MINUTES

GREEN BAY HOUSING AUTHORITY

Thursday, November 15, 2007

1424 Admiral Court, Second Floor Reading Room

Green Bay, WI  54303

10:30 a.m.

 

 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:         W. Van Ess, Chair; A. Nicholson; H. Genunzio

 

MEMBERS EXCUSED:        D. Dolan-Wallace; W. VandeCastle

 

OTHERS PRESENT:  Keith Pamperin, Rob Strong, Anne Monday, Noel Halvorsen, D. Dewitt, G. Hetrick, J. Fonder, A. Haefs, R. Huven

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

 

A motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to approve the minutes of the October 18, 2007 regular meeting of the Green Bay Housing Authority.

 

COMMUNICATIONS:

 

1.      November 1, 2007 letter from William J. Munz, representing West Shore Green Bay,  LLC requesting the GBHA re-issue the tax-exempt bonds that finance Rivers Edge Apartments. 

 

K. Pamperin presented the communication.  He stated the re-issuing of the tax-exempt bonds would be taken up with a later item.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

2.        Review of options presented for the sale or transition of GBHA Scattered Sites and leveraging financing for Mason Manor Retirement Community and appointing a Subcommittee of commissioners and staff to make recommendations to the Authority.

 

K. Pamperin presented the item.  He stated that at last month’s meeting the consultant had provided a presentation of options.  He went over the five primary options but stated there are additional options in regard to financing.

 

K. Pamperin stated that the consultant did a site visit to Mason Manor on November 8.  He stated Mason Manor could be used as a tax credit investment essentially having the Housing Authority remain as owner and administrator but partnering with a private investor to purchase tax credits. He stated the consultant, Dimension Development LLC, was hired to look at options for the sale or transition of Scattered Sites and to determine how the Authority could leverage financing to fund the elevator-storage addition at Mason Manor.  He stated to meet the 2008 application deadline for tax credits, partner agreements would need to be formulated and an application prepared and submitted to WHEDA by February 28, 2008.

 

K. Pamperin asked if the Authority would like to discuss the options today or if a Subcommittee of the Authority should be formed consisting of Authority members and staff. 

 

N. Halvorsen, Executive Director of NeighborWorks, presented a letter asking that the Authority consider their possible involvement in regard to the Scattered Site properties. 

 

After further discussion, a motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to form a Subcommittee of the Authority to look at the options presented by the consultant.  The Subcommittee would consist of D. Dolan-Wallace and W. VandeCastle as Authority members and R. Strong, K. Pamperin and A. Monday as staff. 

 

The Subcommittee will meet in the near future and report back to the Authority.

 

3.        Report and action on proposals for replacement of the Mason Manor Security Surveillance Camera system.    

 

K. Pamperin stated the contractor, A & A Fire and Security, originally installed the present system and had submitted an estimate for replacement indicating that all of the equipment and wiring had been destroyed by the lightning strike and indicated the cost to replace equipment, not including labor or wiring, is estimated to be $17,000.  It is A & A Fire and Security’s belief that all of the wiring is likely going to need to be replaced as well. K. Pamperin feels we need competitive proposals for replacing the system. 

 

K. Pamperin stated he was referred to Heartland Business Systems of Little Chute and Milwaukee, a firm that has experience in designing and estimating such surveillance camera systems. A representative of Heartland Systems has visited Mason Manor and they are willing to test the existing systems and provide specifications for replacement with several alternative options including down sizing and expanding the system. He stated following consultation with the on-site staff, there is concern if the system is used adequately to justify replacement. The primary issue for on-site staff is monitoring the three entrances (first floor, second floor and community room).

 

K. Pamperin stated he had received a verbal quote not to exceed $2000. From Heartland Systems to put together specifications for replacement of the existing equipment with alternates for expansion to include the Community Room entrance and the resident and visitor parking lots to the north.  This would include testing the wiring to determine if it needs to be replaced.

 

A motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to enter into a contract with Heartland Security to prepare specifications for replacement and/or expansion of the security system at Mason Manor at a cost not to exceed $ 2000.

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

4.        Resolution No 07-05, a Resolution Authorizing and Providing for the Sale and Issuance of Refunding Revenue Bonds to Refinance the River’s Edge Apartments Project, and Certain Related Details.

 

K. Pamperin presented the item.

 

A. Nicholson asked what would happen if we did not re-issue the bonds.

 

K. Pamperin stated the current bonds would continue until they run out, or the owner could refinance with bonds issued by WHEDA or other entities. 

 

A motion was made by H. Genunzio, seconded by A. Nicholson and carried to adopt Resolution No. 07-05.

 

5.        Review of request and authorization to make payment for Law Department Services.

 

K. Pamperin presented a letter from the Law Department.  He stated this would be a one-time payment of $10,000 for one year.

 

A motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to authorize a one-time $10,000 payment for Law Department Services for one year.

 

6.        Authorization to proceed with replacement of damaged steps and railing at 1440 University Avenue, authorization to replace smoke/carbon dioxide detectors, as needed, authorization to replace damaged storm doors and windows, and authorization to do tuck-pointing. 

