DCHA Executive Director Brenda Donald’s bonus is dubious
By Jeffrey Anderson
A controversial bonus for D.C. Housing Authority Executive Director Brenda Donald appears contrary to District law, is inconsistent with her contract, and was awarded against long standing DCHA practice, according to a copy of that contract, the D.C. Code, government emails and former D.C. officials.
Donald received a $41,250 bonus on top of her $275,000 per year salary on January 6, according to a news story earlier this month in Washington City Paper—a report that DCHA officials did not dispute.
That bonus— 15% of her salary— is the maximum allowed by Donald’s contract, which she signed on October 6, 2021, according to a copy obtained by District Dig.
But there is no indication that the DCHA Board of Commissioners approved Donald’s bonus—as her contract requires, and as has been the case with her predecessors— and the bonus exceeds what D.C. law allows.
The law caps bonus rates for all executive agencies, including independent agencies such as DCHA, at 10% of annual salary. It also calls for detailed regulations and minimum standards and procedures for awarding such bonuses.
D.C. Code Section 1–551.03 (a) states that a District agency—or instrumentality—shall establish a Performance Based Rewards Program in order to award employee bonuses or “special awards pay.”
Section 1-551.03 (b)(7) states that such a program shall at a minimum “Cap the amount of bonus pay or special awards pay that can be received at 10% of the employee’s base rate of pay…”
Though DCHA regards itself as exempt from such employment and personnel laws, Section 1-551.03 (c) states that D.C.’s Department of Human Resources shall approve performance based rewards programs for an executive agency or instrumentality, “including an independent agency,” before it is implemented.
By its own definition, DCHA “is an independent government agency that provides quality affordable housing to extremely low- to moderate-income households.”
DCHA has not disclosed anything about a rewards program; nor has Donald—or her Board—disclosed any metrics, performance evaluations or procedures for awarding her a bonus. Donald has not identified any officials who approved her bonus.
“A plain language review of the DC Law 1-155.03 covering the payment of bonuses by District independent agencies, including DCHA, caps such awards at 10% of base pay. At [Donald’s] contract base of 275k, a 15% bonus or $41,000 would violate DC law by exceeding the cap by 5%,” says a veteran former D.C. government lawyer.
“Another major problem would lie in the apparent lack of approval of any bonus amount by the DCHA’s Board of Commissioners, its governing body. Donald’s unauthorized self-award likely violates law and her employment agreement. Ratification after the fact by Board members probably does not cure this unlawful action.”
Donald did not respond to requests for comment.
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Given the state of affairs at DCHA, which is supposed to be under tight scrutiny following a devastating report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Development last fall, it is surprising that anyone is receiving a bonus.
Yet Donald awarded her executive staff, including General Counsel Lorry Bonds and Chief of Staff Rachel Molly Joseph, maximum bonuses of $20,000 each, in November, according to multiple sources at DCHA.
Then, Joseph told City Paper, a “Board ad hoc performance review committee” evaluated Donald’s “performance plan” and determined that, under her contract, she too was entitled to her bonus.
Donald’s contract, however, calls for the Board’s approval of performance bonuses.
She signed her contract along with former Board Chairman Neil Albert and former Interim General Counsel Andrea Powell on October 6, 2021. (Albert resigned the following week, after The Dig exposed contracts he approved for his girlfriend.)
Her “Total Compensation Package” states: “Employee is eligible to be considered for an annual performance bonus of up to fifteen percent (15%) of her annual salary, based on her successful achievement of the Annual Goals, as determined by the [Board].
“The [Board] shall make a determination that rates the performance of the Executive Director against the Annual Performance Goals.
“The payout of the earned performance bonus shall be conditioned upon the financial capacity of the Agency to award the maximum performance bonus for that year. All payments…shall be deemed as part of the performance bonus, and must be approved in advance by the Board.”
The Dig could not confirm a Performance Based Rewards Program, a performance plan for Donald, any evaluation of her performance, or any approval of the bonus by the “Board ad hoc performance review committee.”
