The head of the city’s public housing agency resigned suddenly this week, saying the city’s mayoral administration had pushed him out.

“With great dismay, I am giving a 30-day resignation effective today,” Dwayne Alexander, president and CEO of the Jacksonville Housing Authority, said Monday at the end of a Board of Commissioners meeting. “I feel as though I’m being pushed out in a manner not consistent with the law.”

Alexander did not elaborate on why he felt it was unlawful.

Mayor Donna Deegan’s team refuted Alexander’s statement.

“The Deegan Administration did not force Mr. Alexander out,” said Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry in an emailed statement sent Wednesday. “He resigned of his own volition, and any leadership decisions are up to JHA’s board of directors. It is also our understanding that there are still ongoing investigations into the organization.”

Perry said Deegan had promised to reactivate all of Jacksonville’s boards and commissions.

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“To accomplish that goal, she has made it a citywide effort to appoint board members who bring a greater sense of transparency, accountability, and good governance that has been lacking in the past,” Perry said.

The sudden announcement followed two other unexpected, high-profile resignations from the agency: Board Chair Christopher Walker cited a new opportunity that would present a potential conflict of interest. His resignation was revealed last week. Board member Andre Green resigned Jan. 19 but did not give a reason for his departure.

Alexander heads an agency that manages Duval County’s public housing as well as federal funds from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development. After controversy surrounding several investigations into the agency last year, Alexander was offered a short-term contract extension, rather than a two-year contract renewal. The Florida Times-Union reported that Alexander never signed the offer presented by the board.

The CEO could not be reached Monday afternoon for additional questions, but he said during the board meeting that he had found an offer of employment elsewhere.

“I have the option to take on a position with a much longer contract,” Alexander said. “JHA has been set for future success underneath my leadership.”

Alexander said he has been “completely committed” to the growth of low-income housing in Duval County over the course of his tenure — a refrain from several meetings late last year where he had decried “bickering back and forth” and derided any suggestion that he could not move the agency forward.

At the time, in early December, Alexander was adamant he would not step down from his post. It remained unclear this week why his decision had shifted since Dec. 11, but the CEO placed the blame at the feet of Mayor Deegan.

“I feel like the new administration is improperly pushing me out through the Board of Commissioners based on some of the comments made by some of the Board of Commissioners in the past,” Alexander said. “Nevertheless, I still found a way to make my job both rewarding and memorable.”

Alexander received a pay raise last spring to $250,000 a year, and the board was discussing another raise to about $310,000 this year. Deegan’s office intervened to put that raise on hold. She said it would send a bad message to the community.

The agency was under investigation at the time by the Inspector General’s Office, which questioned how the Housing Authority had disbursed funds for emergency utility assistance.

Instead of a raise, the Board of Commissioners extended Alexander’s contract for the time being and granted him a $25,000 performance bonus.

Heather Horovitz, a board member and vice chair of the board who was handed the reins at Monday’s meeting, thanked Alexander for his time at the helm and said they would talk about the transition period after the meeting.

“I wish you luck in your next adventure, and we can connect later to talk about the transition,” Horovitz said. She added that she wanted the people in the room to know that Alexander had the support of the board, that there will be “continuity” and that the Housing Authority will “keep its commitments to the community.”

Lead image: Dwayne Alexander resigned as president and CEO of the Jacksonville Housing Authority. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today