 

K. Pamperin presented the item stating these were needs determined by a recent inspection in preparation for a HUD REAC inspection scheduled for November 28, 2007. 

 

A motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to adopt the item as presented.

 

7.        Authorization to replace vinyl window blinds at 1428 Dousman Street that have been found to have lead content.  

 

K. Pamperin presented the item.

 

A motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to authorize the replacement of blinds as presented.

 

8.        Authorization to contract for GBHA Scattered Site fall and spring gutter cleaning.  

 

K. Pamperin presented the   He stated maintenance staff was left go because ICS could not continue to keep staff on at the current contract fee.  K. Pamperin presented two proposals for the services.

 

A motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to authorize the contracting for fall and spring gutter cleaning to the low qualified bidder. .

 

9.         Review and action on request of ICS to increase management fees for GBHA Scattered Site Properties.

 

K. Pamperin distributed and reviewed the November 13 letter submitted by ICS offering two proposals for extending the existing Authority Scattered Site Property Management Contract until March 31, 2008.  

 

He stated Proposal #1 continues the monthly management fee from $7058.69 per month and requires the Authority to assume all maintenance and physical oversight, with ICS providing all administrative services necessary to maintain occupancy, rent collection, leasing, tenant issues, evictions, establishment of rent certification, enforcement of rules and managing the 24 hour help line, tenant/house assessments and all marketing activities. Repairs, maintenance including emergency maintenance, unit turn over/apartment preparation, snow removal, lawn mowing and trimming, and gutter cleaning would be the responsibility of the Authority.

 

Proposal #2 has ICS continuing to provide comprehensive administrative and physical services as they do now under the current agreement at a new rate not to exceed $9,700 per month.

 

K Pamperin stated that the Authority does not have the staff or set up to provide the physical repairs, maintenance, emergency maintenance, unit turn over/apartment preparation, snow removal, lawn mowing and trimming, and gutter cleaning, that would be the responsibility of the Authority, and it would take nearly three months to put staff and/or contracted services and procedures in place.

 

His recommendation would be to accept Proposal # 2 and use the three months to determine what the Authority wants to do with the Scattered Site properties, including the various options outlined which could include selling them as a group, converting them from Public Housing to project based vouchers and employing a conventional property manager, or retaining the Public Housing annual contributions contract with HUD and leveraging those federal dollars to create a revolving process of selling the existing single family units for home ownership and using the proceeds along with replacement housing grants from HUD to acquire and rehabilitate a replacement unit.                   

 

A. Nicholson asked what the alternatives would be to ICS managing the properties.

 

K. Pamperin stated a Request for Proposals was sent out a year ago and ICS was the only contractor to respond. He stated they could not find a local private property manager that was willing to take on the complexities of managing public housing which includes such issues as stringent tenant certification, requiring and administering community service requirements and the myriad of HUD monitoring and reporting required to meet Public Housing Management Assessment (PHAS) requirements with a very specific low income family population.

 

He stated staff has explored taking the management in-house but estimates are the added staff required would exceed current costs. He stated although the current process of privatizing government services has served the authority well for the past nineteen years, we now find we are in a position that we cannot find one vendor that has the capacity to provide all of the services required.  He stated that he feels the most efficient proposal would be to continue with ICS to give time to solicit alternate management proposals.

 

R. Strong stated this would be on a month-to-month basis and the fees can be reevaluated in two to three months. 

 

A. Nicholson stated he wanted the Housing Authority to put out another Request for Proposals for management of the sites. 

 

A motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to direct staff to prepare a Request for Proposals for the Scattered Site Management.

 

A motion was made by H. Genunzio, seconded by W. Van Ess and carried to continue to contract with ICS, under Proposal #2 for the Scattered Site properties on a month-to-month basis. 

 

A. Nicholson voted no.

 

10.    Report on HUD REACC Inspections scheduled for November 26th and 27th 2007.         

 

K. Pamperin presented the item as information.

 

11.    Review and approval of the bid submitted by Schenick, SC, Green Bay, as low qualified bid for annual independent audit services for the Green Bay Housing Authority for two twelve month periods ending June 30, 2008 and June 30, 2009.

 

A motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to accept the low bidder.

 

K. Pamperin advised the Authority that we have the opportunity to submit another FEMA, Fire Prevention Safety Grant to install a Fire Suppression Sprinkler System at Mason Manor, and he will prepare the grant application with the same matching requirements submitted previously to meet the December 28th grant deadline. There was no objection to submitting the grant application. 

 

FINANCIAL REPORT AND BILLS:

 

A motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to place the financial report on file and to authorize the payment of the bills as presented.

 

OCCUPANCY AND STAFF REPORT:  

 

A. Monday stated Mason Manor has four vacancies.  D. Dewitt reported that Scattered Sites has one vacancy and is in the process of two evictions.

 

There being no further business to come before the Authority, a motion was made by A. Nicholson, seconded by H. Genunzio and carried to adjourn the meeting at 11:15 AM.