Cara Leiper resigns as Northampton Housing Authority director

NORTHAMPTON — Nine months after she was placed on administrative leave and an investigation launched into possible legal and ethical misconduct, Cara Leiper has resigned as the executive director of the Northampton Housing Authority.

Patty Healey, the chairperson of the Housing Authority board, confirmed Leiper’s resignation in a letter sent to Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra on Monday night, a copy of which was obtained by the Gazette.

“There were many bumps in the road to completing the negotiations between the parties but I am confident that we have produced the best possible outcome,” Healey wrote in the letter. “The full board will reconvene in January and begin the process of conducting a search for a skilled professional executive director to lead the organization.”

Leiper declined to comment regarding her resignation.

Leiper was placed on leave following a complaint against her in January from current and former employees of the Housing Authority who requested anonymity under the state’s whistleblower law.

The complaint accused Leiper of engaging in “nepotism and favoritism” by giving housing to close friends and family members and allowing them to skip waitlists. It also accuses her of creating “an unprofessional work environment,” displaying favoritism toward staff members, engaging in retaliatory measures against those who disagree with her and sexually harassing staff members. Leiper has denied any wrongdoing.

In one case cited in the complaint, a tenant with whom she had a personal relationship was allegedly transferred to a two-bedroom apartment in the Florence Heights family housing complex, despite the tenant not being eligible for family housing. It states the tenant then moved into the home of Leiper and her husband, while continuing to lease the Florence Heights apartment. The letter states the apartment was eventually given to another family, but accuses Leiper of fabricating a retroactive notice of intent to vacate to make it appear the female tenant had left the apartment earlier than she actually had.

Also named in the complaint is Maureen Carney, who was president of the Housing Authority board at the time. The complaint alleged that a family member of Carney was given housing without being placed on a waitlist, and that Leiper had unilaterally decided to house them despite Carney filing a conflict of interest form, requiring Leiper to instead forward the application to the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC). Carney later resigned from her position in October, citing “the ongoing and relentless unjust assault against me.”

Healey and the EOHLC did not immediately return requests for comment.

Leiper was first hired to lead the Housing Authority in 2015. Her tenure got off to a rocky start as she and the Board of Commissioners came under fire for Open Meeting Law violations and issues related to the termination of several longtime employees as part of an agency restructuring. Since then, she had taken the helm of the Easthampton and Hatfield housing authorities through a management agreement.

In the interim, Holyoke Housing Authority Executive Director Matthew Mainville had overseen operations of the NHA until Sharon Kimble, the NHA chief accounting officer, took over as interim director in September. Kimble will remain as interim director until a permanent replacement can be found for Leiper, according to a letter sent out to residents on Monday.

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