A series of internal struggles has hit Lena Park Community Development Corporation (CDC) over the past several months. Yet another executive director was fired during the summer and yet another board chair resigned this month just as hundreds of new units are about to be built on the former State Hospital land, and so members of the State Hospital Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) want to know what’s going on behind the scenes.

The CDC fired back at the CAC this week, calling their implications about organizational unrest unfair, and noting that its board has a clear action plan. “It’s a ‘new day for Lena,’” said incoming board member Steven Godfrey, who spoke for the organization.

For all that, at last Thursday’s CAC meeting, concerns about the executive leave-takings expressed by state Rep. Russell Holmes, Lena New Boston developer Jerry Rappaport, and Steve Andrews, a representative from the state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) were aired publicly.

“Lena Park has again lost the chair of their board and it’s the third or fourth board chair that has left in an angry way and the third or fourth executive director that left as well,” said Holmes. “We need to hear from Lena Park and hold them accountable.”

Godfrey reacted to Holmes’s words with what he called a personal observation: “Russell Holmes operates contrary to the views of this community.” He cited issues that exist at Quincy-Geneva CDC, at the ongoing Shattuck Hospital recovery campus proposal, and at his Mt. Hope/Canterbury neighborhood as evidence of Holmes’s shortcomings.

Rappaport’s company develops the units and then turns them over for management to Lena Park CDC. His company also built out the 10,000-square-foot community center at the old Hecht House on American Legion Highway that Lena Park manages. He cited unrest at the CDC.

“It’s doing us a disservice to have all that turmoil over there,” he said. “I would like to see much better governance and much more activity in the [community center] facility you engaged us to build, and we did…I hate to see it not being used.”

The center’s website shows that the most recent scheduled activities were two events in August, one of them outside. There were no events listed for September or October.

Andrews said that the housing unit management should also be examined.

“They also have units they manage. Not only should we find out about any engagement [at the community center], but we should look into the other side on the management of their housing portfolio,” he said.

Godfrey, who hasn’t officially joined the board, has led Madison Park CDC and Quincy-Geneva CDC in the past and said the criticism from CAC members is not fair. He said he was acting as the spokesman for Lena Park, though active board members were present during the phone interview.

“Every partner that spoke has a liability interest with the organization other than Russell Holmes,” said Godfrey…”It’s unfair if that’s what they’re saying because they have existing partnerships with Lena Park,” he said, without further elaboration.

Lena Park CDC has had issues before. In 2008, it shut down its operations on American Legion Highway, but regrouped in 2015 and reopened.

Hints of trouble this year started in early spring when its new executive director Kevin Sibley, a seasoned executive most recently at the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), was fired by the board. A March 15 letter to the board from Sibley, obtained and verified by the Reporter, noted that he would be out of the office until further notice for “personal reasons.” He added, “I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding and cooperation,” he wrote. “I look forward to resuming work and continuing our productive collaboration upon my return.”

Sources, including Holmes, confirmed to the Reporter that Sibley had been fired shortly afterward and that there is ongoing litigation over the termination.

Then, Board Chair Karen AllenBowie resigned this month.

In a letter obtained by the Reporter, she wrote: “This Board is paralyzed in any effort to correct historical difficulties pertaining to equitable interest in serving the community and residents. I hope that Board members move forward with more emphasis toward transparency, accountability and inclusiveness…”

Godfrey said the board had no comment on the letter and that AllenBowie’s resignation was “under advisement.”

In the meantime, he said, Treasurer Gloria Moon has “stepped into the role” of leading the board. She comes with a history, which was noted in criticism at last Thursday’s meeting by Rappaport. A Reporter article from 2011 detailed Moon’s suspensions and questionable activities when she was working for the Boston Center for Youth and Families (BCYF) as a community center cluster administrator. She had been suspended without pay for 45 days for time sheet inconsistencies and doing personal errands during work hours. She had also been suspended in 2005 for running her catering company on city time, cited that article.

According to the Lena Park CDC’s 990 tax document for the year 2021, Moon was the only compensated board member, earning $33,500 for her efforts.

Moon had no comment while on the call last Thursday, but Godfrey said she is an important part of the hard work the board has done recently in “putting everything on the table” and coming up with a “clear action plan.”

He said that 7 of 10 board members remain, and a slate of 8 to 10 is being onboarded later this week in a decisive meeting of the organization.

“The board has been very introspective and doing the hard work,” he said.

Holmes said he remains concerned, “The last thing we want to see happen is that place go dark again, and we find out in the newspaper.”