New Housing Authority Management Making Improvements, Board Member Says

Easton Housing Authority Board Member Sandy Conant said Tuesday that the next audit will prove to be much more favorable.

"It’s going to be much better," she said. "Oh yes, it will."

The Housing Authority was , ranging from favorable treatment for certain tenants to inadequate controls of credit card expenditures in an audit conducted by the State Auditor's Office between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31 2010.

Since then, things have improved dramatically, she said.

The main difference, according to Conant, is the director.

Susan Horner worked as the Director of the Housing Authority between 1989 and 2010.

Michael Forbes is the current Housing Authority Director.

"The new management now is absolutely wonderful," Conant said. "He tells the board everything. We know everything that’s going on and he lets us know what’s going on. Before we never knew anything."

The atmosphere amongst Board members was different with Horner in charge, Conant said.

"One time I said to [Horner] ‘How would you like your mom to live here and have to put up with these things? And, she said ‘touche.’ In other words, she wouldn’t," Conant said.

State Auditor Suzanne Bump said in a statement last week that the current administration is cooperating with the Auditor's office.

The 23 insufficient practices have led to changes in policy and procedure. One incident cited in the report, involving preferable treatment for a tenant who was the family member of an employee, led to the suspension of one employee for five days without pay.

Additionally, employees no longer use credit cards, and expenses are now reimbursed with checks

Conant said the change in administration has also led to happier tenants.

"They’re very happy now," she said. "They would come to the meetings. Before we used to have a lot. When Mike [Forbes] first came we had a lot of tenants come and now we don’t because things are getting done. Things are getting fixed and they’re very, very happy about it. And, so am I."

The Housing Authority is an elected board under the control of the state.

Board of Selectmen Chair Colleen Corona said that while the town has no control over the Housing Authority, she hopes corrections are being made for Easton residents.

Corona discussed the report in her "Selectmen's Notes" at Monday's Board of Selectmen meeting.

"They had an audit that wasn’t exactly favorable, but that audit did point out that the current administration was making adjustments to what happened in the past," Corona said. "The Housing Authority falls under the control of the state and not the town. We hope that those corrections are made."

In addition to fixing finances, the authority has commenced new projects, including a corrected septic system at Elise Circle.

Similar projects wouldn't have been carried out under the previous director, Conant said.

"It’s just being taken care of," she said. "It’s being taken care of whereas before it wasn’t."

To read the full report conducted by the State Auditor's office, click on the attached .pdf.