MINUTES
GREEN BAY HOUSING AUTHORITY
Thursday, November 19, 2009
1424 Admiral Court, Second
Floor Reading Room
Green Bay, Wisconsin 54303
10:30 a.m.
MEMBERS:
D. Dolan-Wallace-Chair, D. Piton, D.
Slater, H. Genunzio.
MEMBERS EXCUSED: None.
MEMBERS ABSENT: W. VandeCastle-Vice-Chair
OTHERS PRESENT: R. Hallet, A.
Monday, J. Lopez, M. Kong, K. Pamperin, R. Davis, M. Barron, K. Franz.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Approval of the minutes from the October 22, 2009,
meeting of the Housing Authority of the City of Green Bay.
A motion was made by D. Piton and seconded by D.
Slater to approve the minutes from the October 22, 2009, meeting of the Housing
Authority of the City of Green Bay.
Motion carried.
Approval of the minutes from the November 3, 2009,
special meeting of the Housing Authority of the City of Green Bay.
A motion was made by D. Piton and seconded by D.
Slater to approve the minutes from the November 3, 2009, special meeting of the
Housing Authority of the City of Green Bay.
Motion carried.
COMMUNICATIONS:
None.
OLD BUSINESS:
None.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Discussion and possible action on Freedom House’s
request for financial assistance.
R. Strong stated that Robyn Davis, President of
Freedom House, met with the Mayor and there are some concerns regarding the
financial situation of Freedom House at this point and time. R. Davis was
asking the Mayor if there were any resources available to help Freedom House
until additional funding is received. Donations
are not what they have been in the past years.
R. Strong stated that he had mentioned that funding of families is a
goal in the annual and five year plan for both the Brown County Housing
Authority and the Green Bay Housing Authority.
He offered to place this item on the agenda so that R. Davis could
appear and the Authority could decide if they would like to fund the request.
R. Davis distributed a folder of
information to the Authority members and proceeded to share the following
information: Donations have dropped
significantly because of the economy.
Comparing last year to this year, some months have a drop in donations
from 30% to 40%. Freedom House has had a
waiting list for the past five years.
Within the last 30 days, the Board of Directors for Freedom House has
had to make some difficult decisions to address the decrease of funds. Four staff positions have been eliminated and
this week a salary reduction was instituted across the board. Even with these changes there will still be a
shortfall. She provided the Authority a
“snapshot” of what the finances look like from December to March. She chose this portion of time because this
is the timeframe that has the salary reductions. This is typically the busiest time of year
based on past history but it is hard to say what will happen this year. In December, Freedom House will be short
$11,000.00, in January they will be short $6,000.00, in February they are ahead
$184.00, and then in March they will be short again. These are just estimates based on donations
received in the past. Freedom House
primarily survives off of individual, organization, and corporate donations.
Only about 5% of Freedom House’s income is from the government. Going forward, Freedom House is going to
aggressively pursue grant opportunities.
A consultant has been hired to help with this. They are also going to aggressively work on
obtaining more donors who give on a monthly basis.
D. Slater stated that he was employed
over three years ago with Freedom House and is aware that there is a waiting
list and stated that Freedom House does a great job, especially with helping
single mothers with children.
R. Davis stated that there are many
things that are being done to turn the financial situation around and raise
awareness. The Board is committed to
doing everything they can to survive this economic challenge and to look at
ways that they will sustain the ministry moving forward. There will be a major website overhaul that
would allow individuals to make donations online. Pioneer Credit Union is donating some of
their December advertising time to Freedom House. It will be something simple that reminds
people about Freedom House and will give the website for people to make
donations. Freedom House has received a
$10,000.00 pledge to do these upgrades.
One-third of the pledge will be used to do the website overhaul and the
other 2/3 would be used to hire public relations professionals to help get the
word out about Freedom House and what Freedom House is all about. There are several groups in town that will be
working with Freedom House in December for fundraising. Freedom House is doing a new fundraiser in
January that will be geared towards families and will be held at the Tundra
Lodge.
D. Piton asked how much money Freedom
House is looking for.
R. Davis stated that her
proposal to the Brown County Housing Authority was $60,000.00 because at the
time of the proposal they were looking for funds to take them through November
and December, but that figure predated the cuts that have been made. All of the final changes and cuts have been
made within the last few days so she has not had time to go back and see how
much exactly would be needed now.
