Was Rankin fired or not? Commissioners Court confused over fate of former housing leader

Published; Jan. 13, 2020

Former Harris County Housing Authority CEO Guy Rankin IV no longer is doing work for the county’s Hurricane Harvey recovery programs, Community Services Department Executive Director Daphne Lemelle said Tuesday.

The former head of the Harris County Housing Authority was terminated Monday from his new role aiding the county’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey, days after the Houston Chronicle reported he had been hired.

But a spokesman for Daphne Lemelle, executive director of the Community Services Department, said Monday evening that Guy Rankin IV would continue performing work for the department until the end of the month.

“(Rankin) was doing some assessments, doing some planning; he’s still going to be doing some reporting for us,” Patrick Trahan said. He added, “The guy … has provided some solid assistance over here.”

The shift caught court members by surprise Monday, even prompting some to say they felt misled and want answers.

Rankin in 2012 was ousted from the housing authority amid allegations he had misspent millions of federal housing dollars. The agency still is repaying $8.5 million to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Commissioners Court members, who on Friday had expressed dismay that Rankin had been hired, said they were flummoxed by Trahan’s statement to the newspaper. Twelve hours earlier, Lemelle emailed each court member’s office appearing to state that Monday would be Rankin’s last day.

“Due to the negative media and to reduce distractions from the ultimate goal of serving Harris County homeowners, please be advised that Guy Rankin will be ending his service effective today with the DR team,” Lemelle wrote at 7:06 a.m.. “Project Recovery remains focused on serving our Harris County residents as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Trahan said Lemelle’s email merely meant Rankin would no longer work with the disaster recovery team.

Informed Monday night of Trahan’s comments, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle said that he believed Lemelle’s Monday morning email on Rankin’s employment had been misleading, and that he intends to place an item on the court’s Jan. 28 agenda to have her address the court on the issue.

“This defies logic, it defies the five members of Commissioners Court, and it demands an explanation,” Cagle said.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack, too, said he was informed of the shift in Rankin’s employment in a letter from Lemelle that he had viewed as unequivocal. Radack said he would consider calling a special meeting to clarify the matter.

“I was under the impression that his last day was today,” Radack said. “There was no doubt in my mind that that’s what it said, but obviously I interpreted it incorrectly.”

Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said Rankin’s hiring was unwise regardless of his scope of work, and agreed the matter should be addressed at a meeting of the court.

“Based on the email we all received, it was our understanding that the relationship had been terminated,” Ellis said. “If that’s not the case, this raises more concerns and questions at a time when trust is already shaken.”

Rankin could not be reached for comment Monday.

Lemelle had hired Rankin through a temporary staffing agency at a rate of $75 per hour on Dec. 6 to help the county run Harvey disaster recovery programs as a “production program coordinator.” She said last week his assignment was to end Jan. 28.

Commissioners Court members had struck a rare note of unanimity Friday in disagreeing with Rankin’s hiring and held that harmony Monday in cheering what they believed to be his departure from the county payroll.

County Judge Lina Hidalgo had said she was “relieved that the arrangement is ending.” Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis had called it the “right decision” that would enable Lemelle’s department to “return its focus to making sure families receive overdue recovery assistance to rebuild their homes and lives.”

Informed of Trahan’s comments Monday evening, staff for Hidalgo, Ellis and Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia said they were looking into the matter.

Rankin has expertise in administering government housing programs, but he was ousted as CEO of the county housing authority in 2012 following a series of Chronicle stories regarding agency spending under his tenure, including revelations that he sharply increased the salaries of himself and others and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to his and his employees’ friends and relatives.

Other questionable spending uncovered by the newspaper included $8 million on a high-end waterfront development that was never built; $7 million on a Hurricane Ike report no agency asked for or wanted; $32,000 to a private investigator to probe then-County Judge Ed Emmett’s correspondence with the Chronicle; $183,000 for statues and monuments; $54,000 in luxury apartments for unknown tenants; and $18,000 for letters allegedly signed by Abraham Lincoln, purchased at a casino in Las Vegas.

The county negotiated an exit deal for Rankin, including $137,000 in severance pay, but then discovered the housing authority was so broke it could not pay it.

A 2013 HUD audit found housing authority leaders mismanaged as much as $27.5 million in federal housing funds during a three-year period toward the end of the Rankin’s tenure. HUD later demanded the agency reimburse it for $8.5 million in misspent funds; the agency still is paying off that debt.

The Harvey housing repair program Rankin briefly was hired to help has proceeded at a sluggish pace. The county’s efforts and the slightly quicker city of Houston repair program have been panned by advocates and residents living in flood-damaged homes, and local leaders do not dispute the critique.

As of Dec. 31, the county had begun no home repairs and had reimbursed just nine families for repairs they paid for themselves.