9.9.2024 Housing Authority

I call the uh for Housing Authority board meeting to order at 4:35 roll call chairman long here Vice chairman Underhill absent commissioner Burns here commissioner Bentley present commissioner madas here language for open meeting wel thank you Mr chairman the language for the open meeting law uh first with to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public

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 citizen input is anybody here for a citizen input seeing no we move on Resident input you have any residents like to speak your name and address please uh Robert B

1685 Pleasant Street cartel Heights and I'm here speaking for some most of the residents in that building have a major safety concern at night people are getting let in the building we'll never know by who but I've chased somebody out of there at 5:00 in the morning they ran out the back door of the community room how they got in I don't know but I know residents have approached me and they're afraid to

come down and do their laundry after 7 o'clock at night and I'm sure in the winter it'll be 5:00 at night you have people that don't even want to sit outside and have a cigarette at night because of the people now during the day it's been me and three other guys from the building that have been policing it ourselves and we actually did pretty good we got people stopping to bump

trying to bump cigarettes or a dollar from an elderly person they see outside got them to stop sitting on the benches but at night it's a different ball game when the bus terminal across the street they B basally sleep in it sometimes and they'll come on to the property I've caught one guy sleeping on the bench I mean it's just the point where the residents are not feeling safe and

they're not really we we start getting them out of their house to play Bingo opino whatever it may be we have in the community room cookouts they're enjoying themselves and then last week when they put the voting machines in on a Friday I informed them that we had a t a new pool table coming on Wednesday that I got donated and it was going to be delivered and the residents just started coming

out having fun they got locked out of that community room from Friday until Wednesday at 12:30 when the city decided to pick up their boting boots I know that that's not your issue but point me in the right direction and I'll go take it up with them it's just I mean we've really got these residents coming out we have Bingo on Thursday night we must had 25 people there last week enjoying himself so my

my first question Mr Bal was this address to site management yes and yes and they got to speak to this we have the office when there when when there's somebody in it Wednesday Thursday Friday oh okay sometimes it's closed Wednesday morning sometimes we'll get Todd in the afternoon we always have Todd on a Thursday last week I know the office manager was sick so we had TI two days a

week I I have we have resident meetings there in in the hall and they bring their issues and I'll bring them all at once to the to the office and I brought them several times so uh going forward and we'll uh certainly um following the meeting I'll look into your concerns absolutely we we don't want any Resident to feel unsafe there um but when you have your your resident meeting put those concerns in writing to site

management but Ed gagman is also the executive director of The Joint tenets Council who I meet with him on a monthly basis so if you can also copy or get a copy to any concerns to him and that's probably a better way we can get things addressed and then I'm aware of of what's going on but we'll certainly look into those concerns we don't want you or anybody in the building to feel unsafe

as far as now the pool table was that coordinated with the Housing Authority it was coordinated asked the office man manager that they have one there that's beat up ripped ain't worth nothing the man somebody donated a $1500 for us to purchase one and it's going to basically go in the same place he's going to remove the old pool table and put the new one in the same place so she did say

yes yeah without knowing all the details um the voting does take precedent okay that's one of the polling places for the city we have an agreement with the city of course voting is Extreme important to the citizens so it probably wasn't the best timing to have a pool table changed out um unfortunately well no cuz when they delivered the voting machines on that Friday I was there and it's the

same people that picked them up and I explained to him that there's a pool table coming Wednesday and it'll be delivered at 9:30 they El no problem and we could not get in the guys did show up at 9:30 with two helpers I don't know what he p he wasn't worried about it but it was he couldn't deliver it cuz we couldn't get in and now we're going into

another week and I have to give him a few days to get I understand for him to get his help yeah that's no Pro that's no fault of yours with the voting thing I totally understand that but yeah I don't know why you wouldn't have in though the Community Hall is not locked it is they put the voting things in there and they locked that door yeah we

