KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Weeks after the Lee's Summit Housing Authority (LSHA) executive director resigned, the rest of agency's board followed suit, KSHB 41 has learned.
An elected official with knowledge of the situation told KSHB 41's Alyssa Jackson all five members of LSHA's board of commissioners left the agency last week.
KSHB 41 was first made aware of the resignations from tenants who've had ongoing frustrations with the LSHA.
Lisa Dickerson, who resigned as LSHA's executive director on Sept. 30, had only been with the agency since January.
It's not immediately clear what prompted the rest of the board to resign, but the decision came amid ongoing issues within the agency.
Property management companies reported months-long delays in receiving housing assistance payments from the LSHA for their tenants.
KSHB 41 previously found LSHA was behind three years in filing their taxes.
Prior to her resignation, Dickerson was asked why this was the case. Dickerson pointed to the previous LSHA administration.
Dickerson also blamed previous staff for the shredding of tenants' documents, which also caused a delay in management companies receiving payments.
The mass exodus of leadership at the Lee's Summit Housing Authority means the organization is without nearly any permanent leaders to operate it.
Kathy Kelsey was a resident board member for the housing authority until last week.
She lived Duncan Estates, which is one of their public housing subdivisions.
"How would you like to be sitting in your apartment or home and have your ceiling fall down on you?" she said.
Kelsey did not have experience to those living conditions, but she heard many accounts from tenants who lived in the Lee Haven properties.
She served 15 years in her position, but recently decided it was time to leave.
"Loved serving for them, but now I'm almost ashamed of myself for letting that go," Kelsey said.
Kelsey described a distant work relationship with her colleagues on the board.
At some point, she said they stopped notifying her of regular and executive board meetings.
Kelsey moved to an assistant living facility in March, and that's when she started thinking about resigning.
She said she wasn't aware that every board member would resign around the same time she made her decision.
The issues over the past couple of months solidified her departure.
"The whole organization — Lee's Summit Housing — has gone down the tubes", Kelsey said. "At this point, I don’t know what will happen. They need a board in order to function."
In her previous role, Kelsey said she didn't have any power or responsibilities. However, she believes the rest of the board failed.
"Sorry to say they [tenants] lived in buildings decaying and becoming a liability on residents and that's wrong," she said. "They're human beings."
In the past couple of weeks, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) conducted a site visit at the housing authority. HUD would not share the reason for their visit.
It's clear that neighbors in Lee's Summit public housing have the attention of the city and the federal government. Now, they need direction.
"It's gotta be piece by piece. You can't get in and do it all at one time. I wish we could but we can't. It's gotta be piece by piece," Kelsey said.
KSHB 41 is still working to find out why the board resigned.
The housing authority still has an interim executive director.
Government agencies were closed for the Veterans Day holiday, but efforts have been made to contact city officials, the housing authority, and every board member who resigned.
All five board members were still listed on LSHA's website at the time this story was published.
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KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers portions of Johnson County, including neighborhoods in Overland Park, Shawnee and Mission. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
