After meeting in closed session the Board of Directors of the Rockingham Housing Authority voted unanimously to extend the unpaid suspension of public housing specialist Mildred McSween for another 90 days.

McSween was arrested on June 15 and charged with four felonies related to falsifying information on a public housing application.

She was indicted by a Richmond County Grand Jury in July.

After extending McSween’s suspension, the board unanimously adopted a motion to submit a proposal for Housing and Urban Development approval to turn over essentially all day-to-day administrative function of the agency to an outside consulting company.

The firm’s name is Landura Management Associates, and the proposal would cost approximately $4,000 a month to do the jobs of the public housing specialist and the executive director of the RHA.

It also unanimously adopted a motion to allow Interim Director Jim McCaskill to seek legal counsel.

The motions were made and adopted without discussion in open session.

In addition, during his staff report, McCaskill updated board members on the search for a permanent director, saying Markey Staffing Agency has identified 19 candidates in its search that appear to be qualified.

“They are screening them now and doing further background checks and that type of thing,” McCaskill reported.

In other business:

n Chairwoman Denise Sullivan told board members at the opening of the meeting that former board member George Stone had submitted a letter of resignation, citing health reasons in the correspondence.

n The board unanimously voted to accept a bid of just under $300,000 from Mitex Roofing of Kannapolis to repair the roofs on approximately 60 units.

The board was told by consulting architect Wayne Stogner that the bids were expected to come back at around $400,000, but the current economic climate may have earned them a discount.

“I wouldn’t feel as good about the bid, if there weren’t references for the company,” he said, addressing the low-range of the bid. “Everyone we’ve talked to seems to love them, and have used them on multiple jobs.”

n The board was also informed that an initial payment was made on a project to repair apartments at 909 and 911 JFK Drive after a tree fell and damaged them last year.

Hawks Builders of Rockingham was awarded a bid of just under $37,000 with $5,000 contingency to do the work.

McCaskill said the work is approximately 65 percent complete, and a payment of less than $23,000 was made.

“They informed me they are waiting for window units they ordered that have to be shipped,” he said.