R. Davis stated that
Freedom House was started back in 1992 and the mission is to serve all types of
homeless families with children. Golden
House also serves families but it is a specific population dealing with
domestic abuse. House of Hope serves the
single moms with an age range of 18 to 25 and no more than two children. NEW Shelter is for single males and females
but no children.
R. Davis stated that the
fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families with
children. 70% of Americans are one to
two paychecks away from being homeless.
Last year in Wisconsin there were 7,000 families that were homeless with
3,000 of them having children. In 2007
there were over 600 homeless students in Green Bay. In 2008 there were 735 homeless students in
Green Bay. The need is great and with
the current economic situation families are staying longer because they need to
obtain employment in order to obtain permanent housing. With the current job market, employment is
hard to come by and that makes their stay longer. Freedom House is not able to help as many
families when the stay is longer for the ones they have in the program. The need has not lessened.
R. Davis stated that the
program is to meet the short term needs of homeless families with children such
as shelter, clothing, food, and medical assistance. The second and most important portion of the
organization is the life advancement part.
The life advancement part is going beyond meeting the immediate needs
and looking for ways to help families transition back into the community as
self-sustaining families. Freedom House
looks at the root causes of poverty.
There are mandatory budget classes, mandatory parenting classes, job
skills, resume writing, etc. Freedom
House also offers counseling and optional bible studies. Each family goes through an 8 to 12 week
program and during that time each family is matched up with a case manager who
will help the family set long term and short term goals and hold them
accountable to those goals with the expectation that upon graduation from the
program, they will be equipped to transition back into the community so that
they do not need to come back. Over the
last 17 years, Freedom House has had a 95% success rate with families
succeeding once they leave the program and not returning. Freedom House is able to track a family’s
progress once they are able to leave to ensure that the programming is
successful and when a family does move out they are able to successfully pay
their bills, keep their home clean, parenting, etc. The After Care Coordinator conducts weekly
visits and they train “guardian angels” to walk along beside the families after
they leave. If it is found that a family
needs a little more training in a certain area they can be brought back in for
that additional training.
D. Piton asked if Freedom
House ever sent letters to past participants for donations.
R. Davis stated that no,
they have not. However, the past
participants often volunteer and share their stories with the current residents
and provide encouragement.
R. Strong asked R. Davis
to talk about who uses Freedom House and where they come from.
R. Davis stated that the
program requires them to serve Green Bay/Brown County families first. Most of the families are referrals from
places like the Salvation Army or the Green Bay School District. There is an out of town list but Green
Bay/Brown County is first priority.
D. Piton stated that this
is a great cause but that he is not ready to commit dollars today and would
want to review the budget and look at ongoing commitments that the Authority
has outstanding. He certainly hopes the
Authority could help but does need to have that information first.
R. Strong stated that the
Brown County Housing Authority wanted to look at the shortfall on a monthly
basis rather than a lump sum. The Authority felt it might be better to look at
filling in the gaps as they go along and when they no longer need the Authority
they would step back. The winter months
are the ones that they wanted to focus on and they asked to see an update to the
information that has been presented. The
Brown County Housing Authority was willing to hold a special meeting in early
December for this item and we could have the Green Bay Housing Authority there
also.
A motion was made by D.
Piton and seconded by D. Slater to refer this item to staff to set up a joint
meeting between the Green Bay Housing Authority and Brown County Housing
Authority. Motion carried.
The Authority decided to take item 3
next.
3. Discussion
and action on the request of University Village Housing Incorporated (UVHI) to
adopt Resolution No. 09-08, a final resolution relating to a proposed student
housing project of the Housing Authority of the City of Green Bay, Wisconsin,
in the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus area, the financing thereof and
other details relating thereto.
R.
Strong stated that the Green Bay Plan Commission has endorsed the project and
started the process to clean up the zoning out there. The zoning ordinance has been changed to
include a Public Institutional district in which these types of campuses could
be placed and so this is now properly rezoned.
The Council did adopt the plan for the campus and the conditional use
resolution. The TEFRA hearing was held
but no one attended. Everything is in
place to go out and sell the bonds.
K. Pamperin
stated that this is the final action on behalf of the Authority to culminate
the bonds. This is the seventeenth
residence hall so there is a track record of success. The Housing Authority has financed all
seventeen through this same process. The
land use has been approved. The last
step is for the Housing Authority to adopt the final resolution.
R.
Strong stated that this is a conduit for University Village Housing to get a
better rate. It is very clear to anyone
buying the bonds that the Housing Authority is not obligated for anything but
is putting our good name behind this.
