8.14.2023 Housing Authority

good evening everyone welcome to the forever Housing Authority regular session it's Monday August 14th 2023 and it is 4 35 p.m um attorney Souza the open meeting law please thank you thank you madam chairwoman the language for the open meeting law is as follows the person went to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or a video recording of this public meeting or may transmit

the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings are or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible thank here

thank you the first item on the agenda is Citizens input do I see any citizens input this evening seeing none residence input Ed

thank you Mary just a couple of quick things first is we're planning to have a couple of Elections one at Mitchell apartments and the other one at Cardinal Madera sometime in the next three or four months and we started soup delivery again we blouse started to bring it over we've done Cardinal and Mitchell For Soup delivery uh Monica Souza is now the with the agency that Kevin uh no no the agency

no the agency thank you yes she's been working for them so she's been doing a distribution for us there and we've been working with her and getting some things for the residents what's that it's quiet it's summer the winter is coming Winter's coming it won't be longer I'd like I'd like to say something on behalf of a resident sure uh last Friday we had the employee cookout at Old Village

uh it was quite a good turnout it was a good time had by all and I just wanted to I know uh Mr spadella has already acknowledged Joey de Silva but I wanted to do it from a commissioning standpoint that he does a great job him in uh his top Aid there Kelsey I believe her name is and all the kids that work with them they do a fantastic job and I got to see

it firsthand because they did it at the at the the development where I'm now living and I see how much work goes into it from start to finish so I just wanna just wanted to acknowledge thank you they do a great job you're correct item two is the minutes of the regular meeting held on July 10th 2023 and the executive session minutes from February 13 2023 through June 12 2023.

I have a motion to accept the minutes motion to accept the minutes second any questions with regard to the minutes as presented hearing none all in favor aye the next item is bills and Communications you have the vouchers in your packet to accept the vouchers I make a motion to accept the vouchers second any questions with regard to the vouchers sharing none all in favor aye next item are the management reports you

have the eight reports included in your packet report number one is the applications two is the occupancy reports three is the tenant accounts receivable report four is the work order report five is the monthly Section 8 voucher activity report six is the monthly Personnel count report seven is the director of modernization's monthly report and eight is the bond investment I'm sorry the Bank investment and bond

debt balance report do I have a motion to accept the reports as presented motion to accept management second any questions with regard to any of these reports there any none all in favor all right the next item is the financial report from the Director of Finance you have your in the packet your three months ended June 30 2023 reports

motion to accept the monthly financial statements thank you second thank you any questions with regard to these reports in essence you have the operating statement for each of our units programs hearing none all in favor aye Item B is the state quarter quarterly modernization report it's also for the period ended June 30 2023 is also included in your pack

make a motion to accept the report State quarterly modernization report second thank you any questions or concerns with regard to this report hearing none all in favor aye item six is an update from our executive director thank you madam chairwoman fellow Commissioners a few items just to watch everyone um last month Maria fonso from section 8 Department attorney Souza and I we attended the

Fall River Landlord Association meeting at The Townhouse Restaurant it was a good way to meet and greet and network with some of the landlords and um communicate our program to them and try to recruit there was a question and answer period Marie Alfonso did a great job answering questions we got in the program attorney Souza awesome job with some of the legal questions that came up

from some of the landlords so it was a good way to meet and put a face with some of the landlords and hopefully get them to uh participate more on our program I'm kind of cleared up some of the misnomers about our program so I thought it went very well so thank you to attorney Souza and Maria Alonso um on Section Eight uh yearly we get uh rated it's called cmap Section 8 management it's a assessment

preview uh it's another acronym that HUD uses so I may be uh mistaken on what it means but we did get a score of 97 percent so kudos to carry various and Maria fonso and their team in that department we traditionally do very well there and this Edition so 97 put you in the high performance percentile so I wanted to thank them we had some changes to our internal uh

sickly bank it's all volunteer so it has nothing to do with the union or the duration it's been in existence for quite some time back when Tom Collins was the executive director he originated it and we had some changes they meet monthly or quarterly I think there's about 33 members there's a committee of a representative from each unit and a non-union member and they vote on changes and

