The property at 14 Mulberry St. continues to be a point of contention despite being voted into indefinite postponement by the Board of Aldermen. Telegraph photo by CHRISTOPHER ROBERSON

NASHUA – Earlier this month, resident Laurie Ortolano put out a social media post indicating that Katerina Liti, the city’s program manager of Lead and Healthy Homes, was fired for alerting federal officials about her concerns regarding the then-proposed purchase of 14 Mulberry St.

The city intended to convert the property’s existing building into a homeless resource center. However, on April 28, the Board of Aldermen voted 7-6 to indefinitely postpone the project.

In her post, Ortolano said Liti was a guest speaker at the Program Manager School Conference. The conference was held from April 27-30 by the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“She conferred with HUD about the Nashua issues and HUD confirmed they would be auditing and visiting Nashua within the next month,” said Ortolano. “She did her job and told the truth. She flagged a HUD deed restriction at 14 Mulberry St. She produced the records illustrating the Urban Program compliance issues.”

As a result, Ortolano said Liti was “escorted out of City Hall on May 8.”

During the May 12 Aldermen meeting, Ortolano again spoke about an upcoming HUD inquiry.

“They are opening up an investigation into what’s going on in Nashua,” she said. “It’s my understanding that we are on red status, not green.”

However, Alexandra Jette, the community development representative at Boston HUD, said no one from her office spoke with anyone from Nashua during the conference. She also reviewed the phone records of HUD’s Field Policy Management office and found nothing.

“There has been no record of communication with anyone from Nashua regarding an investigation, which is not something that could be initiated by FPM in any case,” said Jette. “There is a small chance that a conversation was had with someone in FPM outside of our region, but it would have been received as a complaint and then would be filtered directly to the Region 1 office.”

Sacsheen Scott, government technical representative for the OLHCHH, said Liti did not attend the entire conference.

“Although Acting Director Yolanda Brown noted seeing Katerina Liti during the high-risk designation session, this alone does not substantiate attendance for the full conference,” said Scott.

Larry Byrd, acting program division director of the OLHCHH, recommended that Liti be removed from the $7.7 million grant that Nashua received from the OLHCHH.

“Ms. Liti did not demonstrate the level of participation expected for staff serving in a key program role,” he said.

On the local level, although the OLHCHH is planning to monitor Nashua, it is no way connected to 14 Mulberry St. and the city is not at risk of losing the grant. City officials also declined to comment on Liti’s employment status or any disciplinary action.