had no access to it at all and I've been putting cookout on the weekend and basically I went in there on Friday and took all the stuff that we needed for the cookouts out so we could have one on that Saturday afternoon all right I I'll have to look into it further because those those Community rooms shouldn't be locked so that's that's news to me that uh that it's being locked that's why I ask

respectfully put it in writing to the site manager but also copy Mr gagman so when I meet with him I'm I'm more familiar with what with what's going on so okay so I bring up their other issue as far as their community room I mean I got a TV donated a 43 in now when I got there when I went back with my wife they had a TV that was still had a BCR and DVD

player in it didn't work was not functional at all I got a TV donated still waiting for it to be put up and yes I did ask maintenance I did ask the office I was told was going to get put up yeah we'll we'll look into that cuz the other residents that are going to other places and see these things they have like this we provide stuff to the community room you shouldn't be

accepting any donations and it wouldn't be we wouldn't allow Mains to install something like that for the just for the purpose of liability and they're not TV installers their maintenance mechanics right so obviously there's some poor communication that I definitely will address first thing tomorrow thank you and uh we'll look into your concerns okay thank you I did leave my number but

I yes all right hey thank you very much you are welcome thank

you any other resident input yeah nice be nice we have three brand new tenant systems we've added one at bessi one here at O'Brien which I assume management is seen and we've added one at North Oakland for Bob's comments Kevin and I probably going to talk about this at our next meeting I'm hearing that in every building I go into I hate to be the bear of that type every building where I meet

with folks I hear the same thing people coming into the building at night how they're getting in I've talked to tenants I forget which building where was I Mitchell we've tried to explain to them don't let anybody come in with you don't buzz anybody in unless you know who it is I hate to say it in a lot of cases and I hate to be mean the tenants are letting them in absolutely I know I

just don't know which one they can't figure out they can't stop the tenant from opening the door I can't stop you can't stop We Can't Stop abely know the way they I all 11 and that complaint you just gave is the one I here in every highrise every one of them I have a major confrontation with another resident because I wouldn't let that person into the into the building so you

damn if you do you damn if you don't this we we get a lot of wouldn't tell me who I just said well listen I got a call close the door you're going to have to buzz the apartment for them to let you in so no matter which way you work at it if I wasn't the type of person that wasn't afraid to stand up to this person I could been the law prop

as I made my travels this month I all the sum you as I go around W building but I will tell you one thing most of the buildings are very clean between attendant assistants the the employees the buildings are clean at least the ones I've been going into I've been in 10 of the 11 they're they're they are clean places are looking really good that's good to hear yeah but again as far as keeping

people out I can't Kevin and I count think we can figure it out I I I just have a question for you is it mostly like after a certain time it's happening is it like after some buildings it's all day some buildings it's all day okay the the non the non-residents they're wandering around during the day they need a place to sleep at night they don't want they're homeless they don't

want to go sleep in the shelters for whatever reason and they're sneaking in their buildings we've got I've seen them sleeping in we've got them in cardinal they'll sleep in the back we've got those little Portico in the back and we got two benches we'll find them sleeping there in the morning they don't live there we used that we had a homeless Enclave behind Mitchell for a while a

few years back two or three years back we had a homeless Enclave back there so it's not easy and I don't fault the tenants for you know no not we've talked about this how many times Kevin how do we do it I don't know you putting a guard at the door short of putting what a guard at the door we had have the going on and it worked wonderfully

at our place it really did if we just had someone from like 11: in the even until 600 or 7 in the morning that would be perfect that would be all we need cuz that's the most dangerous time I've G down at 3:30 in the morning and found them sleeping in the laundry room on the laundry table so again so everybody's aware for the record any issues in your building

you go to your site manager yes if you're not get any anywhere with site management you call the management department uh Tim Burke Mr Burke is there and also you should keep Ed informed Ed I have to say we meet this is the first I'm hearing of this issue you made no mention of this to me and this is not the place bring this up now you should have told me when we meet we

