Opening Doors Northwest Florida CEO John Johnson has hand-picked the Continuum of Care (CoC) governance board, whose first meeting will be at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, via Zoom.
- Only two of the people invited by Johnson are on the list of recommendations made by Mayor D.C. Reeves and Escambia County Administrator Wes Moreno – Rocky Harrison and Tracie Hodson.
Several Opening Doors staff are on the invite, but it’s unclear whether they are on the new board or simply invited to participate.
Johnson’s choices:
Rocky Harrison, 90 Works president
Elizabeth Kissel, Escambia County EMS program coordinator
Laura Gilliam, United Way of West Florida CEO
Meredith Reeves, City of Pensacola assistant housing director
Tracie Hodson, Favor House executive director
Doug Brown, Community Action Program CEO
Sherri Myers, former city council member
Joy Sharp, Baptist Hospital community health program director
Sally Bergosh, Health and Hope Clinic executive director
Ben Boutwell, Century mayor
*Dr. David Joseph, Lakeview Center clinical director
*Marcus McBride, CareerSource EscaRosa CEO
Robert Wingerter, Helping Hands for New Hope outreach director
Percy Goodman, Community Enterprise Investment executive director
Brad Baker, Santa Rosa County assistant county administrator
Mike Kimbrel, Alfred Washburn Center director
Tiffany Adams, FLorida Housing and
Mindy Von Ansbach Young, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office colonel
*Opening Doors board officers
Opening Doors Staff Invited
John Johnson, executive director
Joan Vincent, accounting director
Martika Baker, HMIS director, programj director
Serene Keiek, community director
Tracy Peters, compliance officer
MIA
Organizations missing from John Johnson’s CoC board are Ascension Sacred Heart, Community Health Northwest Florida, Children’s Home Society, Pensacola State College, and First Judicial Circuit Court Administration.
Also not included are individuals who might be more critical of Opening Doors: Councilwoman Allison Patton, County Emergency Manager Travis Tompkins, and Northwest Florida Homeless Reduction Task Force co-chair Connie Bookman.
Idalia Claims Approach $100 Million
As claims continue to be filed, estimated insured losses from Hurricane Idalia reached $97.7 million on Tuesday, according to data posted on the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation website.
The data was based on 12,308 claims reported by insurers.
The largest number of claims, 8,533, involved residential property, while other types included such things as auto damage. The data said 531 claims had been closed with payments, while 632 had been closed without payments.
source: The News Service of Florida
Dig Deeper:
Hurricane Sally claims totaled nearly $577 million, and we didn’t get nearly as many visits and press conferences from Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Well, certainly Melissa Pino is needed on the board……..
Rocky Harrison is to be expected to represent veterans yet he is not a veteran and many local veterans are skeptical of his leadership. Who is representing the unhoused veterans in this group?
Check out the agenda – title “CoC Governance Committee Meeting.” Guess we will find out at 9 a.m.
I think your sources may be confused. This is not the new Opening Doors board, but a working committee focused on the COC’s governance.
Century Mayor Ben Boutwell resigned on August 22nd.
Sent out with no advance notice to some of the recipients, from what I understand doesn’t come out and say “you’re invited to the Board,” demanding participation at the last minute, Dr. Joseph continuing on as John’s trusty second in the Steadfast and Obstinate Conflict of Interest Department, scheduled against the BCC’s morning Agenda Review. Petty, juvenile, crass, and amateur–in other words, a John Johnson production through and through.
This is not a criticism of anyone on the list, many of whom are fantastic people I have a lot of respect for. There just aren’t a lot of words left at this point to capture the brazen and blatant disregard for process, best practices, and fiduciary responsibility that Johnson and his rubber stamp Board of Opening Doors proudly display and deploy at every turn.
It will be interesting to learn what loyalty oaths will be administered and what shibboleths dispensed at Thursday morning’s meeting.
“I can make a list TOO neener neener! Nobody’s gonna make me do anything I don’t wanna do!! This is MY money to mismanage! MINE!!” –John Johnson