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Residents say housing authority appointments lacked transparency; applicants press council during public input
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Summary
Multiple residents told the Meriden City Council their applications to serve as resident commissioner on the Meriden Housing Authority were ignored or lost, with several speakers calling the process lacking in "honesty, integrity, and transparency."
During public input at the Dec. 1 Meriden City Council meeting, residents raised concerns about how the Meriden Housing Authority (MHA) resident commissioner appointments were handled, saying applications were accepted but not acted on and that the mayor’s office and city manager’s office gave inconsistent accounts.
Jennifer Addie said she submitted an online application Aug. 13 and received a confirmation screenshot but was not contacted for an interview. "If the city manager didn't feel that I was a fit for the housing authority, you should have called me into your office with an interview," Addie said. She described receiving emails that implied her application was lost and said she would not "let this go." John Malovenda and Brian Stedman echoed Addie's account, saying residents at Community Towers were told a board had already been chosen and that people who knew Addie had expected her to be considered.
Speaker Dan Zabrowski linked the concern to broader issues, criticizing council decisions affecting the South Meriden Volunteer Fire Department and calling prior actions by members of the housing authority board "a black eye" on the city. Zabrowski suggested the prior board’s actions could expose individuals to federal indictment, a claim for which no council response or supporting evidence was presented during public input.
Council leadership did not resolve the residents’ complaints during the meeting; the mayor closed public input after the scheduled speakers completed their remarks. Mayor Scarpati and council members did not announce a specific follow-up or a timeline for reviewing the application process during the meeting record provided.
The transcript shows residents asserting dates and steps in the application sequence (Addie: Aug. 13 application; she later received a follow-up contact from Haley Fettner, interim director of housing). The council clerk offered to forward an email to a speaker and the mayor closed public input without a formal staff response on the record.
