Come and oversee all Springfield has to offer! (WMP&I)

Generally, when the United States Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) comes up in Springfield, it is about the Community Development Block Grant program. At worst, it is usually middling news, such as a lower Congressional appropriation. On July 25, however, HUD came knocking about something else, a relatively low-profile, but key institution: the Springfield Housing Authority (SHA).

In a stern letter to the chair of the Authority’s Board of Commissioners, HUD declared the SHA “troubled.” More federal oversight is coming. The SHA’s executive director, Denise Jordan, claimed a technical issue due to software is to blame. Still, this episode highlights the need for more oversight of Springfield and its agencies on par with what any city near Boston—or Boston itself—would experience.

Unless something grabs the FBI’s attention, federal oversight of Springfield is largely a game of proper accounting. Uncle Sam can come down hard, but in recent years, Springfield has had sufficient federal recordkeeping.

By contrast, the state, the legal creator of the city and entities like the SHA, has more tools and more power to guard against misfeasance and bad policy. Unfortunately, such scrutiny is often minimal, but this incident underscores it is never unimportant.

This year marks twenty years since the state imposed the Finance Control Board on Springfield. Broadly speaking, since the panel dissolved in 2009, the city has avoided the fiscal chicanery that once summoned state control. Although the city’s political villains of the age were directly responsible, lackadaisical state supervision was a handmaiden to that calamity.

The city’s good behavior aside, it is at risk of regressing. That fiscal misfeasance matched malfeasance elsewhere. Never mind HUD, the whole federal alphabet soup came to town, including the FBI. Among the agencies the feds revealed as crooked as hell was the SHA.

60 Congress Street currently houses the Housing Authority. (via Springfield City Hall)

Concurrent to the fiscal crisis two decades ago, the feds arrested the head of the SHA and several of his relatives for bribery and strong-arming funds from contractors. Former Housing Court Judge William Abrashkin took over the troubled agency to restore trust in it before retiring in 2017.

Housing authorities in Massachusetts are distinct corporate entities from the municipalities they serve. Those in cities, such as Springfield, have four commissioners the mayor appoints—subject to city council confirmation—plus a state appointee.

The HUD letter does not allege corruption, let alone the rank thievery of past SHA leadership. However, it identifies performance issues with audits and the submission of financial statements that prompted a 0 (out of 25) audited financial score. HUD called for the SHA board to deliver a recovery plan in 30 days. HUD will also be initiating action to ensure the SHA reaches a recovery agreement with the feds.

The data in question was for the SHA’s fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.

In interviews with WWLP and The Republican, Jordan claimed the most damning score concerned a late filed report. She blamed a software change, which held back a report until the switchover finished. Jordan said that HUD was kept in the loop and had been in the city as recently as June.

“We took the zero. I want to be clear that we are in communication with HUD. They told us the letter had to be sent—it is an official letter—but they are very much aware of what we are doing,” Jordan told The Republican.

A spokesperson for HUD told WMP&I that the agency had received unaudited financials for the year ending March 31, 2023, but not audited statements for that period.  The spokesperson said HUD will develop and impose a recovery agreement no matter when the SHA submits that audited information.

The SHA both operates public housing in Springfield and serves as a conduit for Section 8 rental support. According to the Executive Office of Housing & Livable Communities (EOHLC), as of the end of 2021, there were about 2,330 federal and state supported public housing units in Springfield.

A spokesperson for Massachusetts’ EOHLC declined to comment on the report, as it did not cover state public housing units in the SHA’s portfolio. The state’s last performance review dates to 2019 and recommends guidance on management, but nothing alarming. A new review is expected soon.

This week, the governor signed a $5.2 billion bond bill, which will include money for public housing. The feds report could raise alarm about allocating funds to the SHA. However, the EOHLC spokesperson observed that HUD’s report “did not indicate any concerns relative to capital funds at the SHA.”

Jordan in 2017. (via Twitter/@SpfldMACiiyHall)

Sarno responded with a vague apoplexy that elided that he appoints 4/5 of the Board. The Republican reported that he wrote the Board and Jordan a letter demanding a response within 14 days. In a press release, he called the news “shocking and troubling.”

