The Russellville Housing Authority Board of Directors turned to a familiar face in naming the new executive director, as the board promoted long-time employee Deborah Freeman to the position.
The board met last week and voted unanimously to hire Freeman, who has worked for the Russellville Housing Authority for three decades. Freeman had served as acting executive director since Bernitta Johnson was fired from the position on October 10, 2017.
Although no specific grounds for termination were cited in the board's motion to terminate Johnson, board members said Johnson “had a different direction and vision” for the Housing Authority than that of the board.
At the October 10th meeting, board members asked Housing Authority attorney Sharon Hester to research whether the executive director position had to be posted if the board wanted to promote an existing Housing Authority employee to the position permanently.
With that question now resolved, that paved the way for the board to promote Freeman, something that several board members indicated was their preference even back in October.
