PITTSFIELD — Months of tension between Pittsfield Housing Authority officials, its board and tenants erupted Tuesday afternoon, including calls for the executive director to step down.

"I'm calling for Tina [Danzy] to resign," resident Valerie Persip said at the Pittsfield Housing Authority's Board of Commissioner's meeting. "This is not a place for her."

During its monthly meeting, the authority's Board of Commissioners detailed the agency's recent missteps, including violating its own policy and passing out memos trying to quash communication between the employees and board members. The public meeting was the first since the authority proposed a controversial policy that would ban grills, wildlife feeding, sprinklers, children's pools and crack down on items left out in common spaces.

Danzy, the agency’s executive director, said it was unfortunate that “negative publicity and a lot of concerns” led to the verbal sparring at the meeting, but added she was glad residents attended because their input was wanted.

Valerie Persip, a tenant at Rose Manor, called on Tina Danzy, the executive director of Pittsfield Housing Authority, to resign.

More than 20 residents attended the meeting, many energized by a shared outrage over the rolled out outdoor-space policy by Pittsfield Housing Authority — an independent agency that oversees the 700 units of public housing across 10 developments.

Tenants organized to voice their concern over loss of property and the way the policy was rolled out. The authority later tabled enforcement of the policy until after Tuesday's meeting.

On Thursday, Justine Dodds, a board member, confirmed that the policy affecting grills and outdoor property will not be enforced until it is approved by the board.

Board members said the agency has repeatedly moved forward on policies without proper board notification or approval. The board is tasked with monitoring the finances, policies and essential decisions of the agency and is the entity that appoints or fires the executive director. Most members are appointed by the mayor, with one member acting as a tenant representative.

Board Chair Michael McCarthy said the agency failed to follow its own policy when it sent formal job offer letters for new positions without notifying the board. He said the letters were issued June 16, shortly after an executive session in which a notification requirement had been adopted.

"Well, that's concerning," McCarthy said.

McCarthy also referenced an internal memo Danzy had passed out to employees that discouraged them from "speaking with or communicating with members of the board of commissioners."

"I found that [memo] to be contrary to best practices, contrary to whistleblower laws, contrary to open communication and contrary to the mission of the board," McCarthy said.

The board approved a motion for Danzy to rescind the memo in writing.

The meeting took up most of the 90 minutes the board had allotted, and, when it was clear tenants would not get the chance to speak, chaos erupted. Half of the tenants walked out early, others started shouting at the board and authority staff — including calls for Danzy and McCarthy to resign — and some aired their grievances in spite of not be recognized by the chair.

"It shows that there's a disconnect between the Board of Commissioners and individual members on the Board of Commissioners and what the needs of residents are," said Kamaar Taliaferro, who serves on the Pittsfield Affordable Housing Trust and chairs the NAACP Berkshires Housing Committee.

"They may understand it at a 40,000-foot level, at an abstract policy level, but they don't really understand how the decisions they make impact people's lives," he said after the meeting.

That disconnect — between the board, agency staff and tenants — is the central point of tension that has fueled the charged nature of recent meetings, residents say.

Persip, when asked what she would like to see from the ideal director, said one thing: "Somebody that's gonna listen."