THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 18, 1995 TAG: 9505180704
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
The Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority on Wednesday replaced its embattled attorney, John E. Zydron.
The 6-3 vote removed the last of the housing authority officials involved in the bitter confrontation between the City Council and the previous board that led to the entire board's removal in 1993.
Zydron will be replaced by the firm of Basnight, Jones, Wright, Kinser & Telfeyan P.C.
The firm, based in Chesapeake, will represent the authority at its next meeting on June 7.
The board's vote also ended a protracted eight-month bidding process that put it in the spotlight when commissioners improperly voted to renew Zydron's contract in a secret ballot in October.
Chesapeake City Council members criticized the secret vote as a violation of state law, forcing the authority to restart the bidding process. The authority had said they were not given specific rules on how to conduct the vote.
CRHA Chairman Walter W. Berry said that, this time, the commissioners took no chances and followed every step outlined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
``All the bids were anonymous,'' Berry said. ``None of the applications could make references to any names . . . and each of the commissioners reviewed the applications independently. We were very careful every step of the way this time around.''
After the vote, Zydron, of the law firm Bennett & Zydron P.C. in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, said he supported the authority's new choice for representation.
``I appreciate the new authority allowing me to be on their team and allowing me to participate in rehabilitating the authority,'' Zydron said. ``They accepted my legal guidance, and I support their new firm.''
Zydron said he was proud that his firm had helped CRHA create innovative tax credit projects to bring private funding to housing for the elderly and low-income residents.
But he acknowledged that he had also represented the authority through ``some of its worst moments and most difficult cases.''
Council members have called Zydron ``a central figure in the controversy'' that led them to remove the housing authority's previous board of commissioners more than a year ago.
In September 1993, the City Council fired all six members of the board for inefficiency, neglect of duty and misconduct in office.
The dismissals came after the former board allowed its chairman, H. Scott Hardison, to resign as a commissioner and take a paid salary as the authority's interim executive director.
When officials from the Department of Housing and Urban Development ruled the move was a conflict of interest and threatened to halt funding to the authority, Zydron defended the commission's actions against the federal agency's claims.
Later, when council members held hearings on whether the commissioners had engaged in misconduct or abused of public funds, Zydron refused to release housing authority records, forcing the council to subpoena the documents.
Throughout the hearings, former Vice Mayor Arthur L. Dwyer and current Vice Mayor Robert T. Nance called for Zydron to resign.
Unlike the six commissioners, Zydron outlasted those threats, but remained embattled by council criticism in the past year.
In October, Nance and Councilman Peter P. Duda threatened to do away with the independent agency altogether after the secret vote to renew Zydron's contract.
Voting for the new firm were: Chairman Berry and Commissioners William H. Cherry; Robert L. Samuel Jr.; Helen L. Spruill; Marjorie A. Taylor, and Charles F. Sanford III. Voting against the contract were commissioners: Roland L. Thornton; John E. Hayslett, and John A. Burke. ILLUSTRATION: John E. Zydron says he is pleased with the choice of the law
firm that is replacing him.
by CNB