were going to meet Wednesday and talk about it when we met Wednesday because I've been making my travels and hearing it so that's the that's the proper protocol to follow um rest assured I'll look into your issues and there'll be a response going to mention it that this forum because you and I were going to meet what next week and we would have chatted about it but I said bring it up it's

been I've been hearing it everywhere did you have something else you wanted to say yeah open invitation anybody here we are having a res meeting Wednesday at 2:00 this will coming Wednesday where the residents come down and you can hear directly from them if you like absolutely Wednesday at 2 yes okay and the Community Hall

yes any anything further there an input I hope everybody has uh reviewed the minutes of uh a regular meeting held on August 12th um I'll accept the motion to accept the minutes or if we have any discussion about the minutes make a motion to accept the minutes second motion made and seconded all those in favor I opposed bills and vouchers we got uh Communications we we have it in our

packet I Hope they've been reviewed but uh we're going to go through these one at a time applications only I read them all we could vot on the the VES y it's right here okay I got it right V oh okay I'll accept a motion to uh approve the vouches uh motion to approve vouchers second motion made in seconded all those in favor I I opposed going into the uh management reports applications you're going to do

those all yeah we them all y applications occupancy reports those were interesting we're well above you know like 97 98% it's pretty good tenants accounts receivable work order report monthly Section 8 vouch activity report monthly Personnel account report director of modernization monthly report and Bank investment and bond debt balance reports there any discussion on any of those I'll make a motion to approve them

as a group and then I have one uh question for uh okay so motion to approve them as a group second motion made and seconded all those in favor let me just get in one one question so keev our numbers are up I when I was here in two you know I got here in August of 17 I believe our numbers were low 90s and we're consistently in 97 98 you know it's a great

thing one of the negatives if there's a negative is that people are on waiting lists right and and it slows getting them in through um into a home into into uh a room you know what I mean that's one thing I I've been hearing more is hey man I I don't know what's going on I put my name in and you know I it's a good thing that we're full and we got everybody in there

um one of the drawbacks is that line is slow moving and and you know I I just I want them to put it out there because I consistently get people kind of reach out hey I don't know what's going on I've been on the list for a couple years that any sense for uh what we can do or if there's anything to do to assist well so so quickly the process would be Mary Jones applies for

federal housing um they go on the list if it's an elderly list if you look at um the waiting list we have just over a thousand people on the waiting list preco Mary Smith puts her application in she's probably vetted and tened within 3 or 4 months postco and with the current state of the rental market it's all of a year a year plus the only situation that jumps the list if uh a building is

condemned someone is displaced fire flood some other health hazard that jumps the list other than that it's local preference and then you get a few points for veterans it is I agree the positive is we're close to 99% uh occupancy the negative is there's so many people in need of affordable housing the list gets bigger the time uh it bottleneck and EDI and Facilities does a tremendous job we we

flip vacancies and probably 25 days um tenant selection the vetting process is a little longer we usually try to turn that uh vacant apartment and get it rented within 45 days um but unfortunately it's not fast enough um it's it's just the nature of the of the times right now uh uh where we're at but if somebody applies wherever and they give us an accurate address and a phone number that's where

they'll be contacted that's where the communication will get get mailed to what happens a lot commissioner is somebody applies they're living on XYZ Street 6 months later they move they relocate never inform us the tenant selection so when their name finally does come up and the communication goes out it comes back to us by the post off that's help that's helpful and I didn't want you to take my question as in I

think we're doing anything incorrectly I'm doing a fantastic job the numbers represent that just kind I wanted to have the discussion out loud and kind of I like that final point that you made that that is something that I could tell people hey by the way if you move you got to stay updated on that list so that's that's great info and then if they move out of the city they lose

their local preference so uh the difference between a local preference and out of town is probably 200 spots so they really have a long wait yeah and and they a lot of times and you know they feel forgotten but it's just that's the process it's just to put things in perspective our Section 8 waiting list is nine years ohow nine years that's ridiculous we just tapped into 201 uh 15 uh applicants that's how many

