Friday, August 01, 2008
2 housing authority board members say they won't reapply for position
Two of the three members up for reappointment to the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority board of commissioners say they won’t reapply for the job, and the third has not yet filed her application.
The positions currently held by Chairman Joseph Lee, Vice Chairwoman Anita Powell and James Allen are set to expire at the end of the month. The city council will appoint members to fill those slots, with applications due today by 5 p.m.
As this afternoon, five people have applied for the three spots on the seven-member board.
Lee and Allen said today they won’t reapply.
"I think there are a lot of other ways to serve the city, whether that’s appointed or elected," Lee said. "I’ve enjoyed being on the board, and I’ve enjoyed serving."
Allen, meanwhile, said he thought it was time for new blood on the board.
"We’ve crossed a lot of roads and bridges, and it was time to move onto something else and give some fresh faces and fresh ideas a chance to take the housing authority to another level," Allen said this morning.
Allen’s decision disappointed Councilman Alvin Nash, who said he thought Allen brought a lot of "experience and business sense" to the board.
By 2 p.m., Powell had yet to submit her application and could not be reached by phone.
The list of applicants so far includes:
* Adam Boitnott, who serves on the Roanoke City Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and as Roanoke City Republican Committee chairman;
* Jamie Bailey, a notary public who with her husband manages 27 apartments and eight-single family homes, including four Section 8 apartments;
* Mark Petersen, the former president of the Southeast Action Forum;
* Duane Smith, president of the Melrose Towers Civic League and president of the Joint Resident Council;
* John Cook, an assistant professor at Jefferson College of Health Sciences who works with Habitat for Humanity.
The housing authority spent much of the last two years under a cloud of controversy after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development labeled it a "troubled agency." A HUD audit report released in late 2006 exposed a host of problems at the authority, including a series of flawed contracts issued to some of the city’s best-known businesses, including John Lambert & Associates public relations agency, Issues Management Group consulting firm, and Hayes Seay Mattern & Mattern engineering firm.
The problems with the contracts ranged from a lack of a required competitive bidding process to arbitrary actions by the authority in awarding them.
The authority appears to be on track to shed its "troubled" label by following a series of HUD recommendations and working to repay its low-income public housing program a total of $444,512.74 by the end of 2012.
The positions currently held by Chairman Joseph Lee, Vice Chairwoman Anita Powell and James Allen are set to expire at the end of the month. The city council will appoint members to fill those slots, with applications due today by 5 p.m.
As this afternoon, five people have applied for the three spots on the seven-member board.
Lee and Allen said today they won’t reapply.
"I think there are a lot of other ways to serve the city, whether that’s appointed or elected," Lee said. "I’ve enjoyed being on the board, and I’ve enjoyed serving."
Allen, meanwhile, said he thought it was time for new blood on the board.
"We’ve crossed a lot of roads and bridges, and it was time to move onto something else and give some fresh faces and fresh ideas a chance to take the housing authority to another level," Allen said this morning.
Allen’s decision disappointed Councilman Alvin Nash, who said he thought Allen brought a lot of "experience and business sense" to the board.
By 2 p.m., Powell had yet to submit her application and could not be reached by phone.
The list of applicants so far includes:
* Adam Boitnott, who serves on the Roanoke City Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and as Roanoke City Republican Committee chairman;
* Jamie Bailey, a notary public who with her husband manages 27 apartments and eight-single family homes, including four Section 8 apartments;
* Mark Petersen, the former president of the Southeast Action Forum;
* Duane Smith, president of the Melrose Towers Civic League and president of the Joint Resident Council;
* John Cook, an assistant professor at Jefferson College of Health Sciences who works with Habitat for Humanity.
The housing authority spent much of the last two years under a cloud of controversy after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development labeled it a "troubled agency." A HUD audit report released in late 2006 exposed a host of problems at the authority, including a series of flawed contracts issued to some of the city’s best-known businesses, including John Lambert & Associates public relations agency, Issues Management Group consulting firm, and Hayes Seay Mattern & Mattern engineering firm.
The problems with the contracts ranged from a lack of a required competitive bidding process to arbitrary actions by the authority in awarding them.
The authority appears to be on track to shed its "troubled" label by following a series of HUD recommendations and working to repay its low-income public housing program a total of $444,512.74 by the end of 2012.
.....Advertisement.....
