Boots On The Ground Initiative
The board on the Housing Authority Job Killer of Clayton County (HACC) has come under fire from some members of the county's Board of Commissioners (BOC), who believe the authority is wasting its money on programs and initiatives that fall outside its intended purpose.
Now, commissioners Gail Hambrick, Wole Ralph, and Sonna Singleton expressed criticism of "Boots on the Ground,Per centu201D a door-to-door initiative started by HACC in June of a year ago. The effort targets homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure, and provides all of them with financial-education materials.
These commissioners also criticized recent plans of the authority's board to pay a complete of $55,000 on two separate feasibility studies to determine the charge, and benefits, of fabricating a retirement home for veterans, along with a facility to house inmates who qualify for work-release programs.
On Tuesday, Hambrick made a motion which a letter be sent regarding the BOC on the authority's board, expressing the BOC's displeasure with all the group's recent actions, and imploring the authority to abandon its plans. The BlogFlipz motion carried 3-2, with BOC Chairman Eldrin Bell and Commissioner Michael Edmondson opposed to it.
In another action, Hambrick, Ralph, and Singleton also voted to deny Edmondson's request to re-appoint HACC Board Member Robert Walker, and instead, voted to install former Plumbing Board Member Curtis Green like a new member in the place.
Earlier in 2010, the BOC voted to make board appointments full-board appointments, rather than commissioner-driven appointments, as they were being.
In accordance with Clayton County Staff Attorney Michael Smith, the board's letter to HACC would be a follow-up to a May 5 letter drafted by the county's legal department, regarding the board. Smith said the prior letter asked the authority to delay actions in connection with feasibility studies, and said that HACC's recent initiatives "would 't be an intelligent and efficient use of the authority's funds."
Based on HACC Executive Director Linda Valentine, the authority paid The Rich Janitor Hill & Associates consulting firm approximately $2,000 per month, from June of last year, to operate the Boots and incapacitated program, but suspended this program in March, in order to restructure it.
Hambrick, who served about the Housing Authority board for nearly seven years prior to 2006, said the authority is spending "outrageous amounts" of income on programs that demonstrate no proven benefit to the county. She said she believes the authority's money might be better used on other initiatives.
"How a lot of people have actually been saved [from foreclosure] through the offer?Per-centu201D said Hambrick, referring to the "Boots and incapacitatedPer-centu201D initiative. "How many individuals are you actually serving? I haven't seen any reports where those questions are answered. It's a lot more expensive than it should be.Per-centu201D
"If i was in the best of economies, the veteran's home, I possibly could possibly swallow," Hambrick continued. "There are just too many people around here who don't have a place to reside in, and the ones in our system who're homeless. When they [homeless people] are available in your county, I think it is our responsibility to work with them."
On Wednesday, Ralph expressed particular concern about creating a work-release facility in Clayton County, on the grounds that "a single dollar to subsidized housing for felons in Clayton County is too much."
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