An investigation of Jacksonville Housing Authority could bring changes Monday to agency

The Jacksonville Housing Authority board will meet Monday morning in an emergency session to "discuss and take any appropriate actions" in response to a city Inspector General investigation of the authority.

The potential actions by the board could include "related personnel matters," according to the public notice announcing the meeting. The notice does not specify which personnel, but the board's role in the chain of command at the housing authority is over the CEO.

A lawyer representing CEO Dwayne Alexander said in a letter to the city's Office of General Counsel that "board leadership" asked Alexander to resign from the agency.

The letter says the request for Alexander's resignation came just one month after the board had been discussing extending his contract for another four years and giving him a pay raise based on his job performance.

The letter says the reversal is due to "apparent outside influence" on the board to oust Alexander as CEO.

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The Inspector General's investigation, which was first reported Thursday by WJXT TV-4, has been examining how the housing authority administers a program that provides debit cards to qualifying households to help them pay utility bills such as electric and water service.

The housing authority board decided Thursday to schedule the emergency meeting after the Inspector General's office provided a draft report earlier that day to the agency. The housing authority will have 10 days to respond on whether it accepts or disputes the Inspector General's findings.

Heading toward that meeting Monday of the board, Alexander has hired the Henrichsen Law Group to represent him.

The letter dated Friday by attorney Neil Henrichsen to the city's Office of General Counsel, which represents the housing authority, says Henrichsen Law Group is investigating Alexander's claims that the board is acting in violation of state and federal laws including protections Alexander has under the Florida Whistleblower Act.

"Despite the promise of compliance with the the four-year renewal provision of his contract and discussion of increasing Mr. Alexander's annual salary to be commensurate with similar jurisdictions, the JHA board leadership has suddenly changed its position," the letter says. "Now, the board leadership is asking him to resign."

"We believe this is because of apparent outside influence to to remove Mr. Alexander from his position," Henrichsen wrote. "We believe the cause to remove Mr. Alexander from his position is related to his report to the JHA board chair regarding retaliation. This is protected activity by Mr. Alexander under both state and federal laws."

The letter does not say what information Alexander provided that would be covered by whistleblower protection law. The letter says the retaliation against Alexander is taking the form of unnamed sources talking to reporters for news reports about the Inspector General investigation.

"We believe that the unnamed sources providing information to local media may be promulgating innuendo, i.e. pretext, to remove Mr. Alexander from his position," the letter says. "This appears to be unlawful retaliation and Mr. Alexander will not hesitate to protect his rights under the law."

Management of debit card program at issue in investigation

The Inspector General's investigation has been looking into the housing authority's management of the utility allowance program for residents who receive public housing assistance.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations allow housing authorities to either provide the utility allowances directly to the utilities or give the allowances to residents who then pay the utilities. The Jacksonville Housing Authority is among the housing authorities who provide the utility allowances to residents in the form of debit cards.

The Inspector General has been looking at how much of the money loaded by the housing authority onto the debit cards has been used by recipients to pay for utility bills. The housing authority does not restrict the use of the debit cards to just utility payments.

Alexander said Thursday he wants to see what recommendations are in the final report. The report will not become public until after authority provides its responses to the Inspector General.

"At the level that we are, there are always going to be some inquiries, and as we have done in the past, we respond to them and we address them," he said. "But the management of the programs is extremely strong and the oversight of these programs is extremely strong. I don't want to minimize anything, but we manage these programs extremely well."

The housing authority owns about 3,000 apartment units in Jacksonville and also administers roughly 8,300 Section 8 vouchers that people use to get subsidized rent at privately owned complexes. HUD provides the funding for the rental assistance and for the utility allowances.

A formula based on a resident's income and how many bedrooms are in a rental unit determines how much money a household will receive for its utility allowance.

Over the years, many housing authorities have moved to issue debit cards instead of sending checks that recipients cashed and then could use for utility payments. The Jacksonville Housing Authority has used debit cards since 2012.

While there is no requirement for recipients to use the debit cards only for making utility payments, residents who fail to pay their utility bills and have their service disconnected will be in default on their housing contracts and lose their subsidized housing.

Mayor Deegan asked board to halt pay raise for Alexander

Mayor Donna Deegan has said she wants to take a closer look in the coming months at how the city and the authority can work to fight the affordable housing crisis. The housing authority is part of the city's consolidated form of government, but it gets the vast majority of its money from the federal government. The city's contribution to it has been about $70,000 per year.

Two mayoral aides asked the housing authority board to hold off on any pay raise for Alexander until after those conversations about housing strategy happen. Alexander received a pay raise to a $250,000 annual salary in the spring and the board had discussed another potential raise to about $310,000. But that went onto the back burner after Deegan's aides went to the Nov. 9 board meeting.

Board members did not have information at that time about the Investigator General's findings regarding the debit cards.

The deferral on talk of a pay raise also has left Alexander without a contract since September. He has been working as an at-will employee, which is unusual for a top executive at one of the city's independent authorities.

Alexander became interim CEO in late 2018 and the board lifted the "interim" from his title in August 2021. HUD has given its high-performing rating to the housing authority during his time as CEO.

Henrichsen's letter says HUD "maintains substantial safeguards and diligence regarding the use of federal funds by JHA, and JHA has been compliant with its obligations throughout Mr. Alexander's tenure as CEO and president."

The board is scheduled to meet at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the authority's headquarters at 1300 N. Broad St.

The seven-member board is appointed by the mayor and confirmed by City Council. Four of the current board members were appointed by Lenny Curry when he was mayor and three were appointed by Deegan.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Housing Authority meets about Inspector General report