Federal housing authorities are investigating allegations that the man in charge of public housing in Kankakee County has harassed and intimidated his employees and dozens of tenants.
But that is not the only reason that Frank S. Mason, a 53-year-old resident of south suburban Dolton, has raised eyebrows since he took over in September as the executive director of the Kankakee County Housing Authority (this name of the executive director as published has been corrected in this text).
Linford Coleman, the director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s public housing office, has written letters demanding to know what procedures Kankakee officials followed in hiring a man who was charged in 1986 with attempted murder and aggravated battery for allegedly whipping his wife and setting her clothes on fire. Coleman has been waiting since October for a reply.
And one housing board member said Mason embellished his education and work experience in applying for the job.
Mason said the allegations are “garbage,” and that he has been targeted because he has attempted to clean up mismanagement of the Housing Authority. His supporters say he is the first reformer the agency has seen in decades.
The attempted murder and aggravated battery charges were dropped when Mason’s wife decided not to pursue the case. Mason was charged with a violent crime again in 1990, after he allegedly threatened to shoot a coworker at the Chicago Transit Authority. Those charges also were dropped. Mason resigned shortly after.
HUD officials are launching a comprehensive inspection of the Kankakee County Housing Authority because of questions they have about its “operational efficiency,” said HUD spokeswoman Anne Scherrieb. She said Kankakee has not had a comprehensive review in several years.
HUD officials started asking questions about Mason after receiving complaints from employees and tenants. In November, 52 tenants signed a letter to HUD claiming that many elderly residents are afraid to leave their apartments when Mason is present.
“Mr. Mason uses forceful language and threats of eviction to scare his opposition,” the letter read.
Mason also drew a good deal of ire when he stopped the weekly bingo game at one of two high-rise buildings for the elderly, citing regulations prohibiting gambling on federal property.
Mason denied committing any violence against his ex-wife, Margaret. And he said the allegations of threats at the CTA were part of a “smokescreen” orchestrated in an attempt to fire him.
Bill Sawyer, a Republican Housing Authority board member, said Mason’s resume and work history contain inconsistencies. Mason claimed to have worked at the CTA for 23 years, but CTA personnel records show he worked there for just eight years, from 1982 to 1990.
On his resume, Mason also claimed to have a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing from Roosevelt University. Mason insists that he attended Roosevelt, but a university spokeswoman said there was no record that Mason ever attended the school.
Mason said his past has nothing to do with his performance in Kankakee.
“What we have found here is that this is an atrocious place,” he said. “They ran this place into the ground. It was in a very bad condition, and nothing was done by the guidelines of HUD.”
Scherrieb, however, said the most recent performance survey rated the agency within the same range as the majority of other housing authorities in the country.
Mason and the chairman of the Housing Authority board, Jeff Dexter, point to a letter from HUD claiming money was misspent, and they say they are in the process of uncovering no-bid contracts that they say Republican stewards of the Housing Authority have protected for years.”They are not going after Frank because it’s for the betterment of public housing,” said Dexter, a Teamsters representative who is nearing the end of his term on the board. “They’re going after him because they want to control a $5 million to $6 million budget. They want to maintain a system that has been in place for 20 years.”
Dexter said Mason has instituted badly needed reforms since taking the job in September.
He has fired incompetent patronage workers, uncovered lax bookkeeping and repaired deteriorating infrastructure, such as elevators, Dexter said.
Dexter and Mason said HUD officials have been influenced by the political climate in Kankakee and they have been duped by Mason’s Republican nay-sayers.
“They poisoned HUD against me,” Mason said. “All of the sudden, I’m destroying this place. And I’ve only been here three months.”
Mason might not be in charge of Kankakee’s public housing three months from now. The County Board, in Republican hands again after a term with a Democratic majority, has moved to expand the Housing Authority board to seven from five members. The two new members would be Republican appointees, shifting the makeup to a 4-3 Republican advantage.
That new board’s first action would be to call a special meeting and fire Mason, Sawyer said.
Sawyer said that he has talked to a lawyer, and he believes he would be on solid ground to move to fire Mason if it can be proved he lied about having a degree from Roosevelt University.
