Macon-Bibb Housing Authority director bids farewell

June Parker bid farewell this week after 17 years working for the Macon-Bibb County Housing Authority.

Parker took over as executive director of the housing authority in 2013 after the retirement of John Hiscox. She most recently had served as a chief financial officer and CEO for the agency.

On Thursday, Parker’s retirement ceremony at the Buck Melton Community Center drew more than 150 people, including family members, housing authority employees and residents, and local officials.

“When you listen to our mission it says supportive services,” Parker said. “We have the wonderful Buck Melton center, we have Family Investment Center and these centers are services that provide and enhance and enrich the lives of our residents. We have 6,000 families we serve in Macon-Bibb and without the housing we provide, the service we provide, I’m not going to say their lives wouldn’t be great, but we make them greater.”

Several Macon-Bibb County leaders credited Parker for her ability to continue the progress made under Hiscox’s leadership. Parker has played a role in the the large-scale Tindall Heights redevelopment , working closely with the agency’s nonprofit arm on Tindall and other projects such as the Hunt school senior village.

“Her experience and knowledge of the financing helped her tremendously, but her quiet demeanor and pleasant way of getting things done and puling the team together has been extremely effective,” Mayor Robert Reichert said following the ceremony. “Some of the projects she was able to pull together and execute under her watch will be a testament to her time as director.”

Mike Austin, who was most recently the housing authority’s director of asset management, now becomes the authority’s executive director.

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Macon-Bibb Housing Authority director bids farewell."