LAKE COUNTY — Redevelopment funds loaned to Rural Communities Housing Development Corporation for affordable housing are under scrutiny for the first time by the county.
The non-profit corporation asked for an additional $750,000 loan from the Lake County Redevelopment Agency (RDA) and a one-year extension to finish a 50-unit affordable housing project in Nice, according to Chief Deputy Administrative Officer Matt Perry. In an April 18 memo to the Lake County Board of Supervisors, Perry asked that the board pull a request for the amendment to the 2004 contract with the non-profit that would have allowed the loan and time extension.
“This is public money, and we need to be accountable to the public for it. We need to be sure that we can be responsive to the concerns of the public and that we know we can satisfy our concerns,” Perry said.
One of Perry”s four reasons for asking the board to pull the agenda item was a concern about financial mismanagement.
“There may be concerns about RCHDC”s financial management given the recent legal action against a former RCHDC board member,” Perry wrote.
With executive director Duane Hill”s retirement set to become official in early May, the non-profit hired Bruce Alfano on March 31 as its new executive director. The memo asks the board to allow time for county staff to get to know Alfano.
Alfano confirmed that as of a Monday night meeting of the non-profit”s board of directors, board member Rowland Mosser asked for, and was granted a six-month leave of absence to resolve “legal issues in Lake County.”
On April 15, the Lake County District Attorney”s Office filed embezzlement and fraud charges against Mosser and his wife Jayne Mosser for alleged fraudulent money management at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center.
“I am totally comfortable with the management of all money that comes into the agency ? public or private,” Alfano said. He added that past annual audits have never found anything out of the ordinary.
As part of a state requirement to spend 20 percent of its funding on low-income housing, the RDA loaned the non-profit corporation $250,000 in increments over the last three years, Perry said. Last week, Perry requested an accounting of how the funds were used for the first time in the RDA”s partnership with the non-profit.
“Even if the Rowland Mosser issue didn”t exist, if we”re going to go ask the board to loan the agency another $750,000, we want to know how first $250,000 has been spent. That”s just being prudent,” Perry said.
The non-profit corporation provides low-income housing in Lake, Mendocino and Humboldt counties.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
