AHUMADA STILL TRYING TO CONTROL BROWNSVILLE HOUSING AUTHORITY

By Juan Montoya
Two days after voters ousted Pat Ahumada by a landslide, the former mayor walked into the offices of the Brownsville Housing Authority and removed the chairperson of the board demanding members hold a meeting to elect new officers from among those he had appointed.
In response, the chairperson Beatrice Lopez has filed a motion Tuesday against Ahumada in the 357th District Court asking the court to issue an Temporary Restraining Order to prevent her removal without due process and to have a trial on the merits.
She further asks that the court enjoin Ahumada from replacing her as chairman because he "will be allowed to replace plaintiff and impermissibly influence board policy and autonomy and violate state law."
Under the charter of the City of Brownsville, the mayor appoints all five members of the BHA board, although his right to remove them is limited by state law.
Lopez charges in her petition that the mayor can only remove a commissioner of a housing authority for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or misconduct of office.
Further, she states that, as per state law, she must be given a copy of the charges before the 10th day before the date of the hearing on the charges, and an opportunity to be heard in person by counsel at the hearing.
"In the instant case, the defendant (Ahumada) failed to give plaintiff (Lopez) a copy of the charges he claims constitutes cause for dismissal. In addition, he summarily dismissed plaintiff without setting it for hearing and an opportunity to be heard," Lopez states in her petition.
Ahumada was served with Lopez's petition during his last meeting as mayor Tuesday. The new mayor, Tony Martinez, will be sworn in next Tuesday.
But until then, the issues of the BHA board will remain in limbo.
In the waning days of the mayoral campaign, Ahumada replaced three board members (a majority) that included Art Rendon, Pat Lehmann, and Rosario Gonzalez. He replaced them with Andy Muñiz, Silveiro Capistrano, and BHA resident Ludivina Garza in what has been called the BHA Massacre. Staff members said he walked the three into the BHA offices and swore them in himself.
Then, after Lopez and the remaining member, local attorney Ruben Herrera, did not hold a special meeting to elect new officers as Ahumada had requested, he summarily replaced her with Troy Whittenmore, an administrator with the Brownsville Independent School District.
Whittenmore also serves as vice-chairman of the City of Brownsville Planning and Zoning Commission, and his appointment would seem to go against the city charter prohibiting a person from serving on more than one board.
However, what is raising many eyebrows about his appointment is that Whittenmore's brother Kent, a risk benefits cooordinator for the BISD , when BHA Director Tony Juarez was the Chief Financial Officer with BISD, was instrumental in getting Juarez fired when he filed a grievance against him for not recommending a local insurance broker for the district's lucrative $40 million employee insurance contract.
Ahumada's attempted appointment of Whittenmore appears to many to be an effort by Ahumada to intimidate the BHA director into carrying out his directives.
Muniz, who has been seen in the company of Ahumada and Dallas low-income housing developer James "Bill" Fisher in swanky new restaurants, called for a special meeting Monday, but failed to show up for it. Since the autonomous board can only meet when the chair calls for a meeting and sets the agenda, the board has not met to elect new officers.
Then, after Muniz didn't show up, Ahumada wrote Lopez informing her he was replacing her with Whittenmore.
Ahumada's relationship with Fisher, the Dallas developer, and his company Odyssey Construction Residential and Holdings, seem to be at the core of this stalemate at the BHA.
The BHA has plans to renovate and replace major low-income housing developments in the city, and Odyssey has announced it wants to compete for a share of those multi-million dollar plans.
Its president Saleem A Jafar contributed $5,000 to Ahumada's failed campaign for mayor in this past election.
Odyssey's past record with the BHA has turned off many former board members and the firm – through Fisher – has compiled a record of disputes with the BHA and other contractors and developers.
On Aug. 23, 2010, Sun America sent a letter to Oddysey asking the firm to pay a predevelopment loan of $480,796.38 payable to SA Affordable Housing dated Aug. 1, 2007. Fisher, during a BHA meeting on September 27, 2010, told the board this was not accurate and that Odyssey did not owe any funds and did not pledge any developer fees. The eventual outcome was that the developer ended up paying $203,000.
Them on Aug. 20, 2010, subcontractor Jaime Jamarillo filed suit against Odyssey that included the BHA as respondent for payment of services. During the Sept. 27 meeting Fisher told the board that Odyssey did not owe any money and that itr was the BHA and Candlewick Apartments' fault because the BHA did not pay the retainage. On March 8, 2011, Odyssey settled with Jamarillo for $23,500 and the BHA was released from the lawsuit.
That's not all.
On Aug. 12, 2010, Odyssey, though Fisher, presented a contract to Candlewick and the BHA that according to BHA board members, was written for the full benefit of Odyssey and called for payment of $2,997.25 to Fisher's company for revenues from coin washers and dryers at the apartments. Odyssey had purchased the washers and dryers without prior approval from the BHA or Candlewick Apts and then demanded that the apartments execute the equipment lease agreement. Instead, the apartments bought washers and dryers of its own and is retaining the monthly revenues generated by the machines.
Then, in April 2011, Fisher granted Ahumada permission to post political signs at the Candlewick Apartments property. Fisher claimed that since he was the owner, he had the authority to grant Ahumada permission to place his signs at the low-income housing site. On April 4, attorney Miguel Salinas sent Ahumada an email informing him that Fisher did not have the authority to grant permission for the posting of political signs and that he had not consulted with the apartments' manager. Ahumada's signs were removed.
On May 2, Sun America issued a default letter on a loan to Odyssey claiming the company had defaulted on excess development costs. That case is still pending.