COUNTYWIDE : Housing Program Policies to Change

County administrators overseeing a housing program that has been accused of mismanagement and conflict of interest are taking steps to solve those problems, the Environmental Management Agency director said Friday.

A response to a highly critical audit last month of the Housing and Community Development Division of the agency is to be released Monday, agency Director Michael M. Ruane said.

“We are generally agreeing with all the recommendations” contained in the audit, Ruane said. “That’s the general tone of our response, and there will not be much surprise at all.”

The agency administers about $500,000 in federal funds annually for programs such as housing rehabilitation loans for low-income residents and projects to upgrade blighted areas.

The review of the housing agency, conducted by the county auditor-controller’s office, covered business transactions from Jan. 1 to March 31, 1991.

Among the findings in the report were allegations of mismanagement, money being given or loaned without properly ensuring that applicants met eligibility requirements, and possible conflicts of interest.

In response to the audit, Ruane said his department’s chief of financial operations, Al Bye, has been sent to the housing division to improve its management procedures and accounting.

Ruane said that the Board of Supervisors will also be asked at its Feb. 11 meeting to expand the list of employees who are required to regularly file conflict-of-interest statements. Currently, he said, only the department’s top officials must report their financial interests, but “the cutoff point should be lowered . . . to mid- and lower-management employees because of the amount of money and interaction” with program recipients.

Some current procedures pose no legal conflict, Ruane said, “but create an appearance of a conflict of interest to the public. We have good programs, and to have any of them jeopardized over a perceived conflict is bad for everyone.”