LAWRENCE COUNTY Affordable Housing will meet with officials

The two board members, a consultant and the former president, are attending the meeting.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The remaining members of the dwindling Affordable Housing of Lawrence County board of directors have agreed to meet publicly with Lawrence County officials to talk about their organization.
The commissioners say the meeting is slated for 9:30 a.m. today in the commissioners' meeting room and is open to the public.
County commissioners demanded the meeting last week, threatening to pull all county accounts from First Commonwealth Bank if a meeting was not held. One of the two remaining members of the Affordable Housing board is William Bonner, a First Commonwealth Bank official.
The embattled organization came under scrutiny last month after taking out a $250,000 bank loan to buy seven homes scattered throughout New Castle. Less than two weeks after taking out the loan, four of the group's six board members resigned, including its president, Robert Evanick.
Plans changed
Evanick is executive director of the Lawrence County Housing Authority, the entity that created the private nonprofit Affordable Housing by giving it a $200,000 no-interest loan. Evanick said he decided to resign when the board moved away from its original plan to build housing for disabled people and started buying homes.
Within a few weeks of Evanick's resignation, attorney Frank Natale, New Castle Councilwoman Karen DeCarlo and the Rev. James Blackwell also resigned. The board was also down a member after the recent death of Jon Librandi.
Bonner and Donald Conti, who is also a housing authority board member, are the remaining board members.
Questions have been raised about the seven homes, including why some were bought far above the county's assessed valuation. There were also questions about why the majority of the homes were bought from Nick DeRosa and John Orlando. Other homes were bought from Harry DeRosa. It's unclear if the two DeRosas are related.
Bonner, Conti, Evanick and Affordable Housing consultant Rob Ratkovich, who is also New Castle City Council president, are expected to attend today's meeting.
cioffi@vindy.com