people we have that's how many vouchers that are issued to us by Hud 15 yep yeah yes y that's nuts that's crazy we've got about 2,200 vouchers well and the thing is is with the way the economy is and the way rents are going and all that type of stuff this is only going to get worse only going to get worse but I know we're getting off a little bit but

uh unfortunately if if their all their information is accurate they'll probably get a call within a year year plus and if it's somebody in the family waiting for a three-bedroom because there's not a lot of turn over in say three bedrooms or the larger bedrooms they're probably going to wait even longer it's tough yeah it's very tough I appreciate it Kim yeah anything further no we have a

motion being seconded all those in favor I opposed Financial reports Finance anybody have any discussion uh if not uh I'll entertain a motion to approve the monthly financial report for July I'll make a motion to approve the monthly financial report for July second motion made second all those in favor I opposed update from our executive director thank you commissioner long a few things um under our human resources

uh Department we did hire two more um clerical staff to work out in the field at our sites uh we had another uh retirement um and I wanted to knowledge Phyllis gendro for 21 years of service uh she worked in our accounting department and um today was her last day so we want to thank her and wish her well and and good health and everything that goes along with um retirement I did

receive a card uh from one of our previous retirees Karen Medeiros uh to the board uh she wanted to personally thank the board members and the Housing Authority um someone who retires we traditionally get them a gift card to a place of their choice and a nice decorative uh clock so she's very appreciative to all the Commissioners for that and um she's looking forward to enjoying her retirement under our resident

services um we're going to be exploring uh next month um offering piano and keyboard lessons to our residents um Brian Bigalow um I communicated with him at our cookout as well as Joey Dila and he's gracious enough to uh donate some time after school depending on how many signups we get um I donated a baby grand piano um it's now at the Sunset Hill Community Hall that's how our largest

family site so we're hoping we get a a good number of uh children to sign up um for piano and keyboard lessons so uh it'll be open to all but Sunset Hill be in the biggest site we figured we locate it there so uh hopefully that will kick off next month after school uh under our financial um um happy to say after our audit and uh after our uh committee on bond rating for The Four

River Housing Authority um they raised our rating from Triple B to Triple B plus um a big part of that was based on our audit from markam uh and also our raised to standard performer on our F scores under HUD so although the Housing Authority unlike municipalities where they borrow money or they issue bonds we don't normally do that type of stuff but I thought it was important to mention um

it goes to show that the um some of the changes in the structure of our management um is working uh in in managing the housing authority and the organization as a whole so so much so hey they increased our bond rating so we'll take it uh get it and two uh one other thing um October and November both have holidays on the second Monday where we normally have our meetings so we'll have

to decide uh on dates for the Columbus Day holiday in October and the Veterans Day holiday in November on um what the consensuses uh either we do uh usually we do the Wednesday of that week or the following Monday but whatever the pleasure of the board is um we can schedule those what do you want you want the board members to get back to you with dates or what do you want to do uh you

need time or you want to do it now I'm available is Wednesday the 16th October of October I cannot on the 16th unfortunately okay how about how about the 15th you Kevin you we could do the Tuesday if I'm not available the 15th okay you want to do the following Monday that's the 21st the 21st I'm okay the 21st I think I am Jason I'm available you're available okay I don't think I'm going to be

available I'm going to be heading down to Florida for a month I'm not available I'm going with him to Florida it's a it's a working I believe working me too uh Thursday the that the week of 17th that would be the 17th y October 17th I'm not around okay following week would be the 24th SE uh Thursday the 24th how about sorry what about the 23rd let we go back some days

like we do it uh yeah we can do joh whatever Thursday 10th do we early in October that be actually on the I'm sorry I am available 1 are you still here on the 17th NOP no I might be but it's getting real close I don't know exactly what day we're leaving but yeah just making whatever it is I can't make it I can't make it 17th that looks good

for 17th I'm okay on the 17th okay uh Steve may have a conflict but if uh he cannot make it we'll we'll go forward so 1017 yep and November we can wait until October if you'd like or we can do it now it's the the Wednesday's the 13th um 13th of that month looks good for me I'm okay the 13th the Wednesday Jason I'm good you still down there I'm still down there I'm coming back around