“I am deeply concerned and have communicated to the SHA Executive Director and Board of Commissioners that on behalf of the tenants and our residents, the City of Springfield needs answers. We must protect the integrity and the ability of the SHA to provide adequate housing for our most vulnerable and needy citizens. I will accept nothing less,” he said.

Jordan, who had served as Sarno’s chief of staff for 11 years before her SHA gig, told news organizations she tried to reach him the Friday after HUD released its letter but he didn’t answer.

EOHLC is not wrong that capital expenses were absent from HUD’s letter. Yet, a broader shift in the administrative climate of Springfield may demand more attention from the state. There has been spurt of turnover in several critical agencies many of which involve matters of state concern.

Sarno and friends feted his win last year as a tremendous victory, but the first half of this year has hardly inspired confidence. Though emboldened, he nevertheless tripped over fierce opposition to his ordinance that would have gutted the Police Commission.

Meanwhile, it took nearly five months to pass the age waiver Lawrence Akers needs to serve past his 65^th birthday this December. In what passes for legislative action on Beacon Hill these days, the legislature performed an oversight function by reimposing a pension cap the city had removed.

These events alone may only evidence mayoral buffoonery. But they exist in the context of Springfield’s Police Commission saga, something the state could have done more to influence.

Only with counsel could the Council use its own charter-given power to revive the Police Commission in 2020. (WMP&I)

Despite clear authority and a request from councilors, the state never sued to enforce the Police Commission ordinance when Sarno refused to implement it. Only in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder did the Springfield City Council secure pro bono counsel. It won in court.

This hands-off approach to Springfield is not uncommon. The state’s sunshine agencies—the Ethics Commission, Office of Campaign & Political Finance, the Supervisor of Records and the Attorney General’s Open Meeting Law office—do look under Springfield’s hood. Yet, with the exception of OCPF, these agencies mostly react to complaints. Without that, the agencies’ stories vis-à-vis Springfield often become one about the dog that did not bark.

Secretariats like the EOHLC and Administration & Finance (A&F) have real muscle in the form of policy and grant oversight.

The state can look over municipal budgets. Specific to Springfield, the A&F secretary makes one appointment to the search committee for the city’s Chief Administrative & Financial Officer (CAFO). It should not stop there, however.

Last year, Springfield bid farewell to its longtime CAFO, Timothy Plante. The search committee referred three candidates to Sarno: Cathy Buono, director of administration & finance for the city’s Community Development Office; Lindsay Hackett, the Deputy CAFO; and Jolita Lazauskas, chief financial officer for the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services.

Sarno chose Buono. Though a longtime city bureaucrat, she took on a vastly larger and broader portfolio than that of her previous remit. Most of Plante’s appointees remain and fiscal hawks are not squawking. Nevertheless, one need not pass judgment on Buono to consider the monumentality of this transition and the benefit of state watchfulness.

It behooves the commonwealth to be available to Buono and visible to the public to maintain confidence. The same goes for other major city departments like Parks, Recreation & Building Management, whose longtime head, Patrick Sullivan, retired this year. Another Sarno chief of staff replaced him.

Given its fiscal skin in the game, Beacon Hill and the rest of state government could loom over Springfield more than it does. (WMP&I)

Indeed, leadership across several city departments has turned over since last year. Many have state analogs and receive state money. This is another opportunity to look under Springfield’s municipal hood.

Such is not just for the benefit of Springfield residents. Over one percent—or more depending on how one counts—goes straight from the commonwealth’s kitty into 36 Court Street’s wallet. Taxpayers statewide have a right to know money that money rightly allocated to help Springfield is spent well.

One recently created state agency could play an increasing role. Indeed, the Peace Officer Standards & Training or POST Commission has already relieved Springfield’s Finest of the contemptable Gregg Bigda.

Properly empowered local oversight will still be the best check on misconduct among Springfield Police. However, the POST Commission looking over the department’s shoulder can only be for the better.

However, the POST Commission covers only one slice of Springfield governance and has some political independence. The broader demands fall upon parts of the state that are much closer to elected leaders, like A&F.

For now, HUD will deal with the SHA’s apparent stumble. Yet, the relative gravity of its infraction should not determine how much upper rungs of government supervise the city. Specifically, state agencies should not fear nosing around Springfield’s business and publicly airing objections to local decisions. Sarno is not fearsome enough to prompt the commonwealth to holster oversight of his Springfield.