Milton Housing Authority to appear before city council

MILTON — Milton city council will hear from the Milton Housing Authority in the near future the council decided at the Aug. 6 council meeting.

The council brought up various concerns over the housing authority including not holding regularly scheduled meetings since April, being difficult to reach, as well as resisting speaking with council.

Councilwoman Mary Johnson said that she had spoken to the MHA on a low income housing issue in the past and was surprised at how little information they were able to give her regarding the matter.

During the meeting the interim city manager Randy Jorgenson said the city has attempted to set up a meeting with the MHA on multiple occasions.  

“I have not been very happy with the results,” Jorgenson said.

Jorgenson presented a letter to the council written by city executive assistant Pam Haddan in which she writes that after numerous attempts to reach out to the housing authority the final answer the city received was that neither MHA director Phyllis Sellers, nor the chairman of the board for MHA “want to speak in a public meeting especially with the press there.”

The council voted unanimously to send an official request mandating the MHA appear before the council to give a report on their activities at the city council meeting. MHA will be giving a presentation at the upcoming council meeting according city of Milton public information officer Pamela Holt.

An MHA representative was unavailable for comment.

According to miltonhousing.org, "the mission of the Milton Housing Authority is to assess and fulfill the need for decent, save, and affordable housing in Santa Rosa County that provides an environment, which empowers low income families to improve their lives."

The next city council meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 14. All meetings are open to the public.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Milton Housing Authority to appear before city council