CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Over their last two meetings, the Clarksville Housing Authority has met to discuss the transition for their incoming executive director, Wanda Allen, as well as to discuss concerns they’ve had with CHA’s Housing Development Corporation.

On Wednesday, the Housing Authority spoke about the transition period for Allen, while also discussing the contract of Dawn Sanders Garrett, their interim executive director for the last five years.

“I met with Wanda, and I met with Dawn because with them on the ground, and with two bosses here, I just wanted to get a feel of how things are going, what are their thoughts when it comes to the transition, and what Wanda will need and what the expectation will be,” said CHA Chairman Calvin Lockett.

Allen said the timeline will begin with Garrett spending 30 days in the office as of March 1, which is when Allen’s contract officially went into effect as the new executive director. “That way, I feel like there can be a smooth transition,” she said.

Allen said next would be a 15-day period where Garrett concludes her time in the office. “Then after that, it is just a 45-day (period) where I can call her if I need something,” she said.

The transition will also include the Housing Authority looking at some immediate needs, such as the four apartments that were destroyed in the fire at Summit Heights and updating playgrounds that are now in disrepair, said Allen.

Details of Garrett’s exit as interim director

CHA board member Bill Summers asked what the compensation looks like for Garrett in phase three of the transition. The Housing Authority then went into closed session to discuss Garrett’s contract during that phase.

Under the Tennessee Sunshine Law (TCA 8-440101-201), government bodies can only go into a closed session for attorney presentations on “present and pending litigation” or litigation that is likely to be filed, in which the body has been or will be named. The body’s attorney can provide a briefing, and members can ask informative questions. No deliberation is allowed – including the crafting of motions – and no voting is allowed. Violations could nullify actions taken by the board resulting from that meeting.

After the meeting was reopened to the public, Summers motioned that during the 45 days following April 15, Garrett’s contract would be paid based on Allen’s needs. The pay rate would be $225 per hour for any hours worked from April 16 to May 30.

The motion was approved 4-2. Voting in favor were Vice Chairman Mary Franklin, Kaitlin McLaughlin, Summers and Wayne Wilkinson. Voting against were Lockett and Trina Hill.

Concerns at Feb. 25 Housing Authority meeting

On Feb. 25, CHA met to go over Allen’s contract, as well as what was previously requested by board member Wayne Wilkinson relating to the Housing Development Corporation.

According to previous reports, Wilkinson asked that members of the board of the Housing Development Corporation attend the next CHA meeting and, prior to that, CHA members be provided of all annual reports filed by the corporation, annual financial statements, the most recent contract with Garrett, and the updated bylaws.

While CHA received the annual reports, Wilkinson said they did not receive financial statements. “We have not got any financial statements,” Wilkinson said. “Financial statements should include balance sheets and income statements; none of that information was provided.”

Wilkinson also said he’s unsure if they have updated bylaws. “We’ve got one set with redline changes, but they don’t appear to be adopted by the board. There are no minutes that back up any adoption of those bylaws, so I don’t know what we’ve got.”

CHA attorney Brad Gilmore said the updated bylaws have not been adopted because at the last development corporation meeting, there was no quorum. So the board is still operating under the original bylaws.

On the missing financial information, Garrett said she will continue to work to get the board that material.

On March 12, when asked if the board had received the financial statements, Garrett indicated they still had not. “The financial statements will be provided to the CHA board,” she said.

No corporation board meeting minutes for 3 years

Wilkinson said he wonders if the financial statements even exist, and he asked when the Housing Development Corporation board held their last meeting. “The last minutes that were provided were from March of 2023. Has there been a meeting since March 2023?” he asked.

Garrett said yes there has been one meeting since then. Wilkinson asked where the minutes are. Garrett said since it happened at the end of January, they still need to be produced. Gilmore said that may have been the meeting with no quorum.

Wilkinson said that means there has been no official meeting since 2023. He asked who the current chairman of the board is. Gilmore said a chairman needs to be elected following the passing of the John Hunt, who last served as chairman.

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Gilmore said that currently Steven Stroman serves as vice chairman, and he said Stroman called him the Sunday before the meeting. “I know all of those directors were requested to be here if they could,” he said.

“The long and short of it is, they do want to meet with you all. My understanding is they’re going to schedule another meeting soon. They wanted to meet yesterday, but I suggested that they wait until this meeting happened so that I could report back to them on what this meeting was about as it relates to the development corporation,” he said. Gilmore said he expects at the next corporation meeting a new chairman will be elected.

On Wednesday, Lockett said the annual meeting for the Housing Development Corporation board has been set for Tuesday, March 17, at 4:30 p.m., at The Tanglewood House.

Their board consists of Stroman, Karey Daughtery, Betty Burchett and Garrett. Also serving on the board, in addition to their duties with CHA, are Lockett and Hill.

CHA questions history of development corporation board

Summers handed out a document regarding some thoughts he’s had about the development corporation. “The gist of what I’ve handed you to think about is when the Development Corporation Board was originally developed, it was the CHA board that was basically the development corporation (outside one member),” he said.

“I think that was a damn good idea. We should think about trying to go back to that, because as Wayne (Wilkinson) pointed out, they aren’t having meetings.”