who gets additional sick leave if it's requested but just it's for informational purposes have the policy if anybody wants to review it but nothing nothing no formal votes or anything like that uh and the last thing I have just to echo on what commissioner Underhill had said earlier we had our Employee Appreciation cook out this past Friday thought it went really well Joey did a great job the music the

weather everybody seemed in good spirits it was a good way for co-workers to catch up with each other that don't work in the same departments and socialize a bit so I thought it went really well and that's all I have for this month great thank you okay any questions okay moving on to new business the first item is modernization item a is a change order number two for the roof replacement and roof Penthouse balcony

repairs at the George H cartel Heights this change order number two is a credit in the amount of 23 358.36 to the contract and it also um changes the contract duration by an increase of 168 days to have a motion to approve change order number two motion to approve change order number two second any questions with regard to the specific change order just just to confirm if I may that is a credit

and it is an extension the days to get it done as an increase so yes that would appear to be correct it's a decrease in the amount of the contract and an increase in the number of days so just to clarify the credit when we do these roofs these flat roofs systems we usually replace the pressure treated blocking along the Power Pit walls and it was in very good condition

so there was no need so once the schedule of value in the contract cooled around that so that's a credit the additional days was early on in the job waiting for different materials needed to come in there were delays with some of the vents for the penthouse area and some other material that didn't come in in a timely fashion so makes sense appreciate the clarification yeah thank you all in favor

aye Item B is a certificate of completion consolidation for the roof of price replacement in roof Penthouse slash balcony repairs at the George H cartel Heights motion to approved a certificate of completion second thank you all in favor oh any questions first it's a certificate of completion of the same project we just spoke of all in favor aye item C is permission to advertise for

bids for an emergency facade repairs at the Frank B aloe vera Apartments motion to give permission to advertise for the bids any questions with regard to these repairs hearing none all in favor aye item D is permission to advertise for bids for unit Rehabilitation at Benny Costa Plaza Apartment number 301 this was due to the fire damage promotion to improve permission to advertise for bids for unit

Rehabilitation at Pentecostal Plaza Apartment 301. second any questions with regard to this advertisement hearing none all in favor item e is permission to advertise for bids for National Grid Transformer replacement at the Edward F Doolin Apartments

permission to advertise for bids for and good Transformer second any questions with regard to this bid having none all in favor aye item f is a contract award for the roof replacement at 9 and 21 Corbett streets this is the chapter 689-1 it is e-o-h-l-c number zero nine five one six five the recommended action here is to avoid the contract to the low bidder motion approved the contracted a little bit second

any questions with regard to this contract award this is a contract award to award to fgr contractor Corporation in the amount of 39 715 contingent upon final review of the executive office of Housing and live in communities I knew I would get to it thank you all in favor aye

item two is miscellaneous 2A is the private security services at Edward F Dolan Apartments on the recommended action here is to continue security services at this site and permission to solicit new price quotes enjoy the motion first and then maybe Tim McCoy could give us some information on this thank you Tim um just as as the board is aware we solicited pursuant tool on an emergency basis we've had two extensions

the current one arguably not quite six full months I want to say it was technically 168 days it expires the Saturday of Labor Day we do 25 hours at about 912 dollars weak and dueling it runs Tuesday to Saturday 5 P.M to 10 p.m I was also thinking of tweaking that also to maybe six to 11 maybe even seven to twelve but the crucial thing is it it is I I wanted to

reinvestigate as to whether the Commissioners want to continue with this service that we provide for the tenants there and I guess it's self-explanatory if you authorize me to get new quotes I mean just the quotes that were originally solicited or arguably a little over a year old so I don't think we're in the range of where we would do a sealed bid because we wouldn't um exceed 50 000 but at least you know have

me solicits uh quotes hourly quotes from at least three vendors same vendor Maybe low again but um again I'd at least like a a vote of the board if it's their desire to continue this this contract over at Durham ah could I ask the question um so I know when we initially approved this it was around activities that were present at the apartments which to my knowledge many of those have been resolved so

