A Corinth native with 18 years of housing authority experience will begin work Monday as the new executive director of the Vicksburg Housing Authority.

After a months-long search following the firing in May of 21-year director Jim Stirgus Sr., the VHA Board of Commissioners hired Dannie Walker to lead the VHA — which is in “troubled status” with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and under federal investigation.

“My calling in life has always been to go in and turn troubled agencies around,” Walker said this morning by phone from his home in Bessemer, Ala. “I look at it as a great challenge, and I’m the kind of person who thrives on a challenge. I do my best work when I am challenged.” 

Walker began his career with the Corinth Housing Authority in 1991, and after three years was promoted from resident services coordinator to administrative assistant. He served as executive director of the Aberdeen (Miss.) Housing Authority from 1996 to 2000, and has been general operations manager for the Bessemer Housing Authority for the past nine years.   

“The Bessemer Housing Authority had a change in leadership somewhat similar to what had happened in Vicksburg, where the city had appointed four new commissioners to the board at the same time. The existing executive director was retiring, and the new board wanted to go in a totally different direction,” Walker said of his reason for leaving his former job, where he was No. 2 to the executive director.

Walker will be paid $85,000 annually, said VHA Commission Chairman Jay Kilroy, which is $13,000 more than Stirgus was making in his last year as director.

Of the 30 applicants for the job from around the country, and one of four who interviewed here and toured VHA properties, Walker had the most administrative housing authority experience and familiarity with HUD regulations and procedures, said Kilroy.

“He’s the ideal candidate; exactly what the VHA needs right now,” said Kilroy. “He is extremely experienced in this position. He’s done work with housing authorities that have been in troubled status before. He’s managed a large staff and a large number of units. He’s well-respected in the housing authority community and he’s very well known by HUD. We’re really looking forward to his taking the reins and moving the VHA forward.”

In Bessemer, a southern suburb of Birmingham, Walker was responsible for overseeing and implementing all day-to-day administrative, management and maintenance operations at a housing authority with 1,346 units, 50 employees and an $8 million budget. In Vicksburg, he’ll be responsible for overseeing the VHA’s 430 apartments and homes, a staff of 15 and an annual budget of roughly $2.3 million.

The VHA has been under intense scrutiny since the Dec. 19 arrest of former VHA Maintenance Supervisor Charles Jones Jr., 45, 924 Bowmar Ave. Jones is scheduled to go to trial Nov. 19 on charges of possession of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute, and is accused of having 2.2 pounds of cocaine shipped to him at VHA offices. Jones also faces a separate embezzlement charge, stemming from a search of his home following his arrest that turned up a variety of merchandise police say was stolen from the VHA. That case could come before a grand jury as soon as next month.

Police also opened an investigation into whether the VHA had contracted with companies owned by Jones while he was a VHA employee, and a federal investigation into VHA activities during Stirgus’ leadership also is ongoing. Stirgus has not been charged with any crimes, and has maintained he did not participate in anything illegal during his time with the VHA. Before being fired by Stirgus following his arrest, Jones had worked for the VHA since 1983 and had been in charge of maintenance, purchasing and receiving since 1991.

Separately from Jones’ arrest, the VHA fell into what HUD terms “troubled status” this year due to a temporary dip in reserve funds in 2005 used to repair roofs on 279 VHA homes and apartments following Hurricane Katrina. The troubled designation means the board had to draw up and submit a detailed improvement plan to HUD and has to update the plan monthly. The commission has one year from April to get out of troubled status or it will face a takeover by HUD.

“I know the emphasis on the Vicksburg Housing Authority over the past several months has been on the negatives,” Walker said. “What I want to do is get in there and shed some light on the positives.”

Walker is a 1981 graduate of Mississippi State University with a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting. He is married with two adult sons, and said he and his wife are now searching for a home in Vicksburg. Walker is also a licensed and ordained Baptist minister.

“I’m excited to get my feet on the ground, get established and go to work,” he said.

The next regular commission meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the VHA office at 131 Elizabeth Circle.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com