Maryville Housing Authority assuming management of Lenoir City counterpart
 

thedailytimes.com-Blount County’s only public housing agency is taking on new responsibilities. Maryville Housing Authority recently agreed to assume management for some aspects of its Lenoir City counterpart’s operations.

MHA received a signed agreement for management services from the Lenoir City Housing Authority board Friday, Sept. 8. The $6,000 per month contract will run for half a year, with options to further extend the agreement after the initial term expires.

MHA will be managing Lenoir City properties through its nonprofit, the Maryville Housing Development Corporation.
The Maryville authority’s executive director, Julie Sharpe, said the move presents an opportunity for MHA to offer assistance to a housing agency in need and gain experience that could be helpful in winning future grant funds.

Lack of a leader at the Lenoir City agency prompted the contract — LCHA has been short an executive director since earlier in the summer. Sharpe noted in an Aug. 30 MHA meeting that John Cauthen, with Cauthen and Associates, approached her several weeks prior about taking over management of the Lenoir City authority on a temporary basis.

With 138 residential units at LCHA property Sunset Hill, and around 35 additional rural development units to manage, the Lenoir City authority is considerably smaller than the five-property MHA. Sharpe said that the bulk of her agency’s work would involve offering and facilitating staff training and operations assistance as LCHA winds down its fiscal year this month.

Previous Lenoir City authority director Mary Sue Jordan held the role for about a decade, and without Jordan, Sharpe said in the August meeting, LCHA staff and board members have struggled to access funds the authority needs to draw down before it concludes its fiscal year later this month. Knowledge of how to access those funds left with Jordan, Sharpe commented.

“They’re sort of in a pickle there,” she noted.

Maryville Housing’s Chief Financial Officer Bonita Morris-Schatz said that if LCHA had been unable to find assistance accessing those funds by Sept. 30, the authority would have lost them permanently.

Finances and office work will be MHA’s focuses in Lenoir City. Maryville Housing’s maintenance staff aren’t likely to be needed there, Sharpe said in August.

In addition to the management fee — which will be sent to the Maryville Housing Development Corporation — the Maryville authority could benefit from the ability to show experience in managing different types of properties. Sharpe explained in a phone call with The Daily Times that such experience can translate into points for certain grant applications, putting the authority in a stronger position when it applies for funding.

“It gives us experience through (MHDC) that will help us score higher with grants,” Sharpe of taking on LCHA’s management.

The position of executive director for Lenoir City Housing has been posted, and Sharpe said that several people have submitted applications. As LCHA continues searching for a new director, MHA staff — including Sharpe, Morris-Schatz and Cecilia Blair, housing operations manager — will also be in Lenoir City to assist staff with tasks also including a procurement policy review.

Sharpe told The Daily Times Friday that she’d been helping out with some tasks ahead of the fee agreement, commenting, “I hope someone would do the same for us,” if MHA were ever in similar straits.

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9/13/23