KHA commissioners bicker as annual meeting is canceled unexpectedly

Killeen Daily Herald
By Kevin Limiti | Herald
November 19, 2023

The Killeen Housing Authority has been struggling after a chaotic series of events from rents not being paid to a federal investigation coming to light.

The KHA Board of Commissioners were given the unenviable task of trying to pick up the pieces from where its predecessors had left things off.

But both internal and external politics are finding ways to hamper any progress that might be made.

Recently, KHA voted to turn over its Section 8 programs to the Central Texas Council of Governments, a move that would effectively port its current cases to an organization with a housing program equipped to handle it.

But Friday’s annual KHA meeting, where an election for officers was expected to take place, was canceled unexpectedly with no plans to reschedule.

KHA provides public housing for low-income Killeen residents, and uses federal funding for Section 8, a voucher system that helps people pay rent.

The local housing authority, which manages and maintains 154 public housing rental units in Killeen, has been under federal investigation for at least two years, possibly longer.

DRAMA

Commissioner Bruce Whiteside, in an interview with the Herald on Thursday, said the meeting that was supposed to take place Friday was set up four weeks ago. Two of the other board members, Ebony Jackson and Gabriel Montalvo, both said the meeting was canceled due to lack of a quorum, meaning not enough commissioners could attend the meeting. The five-member board, which has one vacant position, needs at least three commissioners at a meeting to have a quorum.

Jackson and Montalvo said they were unavailable to meet Friday, but didn’t say exactly why.

However, Whiteside said he believes ulterior motives are at play.

“We have a chair and a vice chair. The system is designed so that if one can’t make it, the other one can and we still have a quorum,” he said.

Killeen Mayor Debbie Nash-King, whose only power as it relates to KHA is to appoint and remove members of the board, shared an email from Mellisa Brown — a former councilwoman who intends to run for mayor — that claimed that previous board members weren’t removed properly. Brown, a KHA volunteer, has been very involved in recent KHA developments, appearing at the KHA board meetings and getting into arguments with Whiteside.

Nash-King, in response, said she wasn’t going to be bullied into appointing a resident board member before applications are given out to all residents of Hyde Estates and Highview, two properties maintained by KHA.

KHA by-laws require a resident to sit on the board of commissioners.

“I hope this is not why the Friday meeting to elect officers has been canceled,” Nash-King wrote in an email dated Nov. 14, telling Montalvo, Jackson and Whiteside that the email was shared with the Herald.

EMAIL RESPONSES

Montalvo said in an email that it would be “inappropriate” for board members to be involved with the appointment of a residential commissioner since it’s the mayor’s duty.

“Furthermore I must express my deep concern regarding your deliberate orchestration of a quorum by including all the members of the Board of Commissioners in a single email thread,” Montalvo wrote. “This action, coupled with the presence of the newspaper, blatantly violates the open meetings act. It is my duty to inform you that I have promptly copied the Office of the Attorney General and the City of Killeen Legal Department on this email. Immediate attention is required to rectify this situation.”

Nash-King said Friday that the Office of the Attorney General referred back to the city of Killeen Legal Department, saying it wasn’t their purview.

She also said her actions didn’t violate the Open Meetings Act, but that Montalvo and others by hitting “reply all” may have violated it.

The KHA board’s adherence to the Texas Open Meetings Act itself is questionable, with instances of some meetings not being posted at City Hall as required by law.

Whiteside also replied to that email thread, saying they should not have canceled that meeting.

“In my opinion this is a tactic to push off the vote, until they can get someone of their choosing to fill the vacant seat,” Whiteside wrote. “In turn that individual would vote to keep them in place, so they can continue to cover up issues that they are not disclosing to Mr. (Justin) Hartsfield and myself.”

Hartsfield is a KHA commissioner.

Whiteside has said in interviews with the Herald that he believes Montalvo and Jackson are holding back information from him and Hartsfield, the two members of the board who are newly appointed.

“They are continuously withholding information and have secret meetings about things going on in KHA,” Whiteside continued in his reply to the email thread dated Nov. 14. “The only way we find out is that it comes out in a meeting or just before the meeting. They act like they want our help but will not even give us a key to the building, so we can get in to lend that help. I have no trust in these two board members because it is apparent that they have their own agenda. With all the issues we have going on in KHA, we have no time to play with these (people’s) livelihood.”

Jackson, who is acting chair of the board, wrote back to Nash-King that she was disappointed by the emails.

“Our primary goal is to provide assistance to those in need. It is crucial for us to come together as a team and put an end to the allegations, arguments, and disrespect towards one another. I find it difficult to comprehend the constant negativity that arises week after week,” she wrote in an email dated Nov. 14.

Jackson likewise said the meeting was canceled due to lack of a quorum.

She said it was possible that someone might have wanted to speak about this during citizen’s comments, but wouldn’t be able to since the meeting was canceled.

