The Vicksburg Housing Authority will operate with more autonomy now that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has lifted the “troubled status” designation it applied in spring 2009, VHA Executive Director Dannie Walker said Thursday.

“I’m feeling much better about things,” said Walker, who was hired to lead the VHA last July during turbulent times for the housing authority. “Getting the troubled status lifted was a big hurdle.”

The housing authority was slapped with the label due to a temporary dip in reserve funds in the fall of 2005 after the roofs of 279 VHA homes and apartments were repaired following Hurricane Katrina. HUD requires all housing authorities to have enough reserve funds on hand to operate for 3 months.

The troubled designation required the VHA to draw up and submit a detailed improvement plan to HUD and update it monthly. It also had to get HUD approval for its annual budget, as well as routine payment requests and expenditures.

“It equated to a lot of extra time and paperwork,” Walker explained. “It did not keep us from getting any funding, but it put more controls on the funding we get.”

The VHA operates six subdivisions in the city, primarily with HUD funds. The inventory is 430 homes and apartments with income-adjusted rents. It’s annual operating budget is about $2.1 million, of which residents pay roughly 15 percent. It also has a HUD-funded capital improvement budget of $797,000 for this fiscal year.

Since Walker’s arrival, the VHA has worked to reverse opinions following the high-profile arrest and conviction of former maintenance manager Charles Jones Jr. on cocaine charges, and the firing of longtime executive director James Stirgus Sr.

There has been no resolution of bookkeeping inconsistencies revealed during the turmoil, including checks written with no accounting of work actually performed. HUD managers have remained mum about that situation.

Jones, who was arrested in December 2008 and pleaded guilty in November the following year, is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

Stirgus, meanwhile, has filed a $1 million defamation and wrongful termination lawsuit against former Mayor Laurence Leyens, former Police Chief Tommy Moffett and four VHA commissioners who voted to fire him in May 2009. All the defendants have filed for dismissal, and the case was assigned to Special Judge Billy G. Bridges by the Supreme Court of Mississippi after local judges recused themselves in June.

The VHA has completed renovations on 150 homes and apartments comprising Waltersville Estates with $888,000 in stimulus funds. Included in the project was the removal of an unpopular razor-wire topped fence that formerly cut through the center of the north Vicksburg subdivision and provided a prison-like atmosphere.

Upcoming projects include the installation of dead-bolt locks on all VHA properties, said Walker, as well as renovations of management offices at each subdivision. Both projects should be complete by year end, Walker said, with the latter allowing for three VHA managers to return to on-site offices. Managers have worked from VHA executive offices in the Rolling Acres subdivision since before Walker was hired.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Walker said. “We still have a few hurdles to jump, but I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made.”