Theodore Parker III, bottom, legal counsel for the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, addresses the board of commissioners during a special meeting to consider the character, misconduct or competence of the executive director Chad Williams, Tuesday, July 30, 2019.
Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019 | 6:20 p.m.
Following an investigation into a sexual harassment claim against him, Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority Executive Director Chad Williams can keep his job as long as he behaves, the housing authority’s Board of Commissioners narrowly voted Thursday.
Williams, who was accused of sexual harassment by a former employee and likely violated the housing authority’s employee personnel policy, will be placed on probation for the next six months. In addition, he must undergo ethics training and, if he is found to have violated housing authority policy again, he could be terminated immediately.
Four commissioners voted in favor of those terms: Chairman Scott Black, Commissioner Dan Shaw, resident Commissioner Misha Hooks and resident Commissioner Sharon Davis. Three — Commissioner Lawrence Weekly, resident Commissioner Cheryl Davis and Vice Chair Sanje Sedera — voted against the motion. Commissioner Olivia Diaz, whose joined the board this month, abstained.
The votes came at the conclusion of a personal and at times heated discussion about Williams’ conduct and relationship with a former employee. It was the second of two meetings in the last month to discuss allegations against Williams, who joined the agency in June 2018, and his future with the housing authority.
Williams did not attend the previous meeting, held July 30. Although three commissioners were prepared to fire Williams that day, they ultimately voted 4-3 to delay a decision on Williams’ employment status until Thursday.
The sexual harassment claim that prompted the investigation came from a former employee who served as Williams’ executive assistant from September 2018 to March, Williams said. According to Williams and Sedera, the investigation did not find evidence of sexual harassment. But it did find that Williams violated the housing authority’s personnel policy, which forbids employees from “having a personal relationship that may cause the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
The results of the investigation have not been made public.
In attendance at Thursday’s meeting were dozens of housing authority employees and residents of the housing authority’s public and affordable housing complexes. As was the case at the July 30 meeting, several spoke favorably about Williams’ leadership, highlighting his efforts to stabilize and boost morale at a housing authority with a history of problems.
“I don’t believe this man, Mr. Chad, your employee, should be taken out of his position, especially when he’s affecting the community from a positive light,” said Madelyn Rhodes, a resident of the public housing development Marble Manor.
But commissioners who voted against giving Williams probation — rather than possibly firing him — highlighted and criticized the behavior that prompted the investigation in the first place.
Reading from the report, Cheryl Davis suggested that the relationship between Williams and the former employee went beyond unprofessionalism; it also might have raised ethical concerns.
“(You) allowed the employee to be paid for time when she was running personal errands, with you, or simply not working,” Cheryl Davis said, quoting the report.
Absent from the meeting was one of Williams’ most vocal critics, former resident commissioner Theresa Davis who pushed to fire Williams July 30.
Theresa Davis, who represents North Las Vegas, was found to have misrepresented her income, family size and employment status in order to maximize voucher benefits from the housing authority, according to a May report authored by Williams and housing authority deputy executive director Theodore Tulle. On Aug. 6, the housing authority’s independent hearing officer upheld the housing authority’s decision to terminate Theresa Davis’ Housing Choice Voucher benefits, disqualifying her from serving on the board.
North Las Vegas will solicit residents who receive vouchers to apply to serve on the board, said North Las Vegas chief of staff Delen Goldberg.
Sedera, who also voted to fire Williams at the last meeting, read into the record some of the hundreds of text messages exchanged between Williams and the former employee who accused him of harassment, which were obtained through the investigation. Spanning September and October 2018, the messages suggest that the two spent time together outside of work, sometimes late into the evening, and show that they used pet names for each other, such as “babe,” “handsome” and “love.”
“You look so beautiful today. It’s so hard not to stare,” Williams wrote to the former employee shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018.
On Sept. 16, he told the former employee: “YOU and I together, can turn this agency around and advance it forward... You also seem to have the personal fortitude and characteristics to be my supporting and nourishing partner.”
In an interview with the Sun earlier this month, Williams admitted to having flirted with the former employee over text, but denied having a sexual or romantic relationship with her. He also suggested that she filed a sexual harassment claim against him because she was "scared" about losing her job due to ongoing performance issues.
Today, with his personal attorney by his side, Williams said that he has been honest about the “situation” between him and the former employee, to both housing authority staff and board members. He added that he has learned about his own “shortcomings” through working with the human resources investigator overseeing the investigation into his conduct.
“If you want me here for the reason why you hired me, keep me. If you want to set an example, which I agree, an example needs to be made and I’ve not shied away from that, then make an example,” Williams said. “But make it a fair example.”
