By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The St. John the Baptist Parish Housing Authority Board of Commissioners on Monday voted unanimously to approve a $3,000 raise for the agency’s Executive Director Trina Henderson as part of an evaluation of her first six months on the job.

The board also approved revised utility allowances for public housing and Section 8 residents within the St. John Housing Authority. Residents of the parish’s four housing developments and Section 8 units pay their own utilities, but the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development offers allowances based on the size of the tenants’ units.

The salary increase bumps Henderson’s annual pay from $72,000 to $75,000, bringing it even with the salary paid to previous Executive Director Richard “Dale” Wolfe. Henderson was hired in October on a three-year contract that gave the board the power to evaluate Henderson’s performance after at least one year at the helm and make adjustments accordingly.

The contract does not stipulate any specific performance benchmarks, but in the six months Henderson has been executive director, she has hit on quantifiable goals set by the board, including improvement in the agency’s Public Housing Assessment System and Section 8 Management Assessment Program scores and audit findings.

As for the revisions to the utility allowance schedule, the board approved allowances of $14 for one bedroom, $18 for two bedrooms, $22 for three bedrooms and $26 for four bedrooms. The board agreed that changes in utility charges during the past year warranted the changes.

The next Housing Authority meeting is Aug. 20 in LaPlace.

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