Thanksgiving so all right we'll be fine so we'll we'll do the uh what was it the 13th the 13th Wednesday the 13th so October 17th and November 13th for the record yes okay and that was all I had for the update if anybody has any questions thank you oh wait wait wait I'm sorry I'm not here the 13th sorry this is so much easier to do it this way one day following Monday is the

18th further R it's better for me is CL you get the Thanksgiving okay I'm not around the 17th or the 19th so Wednesday is the 20th possibly got to check out my travel time I think I'm going to have a conflict on the 20th you thought this was going to be easy okay maybe uh at the October board meeting we'll go over some more dates for no November that may be a bit

easier okay so we have uh October the 177th yes haven't figured out November yet right yeah okay exactly okay now on to new business onization certificate of substantial completion for the roof replacement at Riley Plaza any discussion if not I'll entertain a motion to approve motion to approve the uh certificate of substantial completion that rile Plaza second motion being seconded all those in favor I I

opposed business is request for ideal exalt 155 comi boiler equipment be a proprietary item for the boiler replacement project at Riley Plaza Benny Costa Plaza fordney Apartments and North rocliffe Apartments as currently used throughout the for ofal housing authority and TurnKey developments any discussion if not I entertain a motion to approve I'll make a motion uh to approve the request that I deal exal 155 com

Combi boiler equipment via proprietary item for the boiler replacement projects at Riley Plaza Benny Costa Forney apartments and North Radcliff Apartments as currently used throughout the Fall River Housing Authority TurnKey developments I'll second that motion M second all in favor I I I opposed the EO hlc amendment number 13 to the contract for financial assistance 5,1 in the amount of 1,720 261 13 cents any

discussion a motion to approve I'll make a motion to approve eoh hlc amendment number 13 to the contract this pending B LC approval second all those in favor I I opposed suppl supplemental Police Service contract this is a continuation of the contract for one year beginning October 1st 2024 to September 30th 2025 for five offices in the amount not to exceed $581,500 any discussion if I can just um inform the

Commissioners so this is an increase of about $81,000 from last year um and the reason being for that is last year when the city provided us the number the fringes were not included for the offices and the family health plan insurance plan was not included um it was all single plan so it has increased um by that amount um it's much more accurate this year than it was last year I even with the increase I would

strongly recommend approval um we have a a great working relationship with Chief gin with the housing unit with with all of their units quite frankly um they're very accommodating to the needs of the Fall River Housing Authority whenever there's issues in our sites potential uh criminal activity they're um very reliable and they're right there for us so I know it is an increase but I

I do strongly recommend that we we approve it um to continue our strong work and relationship with the Far River Police Department do we have the motion there's a motion made in seconded already do we um entertain a motion to approve I'll make a motion uh for continuation of contract for oneyear period uh beginning October 1st 2024 to September 30th 2025 for five officers in an amount not to exceed 581,000

Animal control officer contract recommended action continuation of the contract for in one year period beginning October 1st 2024 to September 30th 2025 and the amount not to exceed $177,500 then we use this HUD flat rent schedule CU he put them together so do the animal control first uh we have to do the the animal control make a motion okay we have a mo motion on Animal control

officer contract I'll make a motion to approve the Animal control officer contract not to exceed 17,500 second second all those in favor I I oppos HUD flat rent schedule effect of October 1st 2024 through January 1st 2025 any discussion I'll entertain a motion to approve I'll make a motion to approve the HUD flat rent schedule October 1st 2024 through January 1st 2025 have a second second motion remain

second all those in favor I all permission to advertise for 5year leases for rooftop antennas at the Raymond D Homes apartments and Nicholas W Mitchell Heights any discussion no discussion looking for a permission to advertise I'll entertain a motion to approve uh motion uh to Grant permission to advertise second it motion made and seconded all those in favor I permission to contract with entra for

