Syracuse Housing Authority Executive Director Bill Simmons agreed to retire a year before his contract with SHA is set to expire. Simmons’ last day with the housing authority will be July 10.
The housing authority’s board voted to approve a mutual separation agreement with Simmons by a vote of 4-3. Board commissioners Patricia McBride, Quwanka Ellerby and Milton Martinez voted against the mutual separation agreement between Simmons and the board.
An embattled Simmons and the board came to the agreement after he was at the center of controversies surrounding the billion-dollar redevelopment of public housing on the Southside for more than a year. Mayor Sharon Owens has long called for a change in leadership atop the housing authority. Owens recently appointed to the board of commissioners yet another ally, Monica Williams, in the weeks leading up to the agreement…