The Mobile Housing Board moved forward Wednesday with planning for the demolition and redevelopment of the Roger Williams public housing projects as well as an internal reorganization, though it may be months before either process will be resolved.

The MHB has been rebuked by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development over the last year, and currently is operating with an interim executive director. Throughout Wednesday' discussions, commissioners repeatedly expressed both a desire to satisfy HUD's wishes and a concern that HUD review could slow progress on various fronts, particularly the redevelopment of Roger Williams.

Stan Waterhouse of Hunt Development Group briefed the board on the status of work on Roger Williams, which has been empty since last fall following a gradual relocation of tenants. Since then, work has been under way to prepare the site for demolition. Contracts governing the main demolition work will be ready for the board to review within days, Waterhouse said; Commissioners set a special meeting for June 26 so that they can vote on the contracts after reviewing them.

Waterhouse said that Gulf Coast Contracting will handle the demolition project, which will cost about $1.7 million and take about five months. He said he'd like for the site to be clear by year's end, "but that might be a little aggressive" if work doesn't start until July or August.

Waterhouse also presented the board with some preliminary information on how the site might be redeveloped. Buildings won't be rebuilt in the part of the site designated as flood plain. The site will have the same number of low-income units, about 340, but may also feature some designated as affordable housing, or even some priced at market value. He said HUD favored such a mixed-income structure because it helped alleviate a "concentration of poverty."

Waterhouse said that after demolition, work will proceed on nailing down the general site plan, and designing the actual buildings. Both processes are likely to involve extensive HUD review, he said.

Commissioner Reid Cummings, appointed last August by Mayor Sandy Stimpson, said he was concerned that while design might take five or six months, HUD review could add nearly a year more to the process. Waterhouse said HUD liked to have a "progressive conversation," meaning it would be involved throughout the process, rather than simply reviewing a finished plan.

On the subject of the reorganization, the board struggled to find a consensus. Commissioner Norman Hill said he would prefer more time to get a full description of the new job and salary chart before voting; Commissioner Joyce Freeman said the board had already delayed its approval, and the lack of resolution was hurting employee morale.

"I feel like we have kept the employees in limbo," she said. "Let the process get started, so the employees can know what they need to do."

Hill said the projected $250,000 savings from the realignment seemed low, and Board Chairwoman Kim Pettway agreed that the changes left the staff "top-heavy" in some areas. Housing Board attorney Raymond Bell said that the projected $250,000 savings was the difference between the current structure with some vacancies and the proposed structure with no vacancies, meaning the true total savings would be more in the range of $1 million.

Cummings suggested a middle path: that the board approve the current measure, but be prepared to pursue further cost-saving staff changes after its new director is selected, and as it develops its 2018 budget.

The measure was approved with no dissenting votes, but it doesn't actually implement the changes. Instead it authorizes Housing Board staff to present the proposed changes to the Mobile County Personnel Board, which must pass judgment before they can be adopted.