MINUTES
Thursday, March 18, 2010
10:30 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: David Dolan-Wallace-Chair, Daniel
Slater-Vice-Chair, W. VandeCastle, H. Genunzio, and Ald. Piton
MEMBERS
EXCUSED: None
MEMBERS
ABSENT: None
OTHERS PRESENT: Rob Strong, Robyn Hallet, Anne Monday, Matt Schampers,
Nikki Aderholdt, Kail Decker, Molly Barron
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
1. Approval of the minutes from the February 18, 2010, meeting
of the Housing Authority of the City of
A motion was made by D.
Slater and seconded by Ald. Piton to approve the minutes from the February 18, 2010,
meeting of the Housing Authority of the City of
COMMUNICATIONS:
None
OLD BUSINESS:
2. Update
and possible action regarding review of tenant files by Barron Rentals.
R.
Hallet stated that she and R. Strong met with representatives from Integrated
Community Solutions (ICS) to discuss the errors found in tenant files that Barron
Rentals discovered when then they took over management. Through the discussions with ICS questions
came up and we contacted HUD through a conference call and HUD alleviated some
of the questions. Everyone agreed that
we need to pay to the tenants what is due to them and pay to WPS, or to the
tenant depending on the client status with their utility bill, the utility
reimbursements. There was a question
with overpayments, the amounts that tenants should have paid and amounts that
were paid to WPS but shouldn’t have been.
R.
Strong interjected that he felt the Authority should go into closed session at
this time.
R.
Hallet read the closed session language.
A
motion was made by Ald. Piton and seconded by H. Genunzio to move into closed
session. Roll call was taken. Motion
carried 5-0.
A motion was made by W.
VandeCastle and seconded by D. Slater to return to open session. Motion carried.
K. Decker reported out that
the general discussion in closed session was regarding litigation that the Authority
and ICS might become involved in.
NEW BUSINESS:
3. Discussion and approval to updated Chapters 1
(Overview of the Program and Plan) and 2 (Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity)
to Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policies.
R.
Hallet stated that several meetings back we informed the Authority that we
would be reviewing the ACOP, which is the Admissions and Continued Occupancy
Polices, chapter by chapter to ensure it is in compliance with HUD requirements
as well as to bring up to date any policy changes that we are allowed to make
locally. With the help of N. Aderholdt,
we have completed Chapters one and two.
Molly Barron and her staff were also involved in this.
N.
Aderholdt explained that Chapter one is the overview and it goes into the
organization and structure of the Housing Authority and what our mission is. It
reviews the history of the entire public housing program. It talks about HUD’s responsibilities, the
responsibilities of the Authority, and the responsibilities of the tenant. Chapter two is fair housing issues. It focuses on nondiscrimination and addresses
persons with disabilities and reasonable accommodations. It goes into how a request for reasonable
accommodations should be made and the approval process for those requests. There is a section on Limited English
Proficiency persons and how we need to address those issues.
R.
Strong stated that we are basically changing the format of the documents that
we have for the Housing Authority and following a format that is prepared by Nan
McKay & Associates and adding in our policies. The format should be easier to read.
N.
Aderholdt stated that this will be more condensed and much more organized. This format is going to be a lot easier to
understand.
R.
Hallet explained that Nan McKay provides a model that we can use and we can
trust that Nan McKay has ensured that all HUD requirements, wording, or options
are included. From there, Nan McKay’s
model allows for some discretion if you want to locally do something one way or
another. They either lay out the options
available to Housing Authorities or it is open ended and you can modify it to
fit your community as needed. Whenever
you see an indent with GBHA Policy that is where we define locally how
we are going to handle an issue.
R.
Strong stated that there is time if the Authority would like to look these two
chapters over and then bring it back to the next meeting for approval. Staff makes sure that when we bring a chapter
before the Authority, we are comfortable with the way it reads and it will be
coming with staff recommendation to approve.
A
motion was made by W. VandeCastle and seconded by D. Slater to approve updated
Chapters 1 (Overview of the Program and Plan) and 2 (Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity) to the Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policies. Motion carried.
4. Discussion and action on Five year/Annual PHA
Agency Plan.
R.
Hallet stated that at the last meeting it was mentioned that this is the time
that we need to do a new five year plan, which will also serve as the annual
plan. R. Hallet presented the
information contained in the plan.
