Housing board approves next step

The Tucumcari Housing Authority board on Thursday approved another step in handing over authority for operating it to the Eastern Regional Housing Authority of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, based in Roswell.

The board, which includes all five members of the Tucumcari City Commission and Timothy Durkin, a resident of Tucumcari public housing, voted 4-2 to give the THA board’s consent to the expansion of the ERHA’s territory to include Tucumcari’s boundaries.

District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya and District 2 Commissioner Paul Villanueva voted against the consent item. Mayor Ruth Ann Litchfield, District 4 Commissioner Christopher Arias, District 5 Commissioner Todd Duplantis and Durkin voted in favor of the motion.

On March 19, the board agreed to surrender property and management responsibilities to the ERHA, ending resistance to the move that began in August after federal housing authorities announced their intent to take over THA, citing shortcomings in meeting 98% occupancy standards, which many considered unreasonably stringent.

On Thursday, the board also discussed a “Professional Services Agreement” between THA and ERHA in which THA agrees to handle funds needed to operate its facilities in May and June, then transfer all checking and savings accounts, as well as certificates of deposit, to ERHA on July 1 to end the transition period.

Moya asked why the transfer of funds was needed when all the operating money comes from the federal HUD funds anyway.

Chris Herbert, director of the ERHA, said transferring responsibility for bank accounts related to the “Annual Contributions Contract” between THA and ERHA “would take time.”

Duplantis asked why there is a termination clause in the services agreement when ERHA is taking over.

Herbert said the clause, which allows either party to end the agreement with a 90-day notice, covers “the unlikely event that something goes wrong” during the period of the agreement.

HUD authorities announced in August that ERHA would take over responsibility for THA, based mostly on failure to meet a standard of 98% occupancy rates. The regional HUD authority had given the Tucumcari authority unacceptably low scores in its performance ratings despite high scores in other areas.

Then-city manager Britt Lusk had observed in earlier meetings the standard would not be met if as few as two of THA’s 90 units were unoccupied at any given time.

After the March 19 vote, District 4 Commissioner Christopher Arias said while the city did not meet HUD’s standard, “the standard was rigged.”

The THA board had voted in December to remain independent despite the regional authority’s resistance, but the regional authority repeated its claim on THA management and property based on terms of the contract.