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BMHA will be led by interim executive director

With Dawn Sanders-Garrett out as executive director of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, its top attorney, Gillian Brown, will run it on an interim basis.

BUFFALO, NY - There are questions about the future of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, after its executive director abruptly resigned Thursday.

BMHA commissioners we've heard from say they were surprised by the decision.

With Dawn Sanders-Garrett out as executive director of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, its top attorney, Gillian Brown, will run it on an interim basis. He held that same temporary position in 2005 before Sanders-Garrett was hired.

Brown told 2 On Your Side's Jeff Preval by phone, he doesn't want to hold the position permanently.

Sanders-Garrett led the BMHA for 12 years.

Over that time, the agency had a lot of problems, from crumbling infrastructure to bed bugs, to just this winter, some residents being left in the cold for two weeks. Brown tells 2 On Your Side, Sanders-Garrett had been working without a contract, which ended in 2015 and her pay was $120,000 a year. The BMHA hasn't said why she resigned.

The Buffalo News says she reached a severance agreement with the housing authority.

The authority is being audited by the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, which the BMHA says has been reviewing all of its operations since January. But, it has not said that the review has anything to do with Sanders-Garrett's resignation.

2 On Your Side spoke to Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, who appoints commissioners to the BMHA board.

REPORTER: Did your office or anyone in City Hall order her to resign?

"She made the decision to resign," Mayor Brown said.

REPORTER: Did your office or anyone in City Hall urge her to resign and then she made the decision?

"No," the mayor replied.

REPORTER: Will you be looking over this process to make sure that they're finding a good group of candidates?

"I will certainly be paying very close attention to it, the operation of BMHA is very important to our community," Brown said.

The BMHA will now go through the process of hiring a company to find candidates to fill the executive director position. Mayor Brown says this will be a national search. 2 On Your Side has filed a Freedom of Information request to get a copy of Sanders-Garrett's severance agreement.

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