DATE: Wednesday, August 13, 1997            TAG: 9708131039

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   48 lines

SUFFOLK'S HOUSING AUTHORITY CHIEF MUST WAIT FOR REVIEW

Clarissa E. McAdoo's first-year performance review from her seven bosses at the Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority will take a little longer than she had expected.

A few more weeks, actually.

After a year of heading the agency, which owns and manages 466 public housing units and has a budget of more than $3 million, McAdoo's evaluation was supposed to be discussed Tuesday after the agency's regular meeting.

But several commissioners, residents appointed by the City Council to oversee the housing authority, said they had not been given a date to complete their evaluations.

``The time has not been set,'' said Commissioner Jack Vaughan.

Commissioner Mary Richardson said the board was supposed to have finished them by Tuesday.

``I have mine ready tonight, and I'm tired of running up and down the road,'' Richardson said. ``She gave the packages out for us at the last meeting. You all talked about it.''

Board members now will turn in their evaluations to the chairman by Aug. 26. The appraisals will be discussed in a committee meeting shortly thereafter.

Commissioners usually complete the evaluations individually. Any action taken must occur in an open meeting.

In the days preceding McAdoo's Aug. 1 anniversary, only Chairman John H. Kindred commented on McAdoo's performance, saying he hoped the board would give her a positive appraisal but knew that she had been working against huge odds. The majority of the board, he said, has a negative opinion.

The agency has had a year plagued by racial and personnel problems.

White employees claimed they had been ignored for top positions, and shortly after African-American employees responded, saying they were being excluded from promotions.

McAdoo, who came to Suffolk from Norfolk, where she had worked as manager of development operations for that city's housing authority, was hired by a narrow vote.

She is the first African-American executive director in the Suffolk agency's 25-year history. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

In Clarissa McAdoo's year as director, the Suffolk housing authority

has faced problems. Planning commissioners delayed her job

evaluation on Tuesday night.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu