Students at Mercer’s Reg Murphy Center for Collaborative Journalism reviewed nine local agencies on their compliance with state law as well as any extras they provided in making their work as transparent and accessible to the public as possible. You can read about the other agencies and see their rankings here.
The Macon Housing Authority’s website is maconhousing.com
Does the website list out its key staff, governing board or other leadership and how to contact them? The MHA has their key staff and governing board listed on their website. Most members of their board do not have personal contact information, but there is a list of specific departments and their phone numbers. The Chief Executive Officer, Mike Austin, has a phone number (478-752-5070) and fax number (478-752-5199) listed.
Does the agency have a public information officer? If so, is the name and contact information listed? The MHA does not have a public information officer.
Does the website have information on meeting announcements/meeting dates & times? If so, where is this posted? Information on meetings can be found under the “About Us” tab on the MHA’s website. They hold meetings on the second Tuesday of every month, with the expectation of July, at 4pm. The meetings are held at the main office, and any changes or deviations are announced in the Macon Telegraph.
Does the website have meeting agendas? Meeting agendas cannot be found online.
Does the website have approved meeting minutes? The MHA does not have approved meeting minutes posted on their website.
Does the agency provide a way for the public to watch its meetings virtually as they happen? And/or does the agency have recordings of its meetings on the website or linked from the website? Recordings of meetings or ways to watch the meetings virtually are not available.
Does the agency have social media platforms and if so, which ones? The MHA has a LinkedIn page used to post job listings and opportunities. There also seems to be a Facebook account linked to the MHA, but it appears to be old as it has a different phone number and address than the one on the website. It’s hard to tell if this Facebook account is theirs.
Does the agency provide a way for the public to make open records requests? There is no way to make an open records request on their website.
Please note any other information you found on the website that would be helpful to members of the public who would want to keep up with this agency’s business. The MHA has a 2024 Annual Plan listed on their website that may be helpful to people interested in what their plans are for the year. They also seem to have a former version of the website that is archived from 2020 and has some important information that is not accessible through their current website. Oddly, both versions share the same link address but one can not be accessed through the other.
For transparency, we give the Macon Housing Authority a grade of Satisfactory. The agency does have meeting times on their website as required by law, but they do not list their meeting minutes or agendas.
For online accessibility, we give the MHA a grade of Below Average. While the website was easy to navigate and did have contact information available for leadership, they do not regularly post on social media, update their website, or provide recordings of meetings or minutes online. There is also the issue of the two websites with the same link address.
Transparency Grading
Excellent: Agency goes above what the law requires for just posting its meeting times and also posted agendas and minutes.
Satisfactory: Agency had its meeting times posted on its website as required by law.
Unsatisfactory: Agency did not have its meeting times and/or agendas posted on its website as required by law.
Online Accessibility Grading
Superior: Agency provided contact information for leadership, audio or video recordings of meetings and minutes from its meetings. Agency also used social media platforms to share out information of interest to the public.
Average: Agency provided contact information for leadership and was active on social media but did not have audio or video recordings of meetings and/or minutes from its meetings posted online.
Below Average: Agency didn’t provide contact information for leadership and didn’t regularly post on social media. Agency also did not have audio or video recordings of meetings or minutes from its meetings available online.
