Monique Pierre, the Asheville Housing Authority’s CEO and president, was fired yesterday, according to Mayor Esther Manheimer.
Manheimer confirmed the firing to BPR on Friday afternoon, after the Asheville Citizen-Times first reported the news.
In a text message, she wrote that the housing authority had a board meeting on Nov. 7, in which Pierre was terminated.
Housing authority chairman Tilman Jackson “did not provide a basis for the termination,” she said.
READ MORE: Soiled sheets and overflowing toilets: Public housing residents decry post-Helene conditions
Jackson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. BPR also reached out Pierre, Board Member Roy Harris and Pierre’s executive assistant, Cherin Marmon-Saxe – but did not hear back from anyone prior to publication.
Pierre’s work phone number appears to have been deactivated. When BPR attempted to call it, the phone went straight to an automated voice message.
The meeting where Pierre was reportedly fired took place on Nov. 7 and was listed as an emergency closed session. The monthly board meetings for November and December were also canceled, according to the housing authority’s website.
Since the Asheville Housing Authority is a public body, it is required by state law to hold meetings that are open to the public - with some exceptions under North Carolina public meeting laws, including allowance for executive (or closed) sessions to discuss personnel or legal issues.
While the discussion to hire or fire a public leader like Pierre can legally happen in a closed session, North Carolina open meetings law requires that a vote (such as one to terminate an employee) is required to happen in a public meeting. The statute says: "Final action making an appointment or discharge or removal by a public body having final authority for the appointment or discharge or removal shall be taken in an open meeting."
According to state law, if a public body wishes to hold a closed session, the body must first meet in open session and then vote to hold the closed session - while stating the exception allowed under state law. It's unclear if that happened on Nov. 7. BPR did not attend the meeting. No minutes for the closed session are available on the website.
North Carolina public meeting law also states: "If the public body must meet within less than forty-eight hours, notice must be given to all local news media that have requested notice," according to the UNC School of Government's guide for public bodies.
Pierre oversaw more than 2,000 units that are part of Asheville’s public housing system. She came under fire for the unsanitary and unsafe conditions tenants faced in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
In April, Pierre also drew criticism over a proposal she wrote that would have demolished Southside Farm, an urban farm that has leased land from the housing authority since 2014.
She was hired in May 2023.
This is a developing story.
