Athens Housing Authority director resigns over 'organizational differences'

Jim Thompson
·3 min read
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Less than 18 months after being named to the post, Connie Staudinger has resigned as chief executive officer of the Athens Housing Authority.

Staudinger began work in February 2023 after being appointed by the six-member AHA board of commissioners. Staudinger had replaced former CEO Rick Parker, who retired last year after 34 years as head of the AHA.

For the immediate future, the AHA will be led by Sheila Crisp, the authority’s chief financial officer and now interim CEO, as the AHA commissioners conduct a nationwide search for Staudinger’s replacement.

Connie Staudinger
Connie Staudinger

Staudinger’s resignation was accepted at a called Wednesday meeting of the AHA board. She was working under a three-year contract and will be paid for the balance of that agreement, under which she was earning $190,000 annually, according to AHA board Chairman Valdon Daniel.

Attempts to reach Staudinger on Thursday and Friday for comment on her resignation were unsuccessful.

Daniel described the situation around Staudinger’s resignation as “amicable,” but he did say that it came amid “organizational differences.”

“She’s talented,” Daniel said of Staudinger before adding that “it was better for everyone to part ways.”

Daniel on Friday praised Staudinger for her work on the ongoing North Downtown Athens Redevelopment Project, involving the former Bethel Midtown Village and College & Hoyt public housing communities.

More: 'Are we willing to accept our neighbors?' AHA's Rick Parker discusses legacy

The ambitious project is slated to replace the existing 183 “deeply affordable” units at Bethel Midtown Village, to integrate new market-rate housing with affordable housing, to create new greenspace, and to improve connectivity to downtown Athens, nearby neighborhoods, and transit and other service options.

According to Daniel, there is no timetable for getting a replacement for Staudinger at the helm of the AHA. “We’re going to try to be patient, and work our way through it,” he said.

AHA Commissioner Charlie Maddox said Thursday that Staudinger apparently “came to the conclusion that her management style did not mesh with the management style that we were looking for at the Athens Housing Authority.”

Also, according to Maddox, there was some mutual frustration in advance of Staudinger’s resignation. “There were just some things that were not coming together as she wanted to, and as we wanted to,” Maddox said.

Notwithstanding Daniel’s praise of Staudinger’s work on the North Downtown Redevelopment Project, Maddox said the work appeared to be “taking an inordinate time.”

Immediately prior to coming to Athens, Staudinger worked for six months as director of housing solutions with the United Way in Charlotte, N.C., according to her LinkedIn profile. Before that, she spent four years as executive vice president of real estate development for Horizon Development Properties in Charlotte.

Before her time in Charlotte, Staudinger worked for eight years as the chief operating officer for Virginia Housing Development LLC, a subsidiary of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

The AHA manages 15 public housing communities, 14 across Athens-Clarke County and one in Comer. The authority is funded with federal dollars and tenants’ rent payments. Each year, it makes a “payment in lieu of taxes” to the Athens-Clarke County government.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Athens Housing Authority director resigns over