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Housing partnership urges mayor to fill authority vacancies, recommends member for appointment
Summary
At its Feb. 3 meeting, the Northampton Housing Partnership voted to send a letter to the mayor urging appointments to the Northampton Housing Authority and recommended partner member Gwen Nabad for one of the openings; the authority has dropped from seven to four members and recently cancelled a meeting for lack of quorum.
The Northampton Housing Partnership on Feb. 3 voted to send a letter to the mayor urging appointment of new members to the Northampton Housing Authority and recommended member Gwen Nabad for one of the vacancies. The motion passed with six votes in favor and one abstention.
The action follows weeks in which the housing authority went from a seven-member board to a four-member board, prompting the authority to cancel its most recent monthly meeting for lack of quorum. "The housing authority is a state entity. However, the city can put forth people and a lot of times, the mayor will," Nabad said, describing the appointment process and urging outreach to residents in line with state regulations.
Richard Abusa moved that the partnership write to the mayor to urge full appointments and to recommend Nabad; a second was recorded. A roll call recorded affirmative votes from Beverly Beth Bates, Richard Abusa, Gordon (last name not specified on the record), Melissa Fowler, Spencer Casey Bates and Chris Palamas, and one abstention. The partnership recorded that the lack of a full housing authority board had already caused at least one canceled meeting.
Members said the vacancies could affect Northampton’s ability to coordinate on capital repairs and to pursue funding from the recent housing bond bill. Partnership members noted that the Northampton Housing Authority now serves a broad, multi-town territory together with neighboring agencies; that scope increases the stakes of having a full local board.
The partnership also discussed its role in supporting resident appointments and outreach. "It is important for the city to speak with residents. It's actually in the regulations that the city, the council people might go out and speak with residents and talk about who they might wanna appoint," Nabad said.
The letter will be prepared and sent to the mayor’s office; the partnership did not set a deadline in the recorded discussion. No change to the housing authority’s membership occurred during the meeting itself beyond the vote to send the letter.
