The Fall River Housing Authority Board convened on May 13, 2024, at 4:34 PM. Following a roll call and an Open Meeting Law statement, Ed Gagman, Executive Director of the Fall River Joint Tenants Council, provided citizen input, highlighting the addition of two new tenant assistants, bringing the total to 12, and announcing the Tenants Association's upcoming attendance at the state Mass Union of Tenants conference and a visit to the State House. The board then voted unanimously to take two new business items out of order to accommodate Mr. McCoy, who had another meeting. The board unanimously approved a three-year contract with two one-year renewal options for fire alarm and fire panel testing, inspection, and repair services to Rustic Fire Protection, not to exceed $14,990. They also unanimously awarded one-year contracts to SHS Construction and Patriot Construction for on-call painting services, each not to exceed $60,000. This decision was made to supplement the internal workforce for tasks beyond current capacity, such as exterior painting and during the internal painter's absences. The board also unanimously accepted the minutes from the April 8, 2024, meeting, bills and communications, and a group of management reports. Key financial approvals included the unanimous adoption of the FY 2025 budget books, which reported total consolidated revenues of $56,450,367, total consolidated expenses of $55,252,257, and a net income of $1,198,110. A commissioner noted the significant disparity between federal public housing (over 2,000 units) and state public housing (274 units). Further unanimous approvals included the FY 2024 State Budget Revision, the FY 2025 State Budget 400-168 MRVP, and the State Quarterly Modernization Report for the period ending March 31, 2024. The Executive Director provided updates on staffing changes, including the promotion of two clerical staff to temporary managers due to retirements (Ival Martinez after 28 years and Betsy Guzman after 13 years), new hires, and the successful implementation of part-time clerical positions through a memorandum of understanding with the local union. He also discussed efforts to update agreements with Citizens for Citizens regarding daycare programs at Heritage Heights and Benny Casta Plaza, aiming to recover utility costs and explore offering reduced daycare to Housing Authority employees. Under new business, the board unanimously approved a certificate of substantial completion for fire alarm panel replacement at Frank B. Alva Apartments, designated General Counsel to respond to Open Meeting Law complaints filed by Patrick Higgins, and approved the FY 2024 Lead Based Paint Certificate of Compliance, waivers for laundry rooms and the Transitional Housing Program at Maple Gardens, and the EOHLC Wage Match Certification for FY 2024. The meeting concluded with a unanimous vote to adjourn.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Watch the video to verify.
Council
City Officials
Public / Other
order it is 4:34 meeting of the for River Housing Authority board start this off we'll go with a roll call chairman long here Vice chairman Underhill here commissioner Burns here commissioner Bentley president commissioner madas here M can read the uh thank you Mr chairman so the M the language for the open meeting law is as follows person went to the open meeting law and the person may make an audience or video
0:30recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible we have anybody interested in citizen input excuse me Kevin are we taking stuff out of water we have any Resident input yes just wanted to let the Commissioners
1:03know say your name please oh I'm sorry Ed gagman forward joint tenants Council executive director just to let everyone know we have two brand new tenant assistants that have started brings the total to 12 and for your information we're the only we're the only Housing Authority in the state with a program like this where we use where we utilize tenants to actually assist the maintenance
1:24Personnel in keeping the grounds clean that's nice yeah I like and the m insute that tenants Association will be attending the mass the state Mass Union of tenants conference this P this coming weekend and spending Monday at the State House nice so that's all thank you that's awesome thank you ion any other resonant input see none we have a motion to take two items out of order it's 2 a and 2 B
1:57for uh Mr McCoy who has a another meeting is going to get to I make a motion um under new business to take item 2A fire alarm and fire panel testing and inspection repairs and item 2B on call Trade Services for painting to take those out of order second all those in favor I opposed so we're just going to go right to the two yeah we could just read the uh read the
2:39item got it all right item 2A was fire alarm and fire panel testing inspection repair services recommended actions is to award a three-year contract with two additional separate and distinct one-year contract renewal options at the sole discretion of the for housing authority to a low bder rustic fire prot protection in the amount not to exceed
3:08$14,990 any discussions I'll make a motion to uh award the contract second motion being made and seconded all those in favor I I opposed unanimous second item is the on call Trade Services for painting recommended action a water one year contract to shs construction and Patriot construction an amount not to exceed $60,000 each motion I'll make a motion uh to award one-year contracts to shav's
3:45construction and patriot con Construction in the amount not to exceed 60,000 each just one question might after we do the second put a second so it's on the floor so got a second I got a second okay second as I we'll have a discussion as I always ask with the uh discussion uh this is outside of what we do with our Workforce correct correct above and beyond uh can I
4:13elaborate yes the um I didn't want to I I I think I'm anticipating the uh so uh variety of reasons um first of all I guess uh day-to-day in managerial um we're going to be losing painters obviously with the the weather and whatnot the folks that do exterior that's number one number two um and I don't I don't mean to uh diminish the skill level or capacity of the contractors typically when you're
