LV Housing Authority funds, contracts questioned

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, June 11, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

A federal review of 16 Las Vegas Housing Authority contracts from January 1999 through June 2002 calls into question $158,705 in spending, including a public relations contract given to former Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera.

Four contracts were specifically identified as either "ineligible" or "unsupported" expenditures.

The spending of $36,000 with Herrera Communications and $21,000 with Tribeca Media were labeled ineligible expenditures of federal funds.

The report said there was no evidence Herrera or Tribeca did any work for the money.

"They never submitted evidence the fees were applied to completed work," the report said about Herrera.

"We questioned $50,000 associated with the Herrera Communications contract, but only $36,000 was paid with federal funds," the HUD report said.

Herrera could not be reached for comment this morning.

The HUD report recommended the housing authority use non-federal dollars to repay the $57,000 in federal funds used for those contracts.

A housing authority response to HUD stated that the contracts were paid with non-federal funds.

The HUD report also listed spending of $38,850 with National Facilities Consultants and $62,855 with Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada as unsupported expenditures. This means the HUD auditors couldn't find the documentation needed to say whether those expenses were justified.

Kenneth J. LoBene, director of HUD's Las Vegas office, said an unsupported expense "may be justified, it's just not shown."

LoBene said the that in about six months HUD officials will launch a post-audit review to see if the city housing authority has followed through with the recommendations in the report issued Tuesday. A decision on whether to do a full audit of the housing authority will be made after that, he said.

The HUD report was also critical of the board's past contract approval practices, especially those that allowed the executive director to unilaterally enter into contracts of more than $25,000.

Frederick Brown, who died in June 2002, was executive director of the housing authority during the time HUD officials reviewed.

Brown was criticized for awarding a public relations contract with Tribeca Media, and then requesting that the firm split it with Herrera's company.

Housing authority Commissioner Dewain Steadman, who first raised concerns over contract procedures, said the audit validates his concerns.

"I knew there was something amiss and I tried to alert the board," Steadman said. "I knew any contract over $25,000 had to be approved by the board."

Steadman said HUD should conduct a full audit of the housing authority.

A housing authority letter to HUD dated March, 28 claimed to have addressed most of the recommendations in the HUD report.

Commissioner Robert Forbuss said the board has since changed contract-awarding procedures so that any contract worth more than $25,000 go to the commissioners.

Authority Executive Director Parviz Ghadiri did not return telephone messages seeking comment this morning.