That investigation found that three upper-level managers have resigned in the last 16 months complaining of management practices, and an internal investigation questioned pay raises and cash payouts given by agency CEO Gregory Johnson to his administrative assistant.
Board Chairman the Rev. Wilburt O. Shanklin said Friday it was important that another independent, impartial body determine any wrongdoing. He said the board didn’t immediately know the timeline or who would do the investigation.
“I would not in any sense say this agency is in turmoil,” he said. “We have a better agency than we’ve had in years.”
Before Friday’s meeting, Johnson told the Daily News the raises given to his assistant were earned.
They increased Mary Kosik’s salary by more than 50 percent since 2005. Kosik’s current salary is $65,249.
The raises were sometimes out-of-line with agency practices, according to a memo outlining the findings of the audit from Human Resources Director Karen Boneske.
The cash payouts included $11,906 in leave payouts that were not offered to anyone else in the agency, according to the audit findings.
Exit interviews with the three managers who quit give a scathing review of the workplace.
Purchasing Manager Pamela Randall resigned in July 2010 due to “lack of appreciation” and “daily threats of write-ups or termination.”
Senior Manager of Real Estate Investment and Development Mary DelRaso resigned in February. She wrote a two-page memo complaining of Johnson’s management style and saying he has “shown nothing but distrust.”
“My motives are constantly questioned, I have been threatened with being fired, and shown disdain on numerous occasions,” she wrote in an exit memo obtained by the Daily News.
Senior Manager of Business Development Angela Flynn resigned in April. Her three-page exit letter says “DMHA will never be a consistent top performing agency until employees are treated with respect and courtesy.”
The internal audit was sparked by anonymous accusations from someone purporting to be an employee and threatening a discrimination lawsuit based on special treatment given to “friends of the CEO.”
The Daily News acquired that memo and requested others. But Johnson said previous memos received from that person were not kept by the agency because they didn’t make such specific allegations.
Johnson says the discord is a natural by-product of a tough-to-manage agency in the midst of unprecedented change. The agency recently changed its name and is in the middle of a multi-year plan to move from large Dayton-centric properties to smaller ones that blend in throughout Montgomery County.
“The organization is going through a lot of change,” he said. “When you’re trying to find the right mix, you’re going to ruffle some feathers.”
In internal memos and in interviews with the Daily News, Johnson defended Kosik’s pay raises saying they coincided with new responsibilities. The largest was a 5 percent raise she received last year on top of the 3 percent he said was given to all employees.
Kosik declined to comment.
Johnson said vacation payouts were not offered, but had been granted to other employees who asked him for them in writing.
He said he frequently asks employees for feedback and is almost never approached with complaints. “Some of the comments made about me (in the exit memos), I was shocked,” he said.
“Am I a saint? No,” he said. “But I’m an effective communicator and administrator of a very, very tough organization.”
“I feel very strongly about what we do and the people who depend on us every day who need something from us. I’m very adamant about providing that for them the fastest and most efficient way we can,” he said.
Johnson started working for then-DMHA in 1996 and was appointed executive director in 2004. He received a glowing review from the agency’s public board in August and was offered a pay increase and lump sum bonus.
He declined the pay increase “because I am not certain if I will be able to do the same for the rest of my administrative staff,” he wrote in a letter.
He said all agency employees received the 2 percent lump sum bonus. His added up to $3,394.
GDPM has a $44 million budget and oversees low-income Section 8 housing. The agency has increased the occupancy of its 2,800 apartments and other housing units to 99 percent from 83 percent in the last decade.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0374.
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