Housing authority, bldg. manager trade charges Conditions at Grauman Tower, $400K debt unresolved issues BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer Grauman Towers Long-disputed issues over upkeep and management of Grauman Towers took a turn last week as the Long Branch Housing Authority (LBHA) pulled out as manager of the senior complex. On July 3, LBHA Executive Director Tyrone Garrett announced that the authority would no longer provide services to the 100-unit Grauman Towers high-rise on Ocean Avenue, also known as Washington Manor. "We were just in debt and getting deeper and deeper," said Garrett in an interview last week. "There was never a mismanagement of the money on the housing authority's side," Garrett said, adding that the current owners of the building have failed to pay off a significant debt to the authority. Garrett claims that owners Washington Manor Associates Ltd., Eaton Grauman Corp. of Atlantic Highlands, owe more than $400,000 to the authority. The $400,000 debt includes years of overdue bills as well as money paid by the authority for capital improvements to the deteriorating building, according to Garrett. "We made over $100,000 in capital improvements," Garrett said. "We fixed street lights, ceiling fans, cleaned up community rooms, fixed leaks and fixed boilers. "We also pay for security at the building," Garrett added. Bill Eaton, a partner in Washington Manor Associates, in an interview last week, disputed Garrett's claims and charged that any problems associated with the building are the fault of the authority. "[The LBHA] had a history of hundreds of thousands of dollars being stolen," Eaton said, referring to two former housing authority executive directors who had embezzlement charges filed against them. "We accepted the LBHA as manager," he said, adding, "The relationship did not work out." According to Eaton, who is a partner in the company that owns the building, as the building manager, the housing authority has control over all finances at the site. "They have control over all income, all move-ins and all move-outs," Eaton said. "Every single dime of income of the building goes to the housing authority. "If the housing authority used its own money to pay bills, it is because there is not enough money going into the building because of their own failures," he said. Such failures, he said, include not increasing rent, not collecting rent on a timely basis and not refinancing a mortgage that is at a 10 percent rate. "If we owe anything, we hope an audit will show what it is," Eaton said. "We don't accept the $400,000 figure. They clearly should have refinanced, filled up vacancies and collected rents." Garrett said that since January he has been negotiating with Eaton to purchase the building. But Garrett said he was "incensed" by the owners reneging on what appeared to be their acceptance of the authority's offer to purchase the complex for $4.5 million and the repayment of the $400,000 debt. "It is my opinion that the actions of Mr. Eaton in this entire matter were just another stalling tactic in a long line of obfuscating, which may be legal, but I question the morality and impact it will have on the senior citizens who occupy the building," Garrett said. The housing authority has been managing the building since it was constructed and occupied in 1981, according to Garrett, who said the authority's services include security, repair, maintenance, management and custodial services. Garrett said he did not come on board as the manager of the building until August 2006. Prior to Garrett's involvement, he said there were ongoing problems between the previous owner of the building, Randall Reid, and the previous executive directors of the housing authority. Garrett additionally pointed out that while Reid was owner of the building, current owner Eaton was representing him on all Grauman Tower issues. "There was a total mismanagement of the building and there was no preventive maintenance," he said, "such as basic custodial services and repair of units." While acting as managers of Grauman Towers, two executive directors at the housing authority were brought up on charges, according to Eaton. Former executive director Richard P. Kiernan was indicted in the 1990s on embezzlement charges and his successor Thomas L. Armour resigned after charges filed against him were dropped, according to Garrett. "What they did has nothing to do with the housing authority to date," Garrett said. "We have two other senior high-rise buildings and we don't have problems with them. "You can not say we don't know how to manage this building," Garrett said. When Garrett took over as manager of Grauman Towers in August, there was an $86,000 debt from unpaid waste disposal bills, utility bills and general contracts from various vendors, as well as 10 vacant units, he explained. "We paid it up front," Garrett said. "We thought we were doing the right thing to service the residents. The housing authority made the payment and Mr. Eaton agreed to recoup the costs." Garrett additionally said that the authority has not been paid for its services since last August. "We did not pay ourselves," Garrett said. "If we paid ourselves, we wouldn't have been able to keep the lights on." But Eaton tells another side to the story, claiming that the authority failed to pay utility bills over the past months at Grauman Towers. "We found out on [June] 28, that they hadn't paid the electric bill since April," Eaton said. "We found out on [June] 29 that the water company had not been paid since April. "We arranged payment and we have hired professional property managers, Ward and O'Donnell," Eaton said. Eaton also said he was surprised to find that when the housing authority announced it would cease management at the building, that it took supplies from the building. "They took toilet paper, signs and spare screens in boxes that they didn't install," Eaton said. The building is still in need of extreme repair, according to Garrett. "There are balconies at the building that need to be replaced," Garrett said. "We made Mr. Eaton aware and said you need to find the money to make these improvements." Garrett said he tried to work things out with Eaton, but all attempts to reach an agreement have failed. "He basically used the housing authority," Garrett said. "We came through with a good-faith effort to improve the conditions. "Mr. Eaton still refuses to say when he will pay us."