Change of meeting location sparks housing authority debate
A majority of the Fayette County Housing Authority board of directors expressed concern that their vote to hold periodic meetings in the late afternoon had been misconstrued by Chairman Kenneth L. Johnson. Board members Angela M. Zimmerlink, Beverly Beal and Nancy Sutton each expressed displeasure that the location of Tuesday’s meeting was changed to Lemon Wood Acres but the start time remained the same at 8:30 a.m.
Zimmerlink said that her motion, made and approved months ago, called for holding every fourth meeting no earlier than 5 p.m. in order to give a wider segment of the public the ability to attend housing authority board meetings.
The board normally meets at 8:30 a.m. the second Friday of each month, at the authority’s administrative office along Route 51 in North Union Township.
Johnson said that he decided to hold Tuesday’s meeting at Lemon Wood Acres, as he thought the board wanted to rotate the meetings among the various housing communities in addition to periodically changing the start time.
When Zimmerlink objected to the fact that Johnson had apparently arbitrarily selected the location, Johnson said, “Do you discuss everything that you do with us, Angela? I don’t think so.”
Zimmerlink said that the entire board needs to discuss whether it wants to rotate meetings to housing sites. She said the board should come to a collective consensus, and added that Johnson shouldn’t be making such decisions unilaterally.
Beal noted, “We voted (before) on changing the (starting) time, not the place, of the meeting.” Beal then made a motion to not have meetings away from the administrative office “until we discuss it” further.
Beal and Zimmerlink voted for the motion, and Johnson voted against it, but Sutton and board member the Rev. Howard E. Dantzler Sr. decided not to vote. However, neither of them expressed a strong desire to move the meetings away from the central location.
Sutton said that residents of public housing find ways to travel when they want to, but haven’t taken a great interest in attending the meetings. Traditionally, only two residents of public housing – Marty Wertz of South Hill Terrace and Eva Nicholson of Bierer Wood Acres – faithfully attend the board meetings. Both were in Lemon Wood Acres on Tuesday.
“They don’t come to our meetings (anyway), so why change?” said Sutton, referring to the lack of widespread participation from tenants.
Dantzler said it “doesn’t matter” to him where the meetings are held, but he would like to know the purpose for changing the location before deciding to support such a move.
Zimmerlink said one reason she favors staying in the administrative office is that information and key employees are more readily available, should further information be needed or specific questions need answering.
If the goal of holding the meeting at Lemon Wood Acres was to increase audience participation, Zimmerlink noted that it had failed, as the audience consisted of the same two tenants and members of the media who always attend.