City Reverses Dismissal of NR Municipal Housing Authority Commissioners by Former City Manager Strome

‘Fantastic Four’ Now Eligible for Reinstatement

The City of New Rochelle has reached a settlement agreement with the four New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority (NRMHA) Commissioners — Rev. Harry Dawkins, Sheila Small, Haslyn Howard and Michael Yellin — who were wrongfully dismissed by former City Manager Chuck Strome just two days before his retirement at the end of 2022. The agreement reverses Strome’s decision to dismiss the four, totally exonerates them from any wrongdoing, and allows them to return to the NRMHA Board should they choose to do so.

The settlement was made public at the City Council’s Regular Legislative Meeting on Tuesday, October 15, 2024. 

The statement about the settlement read into the record by Council Member David Peters at that meeting and by Yellin at the December 3 Citizens to Be Heard portion of the City Council meeting says, in part, “On December 29, 2022, New Rochelle Municipal Housing Commissioners Sheila Small, Michael Yellin, Reverend Harry Dawkins and Haslyn Howard (collectively, the ‘Commissioners’) were terminated from their respective positions with the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority (‘NRMHA’). Since that time, the City of NewRochelle undertook a review of the Commissioners termination and the operations of the NRMHA including engaging an external third-party auditing firm to audit the financial books and records of NRMHA. Among the key findings of the audit, the auditor determined that there was no financial wrongdoing or malfeasance on the part of the Commissioners.

“Consistent with the above findings, the City has determined that each of the Commissioners is eligible for reappointment to the NRMHA in the future. Further, the City intends to reappoint at least one of the Commissioners at the first available opportunity.

“It is important to highlight that each former Commissioner has served the NRMHA for a number of years and has worked hard to provide safe, sanitary, decent and affordable housing opportunities for the most vulnerable populations in their community. Under the stewardship of the former Commissioners, whose positions were uncompensated, they were able to elevate the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority HUD status from ‘Troubled’ or ‘Substandard’ to ‘Standard Public Housing Authority Performer Status’. The Commissioners also steered NRMHA through difficult times including the recent COVID pandemic.

“The City is thankful for the past service of the former Commissioners. As a City, we recognize the years of uncompensated volunteer service that the Commissioners have provided to the NRHMA and its residents, and the New Rochelle community.”

In a joint statement after the settlement was announced, the four commissioners, who have come to be called the “Fantastic Four,” said, “We are thankful to the Mayor, the City Council, especially David Peters, and the City Manager for recognizing the wrong that was done to ourselves and the residents of Housing Authority properties by our dismissal by the previous administration. We look forward to working with residents, the NRMHA, the City and HUD to improve the living conditions in public housing and, thereby, the City as a whole.” 

After the City cut off communication with the Commissioners who were seeking to resolve their case without having to go to court, on May 1, 2023, the Fantastic Four challenged their dismissal with a suit arguing their removal by Strome was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated “their statutory rights to due process of law.” 

The suit also made clear the Commissioners’ removal was politically motivated to prevent them from pursuing their redevelopment plan for the NRMHA’s Bracey Houses. 

In her affidavit, former NRMHA Chair Small stated the Commissioners were unlawfully terminated, “in response to the Board’s ongoing objection to the City’s larger political agenda of redeveloping areas surrounding and including the Bracey Project.” 

The Commissioners sought a court order to get then City Manager Kathleen Gill to reverse Strome’s decision and to give them “an opportunity to be heard in person or by counsel in their own defense, at a public hearing,” according to court papers.

They were supported in this effort by public housing expert James Stockard, who submitted an affidavit that was included in the suit. Stockard is affiliated with the department of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and has more than 50 years of experience with public housing and with the procedures and practices of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which oversees housing authorities nationwide.

The City’s weak defense of Strome’s dismissal of the Commissioners contributed to a series of negotiations with Kathleen Gill, his successor, which the Commissioners came to believe was a stalling tactic aimed at wearing them down with the burden of legal costs and time.

When Gill was dismissed as City Manager earlier in 2024, negotiations over a settlement proceeded under the watchful eye of Peters, Council Member for District 3.

These negotiations ultimately ended in the settlement that exonerates the dismissed commissioners, reimburses them for some of their legal costs and opens the door for them to rejoin the Housing Authority Board, should they choose to do so.

Meanwhile, Angela Farrish, the NRMHA executive director during this tumultuous period, retired from her position as of September 30, 2024. The Housing Authority now has an Interim Executive Director, Orisha Jennings-Hudgins, who is also the  Director of Housing for the City of New Rochelle.  At a time when there is a need for strong strategic leadership for truly affordable housing, she is being tasked with taking time away from her critical city position in order to fill the operations role as NRMHA Interim Executive Director.