Summers said as he understands it, the development corporation was designed to work for CHA. “I just don’t think they’ve been on the ball,” he said. “It was at the February (2025) meeting where Mr. Hunt had his heart attack sitting at the end of this table and died a few days later. And they haven’t seen fit to appoint a new chairman.”

Summers said the bottom line is, he’s looking for the CHA to wear two hats. “They are supposed to respond to us. I don’t have a clue what they’ve been up to, and if you look at the minutes, I don’t think they’ve been up to much,” he said.

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Franklin said she’s concerned about the activity at the Housing Development Corporation.

Gilmore said he doesn’t think it’s right to characterize everything that has happened as slipshod. “When this thing (the development corporation) was formed, there were CHA resolutions … development corporation resolutions, and everybody knew what was going on. It was all documented and there was no tax credit project. You have to remember in 2022, we parted ways with a developer.

“In 2023 and 2024, we had a developer in Gorman but those applications were not successful. So, there was activity going on, but a lot of it was the money was being advanced by CHA, Ms. Garrett was heading it up, so there was not an acute need for the development corporation to be active on an ongoing daily or monthly basis.”

Gilmore said the board still met, but it was sporadically. “It operated in good faith, I can sit here and tell you that,” he said. “Some things do certainly need to be tightened up, so that’s my perspective.”

‘It surprises me that there are two different boards’

Allen said a couple of things are confusing to her about the CHA process. “It surprises me that there are two different boards,” she said. “I’ve never seen that in any (public housing agency) that I’ve worked with. I don’t know how that happened, but normally, what I’ve seen in the past, is it’s the exact same board. You can have nine (board members) so that they might bring on some subject matter experts.

“So, why bring in a whole new bunch of volunteers, when you have seven already?” Allen said. “That’s just me telling you what I’ve seen in the past. At the end of the day, we can have a CHA development corporation, but that is indeed an affiliate. … So, if you guys are the ones who are signing off and that HUD’s going to hold accountable, I don’t understand why you guys aren’t on the board.”

Gilmore said looking at the composition of the board is something that needs to be looked at and addressed; however, the current board has “unconditionally prioritized the redevelopment of Lincoln Homes above everything else,” he said. He said he believes the goal of everyone involved in the project is the same.

Gilmore also said while speaking on the makeup of the board, “Frankly, and I’ll take some responsibility for this, Ms. Garrett probably shouldn’t be on the board. Ms. Allen actually brought that to my attention last week in a conversation.”

Garrett interjected and said prior to 2025, she was not on the board. Gilmore said that is correct, however, at one point Garrett was a non-voting member, and then she was a voting member, so the board of directors had an odd number.

Open Meetings Act concerns: public notice, quorum

Summers questioned whether the Housing Development Corporation board has been providing public notice of their meetings. “If they are publicly notified, I don’t know where. I’ve not seen them.”

Public notice is required for all government meetings. Under state law, actions taken during meetings where public notice has not been provided are subject to nullification.

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Summers said the board is required to meet once a year, and Gilmore interjected that they can meet more frequently.

McLaughlin asked if there had been a meeting at the beginning of the year when Garrett’s contract was extended.

Gilmore confirmed the board met in January and voted to extend Garrett’s contract. He said he was not in attendance, and he’s unsure how many people attended in person, versus over the phone.

Allen questioned if that’s allowed under state law. “All affiliates operate under the same rules as CHA,” she said. “So, if CHA falls under the Open Meetings Act, then so do they. With the Open Meetings Act, you cannot vote by phone.”

Gilmore said they can cure it by having a meeting in person; Summers said any decision is null and void until they meet in person and re-vote.

“I don’t know how many people were there, so if they had quorum in person, and some people were there by phone, they’re OK,” Gilmore said. “But if they didn’t have quorum in person, then there would be an Open Meetings Act concern.”

Clarksville Now has reached out to Stroman and Gilmore for confirmation on whether the meeting met quorum.

Nonprofit, tax-exempt status revoked by IRS

Commissioner Bill Summers asked about updates pertaining to IRS 990 forms being submitted for the development corporation. The failure to submit those has led the corporation to lose its nonprofit status.

Garrett said while the forms were completed, they have not been uploaded. “It’s my understanding that there was a correspondence that we did not receive,” Garrett said. “Although the 990s were done by our CFO, they have not been uploaded. There is an additional form that needs to be filed in order for us to update those and get those in.”

Summers asked if there was anything else CHA needs to do for the nonprofit status to be returned. Garrett said once the additional form has been submitted, the nonprofit status will return.

“This process unfolded in an unusual way,” Gilmore said. “There was no letter that went out notifying us of this revocation.” Gilmore then provided a timeline of how the process played out.

  • You have three years from formation to apply for tax-exempt status, which is what CHA did in November 2023.
  • In May 2024, the IRS sent a letter saying they needed more information.
  • Garrett received an extension from the IRS to be able to send the additional information by June 2024.
  • The IRS sent a letter in June 2024 granting the tax-exempt status.

“At this point we had never received a letter from the IRS saying anything about revocation,” he said. “That’s the timeline and the 990s should have been filed, they needed to be filed, but there is a curative process for this … and the wheels are turning.”

On Thursday, Garrett told Clarksville Now they are still working on the process.

What’s next

On Wednesday, March 18, the CHA will hold their monthly meeting, which is expected to be spearheaded by the new executive director, Allen, said Lockett. Allen said a resolution will be brought forward to discuss their 90-day action plan.

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