Montijo Goes on Paid Leave; Aide in Charge
The San Diego Housing Commission put lame-duck Executive Director Ben Montijo on leave Monday for the balance of his contract and made one of his deputies interim director until a new top administrator can be found.
Commissioners, most of whom are City Council members, emerged from a 30-minute closed session to announce that Montijo, whose annual contract was not renewed last week, will be placed on leave with pay but is expected to be available during working hours.
They also announced that Elizabeth Morris will take his place until a national search is conducted.
Morris, 39, told reporters her first official act will be to write a “status report” of business and she intends no shake-up of the troubled agency’s management.
Morris has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UCLA, where she worked on a master’s degree in city planning before working as a consultant. She joined the San Diego County Housing Authority in 1974, where she helped establish its programs before joining the city Housing Commission in 1979.
Her pay as interim director will rise to $60,000 from $51,200 annually.
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