Housing authority receives clean audit

The Morgan City Housing Authority received positive marks on its annual audit and had no negative findings, which housing authority officials attribute to the efforts they’ve made to improve the authority during the past three years.
The housing authority board approved the authority’s annual audit at its monthly meeting Thursday.
CPA William Daniel McCaskill conducted the audit for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2015.
McCaskill issued unmodified opinions, the most favorable opinions possible, on the housing authority’s financial statements and issued no findings in the audit pertaining to the financial statements, federal awards or questioned costs.
The auditor issued a management letter, which only had one minor correction for housing authority staff to fix in regard to recording $104,500 in demolition costs as building costs instead of an increase to land value.
“This audit right here, everything in it, this is how you run good government,” Board Chairman Victory Ho said.
The authority had five findings in its 2013-14 audit; eight findings in the 2012-13 audit; and 10 findings in the 2011-12 audit. A December 2014 investigative state auditor’s report also said the housing authority paid almost $700,000 in improper bonuses and wages in excess of what state civil service rules allowed between 2007 and 2014.
Housing Authority Executive Director Clarence Robinson became Morgan City’s director in June 2013 after former Executive Director Charles Spann resigned.
Robinson believes the authority still has two or more years left in the process to get “to that next level,” he said. Robinson plans to continue to be transparent and provide the board with as much information as possible.
“This has been a major, major undertaking,” Robinson said. “It’s been taking the board. It’s taken the staff. It’s taken the employees that work in the field. It’s taken the community for us to do this.”
City Councilman Ron Bias said Robinson rescued the authority with the help of other employees and city administration “and whoever had to play a hand in righting this ship.”
Bias said, “When I was elected in 2004, one of my biggest headaches was the housing authority. But I’m happy to say today, Mr. Robinson, I can throw out that bottle of Tylenol.”
The audit report stated that the housing authority’s assets exceeded its liabilities by $3,079,256 at the close of the fiscal year ended 2015. The authority’s total net position increased by $19,429, a 1 percent increase from the prior fiscal year 2014.
The primary source of funding for the housing authority’s activities continues to be subsidies and grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, whereas tenant rentals provide a secondary but also significant source of funding.
To view the full, 46-page 2014-15 audit report, go to lla.la.gov, click on “Reports” at the top of the page and then “Audit Reports” on the dropdown menu.
On April 6, the state Civil Service Commission unanimously approved suspending Accounting Tech Diana Pace and Housing Manager Sandra Greene without pay pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings against them.
Robinson said the authority stopped paying both employees upon receiving a letter from the civil service commission. Officials have hired one temporary worker while the two employees are under suspension, Robinson said.
A federal grand jury indicted Pace and Greene on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and 14 counts of theft of government money. Both Pace and Greene pleaded not guilty to the charges March 16.
On April 22, Spann, 78, of Kingsport, Tennessee, and former housing manager Tori D. Johnson, 38, of Morgan City, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
According to the guilty plea, Spann, Johnson and two other Morgan City Housing Authority employees received $514,764.14 in bonus payments to which they were not entitled from 2007 to 2013. In 2007, a one-time bonus for work performed in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita was granted, U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley said in a news release.
After the one-time bonuses were sent to all employees of the housing authority, Johnson requested from Spann that she, Spann and two other employees, Pace and Greene, continue to receive bonuses. Johnson wrote false justifications for the bonuses, and Spann signed off on them, Finley said.
Housing Authority Attorney Robert Duffy said both Pace and Greene, who are suspended from work, asked whether they could collect their up to 300 hours of accrued annual leave. Under state civil service rules, the money is only payable upon resignation or upon discharge, he said.
If they are convicted, then any charges associated with the taking of money from the housing authority would prevent them from receiving any accrued leave, Duffy said. If they do resign before a plea or conviction, then Duffy would probably be required to pay Pace and Greene their accrued annual leave, he said.
In other business, the housing authority board
—Accepted the appointment of Thelma Berry Young to the board.
—Approved the director’s report.