Everything is in place. City
Attorney Allison Swanson is doing the review of the documents for the
City.
K.
Franz stated that the annual payment to the Authority would be $8,500.00. This would continue for as long as the
bonding is outstanding.
D.
Dolan-Wallace questioned how many bonds are still outstanding for University
Village Housing.
K.
Franz stated that there is approximately $20 million dollars worth of bonds
still outstanding.
A
motion was made by D. Piton and seconded by H. Genunzio to adopt Resolution No.
09-08, a final resolution relating to a proposed student housing project of the
Housing Authority of the City of Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the University of
Wisconsin-Green Bay campus area, the financing thereof and other details
relating thereto, subject to approval of the City Attorney. Motion carried.
2. Review of REAC inspection results.
R. Hallet stated that the
reports that were provided by HUD were not as easy to read as the internal
report that was provided with the agenda.
The last page of the internal report shows a summary of recurring violations
found at the scattered sites.
M. Barron gave a report on
some of the addresses that she had spoken with staff about:
815
N. Maple has a tenant who is now in a wheelchair. There is a pothole in the driveway and a gap
at the sidewalk.
835 Christiana St. – The
foundation is crumbling. There are holes
in the basement because of the crumbling foundation. There are also holes in
the siding.
M. Barron had pictures of
cabinets that are worn and drawers are missing. She has examples of holes in
floors. These things are normal wear and
tear from having many tenants over the years.
R. Hallet stated that she
appreciated that Molly brought the photos with her but most of them are for
units that were not looked at in the REAC inspections.
M. Barron stated that these
problems are all throughout the scattered sites. The pictures were of these units because they
are vacant or are soon to be vacant.
R. Hallet stated that HUD
provided a prevalence report, which shows if all units were inspected, how many
would be deducted points for different items.
That report was emailed to the Authority members. There are over 600 items that are looked at
during the inspections.
R. Hallet stated that for
Mason Manor Apt. 208, we are appealing the cracked toilet seat, which was the
tenant’s own padded toilet seat. She was
told however, that we probably would not get points back for that because
anything in the tenant’s unit we are ultimately responsible for even if they
provide it.
D. Piton stated that we
could replace it or ask the tenant to replace it.
D. Dolan-Wallace stated
that we shouldn’t be held responsible for something a tenant may bring into the
unit and we know nothing about. That is
wrong. There should be a policy that
tenants notify us if they do make a change.
R. Strong stated that he
thinks that the REAC inspector is saying that if we are doing annual
inspections and notice that the tenant- provided toilet seat is cracked we
should let the tenant know they need to replace the seat or we will put our own
toilet seat back on.
R. Hallet stated that another
example of this issue is that fire extinguishers provided by a tenant have to
be current and if they are not, it is a dock of points against us. We have to decide if we are going to have all
tenants register their fire extinguishers or how this should be handled.
D. Piton stated that things
like the padded toilet seats, fire extinguishers, etc. should be added to the
annual checklist.
D. Piton asked what the
overall score for Mason Manor is.
R. Hallet stated that the
score for Mason Manor is 97 out of 100.
D. Dolan-Wallace asked if
on the smoke detector violations for the scattered sites if we could install
the 10 year type that have batteries that can’t be used in anything but the smoke
detector or be dismantled.
M. Barron stated that they
have a form that they have the tenants sign stating that the batteries can’t be
removed and if they need a battery we would provide them with one at our
expense.
D. Dolan-Wallace asked on
the violations in the scattered sites report, which level is the worst.
R. Hallet stated that a level
3 violation is the most serious. She has
determined that if we get the points back on the items that we have appealed,
the score for the scattered sites would be raised from 59 to 67. The status of high performing is not based on
a 100 point system but on a 30 point system.
Mason Manor has scored 29.2 points and the scattered sites scored
17.6. She read that if the score is
under 18 then it is an automatic fail even if other areas that contribute are
scored high. She is hoping that we will get some points back from the appeal
and that the 17.6 will make it to 18 or more for a passing score.
D. Dolan-Wallace asked how
often HUD returns points when an appeal is submitted.
R. Hallet stated that she
has been told by a HUD representative that it should not be a problem to get
the points back on the windows because we do have a contract in place to
replace the windows. There was a unit
that had the power turned off because the tenant did not pay her utilities and
that is questionable if we will get the points back or not.
M. Barron stated that they
are notified by WPS when the service gets shut off in a unit and she in turn
sends a letter to the tenant stating that this is a breach of the lease and
they need to get the utilities turned back on.
