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The entrance to the Fall River Housing Authority’s offices on Morgan Street. [Herald News File Photo]
By Jo C. Goode
Herald News Staff Reporter
Herald News Staff Reporter
Monday
Posted May 14, 2018 at 5:12 PMUpdated May 14, 2018 at 8:38 PM
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Driscoll was lone candidate to interview for the job in a public hearing on Monday
FALL RIVER — After a 45-minute interview, a Somerset attorney was unanimously approved to head the Fall River Housing Authority on Monday.
Jeffrey L. Driscoll is currently the executive director at the Medford Housing Authority, holding the job since June 2017, and will take over the reins from interim executive director Thomas Collins Jr.
Driscoll fielded questions from the FRHA board.
Driscoll fielded questions from the FRHA board.
“I’m a hands-on administrator, I’ve done that my entire career,” said Driscoll.
Having worked in public housing his entire career, Driscoll said in his present position, he’s worked closely with Medford City Hall and works closely with the mayor’s office. The Medford Housing Authority just received a $600,000 grant from the city.
As for residents, “the housing authority is certainly more than bricks and mortar,” said Driscoll.
“It’s a population we have to provide assistance to. We have to understand that our elderly are frail, but our families are frail economically, too,” Driscoll said. “We have to address both. We have to provide social services to assist those individuals so they can remain in their units, so they don’t have to go to assisted living, they don’t have to go to nursing homes. And we have to provide for our families.”
First and foremost it was important to provide a safe environment, he said.
It’s been a fairly tough sell to find a new executive director at FRHA, and Driscoll just recently submitted his resume to the housing board of commissioners late last month.
The FRHA Board of Commissioners search committee had enlisted the help of University of Massachusetts Boston’s Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management. The Collins Center put together the advertisement for the position, accepted applications and vetted the applicants for a short list of candidates but it didn’t net in any qualified candidates. The committee put out a second advertisement for the position.
The Collins Center had played a role in the hiring of Driscoll for the Medford Housing Authority.
Driscoll has worked in the housing authority realm as an attorney and consultant since 1995 and was general counsel for the Somerville Housing Authority for 16 years between 2001 and 2017.
He was also executive director of the Taunton Housing Authority from 1992 to 2000 and acting executive director and assistant director for the Barnstable Housing Authority in 1987 to 1992.
Driscoll will oversee 136 employees and more than 2,300 federal and state housing units, 2,431 HUD Section 8 vouchers and 64 Massachusetts Rental Assistance Program vouchers.
In Medford, Driscoll manages 61 employees and a housing authority with 1,830 units of public housing and section 8 vouchers.
Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com.
Fall River Housing Authority backs off on hiring of Somerset lawyer
FALL RIVER — It’s back to the drawing board for the Fall River Housing Authority Board of Commissioners after they announced Tuesday that a Somerset lawyer hired in May to be executive director would not be leading FRHA.
“A unanimous vote was that we will discontinue any further discussions with Jeff Driscoll for the executive director’s position,” said Chairman Roger Tache.
The announcement came after a 40-minute executive session during a special meeting.
After a head-to-head conference with board labor attorney Tim Zessin, Tache declined to comment any further on the matter regarding Driscoll, the executive director at the Medford Housing Authority.
Driscoll had been in contract negotiations since he was unanimously approved by the commission last month during a 45 minute-interview.
He was expected to take over the reins from interim director Thomas Collins Jr. at the end of the month.
Driscoll was the only candidate the commission interviewed for the job.
Asked whether the commission would be taking up the search for a new director, Tache answered “somewhere down the road.”
“We want to give it a rest for the time being and clear the air. It will go back to the board in July and we’ll discuss it again,” Tache said.
Collins said it “was unclear at this point” if he would be leaving his interim position at the end of June.
Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com.
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Fall River Housing Authority search for executive director to begin again
By Jo C. Goode
Herald News Staff Reporter
Herald News Staff Reporter
Tuesday
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FALL RIVER — Finding a new Fall River Housing Authority executive director may be a more difficult task than anticipated, as a housing board search committee voted to start the process over again.
“We have determined that the number of applicants really don’t meet the qualifications that we’re looking for as executive director,” said Board of Commissioners Vice Chairwoman Mary Sahady, who also heads up the search committee.
The executive director’s position opened last April when former Housing Authority Executive Director David Sullivan retired. Former director Thomas Collins Jr. temporarily came out of retirement the same month to serve as interim executive director. However, due to his retirement, Collins can only serve on a part-time basis.
The board had originally contracted with the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management and the contract expired on Dec. 31, according to Sahady. The Collins Center put together the advertisement for the position, accepted applications and vetted the applicants for a short list of candidates for the search committee.
The search committee declined to interview any of the candidates provided by the Collins Center.
“Anyone who previously applied can apply again, but at this particular point there wasn’t any applicant on the list we received that we truly believed would fit the position,” Sahady said.
Recommending using a similar advertisement for the position use the first time, Sahady suggested that the board “leaves the advertisement open and see what additional applicants we receive,” Sahady said.
The commission also voted on its 2018 officers with Commissioner Roger Tache unanimously approved as chairman taking over for Commissioner Leonard Aguiar; Sahady was re-elected as vice chairman; and Commissioner Jason Burns was voted in as treasurer.
Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com.
