ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / February 23, 2000

LAPLACE – Following through on his pledge to make the St. John the BaptistParish Housing Authority user-friendly, Thomas Gholson is hoping his new organizational chart will make the authority much more accessible to the residents and that his office will be run in a professional manner.

Gholson, executive director of the St. John Housing Authority, presented hisorganizational plan to the Board of Commissioners last week. It is now underconsideration by the board.

“We are still waiting on the Civil Service Board to rule on several of the proposed positions before we can vote on the chart,” said Sheila Morris, chairperson of the Board of Commissioners.

Gholson has placed the residents at the top of the chart.

“We exist to provide housing and other needs to the residents,” Gholson told the board, “and we are beholden to them.”Underneath the residents is the Board of Commissioners that sets housing authority policy, then comes the executive director and assistant executive director.

The rest of the chart will be taken up with directors and coordinators of maintenance, resident relations, housing management, Section 8 and office administration.

Under the maintenance umbrella, Gholson has consolidated two positions and added another to train residents on minor maintenance problems.

According to the plan, maintenance would be overseen by a comprehensive grant and facilities manager. Not only will this person coordinate all dailymaintenance, but he will also see to the extraordinary needs that arise, such as sewer system overhauls and modernization. The coordinator would berequired to get the necessary funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Before, there were two people handling each position.Gholson has also proposed a novel idea in which residents will be trained to take care of small problems like replacing sink washers, unclogging drains, doing landscaping, etc. This training will be run by the resident maintenancetraining supervisor.

Gholson has already hired some residents to paint housing units.

“I dare anyone to come look at their work,” Gholson said. “These residentsare as good as any professional painters.”He also hopes these training sessions will enable people to go outside the housing developments and get jobs.

Another proposed innovation by Gholson is what is called the resident initiative coordinator. This person would be in charge of drug eliminationgrants, tenant opportunity programs and helping the various resident councils to become self-sufficient.

Gholson is already implementing some of this in the Edgard Oaks development. The resident council there is collecting rent and coordinatingmaintenance projects with the main housing authority office.

Under the RIC, Gholson would like to have a resident liaison, a resident who would report to the RIC what the residents want and need in the way of programs and grants.

According to Gholson, HUD is moving away from building housing projects and is instead handing out housing vouchers. These vouchers can be used to findhousing for people in regular neighborhoods. This is a program called Section8 housing. Because HUD is depending more and more on Section 8, Gholsonsaid a Section 8 coordinator is needed not only to handle all the vouchers, but to also maintain a positive relationship with the private rental housing community.

The housing authority is also looking for a financial director who would also act as personnel director. After the last administration the finances of theSt. John Housing Authority are still in chaos, and Gholson said a financialdirector and accountant are needed to put things right.

He wants an accountant to be able to handle payroll. At the present time, thehousing authority farms out the payroll to an accounting firm.

“We contract out a lot. We are doing a lot of business for such a smallhousing authority, and we write out a lot of checks,” Gholson told the board.

“We need an accountant to back track all these expenses. We seem to bespending a lot of money.”Gholson also proposes creating a position called work order/supply clerk.

This person would input data of all the work orders and keep track of maintenance inventory.

“This is important for the assessment report we send to HUD,” Gholson said.

“HUD wants to make sure that we are on top of maintenance.”Finally, Gholson said the housing authority office needs a good receptionist.

“We must get people who can handle phone calls professionally and greet all visitors,” Gholson said. “We must have a professional organization.”The board will probably act on Gholson’s proposals in its March meeting.

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