If the tenant doesn’t have the money to pay the bill we make them clean
out the refrigerator and prop it open. Short of paying the bill for them she is
not sure what more could be done.
D. Dolan-Wallace stated
that we could pay the bill and start the eviction process.
R. Hallet stated that if we
do evict the tenant we hurt ourselves with a unit sitting vacant for two or
three months because that counts against us with how much funding we
receive.
M. Barron stated that the
tenants are really trying but just don’t have the money. We can start the eviction process but
families can’t pay their utilities and not feed their kids. Are we going to put these families out on the
streets?
D. Dolan-Wallace stated
that if we become such a poor performer we would have to stop owning certain
properties. This is a tough one. We don’t want to risk our funding.
M.
Barron stated that if a family gets evicted from public housing they are not
eligible for Section 8.
D. Piton asked if there has
ever been consideration for including utilities with the units.
M. Barron stated that doing
that opens up the potential for abuse the other way and some tenants would turn
the heat too high etc.
R. Strong stated that the
bottom line is we need to get into our units on a regular basis and take care
of these items.
D. Piton suggested that for
concrete shifting and trip hazards in driveways we might want to look into
getting in on the contract that the City uses to do repair work. It might be something worth looking into and
taking advantage of.
D. Piton asked M. Barron if
she had a good handle on what gets inspected.
M. Barron replied yes, for
the most part.
R. Strong stated that we
need to not be tolerant of damage to our properties. Just because it is public housing does not
give someone the right to damage it.
There are people who would love to have the opportunity to live in one
of the properties and that would not damage it.
The tenants need to know that we are going to come through every quarter
and the property needs to be taken care of.
M. Barron explained that
every month they do inspections on a portion of the scattered sites, which results
in all units being inspected once a quarter.
The tenants are notified, as required, that they are going to be doing
the inspection.
D. Piton stated that R.
Strong is correct about the damage issue.
He has had it passed that damage to property will specifically show up
in court records as opposed to something generic. In order to have this done, they should call
the police department and tell them that they are going into a certain unit and
to have the police meet you there.
R. Strong stated that there
is some money set aside in the budget to start working on the REAC deficiencies. We would need to start with the more serious
things and continue to watch the budget as repairs are made. In the cases that the violations are not a
result of normal wear and tear, we should go after the security deposit of the
tenant.
The Authority talked about
having an expectations book so that tenants know what is expected of them and
that they need to let Barron Rentals know if something is broken and needs to
be fixed.
M. Barron stated that they
have a folder with about 35 forms in it with their rights and
responsibilities. They go item by item
with the tenants over these things.
R. Strong stated that he is
looking for the Authority to give authorization for the repairs to be done for
the REAC inspection violations and other repairs as they come up as long as we
stay within budget. If anything would go
beyond the budget we would then come back to the Authority to let them know
that more money is needed or to see if it is ok to hold off for awhile on
certain items.
D. Dolan-Wallace suggested
that we might want to put a maintenance program in place that shows what
repairs were done on a unit and we would be able to tell how long in between
like repairs. This way if for example we
replace a door and then five years later we have to replace it again, we can
find out if it is something the tenant did to cause us to have to replace it
after only five years or determine that we would not want to buy this type of
door again because it does not last.
M. Barron stated that she
was told that ICS does not have maintenance records from when they managed the
scattered sites and they did not transfer anything over to her.
R. Hallet stated that we
did receive a file that has model numbers for certain things and you can
apparently decipher the model number to know the year.
D. Piton stated that he
agrees that from this point forward we need to get something in place to
maintain the maintenance records.
A. Monday suggested
inspecting all of the units and taking care of the violations in mass.
R. Strong stated that he
agreed except that the level 3 violations that have been identified do need to
be taken care of right away.
D. Dolan-Wallace stated
that he would like to have M. Barron provide the Authority every month with a
report of items that need to be done so that the Authority could have some say
in what happens every month.
A motion was made by D.
Piton and seconded by H. Genunzio to authorize the Director to use his
emergency authority for an amount up to $18,000.00 for the repairs of the REAC
inspection violations that are not currently covered by contract. Motion carried.
R. Hallet asked if this
would just be these eighteen units from the REAC inspections or would it also
be for other units similar violations are found in.
R. Strong stated that it
would be for the violations on the REAC inspection list and then another list
should be made of the remaining units and violations that they need to have
fixed. If it is a true emergency, he
does have the authority to fix something.
