Urbana at Odds with HACC

Following up on this post about the Housing Authority of Champaign County and its new director and likewise transitioning website (with some information on the intergovernmental agency), there's already some new news due to an appointment and a claimed conflict of interest. From today's News-Gazette:

Mayor sticking with HACC nominee
On Monday night, Mayor Diane Marlin refused to comply with the Housing Authority of Champaign County, which rejected her appointment to its board, and urged the group to improve its transparency.

In addition, the appointee – Cunningham Township supervisor Danielle Chynoweth – said the HACC is misrepresenting the reason behind her appointment’s rejection....

The HACC had a special board meeting on Jan. 30 to approve the appointment of its new director, David Northern, according to its press release announcing the new hire. Both Malrin and Chynoweth say Chynoweth was not notified about this meeting and did not attend.

“This is arguably the single most important action the board can take,” Marlin said. “The vote should be repeated in a properlynoticed meeting to eliminate any possibility that the action was null and void.”

In addition, Marlin said the special meeting included discussion on keeping Chynoweth from being officialy seated on the board. But Marlin said a 1997 intergovernmental agreement, which governs the board’s appointment process and bylaws, doesn’t allow that.

“If the board determines that a commissioner is guilty of neglect of duty or malfeasance, it can request that the appointing authority – city or county – remove the commissioner,” Marlin said. “This line of authority is clearly stated in the 1997 intergovernmental agreement.”

The N-G has the full article here. It looks like the new director has a new legal battle on his hands with Urbana. More information when we have it.