JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The CEO of the Jacksonville Housing Authority (JHA) said on Monday he has no plans to resign as he awaits the results of a city investigation that looked into the agency he leads.
Dwayne Alexander is in charge of one of the city agencies that oversees public housing and has been under fire in recent days for the way he handles some of the programs.
A critical report expected to be released soon by the city’s inspector general office has some calling for Alexander to step down. It’s expected the report will lead to changes at the agency but the fallout, for now, is unclear.
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JHA held an emergency meeting on Monday morning and was expected to discuss the report. Some anticipated Alexander would resign, but that didn’t happen, the the board didn’t get to see the findings of the report. Instead, Alexander struck a defiant tone in front of the waiting media and touted his record after the meeting ended.
“Clearly my performance rating was a 4.5 out of 5 so according to the board of directors I’m doing an outstanding job,” he said. “We have been exceptionally good when it comes to running this agency and we have done more things in this agency than they have done in the last 20 years by adding units to our portfolio.”
According to the Florida Times-Union, a lawyer representing Alexander said in a letter to the city’s Office of General Counsel that “board leadership” asked Alexander to resign from the agency.
City leaders who spoke with News4JAX but were not ready to talk publicly about the matter said they are worried about what’s happening at the office.
They are concerned about the impending inspector general report that questions how the agency distributed federal money that was supposed to go to help pay utility bills.
The Florida Times-Union on Wednesday reported that Mayor Donna Deegan’s office recently put a hold on giving a pay raise to Alexander while her administration takes a closer look at how JHA is working to address the affordable housing crisis in the city.
Alexander told News4JAX he didn’t understand the reason behind the pay pause but he’s “fine with it.”
News4JAX asked Mayor Deegan about the JHA issues during a news conference on Monday morning.
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“I am waiting to hear from this board, what they plan to do moving forward,” Deegan said. “They have 10 days, I think, to respond to the [inspector general] report. It’s not even public yet, so I’m going to await their judgment. I want to remind you that the Mayor’s Office only became involved in this issue because we heard from board members who were concerned about a request for a very large pay raise after a recent one that had just happened and they were concerned that there were issues that needed to be looked at.”
After reports surfaced about turmoil at JHA last week, several people contacted News4JAX to voice concerns about how the agency operates, but Alexander said their concerns are misguided.
“I disagree,” Alexander said. “We are client-sensitive and we are resident-sensitive, we have done many things here...We serve close to 40,000 residents, you may have a few that may be upset, but by and large, we manage our properties extremely well.”
Alexander, who has headed JHA for about five years, said he “God willing” he plans to stay at the agency for four or five more years.
Employees who asked to remain anonymous sent News4JAX a long list of what they said are issues within JHA. The issues included concerns over pay, internet service, a sometimes toxic work environment, improper training and lack of accountability.
“Addressing these issues will require open and transparent communication, fair compensation, proper training and support for employees, and a commitment to professionalism and accountability from upper management. It is important to create an environment where employees feel valued, supported, and empowered to perform their best work,” the letter stated.
The chairman of the JHA Board Christoper Walker is not happy that the media got word of the inspector general’s concerns before the board and made that clear at Monday morning’s meeting.
Walker said he doesn’t think Alexander should resign.
“I think what’s important as we go through the process and understand where we’re at, I don’t know, I don’t have the information before me to make a decision one way or the other,” Walker said.
The board will meet again later this week and at that time they hope they can discuss the concerns in public.