Politics & Government

Report: Medford Housing Authority Boss Criticized Over Hires

Globe report details Robert Covelle hiring friends and family.

Medford Housing Authority Executive Director Robert Covelle has a history of hiring friends and family for staff positions and work contracts, according to a report in Tuesday's Boston Globe.

Covelle and the housing authority have been under fire since a Department of Housing and Urban Development audit report last month showed the authority paid out contracts to vendors without competitive bidding and failed to follow federal guidelines in distributing over $7 million in federal funding.

During a housing commission meeting last week, the authority's section 8 supervisor Sam Pirri defended Covelle and directed blame for the issues in the audit toward the previous administrators. Pirri plays bocce with Covelle at the Malden Italian-American Club and was hired after another employee was demoted, the Globe report said.

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"Unfortunately, Bob is taking the bad rap here for things that have been done here for the last umpteen years," Pirri said.

Pirri said the issues only came to light because a few "disgruntled" people wrote a letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The procedures were the same under the previous executive director John Greco and his staff.

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“I find it interesting that none of this came up under their jurisdiction,” he said.

The Globe report also said Covelle spent $4,000 on a no-bid contract to decorate the authority's office. The decorator he hired is now his daughter-in-law, the report said. (Read the Full Globe report: Medford housing chief faces scrutiny over hirings)

Last week, Covelle offered a solution to the problems raised in the federal audit that included hiring a new staff procurement officer and three new consultants.

"The MHA is complying with the HUD request to develop a comprehensive action plan," Covelle said.

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