Ald.
Piton stated that in section 10.0, the word “vacancy” needed to be changed to
“occupancy” for the sentence, “The vacancy rate at Mason Manor has remained at
a high 98.5% over the past five years.”
Ald.
Piton asked about the wording regarding the goal to improve community qualify
of life and economic vitality that we have made efforts to deconcentrate
poverty and as a result the average income of Mason Manor residents has
increased slightly while the income of Scattered Site residents has increased
by over 24%. He questioned what action
we took to make this happen.
M.
Barron stated that for Scattered Sites they have done a tighter screening on
the tenants that come to them. Tenants with income and good landlord references
were more apt to take care of their residence and pay the rent on time.
R.
Hallet stated that the Resident Advisory Board meeting/ public hearing is tonight. There needs to be a public hearing but there
was a mix up with the publication of the dates.
Ideally we would have had the public hearing before tonight so that we
could incorporate any comments that they have into today’s Authority
meeting. This could be addressed in a
couple of different ways. The Authority
could approve this contingent upon any reasonable comments that the Resident
Advisory Board might make or if the Authority prefers that we come back with
any comments we could schedule a special meeting for the beginning of
April. The 5 year plan is due April 17th
or April 18th.
The
Authority decided that they would like to hold a special meeting.
W.
VandeCastle stated that back on the point of the deconcentration of poverty, is
there anything that we could reference on the support we have given
NeighborWorks® Green Bay. We have
invested substantial funds to help them out.
R. Strong stated that in the ACOP that we
just looked at, HUD sets a goal that 40% of your tenants should be very low
income and here they are asking what you are doing to distribute that.
Ald.
Piton stated that his take is that they mean geographical deconcentration and
what we are doing to disperse this throughout the city.
R.
Hallet explained to the Authority that any capital improvements that are made
to a property have to go through a public hearing. The best way to address this is to include
any possible capital improvements that we might do in this plan. If we don’t do them all that is okay. If there is something that we might do in the
next five years and we do not put it in this plan, then we would have to do a
public hearing at that time. Together
with A. Monday, M. Barron and her staff, we put together a list of what kind of
work might need to be done over the next five years.
D.
Dolan-Wallace suggested that fire protection be added to the list for Mason
Manor.
R.
Hallet stated some other things she thought of for Mason Manor are additional
security cameras for the new addition and key card units for the addition. Some additional items for scattered sites are
closet doors, which currently require a lot of maintenance because they
continually fall off the tracks. There
is one unit that needs its heating system modified. There are bathtubs that
need to be refinished.
In regards to carbon monoxide detectors, M.
Barron stated that each of the scattered unit sites already has a plug in
carbon monoxide detector. R. Hallet
stated that she believes she read that one may be needed for each floor in the
scattered sites but would need to check on this further.
R.
Hallet stated that the information on these capital improvement items would be
put on the forms required by HUD.
A motion was made by W. VandeCastle and
seconded by Ald. Piton to hold a special meeting of the Green Bay Housing
Authority on April 8th at 9:30 a.m. to hear any comments from the
Resident Advisory Board and approve the final Five year/Annual PHA Agency Plan
at that time. Motion carried.
R.
Strong stated that the motion to hold for a special meeting would also apply
for item 5.
5. Adoption of Resolution 10-02: PHA
Certification of Compliance with the PHA Plan and Related Regulations: Board
Resolution to Accompany the PHA 5-Year and Annual PHA Plan.
A
motion was made by W. VandeCastle and seconded by Ald. Piton to hold a special
meeting of the Green Bay Housing Authority on April 8th at 9:30 a.m.
to hear any comments from the Resident Advisory Board and then consider the
adoption of Resolution 10-02: PHA Certification of Compliance with the PHA Plan
and Related Regulations: Board Resolution to Accompany the PHA 5-Year and
Annual PHA Plan. Motion carried.
6. Discussion and possible action on revision of
by-laws regarding term limits for commissioners, unexcused absences and
formalizing the make-up of the commissioners.
D.
Dolan-Wallace stated that he brought this to the table partly in response to a
comment that K. Pamperin had made before he retired about the Brown County
Housing Authority and how they serve their terms as an officer and just as a
commissioner.
