Two Roanoke civil rights groups called Monday for the resignation of City Councilman Bev Fitzpatrick because of conflict of interest matters cited in a federal audit of the city's Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

"The situation reeks of misrepresentation and irresponsibility," said NAACP President Daniel Hale, reading from a prepared statement during an afternoon news conference in front of city hall. "The citizens of Roanoke deserve to have elected officials who will act responsibly and in their best interest."

Hale was joined by Jeff Artis, a representative of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Hale later faced Fitzpatrick and asked for his resignation during a city council meeting later Monday afternoon.

Fitzpatrick said nothing during the meeting, but earlier he maintained that he's done nothing wrong and said he has no plans to resign. He said, too, that he will continue to participate in discussions of housing authority issues while on the council.

That would include the appointment of people to fill the three vacancies on the board created by recent resignations.

"Why shouldn't I?" Fitzpatrick said. "I haven't done anything wrong."

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last week released its findings, which included several problems involving authority bidding of public contracts and apparent conflicts of interest. Based on the findings, HUD is asking the authority to repay at least $2 million -- a figure that could be reduced or increased based on how the authority responds to the audit.

The audit addressed conflicts of interest under its regulations, not under state or local laws.

Fitzpatrick sat on the housing authority's Board of Commissioners in parts of 2002 and 2003 while he was an associate with a Roanoke consulting firm, the Issues Management Group, that had existing contracts with the authority. Fitzpatrick then took a seat on the Roanoke City Council and, at least for some time, continued his association with IMG. The council appoints the housing commissioners, and Fitzpatrick also served as the council's liaison to the housing board, a job he recently resigned from as the federal audit was being completed.

The report cited Fitzpatrick's role as an authority board member during his IMG employment and also called for potential further investigation of Fitzpatrick's authority involvement while on council.

Fitzpatrick has said he voted on no IMG contracts that are in question while on the housing board. A search of housing authority meeting minutes showed that Fitzpatrick did vote on a handful of issues related to a project IMG was managing, including an annual budget that included money to be paid to the company.

Beyond any actual conflict of interest, Artis said the audit provides a snapshot of how business can be done in Roanoke, with friends such as Fitzpatrick and IMG president Rob Glenn serving in multiple roles surrounding the authority, an agency that has a primary responsibility of providing housing for the poor. Artis said the HUD audit is proof that the poor were "exploited" by the culture that existed for years within the authority.

As Artis was speaking outside, housing authority Director Ellis Henry was explaining to Fitzpatrick and the rest of city council inside that HUD expects the authority and its board to be free of politics and personal agendas going forward.

Whether HUD will ultimately expect the authority to reimburse the entire $2 million will depend in part on the authority's ability to show that past problems won't reoccur. The federal agency seems willing to negotiate under the right conditions, Henry told the council.

"HUD will be scrutinizing this agency with microscopic eyes," he said.

Moreover, HUD's work at the authority isn't done yet. Henry said he expects HUD officials to return in March to conduct a full management review of the authority. That means a close look at every aspect of the agency and its management, as well as every active contract with the authority.

Councilman Sherman Lea asked about the involvement of HUD's independent Office of Inspector General. "If there were some criminal charges, is that the office that would look at that?"

Henry said that's correct. The inspector general can look at private bank accounts and records to see if people benefited personally from government contracts. The Office of Inspector General requested a copy of the audit report, Henry said, and has the option of choosing to investigate.

In the meantime, the Roanoke authority has 45 days to respond to the report released Friday. Henry said he expects to have it done within two weeks.

Councilman Brian Wishneff asked if the city would be legally required to pay the $2 million if the authority can't. Henry said they have no legal obligation, though he might ask for the city's help anyway.

The money -- equal to the authority's annual operating budget -- probably won't be expected in a lump sum. The money can't come from federal funds.

"I would be hard-pressed to come up with $1.9 million in unrestricted funds," Henry said.

matt.chittum@roanoke.com 981-3331

todd.jackson@roanoke.com 981-3253