Housing ex-exec denied appeal

Decision unfair, fired official says

The Metropolitan Housing Alliance executive director, who was fired Tuesday, will not be allowed to appeal her dismissal.

The Metropolitan Housing Alliance board voted 3-1 Wednesday, with Commissioner Brad Walker absent, to deny a request for an appeal by former Executive Director Shelly Ehenger. The board fired Ehenger, the director since 2005, in a unanimous vote Tuesday after a more than threemonth investigation into a personnel complaint of nepotism and other issues filed by another employee.

“The board has not treated me fairly or equally,” Ehenger said via telephone Wednesday after the vote. “A neutral officer could have been appointed if they were interested in being fair.”

Ehenger said she was “keeping all of my options open” as she decides how to move forward.

The board would not discuss the specific reasons for Ehenger’s firing, citing only the results of the investigation. The investigation report, prepared by outside counsel Mays, Byrd & Associates, was not released publicly Wednesday.

Ehenger said she had not received written notification as of Wednesday as to why she was fired but had received copies of the final

investigation report.

The alliance, formerly the Little Rock Housing Authority, manages about $37 million in property assets. It also provides housing assistance to 8,000 Little Rock residents through various aid programs, including 2,000 Section 8 vouchers for lowincome tenants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 670 traditional public-housing units and more than 150 apartments in mixed-income housing.

The Arkansas DemocratGazette filed a Freedom of Information act request Tuesday seeking the investigation report and its supporting documents. Ed Armstrong-Rial, the attorney for the Metropolitan Housing Alliance, said the agency had determined that the documents are open to public review but could not be released until all of the past and current employees included in the investigation were notified that the agency planned to release them.

He said those employees would then have an opportunity to ask for an Arkansas attorney general’s opinion about whether that release is allowable under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

“In the event [those employees] seek timely review of MHA’s determination from the Arkansas Attorney General, MHA will not be able to release the records until the Attorney General has rendered an opinion as to whether MHA’s determination is consistent with the FOIA,” Armstrong-Rial wrote in his response.

The board interviewed Arkie Byrd, of Mays, Byrd & Associates, during its meeting Wednesday as part of its decision on whether to allow the appeal.

The board asked Byrd and her firm to investigate in May.

The investigation started after Ehenger suspended Kim Travis, director of administrative services, with pay on May 1 over an e-mail chain that included personal attacks. Travis responded by sending an email complaint about Ehenger to board members Richard Stephens and Walker.

The board suspended Ehenger on May 3 with pay while it investigated the accusations, which included hiring family members of other employees, ignoring bad references or falsifying job applications, and falsifying training records.

On Wednesday, Commissioner Kenyon Lowe asked Byrd about the process she had gone through during the investigation.

“What do we gain? What new information would we hear?” he said.

Byrd said via conference call that she had interviewed Ehenger twice in June and escorted her to the housing alliance headquarters on Arch Street three times in July for multiple-hour visits to obtain documents in support of Ehenger’s arguments.

“Ms. Ehenger identified documents, and I pulled all of those documents during our business, and then we matched up the documents to submit in support of her response,” Byrd said. “They were quite extensively lined up against the allegations. I also interviewed all of the witnesses she listed, which were 10, and obtained documents from them. ... I believe it was a thorough review.”

Commissioner Carolyn Polite was the only board member to vote to give Ehenger an opportunity to appeal.

“I think she’s entitled to an appeal,” Polite said.

Ehenger said she submitted more than 500 pages of documents supporting her side of things and attempting to refute the accusations, but the final report given to the commissioners did not include those pages.

Armstrong- Rial said in a phone interview that the board hired the outside counsel to review those documents and reduce them to findings.

“The board was balancing its obligation to do a full and thorough investigation with its desire to finish it as quickly as possible because of the interference it was causing with the agency,” he said. “I was not in the executive session where they decided to hire outside counsel, but my inference would be that they wanted someone else to conduct that review. They made it [Byrd’s] job to go through all of that and reduce it to findings.”

On Tuesday, the board voted to allow Travis to return to work, which caused some debate at Wednesday’s meeting. The board voted to lift her suspension as of Friday and give her the option of returning to work Monday.

Several employees expressed concern that in the course of the investigation, Travis had raised allegations against them or that involved them. Some of the allegations were later determined by Byrd to be unfounded.

“Some of the staff will feel threatened,” said Ron Hooks, interim executive director, who serves as the full-time finance director for the agency. “The accusations [she made] are that they were hired inappropriately, and they’re still here. I mean, my only question is bringing her back is going to be an uneasy situation for everyone.”

Several staff members asked if the board could provide counseling or team-building to help the staff come together after the investigation, which they characterized as divisive. Others asked if there were plans to address the staff members named in the allegations that were deemed to be founded during the investigation.

“There were wrongdoings done, and they have to be addressed,” Lowe said. “Eventually, yes, it will all be addressed. From a legal standpoint that’s what I can say right now.”

The board also voted to hire a consultant to run the agency while the board finds a permanent replacement for Ehenger. Armstrong-Rial said he is still reviewing the process to move forward correctly.

Hooks said he is not interested in continuing as the executive director.