BREWER, Maine — Despite accusations there was a conflict of interest, the Brewer Housing Authority on Tuesday bought land on Chamberlain Street from the organization’s former board chairman, Calvin Bubar.
The housing authority paid $280,000 for the 4.16-acre parcel, according to Joseph Ferris, Bubar’s attorney and a Brewer city councilor. Records show that the price tag is more than three times the city’s assessed value of the land and more than twice what Bubar paid for it in 2007.
The fact that the sale went forward Tuesday worried at least two other City Council members. The council held an emergency executive session late last week after learning of the pending sale. but had no authority to stop the sale.
“I don’t have a problem with anybody making money, but I do have a problem with how the profit was made,” City Councilor Gail Kelly said Tuesday. As chairman of the housing authority board, Bubar “had too much knowledge” about the authority’s coffers and financing, she said.
“You can’t profit from your position,” Kelly said. “And he was still a member of that board when” the purchase and sale agreement was signed for the property in mid-July.
Bubar was appointed to the housing authority board in September 2007, about a month after purchasing the Chamberlain Street parcel. He was made chairman in January 2008 and held the post until resigning this past July.
That means Bubar was chairman while negotiations about the housing authority buying his land were held. According to the minutes of a Sept. 23, 2008, board meeting, “Chairman Bubar discussed the possibility of selling his property located on Chamberlain Street to the Housing Authority.”
He also was present in February of this year when the social services agency Penquis, formerly Penquis CAP, made a presentation about partnering with the housing authority on developing a senior housing facility on that parcel, Gordon Stitham, Brewer Housing Authority’s executive director, has said.
The housing authority, in partnership with Penquis, plans to build an estimated $6 million, 32-unit elderly housing project on the land. The housing authority would own the land and operate the facility, which would be built by Penquis.
Stitham said last week that Bubar took steps to ensure there was no conflict of interest, including by not participating in executive sessions in which the land purchase was discussed and by stepping down from the board when the sale neared.
The purchase and sale agreement was signed on July 9, the day after Bubar, who operates a real estate business and also is a Brewer School Committee member, delivered his resignation letter to the city.
But he was still officially a board member when the agreement was signed because the Brewer City Council didn’t accept his resignation until July 14.
“What are the ramifications for this?” City Councilor Larry Doughty asked Tuesday. “I don’t think it’s going to be good. I’m concerned about the conflict of this whole issue.”
The fact that Bubar sold his property, which is valued at $88,000 by the city, for $280,000 also is a concern for him, Doughty said.
The Brewer Housing Authority operates independently from the city, which means “legally, [the sale] has nothing to do with the city,” Stitham said last week.
The funding used to purchase Bubar’s land came from revenues from the housing authority’s local programs, Stitham said Tuesday.
Stitham said last week that Bubar rejected an initial offer by the housing authority of $80,000 for the parcel.
Stitham also said last week that the land, which is assessed at $88,000 as a residential property, has a much higher value — $260,000 — when assessed as commercial, high-density residential property, which is how it would have to be zoned for the senior housing facility to be build. That zoning change will still require both planning board and City Council approval.
“If Penquis CAP cannot get funding for development of the land in two years’ straight, they will buy the land from Brewer Housing Authority” for the full purchase price, Stitham has said. “They’re 99 percent sure they will have the financing for it.”
He said he wasn’t sure who would be caught holding the bag if needed zoning changes for the multiunit development are not acquired.
Bubar, along with his wife, Nancy, purchased 258 Chamberlain St. for $120,000 in mid-September 2007, and a few weeks later held an informal hearing with the Brewer Planning Board about developing a housing project for people over the age of 55 on the parcel.
“He had a project in mind,” Ferris said. “That was always his plan. Then the economy soured and he delayed that. Then the housing authority approached Cal. It’s an ideal piece of property for them to own.”
Ferris said the proposed 32-unit elderly housing project planned for the parcel would be an asset to the city, and fits in perfectly with the nearby housing authority campus.
“I think it was appropriate for it to go through,” he said of the property sale. “They [the housing authority] considered it, looked at it, thought about it, and decided to buy it.”
The Brewer Housing Authority’s mission is to provide low-income housing to those who qualify. It owns and operates 154 units, according to its Web site.
Even with reassurances from Ferris and Stitham of no wrongdoing, Kelly said, she is still not convinced there is no conflict.
“I absolutely cannot believe that they did this,” she said. “That’s taxpayer money — and there it goes. I am really shocked and appalled that they have done this without all the facts coming out for people to consider. I guess civil servant doesn’t mean anything anymore.”