[UPDATE News-Gazette coverage
here. Excerpt:
Board asks newest member not to vote
In a new twist Thursday, the Housing Authority of Champaign County’s board requested that its newest member participate in meetings but not in votes.
That request was approved by Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin, who appointed Danielle Chynoweth to the board, before Chynoweth attended her first HACC meeting as a board member Thursday...]
The recent appointment of
Danielle Chynoweth to the HACC being blocked and now provisionally accepted (she's being allowed to sit on the board as a non-voting member until the Housing and Urban Development Chicago office makes a decision on the conflict of interest concerns.
There was standing room only with what appeared to be a great deal of support for Chynoweth's appointment and concerns about trust with the HACC's move without satisfactory notification or transparency. Seeing the turnout and anticipating the complaints in the public comments, Chair Lewis explained that blocking the appointment was not a personal vendetta and not political. He explained it was a legal matter about a conflict of interest that is out of the board's hands. He explained Chynoweth is being seated as a non-voting member until that decision is made.
The
agenda turned to the less dramatic financial information with a long series of highlights and information for the board with only a handful of technical questions, mainly by Chynoweth, thrown in.
The
agenda items all passed unanimously yes as far as I could tell from the roll call votes.
The management report, I believe by the new Executive Director highlighted additional information from the agenda packet before explaining
the website outage. A crash had caused the web server to need to be rebuilt from scratch. The website had been down for roughly two months, but is now up and being populated with information. She also highlighted a success story helping a family in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity to have their own home. Auditors are currently working on affiliate properties before they move on to HACC owned properties soon.
A board member spoke up to thank the Executive Director for moving away from paper to electronic paperwork. Chynoweth asked about issues involved with getting higher occupancy. Some of the vacancies are with private companies who fill them and the reasons for vacancies can be asked of them in an upcoming meeting with them. RAD (?) properties are currently under construction and some units are empty while they're being worked on. Chynoweth also asked for additional information on emergency shelter numbers for the homeless need she has seen in Urbana. A facility funded via the United Way, with the program managed by the Regional Planning Commission, and the property managed by the HACC to clear up a question about who is managing what at the location.
Prior to public comments the chair said the board was honored to have the
Urbana Mayor and
Urbana Councilman Roberts in attendance.
Public Comments:
It was hard to catch names, so these may be way off and only my best guesses. Apologies in advance for any name butchering.
Katie Powell of Urbana: argued that public trust is critical and the board had put it in question. She spoke of having trouble coordinating with the board before and we need more than just assurances. Especially after meetings without communication or including a new member. She asked if they even respond to e-mails from the public. We will be watching. They have shaken the public trust. [applause]
Urbana City Councilman Roberts: Chynoweth "has our full support" [applause]
The chair again reiterated it was a legal issue and not personal. It was a potential conflict of interest.
Rebecca(?) Hannah: We pay for this (the chair appeared to argue with this since they're federal). She reiterated the federal taxes from local people pays for it. It's time for the public to start paying attention. She said she was leaving copies of the Urbana Mayor's statement about the issue. She complained about minutes missing from the January 30th meeting making it difficult to verify the board's claims. She accused it of violating their own bylaws in spite of their protestations. She explained that Chynoweth has no control over the tax issue and there is no conflict. [applause, sustained]
Esther Patt of the
Champaign-Urbana Tenant Union: She pointed out that she's been attending these meetings for four and half years, often due to the unwillingness of the board to be transparent. She used an example of the former executive director only delivering his report orally where only people in attendance could know what he reported. She accused the board of acting clueless to their purpose: to protect the public interest.
She pointed to a previous appointment issue that was also done without transparency and possible unilateral decisions to show that the current situation isn't in isolation. She admonished them that they're here for the public and need to stand up to the Executive Director when appropriate. The chair called the time limit (couldn't tell for sure if it was early) [applause]
Harry Nicoli: He flat out said he did not believe the board when they say the Chynoweth decision was non-political. He believes they targeted her. [applause]
Robin (missed the rest of the name): She personally had relied on a voucher. People who need them are the least able to come to these meetings. It's critical to make the process public and to stop being defensive. It's creating a situation where people can't trust an entity that their lives depend on. She complained about sending out notices that are labeled as a final notice when they're the only notice, leaving people to fear that they missed previous correspondence.
She explained that trust is critical for those on the program. She and others had tried to come to the board and were left with so little recourse they had to give up their vouchers and move. Her situation panned out but others were less fortunate. [applause]
Board member Linda Turnball decided to make a few comments: She explained that the Department of Housing and Urban Development controls this board. An attendee interrupted a couple times pointing out that HUD didn't make them have unannounced meetings. The Chair stepped in to point out that public comment was not a back and forth and the interrupter would have to address the board through the public process.
Turnball continued to explain that the complaints were making her and the board feel bad even though, she explained, she had done nothing wrong.
The interrupter took the next public comment opportunity: She explained that she has a lot of respect for Turnball, however, HUD didn't tell them to have an unannounced meeting. She belated gave her name as Karen when asked by the Chair.
The board then moved to go into its closed session which it would adjourn from later. The public meeting ended at 3:58pm.
As the crowd was leaving a participant shouted for the need of a "live wire." Which from the context I think referred to either television and/or internet live streaming.
Summary:
Sometimes you get a lively meeting and it's hard to keep up with notes or follow along. This was my first HACC meeting so that adds a bit of difficulty to play catch up. There's only one way to fix that, and that's to come back again. The housing rule the County Board urged changes to wasn't brought up, though that resolution doesn't officially get passed until tonight's board meeting makes it official via their consent agenda.
I got the strong impression by serious folks involved in their local government that the HACC board is having difficulty seeing its role as a protector of the public interest to speak for us to the forces beyond our control in an intergovernmental agency. The bad habits of low accessibility and decisions made behind closed doors instead of in the daylight makes it a good place for more regular public attendance and public notes so people can find out what's going on with their tax money.
