Jim Stirgus Sr., executive director of the Vicksburg Housing Authority, has taken sick leave, prompting the VHA’s board to ask federal authorities whether it should hold an emergency meeting to appoint a temporary replacement for Stirgus, said panel chairman Jay Kilroy.

Accused of stonewalling a police investigation into alleged embezzlement by a former VHA employee and of violating federal law by supporting the campaign of a Vicksburg mayoral candidate, Stirgus said Thursday afternoon that he took leave “on Monday or Tuesday” on the advice of his personal physician.  “My (blood) pressure is up, and I feel terrible,” Stirgus said from his home.  Stirgus said that he would return to work “when the doctor tells me I can.”

Kilroy said the board is concerned that, absent a full-time executive director, the VHA may not be able to receive disbursements of subsidy money from the federal government on which it depends to fund operations at its 430 homes and apartments.  “We obviously have to keep the lights on,” he said. 

The board does not want to exercise its power to permanently replace Stirgus, who is in his late 70s, Kilroy said.  “We want him to do what is best for his health,” he said. 

Stirgus is entitled to an indefinite amount of sick leave, VHA Board Attorney Buddy Dees Jr. said.  “There’s no set time when he has to return,” Dees said.

Stirgus said that he was unaware of the possibility that he may be temporarily replaced, adding, “I don’t care what they do. Jay Kilroy is tearing the Housing Authority down, and that’s probably what it needs.”  Stirgus declined to elaborate.

Kilroy is one of four members of the VHA commission whom Mayor Laurence Leyens and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield installed on the board in February to fill the seats of three commissioners whose terms had expired and one who had died.

Tensions between Stirgus and city officials had become public following the Dec. 19 arrest of Charles Jones Jr., a VHA manager charged with receiving a 2.2-pound package of cocaine mailed to the VHA’s 131 Elizabeth Circle office. Jones was indicted last week on one count possession of cocaine and one count possession with intent to sell the drug.

Police who conducted a warrant-authorized search of Jones’ home following the arrest confiscated an array of tools and other items that Kilroy and police have said were purchased with VHA money.  However, embezzlement charges were not brought against Jones until Wednesday — a delay of nearly six months that Vicksburg Police Chief Tommy Moffett blamed on Stirgus’ unwillingness to sign a complaint against his former employee. 

Stirgus denounced as “politically motivated” the VHA board’s Monday decision to claim the items found in Jones’ house as VHA property. 

Also this week, Mayor Laurence Leyens alleged in a complaint sent to the U.S. Justice Department that Stirgus has violated the Hatch Act of 1939 — which forbids federal employees from engaging in certain campaign activities — by openly supporting Paul Winfield, a Democrat attempting to unseat Leyens, an independent, in the June 2 general election.

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Contact Ben Bryant at bbryant@vicksburgpost.com