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Commissioners say housing authority hires its own director; agree to sign SEDA‑COG environmental reviews
Summary
At the June 17 Lawrence County commissioners meeting, officials clarified that the Housing Authority of Lawrence County is an independent entity that appoints its own executive director and approved a memorandum delegating environmental review work to SEDA‑COG while the county will sign as the HUD-designated responsible entity.
A resident’s question at the Lawrence County Board of Commissioners’ meeting on June 17 prompted commissioners to clarify who hires the executive director of the Housing Authority of Lawrence County and to approve a formal agreement for outside environmental-review help.
“Short answer is the board of directors,” the chairman said when a resident asked who hires the housing authority director, adding that “the housing authority is not a county agency.” He told the resident that the county’s role is limited to appointing five members to the authority’s board.
The clarification preceded a separate staff presentation and a resolution, which the board approved, that formalizes an arrangement for SEDA‑COG (the Susquehanna Economic Development Association — Council of Governments) to prepare environmental reviews for the housing authority’s projects. Planning director Amy McKinney told commissioners SEDA‑COG will perform the bulk of environmental-review work and that “as a responsible entity, we sign off on them.” The housing authority will pay for the reviews, McKinney said.
Why it matters: Federal rules tied to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designate a local government as a “responsible entity” for environmental reviews on HUD-funded activities; that means the county signs the final documents even if it delegates the work. Commissioners said they lacked staff capacity to perform the reviews in‑house and welcomed SEDA‑COG’s experience administering CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) environmental work.
Background and details: During public comment, resident Patrick Anderson asked who hires the authority’s director; the chairman listed the five board members the commissioners appoint and noted the appointees select the executive director. Later in the meeting McKinney explained that the county has historically done environmental reviews for the authority but now lacks the manpower to continue doing them internally. McKinney said SEDA‑COG will prepare reviews and the county will review and sign final documents as HUD’s responsible entity. Commissioners asked staff to correct the resolution language to read “Lawrence County” where appropriate before final filing.
The board voted to approve the memorandum delegating review work to SEDA‑COG and confirming the county’s signatory role. The resolution passed on a recorded roll call.
Next steps: County staff will circulate the revised resolution language and will execute the memorandum so SEDA‑COG can begin performing environmental reviews for the housing authority’s HUD‑funded activities.
