Attorney: Interim Housing Authority director can stay for a while

Keeping Morgan City Housing Authority Interim Director Clarence Robinson as director for an extended period of time and also hiring a deputy or assistant director to assist Robinson are both legally feasible options for the housing authority to consider, Housing Authority Attorney Robert Duffy said Thursday.
At Thursday’s Morgan City Housing Authority board meeting, Duffy said he has done extensive research and talked to other executive directors who, like Robinson, were running multiple housing authorities.
Robinson has served as interim director of Morgan City Housing Authority since July 2013. Robinson is also executive director of the Berwick Housing Authority.
If the Morgan City board chooses to, it could continue to keep Robinson as interim director of the Morgan City Housing Authority, and Robinson could stay in his position as executive director of the Berwick Housing Authority, Duffy said.
“Not only are we not the only authority to do it, there are others that have been doing it longer,” Duffy said.
Duffy also said it is feasible for the Morgan City Housing Authority to hire a deputy director to assist Robinson in order for him to be able to spend more time in Berwick.
At the March 26 board meeting, Morgan City Housing Authority staff presented a letter to the board signed by staff and residents asking the board to explore ways to continue to work with the Berwick Housing Authority and keep Robinson as director.
At the Jan. 22 board meeting, the board approved a resolution for an inter-agency agreement with the Berwick Housing Authority that allowed Robinson to continue as interim director of the Morgan City Housing Authority for six months. The agreement will automatically renew for an additional 60 days unless either board terminates the agreement.
Duffy believes the board could legally keep Robinson as interim director “for quite some time” and could also hire someone “of a more permanent nature on this side of the bridge as a deputy director or executive assistant,” he said.
Board Chairman Victory Ho said the board needs to look at the budget more closely to determine what it can afford before trying to make a decision.
“We’re going to listen to everything, and then we’re going to see which way we’re going to take the leadership,” Ho said.
The Berwick Housing Authority board would have to agree to whatever decision Morgan City proposes in order for any proposal to become a reality, Robinson said.
If the Morgan City board chooses to keep Robinson as director, the board would probably need to sign a long-term agreement rather than bringing the item to a vote every three months, for example, Duffy said.
Ho expressed concern about finding a long-term solution for the Morgan City Housing Authority and not just a short-term, temporary one, he said.
Ho proposed going into executive session at the board’s June 25 meeting to discuss the authority’s options relating to employment of a director or deputy director, he said. Duffy said he would have to research the legality of whether the board can hold an executive session to discuss such a matter.
Robinson asked Morgan City Housing Authority board members to come to the June 23 Berwick Housing Authority board meeting to discuss the options with Berwick board members.
Over the next month, Duffy will determine in what setting the board can discuss the option of keeping Robinson as director and searching for a deputy director, he said.
On Thursday, the board tabled discussion on the criteria to hire a new executive director until the June 25 meeting.
The Morgan City Housing Authority has been without an executive director since June 2013, when former Director Charles Spann resigned. According to a December 2014 state audit report, housing authority employees, including Spann, were accused of receiving a total of roughly $700,000 in improper pay and bonuses between 2007 and 2013. Accounting Technician Diana Pace and Housing Manager Sandra Greene, who are still employed by the authority, received some of the improper pay and bonuses, according to the state audit report.
In other business, the board:
—Renewed Duffy’s contract for legal services for one year with the housing authority under the same terms and conditions.
—Approved a resolution for M C Bank online banking only to view the housing authority’s bank account information and download bank statements.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.