Ellington

Hinds County Chancery Court opted to grant Mississippi Housing Solutions a temporary restraining order to stop the Jackson Housing Authority from considering other bidders for development of a housing project in Jackson. The order remains in effect until an Aug. 13 preliminary injunction hearing, where the court will hear MHS' argument.

The board of the Jackson Housing Authority had originally decided to go with Mississippi Housing Solutions for the Agape site development, a company owned by Jackson developer Socrates Garrett and a joint venture partner of Full Spectrum South—the developers behind the Capitol Green Project in downtown Jackson.

"We brought in the very best talent from across the country, the best you could find to respond to their proposal," Garrett told the Jackson Free Press. "We came up with ideas for gardening and how to get the tenants involved in a mixed income environment. We put together the kind of proposal that the Housing Authority was impressed with."

Jackson State University Business School Dean Glenda Glover told the authority that she had been particularly impressed with the Full Spectrum/Garrett partnership.

"Both Garrett Enterprises and Full Spectrum are highly regarded among business leaders, both locally and nationally. I was fortunate enough to see the details of the presentation that was made to the Jackson Housing Authority," Glover opined in a June 25 letter to the board. "It was most impressive and inspiring."

Garrett added that members of the board informed him last year that the housing authority was proud because it had the chance to work with a company with a 100 percent minority-owned partnership with experience and capability.

JHA officially selected MHS in January but then rescinded their decision in March. Garrett said they pulled their proposal because he tried to cut some strings with the board.

"The breakdown occurred when the housing authority attorneys Jerry Johnson realized that he was not automatically going to be used to syndicate the bonds for the deal and that architect Roy Decker was not automatically going to be selected to be the architect on this project," Garrett said. "When they realized those two positions were not an absolute, then we suddenly didn't have a shared vision anymore, according to them. Apparently their vision involved using their attorney and architect without a competitive process, and our vision didn't agree with that."

The board informed MHS that they would be re-submitting new bid requests.

Garrett mailed a June 26 letter to JHA Executive Director Sheila Jackson, asking the board to reconsider their rescinsion and offering his "personal guarantee" that the project "would be implemented as outlined by the Housing Authority and in the exact sequence as determined by the Authority."

Jackson responded that she would present Garrett's request to the board in a June 29 letter. However, when the board convened on July 29, board chairman Sam McGee told the board that it needed to address the MHS/Full Spectrum matter in executive session because it dealt with "prospective litigation," according to the court filing.

When no board member moved to go into executive session, McGee informed the board that the agenda item would either be taken up in executive session or it would fail. Board members relented at that point and went into executive session.

Garrett said the board did not invite any representative of MHS to join them in executive session, even though Garret was at the meeting and prepared to speak of the Agape project. When the board returned from executive session, they told Garrett that they would continue seeking other proposals beyond MHS/Full Spectrum.

Garrett's attorney, Sam Begley, argues that the board violated the Open Meetings Act by going into executive session for no clear reason. The chairman's reason of "prospective litigation" held no water, Begley said, because there "was no prospective or actual litigation for the board to be concerned about." Full Spectrum South, said Begley, had threatened no litigation against JHA at that time.

JHA board members are playing hard to get on the issue. Benjamin Harper and Arvester Smith, the only board members who returned calls after a three-day wait, told the Jackson Free Press that they want McGee to speak for them.

"The president of the board would be more appropriate to talk to on this," Smith said.

McGee, however, said he would not comment on matters in litigation. "There is more to the story, but I'm sorry I can't say anything on it, not while it's in court," he said.

Smith said that the board's explanation is available in the board minutes. When the Jackson Free Press pointed out that the board reached its most recent decision during a non-publicized executive session, Smith said the board attorney, Jerry Johnson, was present and could speak to the issue.

Johnson—an attorney at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz—told the JFP that he could not comment.