Aug 11, 2002 By Paul Sunyak 3 min read

Fayette County Housing Authority board members are treated unequally when it comes to information and access, according to Angela M. Zimmerlink, who points to her exclusion from a Wednesday morning private meeting as an example. Board member Zimmerlink said that she received a notice from Executive Director Thomas L. Harkless in the mail Tuesday, stating that he was setting up a meeting with James Cassidy, director of the Pittsburgh office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Hopefully, we will be able to meet sometime this week. If you would like to attend, please call me,” Harkless advised in his memorandum.

The main reason for the meeting was to discuss HUD’s concerns over the way the authority conducted business with two firms that employed relatives of Harkless. HUD had given the authority 30 days to respond to those concerns.

Zimmerlink said that she responded to Harkless via a Tuesday night e-mail, raising some concerns about whether Cassidy wanted board members to participate directly in the process. She noted that Cassidy had previously told her that he didn’t want board members around when his office was investigating her complaints.

However, Zimmerlink said the next thing she knew, she got a notice that the meeting had been held Wednesday morning between Harkless, Cassidy, board Chairman Kenneth L. Johnson and Michael Syme, an attorney for the Cohen & Grigsby law firm used by the authority as a legal specialist.

“Apparently, they’re only keeping certain board members informed,” said Zimmerlink. “I have no idea if other board members knew about this 11 a.m. Wednesday meeting or not … It’s a continuation of only telling certain people what they want them to know. That’s what this is. And it looks like nothing’s going to change on that board.”

Zimmerlink said she has no idea what was discussed at the meeting. She said she asked for a brief synopsis on Wednesday but hadn’t gotten a reply by Friday morning. As such, Zimmerlink said she has no idea of what happened at the meeting involving the foursome. She also doesn’t know the location of the meeting, and is left to speculate on whether it was held in Uniontown or Pittsburgh.

“You would think that based on their past practices and history, they would do everything they could to get board members informed. But they’re not,” said Zimmerlink. “This made me so mad. Here I am waiting for a reply (from Harkless) and they go ahead and have (the meeting).

“Ken (Johnson) could have picked up the phone. Anyone could have picked up the phone and said, ‘We’re going to schedule the meeting Wednesday at 11.’ But no one called, no one gave me a date.”