Sources who couldn't speak on the record say the Comptroller's audit of the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority will be out this fall, not, as some people have suggested, years from now.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said it would come out some time in the fall, but many people questioned whether that would actually happen, particularly given the years it took for the audit of the Troy Housing Authority.

But I'm told the draft report has already been completed and submitted to the board for review. They were given some amount of time (some time between 30 and 60 days) to turn it around with any comments they would like to add or criticisms they would like to lodge.

I've been trying to get that information on the record for print, but Chairman Eric Weller has not been available (or his phone has been out of commission, as it is starting to seem) for about a week now.

I have only second-hand information on the contents of the report, but I'm told it doesn't address the relationship between the Saratoga Affordable Housing Group and the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority.

Again, that information is not confirmed, but if true, it would seem to have missed a big issue. The "volunteers" from the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority — the SSHA facilities manager, accountant, executive director and others — who all wrote letters saying they only worked off-the-clock on SAHG business was concerning to many.

Also concerning was the potential for co-mingling of funds between the two groups. Of course, authorities at the Authority say that wasn't happening, but the fact that former Chairman Dennis Brunelle justified Ed Spychalski's $150+ taxpayer-funded salary, in part, based on his work with the non-profit SAHG raises some serious questions.

Obviously we'll have to wait and see what the Comptroller's report says, but if that relationship isn't addressed (as DiNapoli said it would be when he came into The Saratogian to discuss some of the issues) I think they may need to do another.

But again, the fact that it isn't included is inconclusive, as I haven't seen the report itself. 

Last weekend, local resident and Housing Authority critic John Kaufmann e-mailed me (as I'm sure he e-mailed every news agency in the area, judging by the fact that he frequently appears in stories about the Housing Authority in the Daily Gazette and the Times Union) about the Saratoga Affordable Housing Group.

They met Tuesday at Longfellow's Restaurant for their quarterly meeting. Kaufmann was encouraging newspapers to go and he, in fact, went himself to deliver concerns he has raised over asbestos at the buildings that the Housing Group tore down on Allen Drive for the new apartment complex.

Kaufmann, though, did not get to sit-in on the meeting. He was shown the door as soon as he came into the restaurant — by Housing Authority Executive Director Ed Spychalski who at the time was also the president of the Saratoga Affordable Housing Group.

And of course, that was the last meeting Spychalski was president of that group.

To be clear, though, the Saratoga Affordable Housing Group, while it receives public money through the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority and through grants and other avenues (and despite the fact that many of the same people are involved in both organizations), is a non-profit organization and thus is not subject to the same Open Meetings Law standards as the the Housing Authority.

"Ed told him it was a closed meeting," recounted Rocco "Rocky" Ferraro, the non-profit's new president, after the meeting. "He was not a happy person."

Ferraro said "It was felt the meetings were not necessary to be open to the public," but then added "We'll be evaluating alternatives for the future ... we want to have it as transparent as possible."

And he said being the president, he will make sure that happens.

As for the asbestos issue, Kaufmann was saying that it was improperly dealt with at the demolition and subsequent construction, something Ferraro denies.

"As far as I know everything went according to plan and met all of the OSHA requirements," he said, adding he recalls extensive conversation on the board about contracting with a company that specialized in asbestos removal because he remembers how expensive it was. "It was something we talked about a lot," he said. "We knew it going in."

I'll look into that further, just to confirm what Ferraro remembers, but that's what I know now.

That's all for now. Stay classy Saratoga.