Agencies may soon be under one roof

By Timothy Pratt

Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005 | 8:15 a.m.

It's not easy to interview candidates for running a public agency that may not be around in a year or two, but that's what Carl Rowe and staff are faced with at the Clark County Housing Authority.

Rowe, who agreed in May to step in temporarily and run the agency that offers housing to low-income families across the Las Vegas Valley, said the possibility of the county merging with Las Vegas and North Las Vegas housing authorities is getting in the way of hiring a new executive director. The position would pay between $85,000 and $125,000, he said.

If the agencies merge, it is unclear how a director for the new one would be chosen.

"The issue of consolidation is ... very much alive and serving as a deterrent to attracting really good candidates," Rowe said. He was due to leave in December but extended his contract for a maximum of six months.

The Clark County Housing Authority is due to discuss rolling three agencies into one -- and whether to do a study of costs and benefits -- at its Jan. 18 board meeting.

And though the issue has been kicking back and forth between the federal government and local officials for about six months, the other two authorities have also not studied the issue. Opinions within the agencies include opposition, caution and flat-out approval.

Generally, people at each housing authority say theirs is the best, and so merging may somehow dilute talent. Or they express concern about a new, larger agency being out of touch with the valley's low-income families and seniors.

The issue is important given the vital purpose the agencies serve in a fast-growing region where affordable housing is severely lacking. At the same time, all three are hobbled by problems ranging from an indicted board member to failed projects.

"Bigger isn't necessarily always better," said Tim O'Callaghan, a member of the Clark County Housing Authority board.

"I'd be concerned about how people in Henderson (public housing) would be treated, since North Las Vegas and Las Vegas (housing authorities) know what their (residents') needs are.

"I'm not in favor of it at this time."

Bobby Gronauer, a member of the Las Vegas Housing Authority board, landed on the other end of the spectrum.

"I would love to see it happen," he said. "I think it would be more effective and more efficient, bringing the best talent from each one. It would also be a bigger voice if you put them all together."

However,Gronauer added that he is concerned about the other agencies.

"We're not a troubled agency -- I hear the others have problems," he said. "I don't know how those would be handled."

"Troubled" is a technical term that the Housing and Urban Development Department uses to describe housing authorities with problems severe enough to require close monitoring.

HUD -- the source of most funding at the housing authorities -- put North Las Vegas Housing Authority in that category this fall.

But Las Vegas is not without its problems, having lost two board members in recent months -- Franny Forsman, a federal public defender, resigned in protest in July after Executive Director Parviz Ghadiri's contract was renewed, and Donald Davidson, a developer, was suspended from the board by the federal government in mid-December after he was indicted on federal bribery charges.

Clark County, meanwhile, has also had its problems. Bookkeeping errors in its Section 8 voucher program put the agency $1.5 million in the hole at one time.

North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon, who sits on the board of his city's housing authority, says he would back a partial merging of the three agencies involving rolling the Section 8 programs from each into one.

"I'd like to take it in steps and see how it works," he said.

Montandon also said he was concerned about a large agency losing what he called "a personal touch" with the public.

His agency began a study of the issue in November, but Montandon didn't know when results would be available.

A Dec. 8 letter from HUD obtained by the Sun said the federal agency would back merging the three agencies if there is "political will" locally to do so.

Meanwhile, Rowe, at Clark County, said he would stay with the agency until mid-June at the latest -- "though I intend to be out of there beforehand."

"This time I really mean it," he added.

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or at timothy@lasvegassun.com.