The Knox County Housing Authority could amend their leasing terms for new applicants based on a legal case that has made evicting a resident difficult.
Attorney Jack Ball told the board of commissioners at their meeting yesterday that a resident charged for possessing a pound of marijuana has fought eviction by the authority, due to what board members call a “loophole” in the lease that does not name marijuana as “criminal drug related activity.”
“We had a trial,” Ball said. “The judge determined that an inappropriate notice had been given, according to the lease agreement. Because pot, cannabis, whether it’s 456 grams — I think that’s what it was, right at a pound — didn’t fit within the definition the way it was worked in the lease.”
The amendment would add the Cannabis Control Act to the definition. Executive Director Derek Antoine says the housing authority is still pursuing the case. Ball did not name the resident.
In other business, the board renewed its health insurance plan with Health Alliance. The plan covers KCHA’s 26 employees.
Antoine says the authority is expected see a roughly 1.3 percent decrease in the amount they pay for insurance this year.
He says the rate is “phenomenal,” based on other authorities around the country who see substantial increases, annually.
