Two seats on the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners remain vacant as Mayor Sean Ryan’s administration has yet to respond to repeated requests for information about when those positions will be filled.
The appointments would fill seats previously held by David Rodriguez and Yvonne McCray, who also served as president of the BMHA Board of Commissioners.
Rodriguez resigned with only a few months remaining in his term. McCray’s term as a commissioner was scheduled to run through October 2027, and she was unanimously reelected last year to serve as board president through the end of this month before resigning several months ago.
Ryan is expected to submit two nominees to the Buffalo Common Council for approval. BMHA Executive Director Gillian Brown says he understands the appointment process is already underway.
“My understanding is that they're going through the process right now, and I'm hopeful that we'll have two new commissioners added to the board in time for the November meeting,” Brown said.
BTPM also reached out to McCray last week seeking comment about her resignation but has not received a response.
The vacancies are part of a broader leadership transition at BMHA that came into focus during Thursday’s annual Board of Commissioners meeting, where new board officers were elected, Brown addressed the expiration of his own contract, and residents and tenant commissioners challenged management over conditions at authority properties.
BMHA's board gets new leadership
The meeting opened with an election for a new chair and vice chair of the Board of Commissioners. Since McCray's departure, Vice Chair James Comerford had been serving as interim chair. Commissioner David State nominated Commissioner Rachelle Sat'chell-Robinson for chair. She was elected without opposition.
State nominated Comerford to resume his role as Vice Chair, while tenant Commissioner Dawn Trotter nominated fellow tenant Commissioner Robin Edwards for the position.
"I just think it would make the residents feel better to see one of the resident commissioners in one of those positions," Trotter said.
Comerford was ultimately re-elected Vice Chair in a 3-2 vote.
Brown to maintain executive leadership
Thursday's agenda did not make mention of Brown's executive director contract, which is set to expire October 31. When asked about his future with the housing authority, Brown told BTPM that he plans to remain in his role.
“I’ll be here October 31, and I’ll be here November 1, and the fact that my contract expires, it just means I’ll be month-to-month employment at that point. But I have no plans to immediately go anywhere,” he said, adding that he expects the full seven-member board to eventually decide whether to offer him another extension.
He said he has no immediate plans to retire, but would also have to decide whether he wants to remain if the board asks him to stay.
Conditions and accountability
Brown’s executive report outlined redevelopment, capital improvements and 24,000 completed work orders, but resident commissioners and members of the public repeatedly challenged whether those efforts matched what they were experiencing in BMHA developments. Brown himself acknowledged that residents may feel work isn’t happening quickly enough or to their satisfaction.
"As a resident at the level of living in the units and in a development, sometimes it feels like things aren't getting done, they're not getting done fast enough, they're not getting done to your satisfaction; the reality is, we are deploying staff all over," he said. "We are doing work orders constantly, every day, every week, every month."
Tenant Commissioners Trotter and Edwards pressed BMHA management over conditions at authority properties, including whether required inspections are actually taking place.
Trotter raised concerns about conditions at the Jasper Parrish Apartments, including pit bulls, motorcycles being kept in basements and what she described as difficulty enforcing BMHA rules. She said some residents temporarily remove dogs after receiving 10-day notices to cure, only to bring them back after inspections.
"My question is, when do we start enforcing the rules that we got and taking the roadblocks off the way?" she said.
BMHA general counsel Roslyn McLin said the notices to cure are required by law. She said if the authority documents that a violation continues afterward, it can move to terminate a lease, though some cases have remained in Housing Court for close to a year.
Safety concerns also extended to the newly redeveloped Perry Homes. During the meeting, Edwards questioned whether BMHA had a sufficient security strategy for the development, saying residents had raised concerns about violence and calling for a more proactive response. BMHA officials said the authority is working with Buffalo police, has cameras at Perry and is considering private security when funding allows.
The discussion came two days after 25-year-old Dominique Mack was found fatally shot in the chest in the 200 block of Alabama Street. Buffalo police said Mack died at the scene Tuesday morning, and homicide detectives are investigating.
When asked after the meeting about Mack’s death in the context of broader safety concerns at Perry, Brown acknowledged what he called “rocky weeks” as large numbers of residents have moved into the new community. He said BMHA is placing a strong focus on lease enforcement and building a sense of community among new residents.
“It was a horrible thing what happened to Ms. Mack the other day,” Brown said. “But at the same time, I don't think that the blame, such as it is, falls at the feet of the housing authority that built new houses there.”
Brown said the shooting “could have happened anywhere” and expressed hope that conditions will improve as residents settle into the development.
Edwards challenged management’s assertion that inspections resumed in 2023, saying her Langfield apartment had gone years without one.
“The truth is, I can honestly say my apartment wasn’t inspected, and my neighbor’s wasn’t inspected, so that tells me you’re not telling me everything that’s true,” she said.
The board asked management to provide inspection data showing how many units have been inspected.
After the meeting, Brown told BTPM News that staff checked Edwards’ inspection records during the meeting and found that her unit had been inspected annually for the past three years.
Resident complaints extended beyond inspections. During public comment, longtime Kenfield resident Tracy McCloud raised concerns about repairs and pest control.
“Everything looks good in here, but what makes me upset is I’m actually out there,” she said. “I see all the darkness out there.”
McCloud said she has gone to court to get repairs completed and has not received the regular inspections she remembers from years past.
Brown disputes the suggestion that BMHA has stopped conducting annual inspections, while adding that some tenants have refused access.
“We do annual inspections. We didn't take a year off, and it is certainly not okay under the lease to refuse to allow us in," he said.
Other updates from Brown’s annual report
Brown also highlighted several redevelopment, funding and security updates during his annual report.
BMHA recently secured a $2.5 million federal grant aimed at rehabilitating long-term vacant units at the Ferry-Grider development. Brown said BMHA received about 22% of the funding awarded nationwide through the program, calling the award recognition of the authority’s aging housing stock and significant rehabilitation needs.
At the newly redeveloped Perry Homes, Brown said construction on the first phase is about 98% complete and significantly more than half of the units have been leased. BMHA expects the new development to reach full occupancy by early 2028, while planning and financing for the next phase continues.
Construction is also continuing at Marine Drive, where Brown said the new 12-story tower has reached about five stories. The first new buildings, being constructed on the former parking lot, are expected to be completed in early 2028. Residents from several existing towers would then move into the new units before those older buildings are demolished as redevelopment continues.
BMHA is also expanding its security partnership with the Buffalo Police Department. The authority currently pays for three full-time community police officers assigned exclusively to BMHA properties and expects to add a fourth under a forthcoming agreement with the city.