Acting Housing Authority boss awaits board’s verdict

Dan Kulin

Friday, Jan. 17, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.

Four of the five Las Vegas Housing Authority commissioners said Thursday they have not decided whether they would vote today to make acting-Executive Director Parviz Ghadiri the permanent head of the agency or launch a new search.

The commissioners are facing the decision because their top choice, Harrison Shannon Jr., a former director of the Charlotte, N.C., housing authority, turned down the Las Vegas job earlier this month.

The commissioners scheduled an emergency meeting for noon today to decide how to fill the position. Ghadiri has been acting executive director since July, moving into the position after the death of Executive Director Frederick Brown.

The commission chairman, Las Vegas Councilman Michael McDonald, said the board will vote to either appoint Ghadiri executive director or launch another search for a new executive director. Starting over would take two or three months, he said.

The new executive director will oversee a $65 million budget, 192 full-time employees and an agency that helps provide affordable housing for about 12,000 low-income families and senior citizens.

Ghadiri was one of five candidates recommended for the top job by a search committee. McDonald said the other job candidates are no longer being considered for the position.

Three of the candidates withdrew themselves from consideration for the job, commissioners said.

But the commissioners said they did not know why Jemine Bryon of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, a co-finalist for the job with Shannon, is no longer in the running.

Bryon could not be reached for comment Thursday.

"With Mr. Ghadiri you can't deny he's been there and done a good job," McDonald said.

But McDonald said he won't make up his mind on how he will vote until after he meets with the other commissioners today.

"I like Mr. Ghadiri but I really want to hear from the other board members," he said.

Commissioners Robert Forbuss, Christopher Hoye and Beatrice Turner also said they hadn't decided how they will vote.

Like McDonald, Forbuss and Hoye said they want to discuss the matter with the other commissioners before making a decision.

Turner said she is "waiting on my vision from God" to show her how she should vote.

Commissioner Dewain Steadman has long said Ghadiri should be appointed to the position permanently and said Thursday he would vote for Ghadiri today.

Ghadiri said he would support whatever decision the commissioners make. He will go back to being deputy executive director of the Housing Authority if someone else is chosen for the executive director position.