by Dennis Reeves Cooper
The Bahama Conch Community Land Trust (BCCLT) was founded in 1995, the first land trust in the state of Florida. The stated purpose of the trust is to provide affordable housing in Key West with the emphasis on the Bahama Village area.
Financed by state and federal grants and a special city tax, the BCCLT purchases properties, rehabs them and then sells or rents them to low-income individuals and families.
What makes the properties affordable is that the trust maintains ownership of the land— which, in theory, removes the cost of the land from the price of the home. So far, the trust has been able to purchase about 40 properties.
From the beginning, the driving force behind the BCCLT has been activist Norma Jean Sawyer. But also, from the very beginning, she has been a controversial figure.
In the early years of the BCCLT— concerned about the millions of dollars that would be managed by Sawyer in her job as the trust’s executive director— some city commissioners called for, at least, a background check on Sawyer. She resisted that; and City Commissioner Carmen Turner even called the suggestion “racist.”
We here at Key West The Newspaper continue to believe that the land trust concept has merit. It offers a creative strategy to at least approach the almost unsolvable problem of affordable housing— or, as it’s now being called, work force housing.
But, from the very beginning, we have suspected that the real purpose of the BCCLT is to provide a hefty income for Norma Jean Sawyer. Until recently, that income was $91,000 a year!
Two years ago, Sawyer was able to convince the city commission to put a referendum question on the ballot that would allow the city to lease 6.6 acres of the newly-acquired Truman Waterfront property to the BCCLT for 99 years for $1 a year. BCCLT officials say they would use the property to build more affordable housing.
Although the voters voted “yes,” the mayor and the city commissioners have been delaying signing the lease because of growing concerns about the stability of the BCCLT.
A comprehensive audit of the trust was launched last April after City Attorney Shawn Smith discovered that the BCCLT had billed the city twice for $102,000 for renovation projects on a couple of the trust’s properties— and the city had paid twice.
Auditors have already discovered that the BCCLT has allowed flood and wind insurance policies to lapse on all or most of the trust’s properties. Also, the trust is reportedly at least 30 months behind on sewer payments to the city.
Also, BCCLT President Cecil Bain has admitted that the organization had not been able to keep up with payroll and payroll taxes.
If that wasn’t enough, audio recordings of a couple of BCCLT board meetings surfaced last month in which board members are heard discussing strategy to try to defeat Commissioner Clayton Lopez at the polls. Initially one of the BCCLT’s most enthusiastic supporters, Lopez had recently announced that he was withdrawing his support of the organization pending the results of the audit.
Subsequently, former BCCLT board member James Marquardt signed up to run against Lopez. On election day, however, Lopez defeated him, garnering 72 percent of the vote.
BCCLT board members may have jeopardized the trust’s non-profit status by getting involved in politics. In any event, Lopez has now called for a complete, top-to-bottom restructuring of the BCCLT.
During those recorded meetings, BCCLT board members also discussed a possible strategy to try to get the city commission to sign a lease on the Truman Waterfront property.
Recognizing that Norma Jean Sawyer had ruffled some of the feathers of then-Mayor Morgan McPherson and some of the commissioners, board members discussed the idea of publicly firing Sawyer— and then hiring her back “in a heartbeat”— once the lease was signed.
This week, BCCLT board member Bob Kelly sent out a press release announcing that Executive Director Sawyer had been placed on “unpaid layoff status.” The action was taken at the October 24 board meeting, Kelly said. He did not respond to an email asking him if this was the “trick” that had previously been discussed by the board members in one of the recorded meetings.
In an interesting piece of spin, the press release blamed the city for the trust’s financial problems— by not catching the fact that the city had already paid the $102,000 when the second invoice came in from the BCCLT— and payed it again. And now, the BCCLT has to pay the money back and has no funds to do that.
Apparently, no one at the trust should be blamed for sending a second invoice.
It has also been reported that, with the departure of Sawyer, the BCCLT now has no paid employees. A year ago, the trust reportedly had four paid employees. They have now all been laid off or have resigned because there is no money to pay them.
The BCCLT press release also reported that Norma Jean Sawyer has informed the board that she will not seek re-instatement should the reorganization plan be successful. Is that part of the pre-announced trick?
Stay tuned.
well folks, hate to tell you this, but the city has been ripped off for years in this deal. seems like no one pays attention until it is too late.
Posted by: Wisper in my ear | 06 November 2009 at 07:05 AM