She Said, He Said

Bliss Towers was the subject of discussion at the informal Common Council meeting on Monday night. Alderman  Tiffany Garriga (Second Ward) introduced a resolution "requesting that the mayor remove the currently appointed members of the board of commissioners of the Hudson Housing Authority and appoint new commissioners." The reason for this action, as set forth in the resolution, is that "recent revelations concerning the conditions of property administered by the Authority has [sic] revealed the necessity of changing the leadership on the Board of Commissioners." 

After the resolution was introduced, Garriga read a prepared statement in which she asserted that the results of a recent inspection of the building "clearly show mismanagement has been going on for years" and enjoined her colleagues on the Council, "We need to do anything we can. People are suffering. That's what this is about."

Present at the meeting was Alan Weaver, chair of the Hudson Housing Authority board of commissioners. While acknowledging that there were "things that needed to be addressed in the building that were not for the past twenty-five years," he contended that the new executive director, Timothy Mattice, who has been in the position since September 2017, has initiated changes. He told the Council that, upon taking on the job of executive director, Mattice wanted to know when the building had last been inspected, and, on his suggestion, an inspection firm had been hired to assess the building. Weaver told the Council that all health and safety issues identified in that inspection have now been corrected.

Dan Udell's video of the meeting is now available, and the entire discussion of the current state of Bliss Towers can be viewed by clicking here.    
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