do we feel or do we know if there's still the need for for this added security has there been any other any other activities happening there to Warrant it I can only I mean I can't speak for everyone so I know that there was recently there was an issue and unfortunately there was a it was a God who was covering for someone had a vacation day an instance with a motorcycle or whatever but again has sometimes

happened initial reports were a little bit naturally get the initial reports you go to the property manager and come to find out it wasn't necessarily exactly as portrayed however company was put on notice and I was assured in writing via email that that individual up at that particular day would not be bad now from what I understand and I'm solely going by uh conversations interaction with Commissioners like

yourself commissioner Medeiros and others that has appeared to subside I do know that there was some you know with uh coordination of attorney Souza and the housing unit that there there has been some changes made over at uh over at Doolin maybe those changes affected in a positive way the residents that that some of you folks would hear from but I haven't heard anything as as far as

anything anything derogatory as far as the current state of affairs from the board in some time now actually probably several months so but if it's again if it's the wishes of the board to continue I just would like to know how you want to how you want to proceed obviously too I mean I'm just throwing this out there if the board is of the mindset collectively to take a bit of a break

that's also up to the up to the board also and then if for some reason as we head into the winter months or a season whatever or any period really if for some reason you want to restart it you know but that's kind of why we're here I'm not getting it uh I don't know if attorney Souza or if the executive director can elaborate further other this incident as I said with a

motorcycle or that that revolved around a motorcycle but um you know the the other recent event at feedback that I've received from doing was on a separate issue nothing to do with the uh nothing to do with the security of that company it's just another contractor so again I'm more than happy to solicit if we want to run it through Labor Day and put things on hold for a little bit

but that's basically why I'm back here I'm looking for some direction sure thank you question uh length of that contract how long have we been well we added now so I want to say I want to say commissioner I thought we did so initially we probably did it for six months please don't quote me on this and I can email you tomorrow I think we I think we did a 90-day and

now we're at roughly six months so I want to say we did a six month and now we've gone another nine and uh again I don't know obviously I don't know when you folks are hearing but I haven't received feedback from any of the Commissioners and at least probably four or five months I would say fair enough I appreciate it I I think um the lack of complaints I guess that's the only way I

can put it it sounds like a terrible word but complaints tells me that what we did was the right decision and it's working and and I would like to continue it until I have a longer length of time to prove that like hey we got this you know like yes I can interrupt you it's impossible for me to quantify what's if what's still going on there results so I gotta deter into what's happening or if

it's a little bit redundant I'm not that's what I can't really quantify I appreciate it has been quieter which I think tells me we made the right decision and I'm willing to continue going forward up to the same point to go with commissioner Burns and said I think you know the old it's not broke why fix it I think it has helped with the problem some of the problems I say we still we should continue it

that's I'm in agreement I think I think it should be continued I'd like to maybe look at the hours that they're there maybe shift it a little later sure but um I think we should go and I'd like to see maybe year contract instead of trying to spawn sex gets hard enough to start with and then have to redo it every six months so I'd like to see a year contract for somebody

and if I can ask at the stuff does the boy does the board care I mean it would only be an hour or two tweaking of it so I mean if the board wants to leave it up to me that's fine unless you have a hard fast recommendation but I was thinking that it probably is time you know to maybe go again six to 11 or 7 to 12 with those five dollars with

that like that stop immediately well as of after September 2nd so the Tuesday after the the holiday Labor Day it's well lit bad right yeah the parking lot yeah we have cameras yeah yep I you know I would think that this would have been the time of year we should have tweaked we did so go to the later hours because it's you know stays light up well even one hour at least

would carrying it into that yeah yeah I wouldn't be opposed to that it's even with the darkness I mean you'd have to assume Folks at supper time right we think it'd be a little slower anyway even for maybe even nefarious activities yeah yeah everybody's gonna happen everybody's gonna eat so maybe six to eleven they'll still have some of this daylight I think we change mid-october I think