4:41outside of HVAC Plumbing or electrical a lot of these on call contract is can interact with um your less technical trades right carentry and and painting some will be mobilized for a cop to job and then there's some painting after so from an accounting and fiscal respons ability I like the fact that we could separate the work you know because your natural inclination when you're a
5:05facility supervisor is okay you did the kitchy that we need some backsplash painted or we need the ceilings painted uh I think for accounting purposes for our person as our our uh personnel and for myself to actually see where the work is um uh and and to decipher what we're doing inside what we're doing outside on a positive note um these folks are both uh uh uh already call carpentry folks um and granted we're
5:33early in the fiscal year but because we now have a full compliment of Carpenters We've actually seen our expenditures go down on the alol side for carpentry but for those variety of reasons um that's why I wanted to Pivot and and get these folks on board they also happen to be the next two in line from their hourly offers on the painting side so for those for conglomeration of those reasons and
5:58as you know we were encouraged back in 2017 or 2018 uh by Hud to get these on calls in place to support our internal so we have it for all the trades and additional stuff like the emergency doors um we're about to you'll probably see one more we did not get a labor price uh from an hbac company so we have we have two that we've had in the past
6:22that for some reason did not respond and I did email the the company I'm getting off track a little but I emailed the company had an on call the last on call contract for that so you may see that again next month Eddie and I this week would like to reach out because we'd like to have somebody in place rather than just issue a p but that's kind of
6:42in a in a big nutshell but that's kind of the reasoning to your point I I ask that so that people who are tuning in understand that that's support there's a process here we're not we're not taking work away from in-house employees this is either above and beyond it's different scope of work whatever the practice may be and commissioner on the painting side we do only have one internal and I would ass I would assume
7:07and not wanting to necessarily speak for the for the facilities directed but I'm assuming iron Cainer is mostly an occupied units so a unit that's being made ready or let's say uh hallways or common areas or whatever I would think that one gentleman we have is predominant you know in an occupied doing a kitchen ceiling or paint you know I mean a bedroom or whatever and dealing directly with our uh with our
7:31tenants you know and obviously when that one in call person has vacations ill or personal time you're going to you you're going to need some outside help for when they're when they're absent especially if you get an emergency or priority a leak or whatever yes all those in favor I iOS and if I may Mr chair want to thank you uh I'm assured that I the believe this is the only conflict I'm going to
8:01have with the with the search committee but I want to thank the board for indulging me much appreciated good luck good thank you CH on to uh minutes of the regular meeting held on a April 8th 2024 if everybody anybody reviewed them I have a motion to accept motion to accept second motion to made to accept seconded any discussion V and all those in favor I opposed unanimous bills and
8:54Communications anybody review those then uh I'll take a a vote to uh accept motion to accept motion to accept second motion to accept made and seconded any discussion no discussion all those in favor I opposed management reports we going to take these one at a time or we take them all together all together you can read them all okay the management reports consist of the applications occupancy
9:27reports tenants re able work order reports monthly section and voucher activity reports the monthly Personnel account report director of modernization monthly report Bank investment and bond Department balance reports I'll uh entertain a motion to accept I'll make a motion to accept them all the reports as a group second motions made in second any discussion no discussion all those in favor hi oppose Financial
10:05reports on fiscal year ending 2025 budget books I'll I'll I'll let detain a motion to approve I'll make a motion to approve the um FY 25 budget books second motion any discussion I have uh something I'd like to just read in which I found uh very uh interesting um if you look at the consolidation of the budget okay the total revenues on the Consolidated basis are 56 m45036fbn of $1,198 $110 I'm sorry operating subsidy
11:05of 11,696 1820 and we can go on and on but the uh what I found interesting in this is it gives you some of the numbers of the under the housing okay Federal public housing and I think this is good for people who are listening represents over 2,000 housing units total revenue in the program is budgeted at 22 m798 357 okay and it goes through all the uh uh the way that is allocated so we had
11:392,000 housing units on the federal side then on the state side state public housing represents 274 housing units which was a in big contrast between the federal and the state and federal we had 2,000 housing units in under the state we have 274 I found that very very interesting um and it breaks on the budget as as uh how it's how it's allocated so I just I found that those
12:04two items were uh they kind of stuck out to me and I was like wow I didn't I didn't know what that was and now I do and then looking at the budget in general um most of the in income that comes in goes out in administrative Pieces Just paying everybody to keep this place up and taking care of the place so uh you know it's just interesting in the numbers that came up
12:25so I just wanted to bring that up any the other discussion seeing none all those in favor I opposed unanimous next one okay now we're go into the fisy state budget revision um 2024 make Mo I'll entertain a motion to uh approve motion to approve state budget is there a second second discussion no discussion all those in favor I opposed unanimous this is for the fiscal year 2025 state budget 400 d168 mrvp I a motion to