emergency Security Guard Services at CH Bishop e departments it's an approval of 30 hours per week beginning September 16th 2024 through December 31st 2024 I'll make a motion to approve and then I have a question a second motion made in second discussion just in light of our conversation this evening with the residents input how how do what process do we use to kind of figure out where we utilize security or

rely on kind of the mechanisms that are in place so as I explained the proper protocols so we had um an uptick in Resident complaints to site management which was then elevated to the management department um Mr Burke myself Mr McCoy and the Tenant president met on um some concerns some alleged uh criminal activity um we contacted our police unit lure the contract um and they made a presence there but to

um ease some of the resident concerns we also wanted to add some Security Services much like we have at duelan apartments like we had some issues uh a year or two in the past so um I will sit down with the finance department and based on our budget we'll determine how many hours we can uh assign a security uh company there which would be entra so um and unfortunately if the procedures were

followed at the allegations of catel it would have been addressed but I just hearing of it tonight but to answer your question that's what led to this perfect I just wanted the uh conversation public because they were here you know asking for some help and then an hour later we're offering help to Bishop I'm not ignoring what they're doing there's a process is what we're saying and just follow process if that's

part of the answer we'll do uh yeah it's so important to follow the procedures follow the chain of command uh so you don't have chaos which it appears we may have that I got to look into it but we wouldn't pick Bishop Eid residence over catel Heights residence if we don't know we can't act um so thank you Kevin I I'm sorry I have a question for you so if after you have your meetings and

it's in the budget to do so like how long do you think it would take before a company could be onboarded for some of the other sites oh within a week it's it's a quick turn around it we we we have funds in the budget we just don't know how many hours that that those funds will would cover will cover so and if I could ask um what are the ramifications on the tenants that are allowing

unauthorized people into the buildings uh so those are there there are Provisions in the lease and and those uh uh potentially seem like lease violations so um they would be brought in for a private conference to start a potential cause eviction um if they're if it's severe enough where you know you're you're you're letting criminals in the building or potential Criminal activ so and if I could ask uh on the topic of

uh Bishop Eid you had informed me earlier that some of the activity that was going on there was that in the building or outside the building and if it was in the building I assume that those same issues would pertain to the tenants that might be engaging in that yes so kind of what the complaint was earlier residents allowing this these outside people to come in potential Criminal activ

so yes it's yeah so that tenant would clearly be violating the lease um and then we would take action against that that tenant that's allowing that or participating in that illegal activity right it's it seems black and white but it's delicate right you got to get all the information you're dealing with a elderly disabled building so you have to be sure your every your ducks are in a row and U there's a clear

violation of the lease Kevin could I ask that after you have your meeting and a decision is made could you just send us an email let us know what your decision was as far as being able to bring on somebody at the other locations if that's possible well the security is only going to be for um Bishop Eid yep um we don't have outside security services at catel correct you when if there seems to

be a hot bed of potential activity or criminal activity then we would look into that but we kind of we we go through the early stages we meet with the residents we meet with management what's the concerns a lot of time it may just be one one resident in the building and then as I said earlier our police unit uh uh a very very accommodating uh to us um we give

management gives them a call on on what's going on uh what the potential uh uh behavior is of you know in certain individuals and they're there they're monitoring it they're on site they they make a presence um if it's something that continues on then we we look into the security but usually we're able to address these issues just with the housing police unit uh and with the resident or residents that are

causing these issues okay and we have video surveillance equipment at catel also we do yeah yeah so you mon you can monitor that rates for that to see who's who's coming and who's going y in the times that it happened that type of stuff and that's you that's where we start usually um we check the check the moners to see who it is and um it's the same person every night no no no

yeah thank you you're welcome anything further motion has been made and seconded all those in favor I I I Statewide wros of two Maple Garden residents as part of Universal ligation settlement uh writeoffs are for $894,000

$894,000

motion to adjourn has been made and seconded all those in favor I I opposed this meeting is adjourned 520