R.
Strong stated that the BCHA has set an informal policy that the when it is time
for a new chairperson, the vice-chair moves up to that position. There is a set rotation. The previous chairperson of the GBHA was in
place for 28 years. It is up to the GBHA
how they want to handle this.
R.
Strong stated that for unexcused absences the Mayor had handed out a pamphlet
that stated that there should not be more than three unexcused absences in a
year. It doesn’t say you would be
removed from the Committee but just that the expectation is that you would not
have more than three unexcused absences.
He doesn’t believe we need to amend the bylaws to enforce this.
After
some discussion the Authority decided to leave the terms and make up of chair
and vice-chair as they are and open to anyone who is interested, as well as not
make any changes regarding unexcused absences.
R.
Strong stated that there is no action needed.
A
motion was made by Ald. Piton and seconded by D. Slater to receive and place on
file the possible action on revision of by-laws regarding term limits for
commissioners, unexcused absences and formalizing the make-up of the
commissioners. Motion carried.
7. Discussion and possible approval
to create a limited term fulltime position with benefits to assist Housing
Administrator.
R.
Strong stated that soon after R. Hallet came on board approximately seven
months ago, the senior accountant left and took a job with HUD. During that interim, the BCHA and the GBHA
authorized bringing back N. Aderholdt as an intern. She has been an intern on and off for three
years. He has spoken with R. Hallet and
we would like to keep N. Aderholdt on but as a full time employee to assist R.
Hallet. The funds would be coming from
the operating budget, not the reserves.
She would be funded through the BCHA and the GBHA. The BCHA has approved their funding.
M.
Schampers went over the budget and what monies are available. Currently we are projected to finish
$24,471.00 under budget due to his and R. Hallet’s positions being vacant and
the fact that they are starting at lower salaries. The position would be a 50/50 split with the
BCHA so the GBHA would only pay half of the salary.
R.
Strong stated that we feel comfortable in terms of funds with adding this
fulltime position. If we would have a
couple of bad years and we would still require this position, we would be able
to dip into our reserve funds. The goal
is not to get there. This is being
structured as a Limited Term Employee in case we come to a point that we do not
need this position. This would need to
go through the city processes for hiring.
Ald.
Piton questioned what the salary is.
R.
Strong stated that the GBHA’s portion of the salary with fringes would be $32,964.63.
A
motion was made by W. VandeCastle and seconded by H. Genunzio to approve the creation of a limited term
fulltime position with benefits to assist Housing Administrator. Motion carried.
INFORMATIONAL:
None
FINANCIAL REPORT AND BILLS:
The Authority has
requested that the financial report and bills be included in the agenda packet.
A motion was made by W.
VandeCastle and seconded by Ald. Piton to approve the financial report and
payment of the bills. Motion carried.
STAFF REPORT:
8. Update
on Mason Manor Expansion project.
Fencing
is up and the equipment is out there. R. Hallet stated that the gazebo was
moved and seems to be in good shape and will be able to continue being used.
R.
Strong stated that the ground breaking is on March 29th and asked if
10:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. would be better for the Authority.
The
Authority decided that 1:00 p.m. would work best.
9. Monthly report from Barron Rentals of
deficiencies found in previous month’s Scattered Site quarterly inspections.
M. Barron stated the report is
pretty standard. There are seven vacant
units. There are two units that are
offline for improvements. There are three tenants that were terminated by management.
A motion was made by
10. Review of Capital Improvement funding
status.
R. Hallet stated that this came in
as a request from Ald. Piton.
R. Strong stated that basically we are looking at
whether or not we have the funds available to work on the improvements that are
needed. A summary has been provided in
the agenda packet of what funds are available.
M. Schampers stated that if we would spend the
money on something that is not listed on here, we would need to obtain HUD
approval.
R. Strong questioned if we want to continue to meet
at Mason Manor for the monthly meetings during the construction.
R. Hallet stated that it would be more difficult
for Helen to attend if they were not held at Mason Manner.
The decision was to continue to meet at Mason Manor
unless it becomes an issue and then this would be readdressed at that
time.
A motion was made by D. Slater and seconded by H.
Genunzio to adjourn the meeting at 12:30 p.m.
Motion carried.
:dr