Four years ago, Lisa-Joan Overholt was one of the campaign volunteers trying to get out the vote for Rob Ford.

Three years ago, she was a part-time constituency assistant for an Etobicoke councillor closely allied with Ford.

Last year, she made $112,923 as the Toronto Community Housing Corp.’s senior director of community safety and its council liaison.

Overholt’s rapid rise has been the subject of confusion and complaint within the TCHC. In a damning report on Tuesday, the city ombudsman cited her case as one of five especially “egregious” violations of human resources policies at the city-owned landlord.

The ombudsman determined that TCHC chief executive Gene Jones created a position for Overholt while she was working as executive assistant to Ford loyalist Vincent Crisanti, who had originally hired her on a part-time basis after the campaign.

The new TCHC job, at the “manager” level, was not advertised. Less than six months after Overholt was hired, she was promoted to a newly created senior director position, which did not even have a job description, and given a $30,000 raise.

Overholt thrived at TCHC after her late-campaign work for Ford despite a civilian police career that ended unhappily not long earlier — after she was accused of “sexual harassment,” “abuse of authority,” and other alleged misdeeds she has emphatically denied. City councillors have praised Overholt as diligent and effective in her role with the TCHC.

Before being hired at TCHC she got a reference from Ford’s then-aide Mark Towhey, according to two city hall sources. A separate city hall source recalled Overholt saying “the mayor vouched for her personally” to Jones. The Star has no evidence these endorsements had any bearing on her being hired or her later promotion.

Under her former name, Lisa Hunt, she had donated $785 to Ford’s campaign; she also donated $300 to Doug Ford’s council campaign. Overholt and the mayor’s chief of staff did not respond to requests for comment.

In announcing her promotion, the TCHC said “Lisa has deep knowledge and experience of City Hall.” She appears to have worked there for less than three years, after serving 22 years with the police.

Overholt is now responsible for two portfolios. As council liaison, she is the point person for councillors whose constituents have TCHC-related issues. As senior director of community safety, she is responsible for security at the TCHC’s 350 properties.

At the police, she worked as a supervisor in charge of security and 70 employees at the provincial courthouse in a Finch Ave. strip mall.

Her police career ended in turmoil. According to a 2009 arbitration report, the force told her it was going to fire her in response to complaints about “derogatory and/or inappropriate comments of a sexual nature,” “bullying and intimidation of employees,” and other issues.

An internal investigator found that only two of the accusations could be substantiated. But the investigator nonetheless claimed to have found “a disturbing pattern of unacceptable comments or conduct,” and the force said “the conduct is longstanding and appears to have escalated over time.”

Overholt offered “emphatic denials” and explanations. She also filed a grievance. The force later informed her that it had discovered “mitigating factors” and would suspend her, then demote her to a non-supervisory role, rather than firing her.

Overholt left the force after receiving an undisclosed amount of money in a grievance settlement, said a source familiar with the deal.

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Councillors used to deal with local TCHC officials. Councillor Paula Fletcher said Jones’ new centralized system, led by Overholt, has been more efficient, and that Overholt has been “responsive” and “professional.” She said Overholt worked successfully to address a situation involving an abusive tenant.

“I couldn’t get any traction on this, and it was through Lisa being there and being able to get to the CEO and put the attention on it that we managed to solve this one,” Fletcher said.