Politics & Government

Housing Authority Commissioner to Resign

Hoboken Housing Authority Commissioner Greg Lincoln confirmed Friday that he will soon be moving out of Hoboken and plans to resign his seat on the HHA board by September.

Hoboken Housing Authority commissioner and Zimmer Administration ally Greg Lincoln confirmed Friday that he's moving out of Hoboken and will resign his seat on the housing authority board before the end of the year.

"I will be submitting my resignation before I leave American soil," said Lincoln, who is moving his family to the Persian Gulf state of Qatar in September, where his wife's job is taking her.

Lincoln, who missed Thursday night's HHA board meeting, said he plans to attend next month's meeting, as well as the September meeting, if it occurs before he departs for the Middle East. 

Lincoln's resignation leaves the deadlocked city council with a second seat it must fill on the seven-member board.

Former HHA Chairman Jake Stuiver's term expired in May, but he continues to serve as a holdover until the council can agree on a replacement. Housing Authority resident and Harrison Gardens Tenant Association vice president Barbara Reyes, who has twice been put forth as a replacement for Stuiver in recent months, does not have the requisite votes to receive council confirmation.

City Council President Peter Cunningham, who has opposed Reyes' appointment to the HHA board, said he's concerned that replacing Lincoln will pose an equally difficult obstacle.

"That’s a real problem," he said Friday. "Perhaps we’ll come up with a consensus candidate, but given some of the experiences we’ve already had, I'm not encouraged."   

With Lincoln gone —  assuming Stuiver stays on as a holdover —the HHA board will be split evenly between commissioners who generally line up behind Executive Director Carmelo Garcia and those who have raised concerns with his professional appointments and Vision 20/20 public housing redevelopment plan.

Lincoln was appointed to the HHA board last June to finish out the remainder of Marianne Camporeale's term after her seat was vacated by an order of the Division of Community Affairs for not completing all of the courses commissioners are required to take within 18 months of being seated.

If Lincoln had not chosen to voluntarily resign due to his pending move to Qatar, Garcia said he also would have been removed at the end of the year for not completing his required training.

Lincoln said when he was appointed it had been his intention to complete his training, but acknowledged that he had not taken any of the six training courses required of commissioners.

"I certainly planned on fufiling my obligations to the fullest, but that’s not the way that things have worked out," he said, citing responsibilities to his church, job and family that prevented him from taking the courses.

Lincoln said if he were planning to serve out the remainder of his term on the board he would have enrolled in the training, but that when he learned this May that he'd be moving out of Hoboken, he chose not to pursue the classes.

"Once I found out that we were moving out of the country it seemed futile to do so," he said, adding that he didn't believe his lack of training had hindered his ability to perform capably as a board commissioner.


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