Public housing’s illegal no-firearms policy was 15 years old

Bradenton Housing Authority Executive Director Ellis Mitchell Jr. is taking responsibility for the fact that the public housing agency’s longstanding no-firearms policy in its leases is illegal.

But it was implemented in 2002 by former director Wenston DeSue Sr. and left untouched under Wenston DeSue Jr.’s tenure — from 2006 until the younger DeSue’s firing in 2013. Mitchell took the helm in 2014 after the younger DeSue’s financial scandal, which sent DeSue to prison for a year in September 2015.

Mitchell said a lease is a legal document and that it should have been approved by BHA’s attorney prior to being finalized.

“There’s no way on the face of the earth should a lease be approved that is not legal,” Mitchell said. “It should have been reviewed and approved by the housing authority’s attorney in 2002. It definitely needs to change.”

The BHA has changed its policy after Florida Carry, one of the state’s largest guns rights organizations, threatened legal action last week. It was the first time Mitchell became aware of the language in the BHA leases.

“This was done long before I got here,” Mitchell said. “But I take full responsibility and we will get this corrected.”

The question remains whether Washington, D.C.-based Telesis Corp. will follow suit as a BHA contractor managing half of the Bradenton Village Apartments and housing units nearby. The no-firearms policy came to light when a Telesis employee mentioned the policy in the aftermath of the June 22 fatal shooting of a 12-year-old inside of a public housing unit managed by Telesis.

Telesis has declined to return multiple calls for comment, and Bradenton Village community coordinator Rodney Jones, who made the initial statement, also has declined further comment. Bradenton Village property manager Sheree White-Townsend would say only that she is unaware if her leases contain similar language.

Mitchell said the two leases are separate because Telesis controls the management of their units.

“I emailed Telesis (Monday) morning to make them aware of this situation and hopefully they will get it resolved if there is an issue in their leases,” Mitchell said.

Florida Carry attorney Eric Friday said he has been satisfied with Mitchell’s prompt handling of the situation, but that BHA remains the primary responsible agency should litigation go forward.

“I have not heard from Telesis, either,” Friday said. “I’m very satisfied with Mr. Mitchell’s quick response to reverse this policy, and I hope Telesis gets the message and does the right thing. Ultimately, at the end of the day, the BHA hired them and that makes them responsible if Telesis doesn’t come into line.”

As of right now, Friday said, Florida Carry does not intend to take any further action as long as Telesis clears up whether it also has a lease issue.

“I know how these third parties can be, and if they choose to do whatever they want to do, we are going to have a problem,” Friday said. “We are going to give everyone every opportunity to get the contractor to do the right thing, but if they refuse, as you well know, we have no qualms or reservations about bringing suit.”

This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Public housing’s illegal no-firearms policy was 15 years old."