Editor’s note: Stephanie Pasquale, the city’s chief strategy officer, is also a Central Current board member. Central Current’s board does not control or contribute to Central Current’s editorial operations.  A new Syracuse Housing Authority board commissioner appointed less than two mo nths ago is no longer serving on the board — at least temporarily.  Stephanie Pasquale, who is now serving as the chief strategy officer for Mayor Sharon Owens’ administration, cannot serve on the board.  State laws mandate that only one board member of an authority can work for a municipality. City Clerk Patricia McBride also serves on the board. Pasquale was appointed after McBride.   Pasquale and Rickey Brown were picked by former Mayor Ben Walsh to sit on the board after board chair Calvin Corriders Sr. resigned and former commissioner Walt Dixie’s term expired.  “We’re maneuvering through that right now,” Owens told Central Current during a sitdown interview on Thursday. “(Pasquale is) the senior staff person who is going to oversee all of the housing that we’re going to be doing anyway, so she’s just going to be engaged in that.”  City officials have not said whether they’ll replace Pasquale, only that if a vacancy opens that the mayor will make a new appointment. McBride could only be removed from the board with cause.  While the city has not directly said whether it will replace Pasquale, Chair Ryan Benz implied a new commissioner would be appointed to replace her.  “We are confident that any newly appointed Commissioner will bring the same tenacity and shared commitment to ensuring access to safe, affordable housing for our residents, and to working alongside the dedicated staff at SHA as we move the East Adams project forward,” Benz wrote.  Pasquale’s temporary departure from attending board meetings comes at a critical juncture in the history of the housing authority as the mayor continues to call for a change in leadership at SHA.   In an interview with Central Current reporters, Owens said her stance on Executive Director William Simmons’ tenure remained the same as during her campaign for mayor. “It’s important for us to transition so that we can continue to move the project,” she said. “It has been clear that under the current leadership, that has not happened.” The past year saw an embattled Simmons wade through a host of controversies regarding the redevelopment of public housing, also called the East Adams Neighborhood Transformation. Early in 2025, Walsh raised concerns about Simmons’ leadership but stopped short of calling for Simmons’ ousting.  After winning the race for mayor, Owens there is a “need for a shift” at SHA.  “It’s taken way too long,” she said at the time. “It’s time to move and put the foot on the accelerator.”  A month into her mayorship, Simmons continues to lead SHA.  Owens’ calls for a leadership shift comes amid SHA’s ongoing public housing redevelopment on the Southside. SHA is redeveloping 672 distressed public housing units across McKinney Manor and Pioneer Homes with Missouri-based developer McCormack Baron Salazar. The $1 billion project will be executed over 11 phases resulting in 732 additional apartment units.  During a sitdown interview with Central Current to discuss SHA’s goals for the upcoming year, Simmons denied facing any pressure to resign from his position at SHA, adding that he intended to serve out his full term until 2027. He declined to further comment on the mayor’s calls for his removal.  Simmons reflected on his two decades atop SHA, noting that he has been in the state retirement system for 40 years.  In a September interview with Central Current, Simmons threatened to sue the board if the board carried out his removal. “I have a contract here. If the board said, ‘Well, we’re gonna fire Bill… fire him unjustly, I was gonna sue,’” Simmons said.  According to See Through New York’s payroll records, Simmons made $182,582 in 2025 as the executive director of the housing authority.  Simmons joined SHA in 2006 as assistant director before becoming executive director in 2007. He has 18 months left on his contract as the executive director.  Following his appointment as board commissioner in November, Benz told reporters that the commissioners felt “very comfortable” with SHA leadership.   “If things change down the road, we’ll adjust as needed,” Benz said in November. Brown and Pasquale, both avid supporters of Owens’ campaign, were approached by Walsh to serve in their respective roles prior to the election, Brown told Central Current at the time of his appointment. At the time of publication, Pasquale did not respond to Central Current’s request for comment.  As the city’s chief strategy officer, Pasquale will oversee the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development, Constituent Services, the Bureau of Research and the Mayor’s Office to Reduce Gun Violence.  Pasquale previously worked as the director of neighborhood advancement at the Allyn Family Foundation. She also worked as the interim CEO of Blueprint 15 and the director of Neighborhood and Business Development at the city.  SHA and McCormack Baron Salazar broke ground on the first phase of redevelopment in the neighborhood mid-December, almost a year behind schedule.  At the groundbreaking ceremony, Simmons announced that the first new building to be constructed in the area will be named the Langston and the street running through the compound will be called the McKinney Street.  The names will honor the late Judge Langston McKinney, the first Black city court judge who “fought for justice with his quiet dignity and unwavering strength,” Simmons said.  The second phase of the East Adams project will see a vacant lot — previously used as a makeshift parking lot — at the intersection of South State and Burt streets converted into a new apartment building with 125 new affordable units for seniors. SHA closed on financing for the new building in December as well.  The new year will not see SHA close on financing for future phases of the redevelopment of public housing, Simmons confirmed. The post New Syracuse Housing Authority board member — at least temporarily — cannot serve appeared first on Central Current. ...read more read less