Sep. 15—Brunswick Housing Authority commissioners heard the first updates on a new initiative to rethink the authority's purpose Wednesday.

Interim Executive Director William Baker said the authority is in the early stages of an initiative launched this year with a new administration.

The authority is rethinking and organizing around a goal of providing quality housing while helping residents develop the skills needed for self-sufficiency. That includes education and job training, homeownership and managing financial affairs.

The authority manages public housing in Abbott Andrews Terrace, Brooklyn Homes, Glynnvilla Apartments, McIntyre Court and Mercer Altama Apartments and administers federal housing and rent subsidy programs.

The authority aims to "reach beyond our footprint," Baker told The News.

Organizations involved include the city of Brunswick, Sea Island, the Brunswick Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce and various third-party nonprofit and community groups, Baker said.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development offers large grants to help with what the housing authority proposes to achieve.

Each department updated the BHA Commission on the progress made in the last 60 days.

Edward Williams, maintenance superintendent, said his division has been busy filling requests and remodeling nine vacant units to be more energy efficient, both as proofs of concept to HUD and to save tenants money on bills.

"They'll serve as model units for what we want for the housing authority moving forward," Williams said.

The division has also filled out the paperwork for more grant funding for renovations, renovated some housing authority offices and addressed issues in other rental units.

With a staff of three, Williams said the maintenance division has completed 1,130 work orders. Two additional staffers were recently hired.

Housing Department Director Joyce Cooper said her staff has been rebuilding relationships with the Coastal Community Health Clinic to bring more medical services to residents and issuing federal Section 8 vouchers. Since Aug. 1, HUD has approved 25 for the Brunswick area.

A total of 1,224 were on the waiting list for public housing, she said, 699 of which were on a waiting list for Section 8 vouchers. Of those, 543 were waiting for one-bedroom units, 366 for two-bedroom, 239 for three-bedroom, 65 for four-bedroom and 11 for five-bedroom.

The BHA has 36 vacant units, she said.

Baker noted an increase in the number of vacancies due to renovations, adding that the increase would be short-term. It's important to get renovations done to bring the rental units up to par.

"Right now there are not any units in our housing stock I would want to live in," Baker said.

Assistant Housing Director D'Amber Smith said the department has also been working on establishing direct lines of communication with residents. She hopes to get them comfortable with coming directly to BHA staff about issues they have. The department has also started handing out questionnaires.

Mitch Edwards, interim director of grants, said the authority has outside individuals and organizations helping write for grants for over $3.3 million for renovations, education, job training and childcare to free up parents to pursue the programs, mostly from HUD.

BHA Commission Chairman William Kitts summed it up as "wrap-around services for them to be gainfully employed."

Linda Rutland, head of the resident services division, said her staff has been busy taking residents to youth leadership training, planning adult leadership training, partnering with the University of Georgia's local extension office for nutrition advice and food preparation training for residents. They also are working with childcare businesses to arrange more services for parents.

That's not all. The resident services council for Brookman Homes is nearly ready for elections and the BHA is making connections with businesses via the chamber of commerce with the goal of getting on-the-job training for residents. It's important, she said, that they work on helping low-income residents get training in jobs that could become careers.

Housing Quality Standards Inspector Mike Yuen detailed the efforts he's made to ramp up their standards for both BHA properties and landlords participating in the Section 8 program. He's also in the process of bringing five new landlords into the fold.

Surveillance is in poor shape all around, said BHA Security Director Ronnie Cooper. He's done a walk-through of different properties, getting familiar with some residents and inviting several security companies to bid on new camera installations. Trimming up trees and bushes and replacing broken lights will brighten up dark corners in the housing complexes.

BHA Commissioner Shemeka Sorrells was skeptical about whether it was a good idea to get their residents comfortable with being surveilled.

"The 'haves' are surveilled and protected," Baker responded. "I can't go to Sea Island or Jekyll without being on camera.

"We're trying to change the attitude of our population from being surveilled to being protected. We have to do that groundwork, and maybe this process of security cameras is moving faster than we're ready. We're not watching to see if he or she...(are) committing a crime. We're doing it to identify elements that may not be to the benefit of our community."

Chester Dobson, the board's designated public housing resident commissioner, suggested the board be more communicative with residents before taking unilateral action.

"For so long we didn't have this, let's be real," Dobson said. "I commend the activity that's going on, people being put on notice that we're not going to tolerate these things."

Cooper also said the security division plans to work with the school system to get bus stops near public housing complexes, as many stand in the elements, rain or shine, waiting for the bus.

In other business, the BHA:

—Received reports of emergency calls and incident reports from BHA properties from Brunswick police officer Shaniqua Wright.

—Heard a proposal from Genesis Allied Health to offer two-week, 40-hour phlebotomy courses, which would potentially open up job opportunities in the medical system.

—Heard a proposal from Family Connections of Glynn County to help facilitate communication and organization among residents.

—Voted to provide Dobson with a $200 stipend.

—Held a closed-session discussion of real estate and personnel matters.