I know the residents feel a little better when they see the God and if you know they're coming home from work or coming home from shopping or whatever and stop stop and again I can't quantify but the car with the pinky light on top or whatever hopefully it's helped somewhat besides again some of the other efforts to yeah to quell the issues there you know do you need a motion to continue

Security Services and then do you need a motion to solicit

if this one's expiring in two weeks basically so I think I think we need a motion to um

all right the second one all right so let's do the first one for first one um I'll make a motion um hold on wait a minute so we have we have a motion we have a motion to continue the services at Doolin second and I have a second first and a second all in favor aye aye two I have a motion to um go out for bid for a one-year contract for security services at Doolin

I'll make a motion to go out for bids one-year security contract at dual apartment second all in favor all right okay okay thank you thank you okay thank you next is item three on the agenda it's the Personnel Mattis the first one is the retirement of an employee it's the recommended action to accept disability retirement of Jeffrey Estrella uh he's a maintenance mechanic and it is that date right

effective May 22nd 21.

going on okay I just want to make sure that was correct May 22nd 21.

disability process takes way too long so apparently I will put forward a motion to accept the res um the retirement of Jeffrey Estrella second all in favor aye Item B is the resignation of an employee it's to accept the resignation of Ruth Andrea andreo Andino and Dino okay sorry clerk interviewer effective July 10 2023.

second all in favor all right item C is the resignation of an employee it's to accept the resignation of Vanessa Cooper clerk interviewer effective July 14 2023.

I'll make a motion to accept the resignation of Vanessa Cooper second all in favor all right D do I have to do for interviews no the next day the permanent position and we're just ratifying the permanent status yes which you already did right after you've already ratified the right exactly sorry I needed clarification so item D does anyone have item D is the permanent um employee status for these eight

individuals does anyone have any one of them that they want to pull out and discuss separately or I need to uh abstain from uh number two on the list right oh yes you do and I'm telling you okay I don't know if you want to take the other ones as a group but I will abstain from them so I'll take number two first so okay that makes sense so do we have a motion to ratify

Elizabeth Burns as the Director of Human Resources emotional ratified with the business second um Martha do I need roll call sure commission Underhill yes commissioneros yes yes and commissioner Burns abstained yes abstained the remaining employees um for ratification are one Timothy Burke associate director of property management to Jason fawcia director of Maintenance three Todd Benavides

director of maintenance for Mark Silva maintenance Foreman slash leader 5.

Kevin roderick's maintenance Foreman slash leader six Francisco de limbo maintenance mechanic one slash floater and number seven Desi Perez Section 8 receptionist do I have a motion to ratify their permanent status motion approved their uh permanent status thank you roll call please Martha commissioner Burns yes commission Underhill yes commissioner Bentley yes Mr Medeiros yes yes um item e is the clerk interviewer

position there are two ratifications here the first one is she and Laberge do I have a motion to ratify the appointment of Xi'an Laberge as a clerk interviewer motion to ratify the appointment of Cheyenne leverge second commissioneros yes Mr Burns yes commissioner Bentley yes Mission under Health yes yes um same position clerk interviewer on second individual is hello hello Silva ratify the appointment

for the clerk interview emotional ratify the appointment second personal Burns yes yes yes and item f is the work order facilities coordinated job description that is in your packet do we have a motion to approve this um job description it's a union position will approve job description thank you any questions with regard to this particular job description is this a new job description that's been tweaked

any questions all in favor aye aye that is the end of our regular agenda the next item is executive session this is a Personnel matter it's anticipated except executive session pursuant to Mass General Lord chapter 30A section 21 A1 it's to discuss discipline or dismissal of or complaints or charges against a public officer employee staff member or individual I recommend that we go into executive

session for this matter executive session second commissioner Burns yes commissioner Maderos yes Mr Bentley yes Michelle Underhill yes yes come out of Executives we did okay when we made a motion yes I may come out of executive session and all in favor yeah all in favor so now we are back in Open Session yes Victoria back in Open session with regard to the um the executive session Personnel matter um

basically we've come to an agreement where there would be an in-house agreement made between that particular employee so the issue has been resolved in-house thank you motion when we join second all in favor aye thank you everyone good job guys thank you