“This is my personal assumption. Now that it is known and was shared in the email there are open records that have been received, KHA may continue to get confronted with unforeseen matters which makes me very uncomfortable. I want to make it clear that I don’t want to be associated with any of the above,” Jackson wrote. “To everyone, we need to do better working together as a team and supporting each other. It is my wish the media does a better job showing a more positive side of KHA but we all know that is up to us to reflect our mission in a more positive light.”

FRUSTRATION

The KHA situation has a demonstrable impact on its clients.

Carel Berkeley, 69, is a client of KHA and lives at the Moss Rose apartments in north Killeen. He told the Herald on Friday that he was “very, very frustrated” with KHA.

“I’m pretty much done with KHA,” he said. “I’ve been with them for seven years.”

He said previous staff at KHA had taken “all the money and left.”

“When all of the staff left, when the new people came in, they changed the phone number,” he said, noting he has been unable to reach anyone there ever since.

“I can’t call because I don’t know what the numbers are,” Berkeley said.

He said he thinks he’s the only person left in the Moss Rose apartments. He said he has gone to the KHA office in downtown Killeen.

“Every time you go there, there’s no one there,” he said, explaining he drops off his monthly rent check in a drop box at the KHA office on Avenue B.

He also lamented the closure of the nearby Moss Rose Community Center, which was shut down by the KHA board because of lack of insurance.

“At least when they were open they’d give me a bagged lunch and everything. But they’re all gone now,” Berkeley said.

He said he feels “disenfranchised” by the situation and wants to move to Baltimore to be with his family. Mentally, he said, he feels very stressed.

“Two blocks from me they’re selling drugs. You can’t even walk through there,” Berkeley said.

HARTSFIELD

Hartsfield in an interview with the Herald Friday did not confirm Whiteside’s assertion that he was being pressured by Jackson and Montalvo into removing Whiteside. He seemed to be trying to stay out of the conflict.

“I can definitely say I am the only one who can convince myself to do anything. I’m not going to be pressed or swayed,” Hartsfield said. “We are independent thinkers who are working together for one common goal.”

He said he doesn’t see any reason why Whiteside should be off the board.

“I would call it a lack of understanding and that takes time,” Hartsfield said. “The fact that we’ve been on this board for less than 60 days says a lot.”

He said since the first day there has been a lot of pressure with people from the media calling them.

“I’m not here to choose sides,” Hartsfield said. “I only care about the residents.

CONFRONTATION

Some of the problems at KHA have apparently spilled over into potentially violent confrontations.

During a recess of the Killeen City Council meeting Tuesday, Whiteside was confronted by James Brown, husband of Mellisa Brown, outside of City Hall, which led to a brief scuffle.

The Killeen Police Department said the incident is under investigation. Whiteside told the Herald he has filed charges.

In an email to the Herald, Mellisa Brown said her husband was trying to protect her.

Nash-King told the Herald that police would be looking at surveillance footage of the incident and would be taking steps to increase security. This includes having staff wait outside the council chambers during meetings, coming in only when they are needed, and escorting them to their cars at the end of each meeting.

James Brown told Whiteside to stop using his wife’s name.

Earlier that evening, during the citizen’s comments portion of the City Council meeting, Whiteside spoke and said he was being harassed by a former council person, but didn’t name Brown.

Whiteside and Brown have butted heads in the past. They have argued more than once during KHA board meetings, often very heatedly.

Whiteside provided Facebook Messenger screenshots of Brown questioning his cousin about him, which he likened to “stalking.”

Brown denied that she was stalking him, but did confirm that she had reached out to his cousin.

'LIFETIME' CONFLICT

While Nash-King said she wants to stay out of the KHA issue, she said she is tired of the bickering and the fighting.

“Mr. Whiteside and Mr. Hartsfield are at a disadvantage because they came in in the middle of a storm,” she said.

She said she didn’t understand the confrontation over the Moss Rose Community Center.

“Bickering over a building when you haven’t taken care of the people is irrelevant to me,” Nash-King said.

People including Analuisa Carillo-Tapia, deputy director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, have said Moss Rose is a place that serves the community by providing meals and acting as a meeting place.

Whiteside accused Brown of using it as a political headquarters, which she denies. Whiteside has offered no evidence of this except to say he has a source.

Nash-King said that one way a board member can be removed is if two-thirds of the board agree to it.

“And all of the sudden Mr. Hartsfield shared with Mr. Whiteside that two board members have approached him to remove him. And then a complaint came up,” she said.

Nash-King said she isn’t taking a side on this, but Whiteside alleges that Montalvo and Jackson have purposefully excluded him from meetings.

In addition, Whiteside says Jackson doesn’t understand Robert’s Rules of Order, a common parliamentary procedure, and that as a result, the KHA board meetings have gotten out of control.

“This is something you see on Lifetime,” Nash-King said of the ongoing conflict. “They’re going to spend so much time fighting, rumors and fighting each other that they’re not going to get anything accomplished.”

Nash-King said the KHA board can’t continue to function in this manner.

“I do not have a problem with removing a board member if they are unable to complete the business of the KHA,” she said.