Not so public meeting of Public Housing Authority Board

The newly formed Kyle Housing Authority board is playing it pretty close to the vest.

In the second meeting of its existence last night, four members of the five-member board showed up (the fifth position is listed on the city’s website as "vacant’) and within eight minutes of being called into order, recused itself into an executive session that lasted an hour and 10 minutes, six times longer than the entire public meeting, a meeting which was newsworthy only because of who was on the agenda to appear, but didn’t.

That no-show was the authority’s embattled, but soon-to-retire, executive director Vickie Simpson, whose management of the authority here in Kyle recently came under severe criticism from HUD, a criticism that quickly led to the formation of the committee that met last night. The agenda called for Simpson, whose resignation is effective at the end of the year, to present a "General Overview," an agenda caption that is, in itself, far from specific and provided an umbrella under which she could have gone on about anything from Old Town Kyle gentrification to the effect the appointment of Dr. Ben Carson as the new housing secretary will have on public housing.

Instead we learned from board chairman Daniel Harper that Simpson "was not available to be with us today. Instead, me and commissioner (Michelle) Lopez were able to meet with her yesterday. It was a good discussion. She gave us an idea how the Housing Authority functioned and I’m looking forward to a good transition as she goes into retirement."

And that was it. No mention of any sort of accountability or explanations or rebuttals to HUD accusations , just a simple "She gave us an idea how the Housing Authority functioned."

So much for a "General Overview" for public consumption.


As of this writing, neither Harper nor Lopez have responded to my written request seeking more information about their meeting with Simpson. If and when they do, I will update this report. (Harper ultimately responded by email to my request on Monday, Dec. 12, but was not any more forthcoming, illuminating, informative or revealing about the meeting with Simpson. "The meeting allowed us to start a dialog with Ms. Simpson on the history of the Housing Authority, the current ‘day to day’ operations and the challenges faced," he wrote. "We also discussed her retirement and the transition between executive directors. We were appreciative of the time Ms. Simpson gave us." No mention of why she has refused to give her time in a public forum, as well.)

As far as replacing Simpson as the executive director, board members Clara Rodriguez and David Salazar were appointed members of a subcommittee tasked with leading the search for Simpson’s successor.

"We’re looking at the possibility of all different options," Salazar said. "One possibility might be the appointment of an interim executive director after our current executive director leaves. Second would be the engagement of a management firm to make sure our residents are being taken care of. The last option would be to actually hire and post the position possibly with the consent of the City of Kyle and using their resources to help us find a suitable candidate so that we can take care of our residents."

The board also heard from two representatives of the San Antonio-based accounting firm that will perform the authority’s audit, which the representatives said will be submitted by the end of the next June, and from Kyle Chief of Staff Jerry Hendrix who said the attorneys being retained by the city could be made available to the board for legal consultation and advice.

The board is scheduled to meet again next Thursday at 5:45 p.m. in the council chambers.