Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Confusion over the status of the Chaparral Apartments on Thursday led the Tucumcari Housing Commission to delay turning over the 24-unit complex to the Eastern Regional Housing Authority, though the housing commission turned all other housing authority properties to the regional authority.
The decision to delay turning over the Chaparral units while authorizing the turnover of other properties passed on a 4-2 vote. The housing commission includes all Tucumcari city commissioners and Timothy Durkin, a public housing resident.
Commissioners Ralph Moya and Paul Villanueva and Durkin joined Commissioner Todd Duplantis, who made the motion, in the approving the delay. Mayor Ruth Ann Litchfield and Commissioner Chris Arias voted against the measure.
An earlier motion by Arias to turn over all THA-run properties, including Chaparral, died for lack of a second.
Moya pointed out Chaparral is not under the authority of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development but the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program.
A website called “affordablehousingonline.com” shows as of June 2017, THA was the mortgage holder indebted to Rural Development for a loan of $798,877.08. The 30-year mortgage was signed in 1991.
Chris Herbert, director of the ERHA, told the housing commission the city has the option of holding on to Chaparral.
Payments on the mortgage, however, have been paid through HUD subsidies, Herbert said.
The housing commission also voted 4-2 to accept a “professional services agreement” 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.
The vote came after Herbert said a termination clause in the agreement would no longer apply after the ERHA completes the takeover, expected in late June.
Duplantis, Litchfield, Arias and Durkin voted in favor of accepting the agreement. Moya and Villanueva voted against it.
Moya said he voted against the agreement because he did not believe turning over authority to the ERHA was in the interest of his District 1.
Acting city manager Mark Martinez said the commission had to revisit votes it took in its April 15 meeting to correct minor technical errors.
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.
While THA managed the city’s public housing until Friday, funding for renters’ subsidies and other operations came from HUD.