Perry O'Malley is out as the executive director of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority of the County of Butler.

The authority board on Friday fired O'Malley, accusing him of using authority resources for personal and private business endeavors that are a conflict of interest with the authority.

The board said O'Malley, who had been on paid administrative leave since Jan. 15, also abused authority travel time, travel expenses and leave time, and neglected his duties.

Authority solicitor Andrew Menchyk said a complaint against O'Malley came before the board in early January, but he would not say who told the board of the alleged wrongdoing.

“I can't get into the nature of the allegations,” Menchyk said, citing O'Malley's rights as a civil service employee.

O'Malley can appeal the board's decision to the state Civil Service Commission.

Menchyk would not rule out the possibility of further legal action by the authority against O'Malley. Menchyk said he could not comment on whether O'Malley will face any criminal charges.

O'Malley could not be reached for comment. His attorneys attended the authority's meeting but did not comment.

2-month investigation

The firing came after nearly two months of investigation by the authority.

Chairman Margaret Clawson said the authority's board met in an executive session Jan. 14 to discuss the complaints against O'Malley.

“We emphasize, these were only concerns and we had no evidence to determine the veracity of the concerns,” Clawson said in a prepared statement read at the board meeting.

“The board did what was right and put in place a process to either confirm or refute the concerns, while protecting the due process rights to everyone involved and in full compliance with the many state and federal rules we must follow as a public housing authority.”

The board in February approved the hiring of attorney Neva Stanger, the head of the labor and employment group at the Wexford law firm Cafardi, Ferguson, Wyrick, Weis + Stanger, to investigate the allegations.

“The board took very swift action to address the issues,” Menchyk said.

The board said the firm and the authority's interim management team went through thousands of pages of documents and conducted dozens of interviews.

Attorney John Trant has been acting executive director during O'Malley's leave.

The board said O'Malley was placed on leave during this time to ensure an “unfettered” investigation, the board said.

Menchyk said O'Malley continued to receive his $128,000 annual salary until evidence could be collected to warrant further action on the allegations against him.

“With Civil Service, any suspension is considered a form of discipline, which would need to have a cause,” he said. “The investigation was to find that cause.”

Because of that, O'Malley was paid while on leave until the authority had specific evidence to fire him.

The authority board was criticized by some public officials, including Butler County Commissioner Jim Eckstein and county controller Ben Holland, for not disclosing the details on O'Malley's paid leave during the time.

“We would like to apologize for the frustration with the inability of this board to communicate the specifics of our recent personnel actions,” Clawson said at the meeting.

O'Malley is listed as the president of the Pennsylvania Affordable Housing Corp., a nonprofit consulting firm based in Pittsburgh.The nonprofit's mission is “promoting the development and preservation of decent, safe and affordable low-income housing,” according to tax documents from 2013.O'Malley was listed as working for the nonprofit an average of 2 hours per week with no compensation that year, according to tax documents.The nonprofit listed about $267,000 in revenue and about $245,000 in expenses.O'Malley is also listed as a managing partner for PAHC Housing Capital through the nonprofit, according to its website.O'Malley's biography on the nonprofit corporation's website lists him as a member of the board of directors and first vice president of the Housing and Redevelopment Insurance Exchange (HARIE), based in Scranton.The housing authority's check register presented at its meeting Friday included a check of $4,500 to HARIE for insurance premiums.O'Malley's biography also lists him as a member of the Council for Affordable Rural Housing, Pennsylvania Association of Housing and Redevelopment Agencies, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Cornerstone Group and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.Menchyk said the authority could not comment on which agencies conflicted with his role as executive director.

While the authority would not comment on the specifics of the allegations around O'Malley, it did take action on an item concerning his past decisions.The board on Friday ended a contract with Pepper Hamilton, a Philadelphia-based consulting law firm that O'Malley hired for the authority.The firm worked with the authority to assist on HUD projects, Menchyk said.“That's a norm,” Menchyk said. “But through the process of our investigation, we learned the senior partner in the firm was being paid $780 per hour by the authority, while the authority was paying $230 per hour for a paralegal.”Menchyk noted he is paid $150 per hour as the authority's solicitor.“So you can imagine the reaction of the board to this,” he said.Menchyk said the board was not previously aware of the cost of the consulting.“The structure of the authority was that the executive director controlled the flow of information to the board,” Menchyk said.O'Malley is not believed to have falsified any documents, Menchyk said.The authority expects to select another firm for the service.O'Malley also was criticized by Jacqueline Molinaro-Thompson, director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development field office in Pittsburgh, in January for failing to meet benchmarks set by the federal government as part of the application process to convert two of its housing complexes into Section 8 housing.“Perry has been consulting and training on RAD with other PHAs and in the meantime, ignored HUD's requests and demands for information about his own PHA and provided incorrect information to the RAD team regarding the status of the CFFP bond payment,” she said in an e-mail addressed to authority members.Authority board member Jerry Andree said O'Malley's consulting was not related to his work for the county authority.The authority filed applications with the HUD to enroll two properties in the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, which allows public housing agencies to use public and private debt and equity to reinvest in public housing.Menchyk said he could not say whether that consulting had any relation to O'Malley's firing.

O'Malley wasn't the only high-ranking employee placed on leave this year.Sandra Reges, the operations manager, was placed on a two-week leave Feb. 18 for undisclosed reasons.That leave was extended a week on March 6.The authority on Friday rescinded her leave.“She will return to work Monday morning,” Menchyk said.The authority would not comment on whether Reges' leave was related to O'Malley.Reges in December was promoted to the newly created position of deputy executive director on the recommendation of O'Malley, pending approval by the state Civil Service Commission.But the board rescinded that promotion in February.Another high ranking employee left the authority this year. Authority comptroller David Schnur resigned on Jan. 8 for undisclosed reasons.The board would not comment on if Schnur's leaving related to O'Malley being placed on leave a week later, or whether he was the person who brought the complaints against O'Malley to the board.

The authority Friday introduced Michael McNierney, the executive director of the Erie County Housing Authority, who will serve as an interim executive director for the Butler County authority.McNierney will work 10 to 20 hours per week in Butler at a rate of about $64 per hour. The agreement is part of an interagency cooperation agreement between the two authorities.Trant also will continue to work for the authority at a rate of about $125 per hour for time at the authority's office, as well as a $500 per week lump sum retainer for work outside the office.Menchyk said the authority will eventually find a new executive director, but he could not give a timetable on how long the process might take.Holland, who denied about $40,000 worth of payments to the authority for invoices in February, said he was pleased to see the authority address the situation in public.Holland said he would approve future invoices from the authority.“I feel comfortable releasing future invoices,” he said. “We also hope to continue monitoring and working closely with them.”Holland said he also hopes to send a memo to the board recommending the future comptroller of the authority report directly to the authority board.Commissioner Bill McCarrier said in an emailed statement he commends the authority for investigating the situation.“I am very pleased that this unfortunate situation has been investigated and brought to a conclusion,” the statement said.Eckstein, who previously asked state and federal agencies to investigate the authority for not disclosing information on O'Malley's leave, said he approved of the decision to bring in McNierney.“I want to express my appreciation for (McNierney) coming to help with the problem,” he said. “Hopefully he can help the authority learn from others' mistakes.”The housing authority has 40 employees and an annual budget of about $13 million per year.It oversees more than 600 housing units for low-to-moderate income individuals and senior citizens.