicated poorly with her and did not set clear expectations. She said she felt personal agendas, unrelated to her performance, were the source of the board’s allegations.

According to its notice of proposed termination, the board claimed Carmany refused to pay $16,000 to Neel Management Team, which the Housing Authority had retained to manage some of its properties.

The board claimed a representative of Neel Management then sent an e-mail to Douglas County Commissioner Marilyn Kittelman, and to Carmany, complaining about Carmany’s actions and threatening to sue the agency.

Kittelman’s office then contacted the board about the property management company’s claims of nonpayment, according to the board’s notice.

“As Executive Director, your essential job functions include communicating with the Board about potential litigation and maintaining good public relations among city and county officials,” wrote the board. “You failed to discharge those duties in this instance, with particularly disruptive consequences and embarrassment to the agency.”

In her written response, Carmany did not respond to the board’s contentions about Neel Management directly. Instead she referenced prior memos and letters she gave the board, which were not available by press time.

Also in its notice of proposed termination, the board claimed Carmany caused HADCO to enter into a severance agreement with the agency’s former financial manager, obligating the board to use federal HUD funds to satisfy the terms of the agreement. HUD later told the agency it should have contacted HUD before considering using its funds for that purpose.

Carmany’s actions “reflected poorly on HADCO before HUD, its primary source of funding,” the board said in its notice.

In her letter, Carmany said she had planned to pay for the severance agreement out of a different fund, one that would have allowed such expenses.

The board also said Carmany was not fulfilling essential job duties, including developing affordable housing options or researching grants.

Carmany denied the allegations in her letter.

Additionally, the board claimed Carmany lacked empathy for and was inflexible in dealing with Housing Authority clients.

The notice cited claims from Umpqua Community Action Network that UCAN had received an increased number of complaints about the local Housing Authority office since Carmany became executive director.

In her letter, Carmany said no other agency had made such claims. She said she only enforced policies set by the board, and noted instances in which she had been flexible with clients.

In addition, the board cited Carmany’s arrest for harassment on Aug. 11, 2007, as something that “tends to bring the agency into discredit.”

Carmany pleaded no contest to the charge and received a suspended sentence of 12 months.

“When behavior or arrests are made public and when neighbors witness and report this type of behavior, it embarrasses and discredits HADCO, and undermines your ability to lead staff,” wrote the board. “In addition, you did not disclose your arrest to the Board, which was poor judgment on your part.”

In her letter, Carmany responded that the charge stemmed from an altercation that occurred when her ex-husband and his lover came onto her property, and that she’d only been defending herself. She said she had had ongoing conflicts with the lover.

Additionally, the board accused Carmany of conflict-of-interest issues when she borrowed money from a Housing Authority client and began living with a HUD landlord.

Carmany said in her letter that, at the time, the woman from whom she had borrowed the money was not a Housing Authority client. Carmany claimed the man she started living with had stopped renting to Section 8 tenants.

In summarizing its notice, the board wrote, “Given the range of your performance deficiencies, and given the multitude of policy violations, including poor judgment, unbecoming conduct, breach of confidentiality, conflict of interest and others, the Board lacks faith in your judgment and trust in your ability to conduct yourself as the Executive Director of HADCO.”

In summarizing her response, Carmany wrote, “Your Notice of Proposed Termination is riddled with inaccuracies. ... Throughout this letter you have referred to me as incompetent and told me I have executed poor judgment. When in fact, I have been an excelling employee of HADCO for almost 10 years.”

<i>Editor's note: Redactions have been made to the attached HADCO board Notice of Proposed Termination and to the written response from former Executive Director Tonji Carmany. These redactions were made out of respect for the privacy of those not directly involved in Carmany's resignation, and because some statements about these people have not been proven and may be considered defamatory.</i>

• You can reach reporter Kathy Korengel at 957-4218 or by e-mail at kkorengel@newsreview.info.

So you know ... After the board of directors of the Housing Authority of Douglas County accepted the resignation of its former executive director Thursday, members talked briefly about how to fill the position. The board decided to first review the job description for the position at its annual planning session, set for April 9, and then decide how to advertise the opening. “This is an exciting time (for the local Housing Authority),” commented board Chairman Chris Spens. “The board has an opportunity to hire an executive director that will move the agency forward and address housing issues in Douglas County.”