{"id":22963,"date":"2025-03-27T22:59:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T04:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/five-vacant-positions-at-the-housing-authority-leave-tenants-and-former-employees-anxious\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:22:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:22:05","slug":"five-vacant-positions-at-the-housing-authority-leave-tenants-and-former-employees-anxious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/five-vacant-positions-at-the-housing-authority-leave-tenants-and-former-employees-anxious\/","title":{"rendered":"Five vacant positions at the Housing Authority leave tenants and former employees anxious"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Calkins
Calkins Commons, a Montezuma County Housing Authority property and its main office building, at 121 E. First St. in Cortez. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Since February, five employees have resigned from the Housing Authority of Montezuma County.<\/p>\n

The vacancies came in the wake of its governing board giving its executive director of 37 years three days\u2019 notice to leave the organization at the end of January. That move \u2013 coupled with other concerns \u2013 caused its interim executive director to resign.<\/p>\n

Three other employees subsequently submitted resignation letters.<\/p>\n

Its governing board said that it\u2019s working diligently to fill those positions now, but former employees are concerned that the vacancies will make the housing authority \u201csuffer long-term consequences,\u201d said former Interim Executive Director Tammy Samora.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings have to be done in a timely manner,\u201d Samora said. \u201cIt terrifies me how it\u2019s gone on this long. \u2026 They (the board) don\u2019t know enough about a housing authority to know how bad it\u2019s going to fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty scary because people need help every day,\u201d former Executive Director Terri Wheeler added.<\/p>\n

At present, there\u2019s one property manager, one bookkeeper and a receptionist to run its several programs that well over a thousand people in the community rely on.<\/p>\n

And there are hundreds more on the waitlist for those programs, said Samora.<\/p>\n

One employee that\u2019s still in the office said they\u2019re unsure how behind they are, \u201cbut a lot of people are calling about the programs, and it\u2019s sad we can\u2019t help them or give them any information.\u201d<\/p>\n

They reported feeling \u201coverwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone with knowledge of the programs is gone,\u201d Samora said. \u201cNobody had cross-training. We knew all the departments, all the offices. They don\u2019t have that now, it\u2019s a void.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I go to the front desk now, it\u2019s a lot of \u2018I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t know,\u2019 and \u2018I can\u2019t answer that,\u2019\u201d said Janice Grasse, a tenant.<\/p>\n

\"A
A tenant protesting outside of Calkins Commons, a property of the Housing Authority of Montezuma County. (Breana Collins\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Another tenant who asked not to be named expressed concerns for the future of the housing authority as an organization, and felt insecurity in his housing, fearing someone \u201cmight come in and raise the rent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Governing board member Jim Candelaria said, \u201cThere\u2019s a few gaps, obviously. Nobody\u2019s going to dance around that. But we\u2019re working diligently to fill those positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, nobody\u2019s in jeopardy of anything,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to figure things out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Board Chairman Chris Ludington echoed Candelaria\u2019s comment and added that they\u2019re at least doing \u201cthe bare minimum\u201d because \u201cwe obviously don\u2019t want people to lose their housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Candelaria and Ludington underscored that tenants ought not be concerned about losing their homes.<\/p>\n

As it stands, there\u2019s no time frame on when the vacancies will be filled. So far, a few people have applied and the board will be conducting interviews on April 3.<\/p>\n

Plus, on March 26, Chairman Ludington emailed former employees the vacant job postings and encouraged them to apply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe positions are open and anyone can apply to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Samora said she felt \u201cinsulted\u201d by the email, and questioned why they\u2019d \u201cwaste time\u201d putting her and other experienced employees through interviews \u201cin an urgent time like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just shows their (the board) lack of care and knowledge about what they\u2019re doing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And if they hire someone from the outside, Samora said, \u201cIt\u2019s just so crazy because who\u2019s going to train them?\u201d<\/p>\n

To that, Ludington said, \u201cI don\u2019t know how to answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Candeleria took the lead.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve reached out to housing authorities in Delta and Montrose counties to help with training, and they\u2019re also working with a company called The Nelrod Co.<\/a>, which \u201cworks with housing authorities,\u201d said Candelaria.<\/p>\n

Samora said that all housing authorities use different software, and \u201cthey can\u2019t just bring in someone from another housing authority\u201d to run things.<\/p>\n

Terri Wheeler, its former executive director of 37 years, said the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a long time to learn these programs,\u201d Samora said. \u201cYou can\u2019t just pull someone off the street to do this work, it\u2019s really particular.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can replace our bodies, yes, but not our compassion and the way we worked as a team,\u201d said Martika Myers, a former property manager who had her last day at the housing authority on Feb. 20.<\/p>\n

When Myers submitted her resignation letter, the governing board\u2019s Chairman Chris Ludington, in her opinion, took \u201cno care to resolve any issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said \u2018Thank you for what you\u2019ve done, and good luck in what you do next\u2019,\u201d said Myers.<\/p>\n

Breana Collins, who ran the Housing Choice Voucher Program, said her last day was March 6.<\/p>\n

In her absence, \u201cpeople looking for housing won\u2019t get any help with vouchers or housing credits,\u201d said Collins.<\/p>\n

In Montezuma County, 262 families utilize the program, which is essentially a rental assistance program.<\/p>\n

Samora explained it as homeowners renting out their house \u201cat subsidized price to fit within the program.\u201d Tenants pay 30-40% of their income in rent, and the housing authority writes a check to cover the rest.<\/p>\n

Collins traditionally writes those checks, and her position is vacant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t get their payment, they won\u2019t want to rent out their unit anymore,\u201d Samora said. \u201cSo where will those people live?\u201d<\/p>\n

There haven\u2019t been any late payments to date.<\/p>\n

But Donna Darland, a homeowner who\u2019s been a landlord in the voucher program for 32 years now, is skeptical she\u2019ll be paid come April 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t heard a thing,\u201d Darland said. \u201cNever have I seen this before. This is the first time this has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darland said there\u2019s an older lady wanting to move out of her residence and that she found another unit within the voucher program, but \u201cthere\u2019s nobody there to move her to another unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to get someone in there who will run things,\u201d said Darland.<\/p>\n

Samora and Collins reached out saying they were willing to go back and try to fix things in the meantime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m out of my hurt stage and into the, \u2018Oh my God, the people,\u2019\u201d Samora said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to watch this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither of them heard back from the board until Chairman Ludington sent the email on March 26 encouraging them to reapply.<\/p>\n

The former employees agreed they would be uninterested in returning unless \u201cthere was a whole new board.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI voluntarily resigned, yes, but I wouldn\u2019t have done that if something wasn\u2019t very, very wrong,\u201d Samora said. \u201cI felt like I had no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe place has changed, it\u2019s not at all what it used to be,\u201d Collins said. \u201cIf there had been changes, I would\u2019ve stayed there absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janice Bell, a tenant at Calkins Commons for the almost four years now, emphasized how \u201cthe atmosphere isn\u2019t the same anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s smiling, nobody\u2019s around to take care of things in the office,\u201d Bell said. \u201cThis all left a bad taste in my mouth. I\u2019m going to leave as soon as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The board holds that its working to fill the five vacant positions and that \u201cnobody is in jeopardy at all,\u201d said Candelaria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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