Published: May 30, 2008 10:12 pm         

Housing Authority board takes one minute to OK contract for new director

TERRE HAUTE — In a meeting lasting one minute, the Terre Haute Housing Authority board of directors voted unanimously Friday evening to approve a contract for a new executive director.

The board voted 4-0 in favor of a contract with Jeff Stewart, a former officer with Terre Haute Savings Bank, who is expected to take over the low-income housing agency at 8 a.m. Monday.

Stewart will take the reigns from interim director Tim Buddle, who became acting director after the board voted not to renew the contract of longtime executive director Patrick Barder last November.

Stewart, who could not be reached Friday evening, will meet with Housing Authority staff at 10 a.m. Monday, Buddle said at the meeting.

No copy of the employment contract approved at the meeting was available for the media Friday evening.

“It’s not even signed yet,” board president Tom Hunt said after the meeting. The contract must still be approved by board attorney David Sullivan and then signed by the board president, Hunt added. Hunt also did not wish to reveal the salary of the new director, he said.

The Terre Haute Housing Authority is funded by the U.S. government through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It has jurisdiction over about 2,000 low-income housing units and employs about 48 people.

The new executive director will have “a lot of hills to climb,” Hunt said. Among the problems he will face, several Housing Authority entities were running deficits through this month, he said. Three different entities were in the red to a sum of at least $275,000, he said.

“We’ve got some work to do and I think we’re not talking 30, 60, 90 days,” Hunt said. “We’re talking a three- to five-year [process]. It’s not just going to happen overnight.”

The Housing Authority has faced some funding cuts, Hunt said, adding “maybe we’re not as efficient in the operating end as we need to be.”

The board has voted to cut a number of contracts in recent months, including painting contracts, lawn care contracts and a contract with Hamilton Center for counseling services, Hunt noted.

“We’ve had to make tough decisions,” Hunt said. “Whatever it takes to provide housing – that’s the mission. We’re the watchdogs of the tax dollars. … We can’t be pouring concrete driveways and building 10-foot walls. We’ve got to provide housing.”

The board is still waiting for the results of an audit of the Housing Authority, due next month.

No services to residents have been cut, except the Hamilton Center contract, Hunt said. “I regret that and we’ll try and see what the right answer is.”

Board members present at Friday night’s meeting were Hunt, Marshall Rector, Patricia Parker-Zaikovsky and John Wolf. Absent were Bryan Kaufman and Ron Simpson.

Each member of the seven-member Housing Authority Board of Directors is appointed by the mayor to non-consecutive four year terms. Simpson is the only member appointed by Mayor Duke Bennett since the new mayor took office in January. Simpson filled one of two vacancies on the board created when the terms of former board president April Frazier and former board member Carol Smith expired.

Board members are paid $40 per meeting, but they are not paid $40 per meeting when the board conducts several meetings as it has done this month, Hunt said. Friday night’s meeting was the third board meeting in May; however, two of the meetings this month concerned hiring Stewart as the new executive director.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.