By Lindsey Gemme | Eloy Enterprise
The city council’s confusion over government vs. private board roles regarding the Housing Authority earlier last month recently earned them a scathing letter from former mayor Byron Jackson.
“You folks are a ‘hot mess’ right now,” he wrote in an email he included a copy to the Eloy Enterprise last week. “There is just no other way to label it.”
Two weeks ago, Council members and Mayor Nagy went head-to-head when they were surprised by the fact that he had appointed a new HA board, and that the Council’s role in Authority’s business had been disbanded. While the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had allowed Council members to hold the office of board commissioners for the Authority while it was under duress, the Authority’s bylaws allow it to pursue its own board as needed.
So, when habitually unable to schedule meetings with Council members as a commission board to discuss Housing Authority business, HUD nudged the Authority to designate its own dedicated board that was more accessible to meet as dictated by the Authority’s own bylaws.
According to policy and state legislation, the city’s mayor had the authority to appoint commissioners. So, HUD approached Nagy, and he gave them several names, and letters were sent out to those people about serving on the new permanent board of commissioners.
