JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Last week, some thought Jacksonville Housing Authority CEO Dwayne Alexander would step down from his position ahead of a soon-to-be-released investigative report from the city that is expected to be critical of the agency.
But Alexander has said he would not resign and on Monday, the Jacksonville Housing Authority (JHA) Board of Commissioners voted to approve a $20,000 performance bonus for Alexander and offered to extend his contract for six more months without a pay raise.
Board members said they had concerns over the lack of communication and transparency from JHA and one board member questioned Alexander’s judgment in leading the agency. Board members said they wanted to use the six-month extension to establish goals to better evaluate Alexander’s performance.
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The board decided against a two-year contract extension for Alexander.
Alexander appeared to be upset by the results of the meeting on Monday and was not immediately available for comment, but he repeatedly defended himself and his record when faced with questions and concerns from board members.
Alexander said during the meeting his name was being dragged through the mud and said he was baffled by those who questioned his ability.
No details about the inspector general’s investigation were released on Monday, but News4JAX did learn that Alexander has responded and it could be at least another week before the report is released publicly.
Alexander’s salary increased earlier this year to $250,000 and a $60,000 pay raise was on the table, but talks about that raise ended last month when two people from the mayor’s office told the JHA board that would send the wrong message while Jacksonville is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis.
On Monday, Alexander argued that his salary is not up to par with other housing authority CEOs across the country. He also pointed to the fact that JHA is working to finalize deals that will add thousands of units to JHA’s housing inventory.
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” had asked Alexander to resign.
A critical report expected to be released soon by the city’s inspector general office had 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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“Clearly my performance rating was a 4.5 out of 5 so according to the board of directors I’m doing an outstanding job,” Alexander said last week. “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.”
Alexander has not accepted the six-month extension offer. For now, he is working without a contract because his previous contract expired in September.
After the six-month extension is up, he would be up for re-evaluation. The board has also been tasked with performing a compensation study to compare Alexander’s salary with that of other housing authority CEOs.