R. Hallet asked if M.
Barron could give her staff report before item 4 so that she would be able
leave.
M. Barron reported that
there are two vacancies. One vacancy is
because the new tenant had to give a thirty day notice to her current landlord
and will move in at the end of next month.
The other vacancy is at 323 N. Ashland Avenue and this unit is tough to
rent because it is an upstairs unit and is very tiny.
4. Update on Mason Manor Expansion project & authorization to
increase amount of contract for architectural services.
R. Strong stated that the
email from the architect contains a list of the additional time and costs for
the alternate bid drawing with no stairwell.
D. Dolan-Wallace stated
that architect should have provided the Authority with an alternative to the
$200,000.00 stairway to begin with.
R. Hallet stated that the
Authority had questioned whether or not the generator should be replaced. A new generator would require new wiring and
panel upgrades. If the concern is that
the current generator is underground, we may want to look at an above ground
tank in the future and then at some future point if we are upgrading the
electrical we could make sure the electrical would accommodate a new generator
at that time.
There was a question
regarding if the addition was protected with a lightning rod and yes, it is.
There was a question
regarding the sump pump and yes, it is protected from backup.
A motion was made by D.
Piton and seconded by H. Genunzio to authorize the payment of $6,820.00 to
Architects Group Limited and to receive and place on file the remainder of the
report. Motion carried.
5. Authorization for temporary
help while the Senior Accountant position is vacant and through a
familiarization period afterward.
R. Strong stated that the
Senior Accountant position has been through two rounds of interviews. There are three people that background checks
are being performed on. N. Aderholdt was
brought back to assist with the overflow of work. The Brown County Housing Authority just
authorized their portion for temporary help at their November 16th
meeting. N. Aderholdt has been with the
department for two and a half years and does not need to be trained. The Personnel Committee and Council have
given their approval to fill this temporary position. N. Aderholdt will also be kept on until the
new Senior Accountant has had time to become familiar with the job.
A motion was made by D.
Piton and seconded by D. Slater to authorize temporary help while the Senior
Accountant position is vacant and through a familiarization period
afterward. Motion carried.
6. Review
and possible action on an injury claim at Mason Manor.
The
Committee may potentially convene in closed session pursuant to Wisconsin
Statute 19.85 (1) (g) for the purpose of conferring with legal counsel for the
governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy
to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is
likely to become involved.
R. Strong stated that a
resident slipped in the laundry area of Mason Manor and was injured. The resident asked the Authority to provide
some type of payment and we declined.
The resident has filed small claims court paperwork. Our City Attorney has recommended that we let
this go through the court process and play itself out.
A motion was made by D.
Piton to convene in closed session. D.
Piton read the closed session language. H. Genunzio seconded the motion to go
into closed session. Motion carried.
D. Dolan-Wallace stated
that the meeting is back in open session.
A motion was made by D.
Piton and seconded by H. Genunzio to support the conversation that took place
in closed session and move forward with the small claims court process. Motion carried.
INFORMATIONAL:
None.
FINANCIAL REPORT AND BILLS:
D. Piton stated that when
the REAC bills start coming in he would like them highlighted or somehow marked
so that the Authority is aware of them.
A motion was made by H.
Genunzio and seconded by D. Piton to approve the financial report and
bills. Motion carried
STAFF REPORT:
R. Hallet stated that a letter was received from
Green Bay Water Utility regarding the cross control connections that they had
surveyed at Mason Manor. There were some
items that had to be corrected and this letter states that everything has been
reinspected and is in compliance.
R. Hallet stated that on September 23, 2009, the
Housing Authority Insurance Group did a site visit of Mason Manor and two
scattered site units. They recommended
that we enhance our inspections from being annually to at least
bi-annually. After speaking with M.
Barron, she understands that we do conduct the scattered site inspections
quarterly. They also recommended that
for the scattered sites that the trees need to be trimmed. M. Barron informed her that the trees are
trimmed every fall. (It was later clarified that bushes are trimmed each fall
but that Barron Rentals does not have the ability to trim tall trees so most
have not been trimmed in 20 years.)
R. Hallet thanked the Committee members for their
hard work and commitment. Committee
members received a certificate from the Mayor, a pen, and information on how to
run a meeting and the responsibilities of the being a committee member.
A motion was made by D. Slater and seconded D.
Piton to adjourn the meeting at 12:50 p.m.
Motion carried.