[05/31/02] The Vicksburg Housing Authority has again won top honors when ranked among similar organizations nationwide.

The 14-year director, James Stirgus Sr., credits an effective staff and aggressive enforcement of financial and occupancy rules.

A public housing resident, R.B. Williams, 64, agreed, saying he has lived in a VHA home since 1993 and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

“You couldn’t find a better place to live than Vicksburg Housing it’s No. 1,” he said.

Williams, a resident of Cossar Court, said much credit goes to Stirgus, a former teacher, principal and superintendent of public schools.

“We have a strict staff and a good staff,” Williams said. “If you come out here doing things you’re not supposed to do, you’re out of here.”

The new designation awards the VHA in “High Performance” status and based on inspections and audits by a team affiliated with the U.S. Department of Housing and Development. The score was 92 on a 100-point scale.

“I have placed a lot of emphasis on upgrading these units to make certain that expectations here are very high,” Stirgus said.

Factors in the rating are physical condition, budgeting, management operation and resident satisfaction. The top rating is reserved for housing authorities scoring at least 90 percent.

Inspectors spent three days in January assessing the VHA’s six subdivisions in which tenants pay for their homes or apartments based on their income, noting cleanliness, overall condition, lawns and even the presence of insects.

VHA had perfect scores in financial and management divisions, but fell seven points short in the physical division and one point short in the residential division.

Stirgus said the points lost were due to a smoke alarm in a home that lacked sufficient wiring, three beds that were placed in front of windows, an electrical outlet plate cover not intact and a panel box unevenly installed.

Still, the overall score was up 14 points from fiscal year 2000, one of only two years in the past 14 that the top ranking was not achieved.

Stirgus said last year’s score was due largely to homes lacking heavy-duty window screens. Maintenance workers have since replaced the screens and have made other modifications, boosting the points this year.

“I’m glad that we’re back on track,” he said.

The VHA has a nearly $2 million budget with $1 million coming from subsidies and rent payments, $816,000 from a capital fund and a drug prevention grant of $105,000.

The VHA is headed by a five-member commission and ma2nages more than 430 homes and apartments.

“I am very proud of my staff and our board of commissioners,” Stirgus said. “They are very supportive, but they demand performance.”

Construction projects and repairs made to step up the housing projects this year include pouring concrete for new parking lots and for second driveways in front of residences, installing grease shields and hard-wiring smoke alarms to replace battery-powered alarms in all homes, installing wrought iron fences for tenants’ privacy, replacing wooden posts in front of homes with brick columns as well as landscaping work in all subdivisions.

As for enforcement of rules, Stirgus said he and maintenance workers conduct daily inspections of the subdivisions.

“I do not tolerate inoperable automobiles, drugs, unkempt lawns or illegal live-ins,” he said, referring to occupants not listed on a lease.

“We will give a person a 24-hour notice and if they do not correct (the problem), we will correct it and charge them,” he said.

“Everyone here is a team player,” said Alice Beamon, who has been a secretary accounting clerk for VHA for two and a half years.

“Everybody works together and we have a strong executive director. He wants things done right.”