By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Amid complaints about the agency's performance and rumblings of investigations by state and federal officials, a Butler Metropolitan Housing Authority (BMHA) board member on Thursday called for the resignation of Executive Director Leonard M. "Tony" Blaine and all the board members who appointed him.

After board member Herman Hill distributed a memo to the board members at a meeting Thursday, the board went into a closed session. Outside the room, Mr. Blaine declined to comment on Mr. Hill's memo, saying he hadn't yet read it. But he also said he didn't intend to resign.

Thursday's meeting was held at the board's newly purchased building at 229 Knightsbridge Drive - a building that Mr. Hill thinks never should have been bought by the agency, which offers housing to people with low incomes.

Mr. Hill disputes the way the building was purchased and said he opposed obtaining a $425,000 loan to buy the former Champion International training center because he didn't think there were sufficient plans for the building's use. That is one of many issues Mr. Hill said he has raised during his five-month tenure on the board.

Mr. Hill said he also is concerned about complaints others have taken to federal and state agencies. Mr. Hill said he has spoken with officials from the local FBI office and the U.S. Office of Inspector General, but those agencies on Thursday would neither confirm nor deny they were investigating BMHA.

However, the Enquirer has learned that:

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission is investigating four complaints against BMHA, alleging employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation, said spokeswoman Connie Higgins.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has designated BMHA as "troubled" for the 2001 fiscal year, after it scored 54 out of 100 points on a performance evaluation. BMHA has disputed that rating, records show. In a February 2000 letter, HUD told BMHA it would be a conflict of interest for the board to appoint Mr. Blaine to the director's post. Mr. Blaine had been a board member but federal rules say he was supposed to be off the board for a year before being considered for a paid contract. BMHA's board chair, Middletown attorney Vincent Sanzone, told HUD that the board believed it could waive that requirement "for good cause," and that Mr. Blaine had "unique qualifications" for the job.

Mr. Sanzone noted that Mr. Blaine had been executive director of West College Hill Neighborhood Services and had served various other community organizations as well as the BMHA board.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com