MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Global Ministries was once again a no-show.
This time, the group got out of a scheduled appearance before a County Commission committee.
GMF was on the agenda to provide an update to the Core City, Neighborhoods and Housing Committee.
However, nobody from the nonprofit showed up Wednesday at the Shelby County Commission committee meeting.
Commissioner Eddie Jones told WREG that GMF’s attorney called and asked to be removed from the agenda, and commissioners agreed to it.
“I guess their issue is where do they go from here, since the federal government pulled their agreement,” Jones said.
It was a move that negated a possible Commission resolution to request the very same of HUD.
The first agenda item dealing with GMF was related to that resolution, which was deferred from a January meeting.
At that time, Commissioners decided to give GMF more time to make progress on repairs at Warren, Tulane and Goodwill.
The nonprofit was required to do so, based on hundreds of city code violations.
A month ago, HUD abated its Housing Assistance Payment contract with GMF for Warren and Tulane.
The second agenda item regarding GMF read, “DISCUSSION: Update GMF,” which had been put off from a February meeting.
WREG confirmed several weeks in a row GMF remained on the agenda despite the HUD abatement.
The two items regarding the nonprofit remained on the printed agenda for Wednesday.
Hundreds of units found to have bed bugs at GMF’s Serenity Towers
WREG asked Jones, “They still have Goodwill, the Serenity Towers situation has also been troublesome. Do you plan to see them back in front of the County Commission? How do you still hold them accountable for what’s going on?”
“They will still have to come back to the County Commission for Serenity Towers,” he replied.
Jones, whose day job is at Code Enforcement, said Serenity was actually the first property brought to the Commission’s attention.
The News Channel 3 Investigators continued by asking, “But are they being let off the hook? … In Environmental Court, they didn’t show up. They said well, we’ve got two of these properties being abated, they’re not here today.”
“I don’t think they’re going to be let out of it,” Jones said. “They still have to comply with the ordinances.”
Jones repeated they would still have to show up at the Commission.
GMF stops repairs at Warren and Tulane
Jones also said as others express interest in buying Warren and Tulane, the Commission and other local groups that could provide the green light should revamp the process first.
“I think on the front end, we need to put those measurements in place to ensure we don’t get back to the point that we are now.”
No word on an exact date on when GMF might be back in front of the County Commission, specifically to talk about Serenity Towers.
Serenity Towers residents speak with WREG about problems
WREG reached out to the nonprofit regarding Wednesday’s committee meeting, but nobody responded by air time.
