JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In the next four months, the Jacksonville Housing Authority is set to have its next full-time CEO in northeast Florida. She’ll be the agency’s first-ever woman to serve in the position.
Her name is Cheron Corbett, the current CEO of the DuPage and Kendall County housing authorities in Illinois. Both are in the Chicago area, which she’s working in after spending six years as the deputy chief of operations for the Chicago Housing Authority.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
Corbett’s acceptance of JHA’s CEO contract is three days after the most recent candidate for the job, George Guy, took his name out of consideration for the job.
Action News Jax told you earlier this month when he was offered a $310,000 salary. Corbett went into today’s meeting with JHA’s board asking for the same amount, but the agency ended up saying that amount should never have been offered to begin with. It’s $10,000 more than what JHA says it had offered, at the most, when it first posted the advertisement for the job.
Here are the conditions of Corbett’s contract:
- $300,000 base salary, including coverage of her family’s insurance premiums
- 3-year term with a 4-year renewal as an option
- Buyout equal to 20 weeks’ worth of pay in the first year, if fired without cause
- Total buyout not to exceed 50% of the base salary if fired in subsequent years
Read: Deegan hologram at the Jacksonville airport moved and turned off
JHA says it’s confident its choice for CEO will help the agency move past a list of recent leadership troubles.
“What we’re looking for is someone who can turn the agency around not just on performance but culture,” said Heather Horovitz, chair of JHA’s board of commissioners.
Action News Jax has been investigating the agency for more than a year. In that time, the former CEO and acting CEO resigned, the former deputy chief financial officer was arrested and there have been at least five Office of Inspector General investigations.
Corbett is confident she’ll pave a better path forward for JHA.
“My hope is that between years 1-3, you will see the phenomenal job that I will do for the agency, the expansion of affordable housing,” Corbett said.
She’s promising to use her time at JHA to make the agency less reliant on the use of federal funds for affordable housing projects. From the windy city to the river city, she’s hoping to make the most of the new job.
“We’re going to move into the future. That’s the goal,” said Corbett.
Corbett’s contract in Illinois has her finishing her present job in April, but she says she wants to work with her lawyers to be in Jacksonville sometime in March.
Read: Nassau County Correction Deputy fired, accused of abusing autistic child
Read: Deegan hologram at the Jacksonville airport moved and turned off
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.