The Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) cabinet has begun impeachment proceedings against the secretary of its board of directors for three alleged violations of association driving policy this summer.

At an August 10 meeting, the PBHA board, acting at the direction of President John B. King '95 and Vice President Christina Ho '95, charged secretary Harvetta E. Nero '96 with driving a PBHA van while uninsured, authorizing an uncertified driver to transport PBHA campers and changing the association's policy on insurance deductibles.

During its retreat last weekend, the PBHA cabinet voted to begin impeachment proceedings. Nero has refused to accept an August 10 board recommendation that she resign, King said Tuesday.

Nero's actions, King said, have put PBHA's insurance policy in jeopardy. Without prompt action on the part of the association's board, Harvard will not renew insurance coverage of the 18 steel-blue vans owned by PBHA, he said.

"We've been lucky in that, unlike the U.C. and other campus organizations, I think we have a reputation for being responsible," King said. "And one of the ways you keep that reputation is that you deal with people who are irresponsible in a responsible way."

Without vans, the activities of PBHA's 51 student-run public service committees would be severely limited.

An August 10 letter from Lee Ann Ross, assistant director of insurance for the University, advised King to discipline Nero and her staff at Academy Homes, the program she was working on, or go without vehicular insurance.

"I can no longer defend PBHA as a well organized, responsible student group unless I have confirmation that the PBHA committees understand the gravity of this situation and are committed to enforcing the rules and regulations that have been established," Ross wrote.

"It is imperative that I have a written response from the PBHA committee directors informing me of the actions that will be taken against the Academy Homes individual(s) who operated vehicles without authorization and who operated the vehicles in an unsafe manner (exceeding passenger limits and having two children in the front seat)," she wrote.

These events have turned a once-cohesive PBHA board into a group both divided and confounded by conflicting accounts and allegiances.

The only thing all parties in the growing controversy agree on is that Nero's driving record is far from spotless.

The secretary, who directed PBHA's Academy Homes Summer Youth Enrichment Program this summer, got into three accidents in three days, according to King, Nero and PBH assistant director Ken Smith.

'Life Threatening Situations'

In an August 9 memo, which was obtained by The Crimson, Smith told PBHA Summer Vehicles Coordinator Michael K. Tran '96 that he had asked Nero to stop driving association vehicles "except [in] life threatening situations."

But Nero, who disputes the charges against her, said Wednesday she was told not to drive except in emergency situations. Such a situation arose, Nero said, when she realized her program for children ages 7 to 13 was without first-aid kits for a planned sleepover.

King and Smith, however, said Nero fails to understand the gravity of the charges leveled against her. As a liaison of the University's Insurance Office, Smith said, his decision to take away Nero's driving privileges is tantamount to her removal from the PBHA's insurance policy.