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Housing Authority May Lack HUD Support In Lawsuit

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By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: February 19, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - The Brooksville Housing Authority didn't have money to pay an electrical contractor back when its board of directors authorized the work at its Summit Villas affordable housing complex.

Nearly a year later, the authority still doesn't have the money.

Now that Jim Lane, owner of Lane Electric in Brooksville, has filed a lawsuit to get the nearly $238,000 he says he's owed, the tiny authority faces the prospect of going it alone without the support of the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD funds and oversees the authority, but a previous board did not get HUD's approval for the work last year.

"There is that concern," acknowledged Randy Wheeles, current chairman of the housing board. Wheeles and the rest of his fellow commissioners were not on the board last year when it voted to direct Lane to continue work at Summit Villas, located on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

A HUD spokesman in Tampa declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday.

"This is a legal matter between the contractor and the Housing Authority," said the spokesman, Bill Kalbas.

The suit names as defendants, the authority and nine "John Does," who the complaint describes as "agents, representatives, appointed or elected officials" to be named later.

The suit alleges that the authority "has refused or neglected" to pay (Lane) the amount due, according to the contract entered last March.

"I feel we've been more than fair with our time limits on this matter," Lane said Friday.

His attorney, William Whitehead of Spring Hill, couldn't be reached for comment.
Wheeles said he and the board are working in an "emergency" mode to hire an attorney to defend the authority.

Kalbas confirmed Friday that the housing authority still has not provided documentation that shows the work was contracted properly under HUD regulations. HUD asked for the documents back in June of last year.

"It may be possible for (HUD) to authorize the Brooksville Housing Authority to utilize its capital funds to pay the contractor even in spite of a flawed procurement," Kalbas wrote in an e-mail. "Absent such documentation, the department cannot authorize release of the funds."

McLean said Friday that he is awaiting a report from an electrical engineer that is assessing the work that Lane did at Summit Villas. The report, McLean said, is the final piece he needs to provide what HUD needs.

That documentation can only go so far, however.

Last March, a power outage at Summit Villas revealed an aging and overloaded electrical system that Lane warned was a serious fire hazard.

On March 29, a HUD engineer looked at the work Lane had done so far and concluded that the emergency had been abated. He recommended that the board order Lane to stop work and seek bids for the rest of the project to overhaul the complex's electrical system.

The board, citing concerns that the complex was still unsafe, voted to authorize Lane to continue the work even though the authority didn't have the funds and hadn't sought bids.
Wheeles said he believes that McLean is doing what he can to comply with HUD's request.

"Based upon the facts I know," Wheeles said, "I'm comfortable with what Ronnie has done so far."

The housing authority board is slated to meet today at 6 p.m. at Brooksville City Hall, 201 Howell Ave.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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