HUD denies housing post to Polanski

Well-paying haven for departing Lackawanna mayors won't be this time, at least till '13


Updated: December 30, 2011, 10:19 AM
The Lackawanna Municipal Housing Authority has been a soft landing spot for previous departing Lackawanna mayors.
But that won't be the case with current Mayor Norman L. Polanski Jr. -- at least until 2013.


The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has denied a request that would have allowed the LMHA to hire Polanski as the authority's executive director at the completion of his term as mayor.


The authority's board of commissioners asked HUD in October to waive a required one-year waiting period for the mayor to be considered for the director's post, which has an $82,000 annual salary.


But HUD's Buffalo office decided last week to deny the request, determining that the board had failed to make the case that Polanski was the only person qualified for the job.


"They did not present enough justification for why Polanski would be the best person to become [executive director] of the agency," said Joan K. Spilman, Buffalo field office director for HUD.
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