Over the last four years, the Morristown Housing Authority (MHA) okayed a privatization of public housing that brought renovations so shoddy, sewage backed into tenants’ new washing machines. The authority executive director who pushed the move from public to private abruptly quit. And the director of a secretive new spinoff agency, ostensibly tasked with creating affordable housing, was prosecuted for theft of public funds.
Through it all, one MHA commissioner, Eva Turbiner, consistently posed hard questions — sometimes, asking the only questions at board meetings — demanding accountability from MHA management.
Turbiner’s term expired last week. Expressing “frustration” and “embarrassment” over the board’s laissez-faire approach, she informed the MHA that she won’t seek reappointment by the town council.
In a farewell letter to her fellow commissioners, Turbiner endorsed the 99-year lease of seniors centers at Ann and Early street and of the Manahan Village apartments to Orbach Affordable Housing Solutions LLC of Bergen County as necessary for millions of dollars in renovations, given a lack of funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
But the outgoing commissioner was sharply critical of lapses in board governance, alleging insufficient oversight of the privatization, opaque policies, and a lack of strategic planning — particularly concerning the MHA’s future role now that Orbach manages the housing, and how the housing authority will spend approximately $30 million in proceeds from the lease.
Turbiner, whose decades of work in the nonprofit world included 17 years as CEO of the highly respected Zufall Health Clinic, also expressed dismay over the MHA’s creation of the nonprofit Morristown Community Development Corporation (MCDC) in 2022, which she described as a “shadow” organization.
She cast the only vote opposing that move. Her fellow MHA commissioners allocated $250,000 in startup funds, half of which went to hire unpaid MHA Chairwoman Maureen Denman — a person with no past experience running a nonprofit — as MCDC executive director. Denman resigned last year after being charged with embezzling nearly $25,000.
“While MCDC is somehow an affiliated agency to MHA, the MHA has no actual control of the new organization, including who they hire, how they spend money, or what programs they implement,” Turbiner wrote in her letter.
Newly promoted MHA Executive Director Allison Durham so far has declined to identify current MCDC board members or any details about their meetings. She did not respond to multiple requests to comment for this story.
“In my more than 40 years working in not-for-profit organizations, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Turbiner wrote.
“It is irresponsible to give public funds away with no requirements or oversight as to how it will be spent and who will benefit. I urge my colleagues to carefully consider any further support for this ‘shadow’ organization that has no track record of expertise or achievement.”
‘A SERIOUS LAPSE IN OUR FIDUCIARY DUTY’
Nor, Turbiner said, has the MHA board conducted many routine functions of governing boards — such as reviewing conflict-of-interest and other policies and procedures, and the salary and performance of prior Executive Director Keith Kinard, including specifics of his side gig for the Summit Housing Authority, which MHA commissioners nevertheless approved.
“I consider this a serious lapse in our fiduciary duty and a significant risk for the organization,” Turbiner wrote.
“The new contract with Ms. Durham, including terms and expectations, which is being prepared by Mr. Borin (MHA attorney Frank Borin), should be reviewed by the full board before it goes into effect, and an annual evaluation process should be established,” Turbiner urged.
Morristown Green has reached out to Borin for comment. MHA Chairwoman Martha Ballard and town council liaison Tina Lindsey, a former resident representative on the MHA board, did not respond to Morristown Green’s requests. Emails to the other commissioners bounced back.
At an MHA meeting this summer, Turbiner caught an auditor’s error in the housing authority budget that mistakenly claimed commissioners received health benefits. Turbiner appeared to be the only board member who scrutinized the 60-plus page spending plan.
Councilman Robert Iannaccone, a health care executive who was an active council liaison to the MHA until a new council majority replaced him earlier this year, cited Turbiner’s compassion, skills and professional demeanor, praising her for “tactfully and…courageously” fighting for residents’ quality of life.
“Let’s be certain we continue to have Authority members with similar commitment,” Iannaccone said.
Turbiner said she and her husband intend to move from Morristown to Washington DC later this year to be closer to their daughter and 2-year-old granddaughter. The commissioner said she decided months ago to step down from the volunteer position, before making those family plans.
She told Morristown Green her decision not to pursue a second term was born of a “sense of frustration” over the MHA board’s failure to advocate for public housing residents and taxpayers, and from embarrassment over not stopping the MCDC “or getting anybody else to care” about it.
“It’s been a long four years,” Turbiner said in an interview.
Instead of designating the MCDC to create affordable housing, Turbiner suggested the MHA earmark some of the $30 million in unrestricted funds from the Orbach deal for grants to housing organizations with proven track records.
The funds also could be allocated for college scholarships, job training, or boosted security services for residents of Morristown’s former public housing, she wrote.
Kudos for Kevin!
We have been waiting for these details and look forward to more coverage of this topic.
I am astonished that there is has been no expression of outrage by readers of this column—so far— when it’s abundantly clear that there are serious, serious problems at a public agency, an agency that refuses to be transparent about its plans and activities and refuses to discuss anything about what it is and is not doing. At least the following suggests that is the case:
Turbiner “… told Morristown Green her decision not to pursue a second term was born of a ‘sense of frustration’ over the MHA board’s failure to advocate for public housing residents and taxpayers, and from embarrassment over not stopping the MCDC ‘or getting anybody else to care’ about it.’
Are we that far removed from what is going on—and we know what is going on thanks to Kevin Coughlin’s superb reporting—to have nothing to say? Anyone? This outstanding citizen, Eva Turbiner, gave hours, days, no doubt weeks of her life to try to get a public agency to operate with integrity, smarts, compassion, care and with attention to its fiduciary and operational responsibilities. And it’s clear that the agency has been found sorely wanting. It doesn’t speak for itself, that is plain. That the town council barely takes notice (despite being the body that appoints the MHA board members), is abominable. Don’t we need to have a functioning government in this town? Not, apparently, if citizens can’t care less, maybe so disappointed from years of patronage and pilots and who knows what else to express their outrage and to demand accountability. At the very least, some of that $30,000,000 should be appropriately spent for the benefit of those in the housing, to help residents get out of public housing instead of spending generations there, to get access to educational opportunities, as Turbiner suggests, and to live in safe dwellings and given the respect they are due from the MHA, that preserves their dignity.
I feel like saying J’accuse!
MHA and Town Council members, give a date and time to the community when you will meet in public to present your plans to ensure appropriate leadership in, and oversight of, the Morristown Housing Authority. Being accountable to the citizens of this great town is well past due.