Beaver County Housing Authority leaders' trips have cost taxpayers $30K

BEAVER, Pa. (KDKA) -- People who live in the Monacatootha public housing community in Monaca say the place needs some sprucing up, but it hasn't been renovated in 20 years and maintenance complaints go unanswered.

"It's not bad to live here but it could use some fixing up and they don't do it," said Tenant Wendy Bailey.

Those residents were distressed by a KDKA-TV report that the executive director and board members of Beaver County Authority have traipsed across America in the past year and half, attending conference after conference, dropping tens of thousands of dollars on airfare, swank hotels and meals at high-end steakhouses.

"You think they should quit going on these trips?" KDKA-TV's Andy Sheehan asked tenant Mary Jury.

"Because all they're doing is spending our money instead of fixing our building up," Jury said.

In June, KDKA-TV exposed the extravagant travel and asked Executive Director Kathryn Walter and her board members for an explanation. Getting none, KDKA-TV filed a right-to-know request for a detailed accounting of all of the money spent.

The request returned reams of receipts for airfare, hotel stays, dinners out and cab rides in the tens of thousands of dollars. Turns out the excesses are even worse than expected, beginning with the executive director, whose 16 trips in the past year and half have taken her 42 days out of town and out of state.

She's attended conferences in Orlando, New Orleans, Palm Springs, San Diego and Chicago -- the taxpayer picking up her tab for an average of more than $2,000 a trip. Flights, registration fees, hotels and restaurants along with a $60 a day per diem. The records supplied indicate her trips have cost the taxpayer close to $30,000 dollars.

But on these trips, Walter is seldom alone. Records show she's often accompanied by board members like board President Dominic Leone, who not only traveled in-state to conferences in Lancaster and Seven Springs but also went to New Orleans and Palm Springs, costing the authority more than $6,000 in expenses.

And where other housing authorities in the region have reined in conference travel, limiting trips to one or two for their executive director, records show Walter almost always takes staff members with her, sometimes close to a dozen.

In just one of those many trips, the housing authority spent $8,892 for 12 Seven Springs hotel rooms to accommodate the director, board members and staff members -- a figure that doesn't include registration fees, per diems and meals.

And still, that doesn't mean anyone goes hungry. In Palm Springs, records show the director, board members and two staffers dined at LG's Prime Steakhouse with a tab of $729, dropped $301 at Fogo de Chao in Washington, D.C. and in another trip to Wilmington, Delaware, racked up at tab of $1,300 at the CS Brazilian Steakhouse. Closer to home, the authority has spent $4,200 at the Wooden Angel in Beaver.

Since receiving the documents, Walter has again denied an interview request for an interview. KDKA-TV went to her office, but she wasn't there. A desk clerk said there was no comment.

In replying to the right to know, the authority gave a written response saying that Walter has served as an officer and board member of two of the organizations hosting conferences and that she and the board benefit.

"Director Walter and Board Members attend conferences and training sessions that are determined to be appropriate and beneficial to further HACB's mission of providing affordable housing for families and senior citizens who meet low and moderate income guidelines."

The authority says the trips were funded by maintenance fees.

"You tell me what they learned by going down to Palm Springs. What did they learn about our housing in Beaver County?" said Bailey.

The tenants would like a full accounting of these tens of thousands of dollars and so would we, but as you can see, they won't appear on camera and that may have to wait until their next board meeting.