At time of publication, neither Joseph nor Donald had disclosed who sits on that committee or who—if anyone—approved Donald’s bonus.
Members of the former 13-member Board, which Mayor Muriel Bowser ousted in December, said they were unaware of any approval of Donald’s bonus.
Bowser sacked the DCHA Board via legislation with D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and At-Large Member Robert White, chair of the Council’s Committee on Housing, on December 20. She appointed an 11-member Board, retaining just two existing members and installing two non-voting members.
Though some new members were sworn in on December 29 and 30, the Board’s earliest recorded activity is a HUD report briefing, budget overview and meeting preview that Donald conducted on January 11—five days after she received her bonus, on January 6.
The new Board did not meet for the first time until January 25. None of the new Board members responded to repeated inquiries from The Dig.
Former Commissioner Kenneth Council said the Board transition period is fishy:
“If you look at the timeline, Brenda did that [bonus] between the changing of the guards. The procedure related to the Executive Director’s contract had always been, we’d have ‘em come in and give the whole Board a summary of why they deserved a bonus, from 1% to 10%, based on certain deliverables.
“You can’t do it without talking to us,” the former Commissioner said.
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The origin of Donald’s contract itself is questionable.
She became Interim Executive Director on May 27, 2021. Former Board Chair Neil Albert approved a salary of $250,000 per year. (Mayor Muriel Bowser’s former Chief of Staff John Falcicchio, who resigned recently amid sexual harassment allegations, and Bowser’s “Senior Adviser” Beverly Perry, both receive $221,676.60 annually, according to DCHR records, which show that Bowser makes $220,000 per year.)
But Donald was just beginning to cash in.
On August 13, 2021, after the Board declined to renew the contract of her predecessor, they met to approve hiring her to a two-year term. A transcript shows Albert singing her praises and maneuvering to bypass Board approval of a final contract.
Then-Commissioner Ann Hoffman moved to require final Board approval before the contract was signed, “because it will clearly exceed $250,000.” Albert initially approved her motion, but then showed signs of walking it back, prompting objections from Hoffman and then-Commissioner Bill Slover.
Falcicchio, an ex-officio member of the Board, saddled up with Albert and guided the matter to a vote. Albert came away with unilateral authority to negotiate Donald’s contract and exercise final approval.
He informed the Board on September 28, 2021, that Donald’s two-year contract would come with an annual salary of $275,000 and a bonus provision of up to 15%. (Donald’s contract expires at the end of August.)
Slover told Albert in an email dated October 6 that no one at the agency had ever made more than $220,000 per year. “I am interested in what the justification is for paying Ms. Donald this much given her limited background in the housing space.”
Albert said “industry comparables suggest a salary range of $250k – $350k for a [Housing Authority] the size of the District of Columbia’s,” and that the Board selection committee listed a salary between $250k – $300k “in its responses to the executive search firms.”
Slover, who chaired the Board’s selection committee, said no such search ever occurred. Nor did he ever see a resume for Donald. To his knowledge, Donald never applied for the job nor was she ever interviewed.
He and Hoffman continued to ask for “final terms and conditions” of the contract, “including the performance goals, if they have been completed,” to no avail.
“The contract is already executed,” Albert replied. “When I am at my computer I will send a copy for your records.”
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Answers about how Donald came to receive her bonus (0n top of her exorbitant salary) are hard to come by. Councilmember Robert White’s office said his Housing Committee staff sent a list of questions to Donald and her Board Chair Raymond Skinner on March 9, giving them a deadline of March 24 to respond.
White wants to know: What were the metrics in the “performance plan” underlying the decision to award Donald a bonus? Was the performance plan reviewed and approved by the Board? How was the ad hoc review committee convened to approve an early January payment, considering the [new] Board did not meet until late January? And, who served on the ad hoc review committee?
White’s office declined to comment pending a DCHA response–which at time of publication had yet to come.
