LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Little Rock Board of Directors is set to meet on Tuesday to remove commissioners overseeing the city's federal housing programs amid millions of unaccounted-for funds and disorganized financial records.
Dr. Nadine Jarmon, a veteran manager of public housing and former executive director of the Metropolitan Housing Alliance is expected to testify and she claims she was fired by those commissioners after writing a 161-page whistleblower complaint.
Since sending that document, Jarmon said those accusations have weighed heavily on her shoulders, and is only now taking satisfaction in seeing the weight of those accusations come down on the people who fired her.
"The fact of the matter [is] everything that she said, and everything that's come out now is the truth," said Chris Corbitt, Jarmon's attorney in a lawsuit claiming retaliation and wrongful termination. "They knew they were getting some top-notch talent. She started having some issues with the board. And she contacted me to discuss it because a whistleblower complaint is a hard step for an employee to take. I mean, essentially, you're ratting out your boss."
Jarmon arrived in Little Rock in 2019 with 25 years of experience in cleaning up housing messes in other cities, including nine years in New Orleans.
However as the Pandemic set in, Jarmon said members of the board micromanaged her operation while maintaining a questionable relationship with a separate non-profit that was run by those same members.
By 2020, Jarmon alerted Litte Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. and the city board to her concerns.
The following summer, she put her allegations of incompetence, misconduct, and a hostile work environment into that report to the Office of Housing and Urban Development.
"She informed them of the misuse of funds, the inappropriate spending, and that culminated in her being put on a temporary leave of absence," said Corbitt. "And then come August, they fired her."
In court responses and public statements, members of the board called Jarmon a disgruntled employee, but her allegations are among at least five legal actions made against them.
They range from wrongful termination to discrimination suits, with at least one other whistleblower claim. Two of the cases, including Jarmon's, still await trials.
Two have been dismissed in favor of the board.
One other case, a federal lawsuit by Dana Arnette, resulted in a settlement in Arnette's favor. Her attorney, Chris Burks, could not comment on the amount, and the current executive director, Erika Benedicto, said the MHA had documents available that indicated how much the board paid Arnette.
When asked at a recent meeting of the MHA board about the status of legal action, Benedicto, described the settlement as "modest." At that same meeting, the board had the more pressing concern of preparing to face the mayor and his calls that they resign.
While Jarmon's case moved through first, federal court, and now state court, investigators within HUD appear to have largely dismissed her account.
We requested findings or reports from HUD's inspectors and the local authority but received no response.
To date, no one on the board has been disciplined, but that began to change last month.
A different HUD report delivered its own findings, which declared the agency "troubled." It said that there was almost $30 million remaining that were unaccounted for, that audits were overdue and that corrective action was required.
The allegations mirrored many things Jarmon and others made.
A majority of the commission doesn't plan to go quietly and the process of firing them is unclear.
"I think we've got two things here," said MHA board chairperson Lee Lindsey. "We've got disgruntled employees. In addition, we've had some of them make reports, which were compiled without looking behind the scenes. Those are the sorts of things that we hope to talk about in our community."
Corbitt and Jarmon both plan to testify at that special board meeting on Tuesday and hope the city will finally heed the warnings she made years ago.
"We need sunshine, we need light shined on these activities," said Corbitt. "All of it's going to show is what Dr. Nadine Jarmon told the Feds, told the executive board, and told Mayor Frank Scott of is what was going on."