DATE: Thursday, October 16, 1997            TAG: 9710160545

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW DOLAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   52 lines

HEAD OF HOUSING AGENCY WANTS A SMALLER BOARD 9 IS TOO MANY, SAYS CHESAPEAKE OFFICIAL, AND HE'LL ASK THE COUNCIL TO TRIM IT.

The chairman of the Redevelopment and Housing Authority will lobby the City Council to reduce the number of the authority's board of commissioners and diversify the backgrounds of new board appointees.

Roland L. Thornton, the chairman, made the announcement at the board's meeting Wednesday night, saying he hoped council members would also appoint different ``types of individuals'' to the board when vacancies arise.

The council selects the nine members of the housing board.

After the meeting, Thornton called for reducing the board's size from nine to seven commissioners. He said his announcement was unrelated to a series of long, at times contentious, board meetings that eventually led to the firing of the authority's executive director on Sept. 22 in a 5-to-4 vote.

``I just think nine members is too large,'' he said. ``We should have six commissioners and one person from public housing.''

In June, the board endorsed a recommendation to the City Council to appoint a resident of the city's subsidized housing to the board when it has an opening.

Thornton said he also hoped the City Council would look at choosing people with specific credentials to help the board oversee five public housing communities and several other affordable developments.

``I would like to see a person who has a background in banking or finance .

Though Thornton made his suggestions just before the board's closed executive session, Vice Chairman Robert L. Samuel Jr. said the board didn't discuss the matter in that session.

``I have no idea what he's talking about,'' Samuel said when asked about Thornton's comments to reduce the board's size.

In other business, the board voted unanimously to issue as much as $923,000 in tax-exempt bonds to finance the purchase of a new headquarters building.

The building at 1468 Military Highway now houses Mega Office Furniture, around the corner from the authority's current leased office space on Smith Avenue. Authority officials have said its current landlord did not intend to renew the authority's lease when it expires next year.

The authority is completing its purchase of the building for $800,000. Authority attorney Robert Kinser said the bonds would be issued at an interest rate of 5.12 percent and be repaid with funds from the federal government.

Separately, the board voted 8-to-1 to keep Kinser's firm of Basnight, Jones, Wright, Kinser and Telfeyan as the authority's legal counsel after the firm's contract expires in 1998. Thornton voted against the measure, saying later that he wanted more cooperation between the authority's attorney and the executive director.

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