13:24approve motion approve second appr and second any discussion seeing none all those in favor I opposed unanimous State quarterly modernization report for period ending 33124 entertain a motion to approve motion to approve second approve a second any discussion seeing none all those in favor I I opposed update from the executive director just information thank you uh chairman long
14:09uh a couple of things so um through our human resource department uh We've promoted two internal um staff members on the clerical side to Temporary managers we have um two managers that are retiring we also uh hired a temporary truck driver three full-time clerks and two pot time clerks um the partt time is something new that was achieved through a memorandum of understanding with uh the
14:47local union um we're really struggling um keeping and retaining um full-time clerical staff through retirement through people just leaving um so we attempted another uh uh uh route by um seeking pot time you trct to pot um retirees that want to fill in some time or young mothers that have children that that need different hours so uh it worked out well we were able to um hire these people um and I think we
15:27we might even have one other uh part-time staff person coming on so that will really help us on the clerical end maintain our level of customer service because with the shortages you have to close the offices at different sites and it's it's frustrating for us but more frustrating for our residents so um I think with this agreement with the Union it'll be successful and uh as I said we'll be able to maintain a
15:55reasonable level of uh customer service um I'd also want to mention the two managers that are retiring uh ival Martinez she um served the Housing Authority for 28 years um so was valuable and dedicated to the housing authority and also Betsy Guzman who uh served 13 years for the Housing Authority so a big thank you uh to them to those two ladies appreciate their their work here um and we'll be as we do normally we'll
16:32have some gifts and a uh gift card for them as well um this last thing I have uh I've been playing phone tag with the executive director at citizens for Citizens um uh attorney susar and I were trying to update any uh memorandums of agreement with outside uh agencies uh specifically social service agencies and there were a couple of agreements that were from many years ago that um were not fully
17:09executed um we have two sites uh Heritage Heights we allow CFC to run an early daycare program in our uh uh building there and also at Benny Casta Plaza uh in the Community Hall so um in the spirit of cooperation and assisting um you know one of our social service agencies I want to get these agreements updated um I have uh Nell souer in our finance director looking at the cost of
17:48our utilities for those two sites um my position at the Housing Authority I'm not looking to make money on another social service agency but I think it's only fair that we try to recover the cost um gas electric water and sewer um and also um introduce maybe a um a free or reduced daycare amount to employees here at the Housing Authority because Elizabeth Burns and Human Resources has
18:25found it's been difficult at times trying to hire people that that need daycare or affordable daycare so just trying to think a little bit outside of the box and see if we can come to an agreement with them um again to just to cover our cost and maybe uh offer uh assistance to employees here that need need daycare services so I'll keep you informed I'll keep you updated um as I
18:54said we've been playing phone tag but that will be uh that's the nature the conversation that I plan to have with them um so and that's all I have for this month thank you any questions discussions we'll move on on the new business we have mod modernization a uh certificate of substantial completion for the fire alarm panel replacement at Frank B ala Apartments make uh obain a motion to
19:26approve make a motion or approve second Mo made and seconded any discussion see none all those in favor I posed two is already done two B is already two c open meeting law complaints filed by Patrick Higgins on March 17 2024 in reference to the 31124 regular board meeting recommended action is to designate General councel to respond to oml complaints Iain a motion to uh designate the general councel to
20:09respond I will make a motion that we have general counsel respond to the open meeting law complaint second discussion any discussion I think it's important that we uh allow General Council to uh take this it's not something that the uh board is ready to handle it's a uh legal problem and I think the best thing to do is to give it to General councel so having a motion on and seconded all those in favor I
20:45post unanimous Mr chair FY 20124 lead best paint lead based paint certificate of compliance recommended action is for approval and execution of a certificate by commissioner and the executive director entertain motion motion to approve second motion remain second any discussion if I could just add uh chairman uh if all of you could just hang around a minute or two after the meeting because it does require
21:24signatures on that every each and every one of you okay any other discussion see none all those in favor I opposed next order of business is waivers for laundry rooms and transitional housing program thp at Maple Gardens units 29b 50b and 35a recommended actions for approval entertain a motion a motion to approve second me second they need to discussion seeing none all those in favor I I opposed
22:06unanimous the eoh LC wage match certification for FY 2024 the EOL eoh LC is is hard dhcd the old dhcd yeah the old dhcd now it's the eoh LC or whatever I okay recommend the next is approval and execution of certificate by chairman executive director for submission to eoh hlc take me a while to get used to that and the transaction of other business that may come before the meeting entertain a
22:42motion I'll make a motion for the eoh hlc wage mat certification for fy2 24 the second second made second any discussion all those in favor I I oppos that is it we just need to Martha will just need to get some signatures motion to adjourn oh make a motion to adjourn second discussion seeing none all those in favor I opposed great thank you all