Video: Attorney asserts whistleblower status for housing director
By Kevin Coughlin
There were no police at Thursday’s Morristown Housing Authority meeting. But there was an extra lawyer.
MHA Executive Director Roy Rogers brought one, to invoke job protection for him as a whistleblower and witness in an ongoing federal investigation of the authority.
“He’s a witness, and as a witness he cannot be intimidated or harassed or otherwise tampered with,” Louis Zayas, a lawyer from North Bergen, told MHA commissioners.
Any discussion about the status of his client’s $154,000 job must be preceded by a legal notification called a Rice notice, he further asserted.
Zayas said his statement to commissioners was necessary because of “potentially very serious fraudulent activities by members of the board.”
Rogers dropped a bombshell at the authority’s last meeting, in late September, when he revealed that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development was investigating concerns he had raised.
He later told the town council–which appoints five of seven commissioners–that those concerns centered on whether people have bypassed a list that has been closed since 2003 to obtain federal Section 8 rental assistance.
A grand jury has subpoenaed numerous documents from the housing authority.
An alleged closed-door altercation between two commissioners at the September meeting prompted Rogers to pursue hiring police for Thursday’s session.
None appeared, however, and the atmosphere was calm, thanks perhaps to three new faces: Mayor Tim Dougherty, newly elected town Councilwoman Hiliari Davis, and newly appointed MHA Commissioner Theresa Rodriguez.
Dougherty said he now feels it’s appropriate for him to attend, since his wife, Mary Dougherty, stepped down in October. His presence won’t pose a potential of conflict, the Mayor said.
The Mayor has no vote on the commission. As a goodwill gesture, he offered to make the town’s grant-writing firm available to the authority, which manages 470 public housing apartments and 184 Section 8 vouchers.
Commissioner Vera White nominated fellow Commissioner Marion Sally– a former MHA executive director–to serve as authority chairperson. But Sally did not receive the requisite four votes and Commissioner Michael Cherello retained the title.
Sally, White and Dorothy Holman voted for Sally. But Cherello voted no, Rodriquez abstained and Commissioner Jeanine Crippen was absent. Commissioner Frank Vitolo quit the volunteer board in December.
MORE ABOUT THE MORRISTOWN HOUSING AUTHORITY
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