cincinnatienquire.com
CINCINNATI – More than a few people suggested this week that the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority might be better off without Arnol
One Barnett colleague on the housing authority’s board demanded he resign because of rude behavior, including the use of an ethnic slur. His fellow board members reprimanded him, the authority’s director said he doesn’t want to work for him and Hamilton County commissioners described him as “offensive,” “erratic” and an obstacle to progress.
But saying they want to get rid of Barnett is easier than actually doing it.
The legal maneuvering required to remove Barnett – or anyone else – from the board is daunting: a county-wide petition drive, the signatures of more than 44,000 registered voters and a hearing in Common Pleas court to determine whether he’s been derelict in his duties.
Barnett knows the odds of all that happening before he fulfills the final two years of his five-year term are slim. And he has no intention of walking away on his own.
“I’m not a quitter,” he said. “The more they push me, the more they’re pushing me to stay.”
The tension on the board has contributed to several big problems at the housing authority, including the suspension of the agency’s search for a new director and an investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development into accusations of discriminatory practices.
Several people inside and outside the housing authority have raised concerns in recent months about whether the board and the agency can effectively function with so much controversy.
The infighting already has drawn the attention of federal investigators, who recommended the authority halt its director’s search, at least in part, because of Barnett’s combative public statements.
“It’s a shame this agency, at this point, has wasted thousands of dollars in its executive director search because of a member who was not thinking clearly,” board member Pete Witte said at a meeting Monday.
The last straw for board member John Rosenberg came Oct. 28 during a heated conversation with Barnett that ended with Barnett asking Rosenberg if he “knew what a kike was.”
Rosenberg, who is Jewish, said uttering the slur in a public setting was intolerable. Barnett, who also is Jewish, said he regretted using the word around other housing authority officials, but he considered the word acceptable when used to describe a Jew “of low character.”
Rosenberg asked the other board members to pass a resolution demanding Barnett’s resignation, but they decided a reprimand was sufficient because board members do not have the authority to remove one of their own.
County commissioners got involved Wednesday when they asked the Common Pleas judges, who appointed Barnett to his seat, to take action because Barnett is “threatening to undermine CMHA as an institution.”
“If I was in their position, I don’t see how in the world they could keep him on there, particularly after what he said to the other board member,” said County Commissioner David Pepper. “But that will be up to them to figure out.”
The judges, however, say there’s nothing they can do.
All five board members are appointed by judges or elected officials. Once appointed, they are considered independent public officials and may not be removed by the people who appointed them.
Instead, someone must file a formal complaint and then gather a number of signatures equal to 15 percent of the votes cast in the county during the last gubernatorial election. In this case, that would mean 44,463 signatures.
Once the signatures are gathered and verified, a judge must hold a hearing to review the evidence and determine whether the public official really should be thrown out for misconduct or neglect of duty.
“We’re being asked to take action that, at this point, we cannot take,” said Judge John West, the presiding judge in Common Pleas Court. “The gist of it is, once we make the appointment we have no authority to remove someone.”
Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper said that even if the judges can’t force Barnett out, they should admonish his behavior and urge him to change it.
“We’re just asking them to assert some leadership on the issue,” Pepper said.
Barnett, a Cincinnati businessman with long and close ties to the Republican Party, said the volunteer position has been a headache but he doesn’t regret joining the board. He said he won’t change his confrontational style because of criticism.
When told Thursday about the commissioners’ letter to the judges, Barnett accused them of “playing politics.”
“If anyone’s behavior should be looked at as erratic,” he said, “it might be the commissioners for some of the decisions they’ve made for the county.”
