4.14.2025 Housing Authority

meeting will come to order. We do a roll call, please.

Chairman Long here. Vice Chairman Underh Hill here. Commissioner Burns here.

Commissioner Bentley is late.

Commissioner Maderas is absent.

We have citizen input. No open meeting law. Wait a minute. Open meeting law, sir. Open meeting. I'm sorry. I always forget that. That's right. Uh the the uh language for the open meeting law is as follows. Pursant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording 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 unpersceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible.

Citizen input. Are there any citizens here that would like to be heard? Seeing none, we'll move on to resident input. I've got Bob Balo, Robert Balo from Cartel Heights. Yes.

Um here again, thank you guys. Bingo board with security that started. I mean, it's been no headaches, no nothing. I have already spoke about the other the other issue. I don't have to bring it up, but you know, the office being open, I know it'll be rectified sooner or later. I know. I get it. Um the other thing I want to bring up is I have uh people from Mitchell

uh getting in touch with me, people from Bereessi getting in touch with me asking me to go there and basically you know try to stop what we started at Catel as far as like what they need and what they have to do. And I have one at Mitchell uh they're having a meeting on Friday at 4:00. So I'm going to go there and speak to how we got it started

at Catel and what their steps are to take to in order to make it work.

So if I can assist you a little bit. So we have two separate grants. One for Baressi. Yes. That is going to uh purchase some of the stuff for your the community room there. And then another grant that will cover Mitchell. Yes. And um Joey Dilva from our resident services usually conducts a survey among the building. Yeah. And what's the a wish list, right, of some of the stuff they

want, whether it's a bingo machine, a TV, furniture. That's what the big thing was at Mitchell. They want the bingo machine. So they'll he'll uh do that and then um whatever is affordable because we have to cover a few sites with that grant and then uh so uh I would suggest have your meeting uh see what comes out of it and then I can put them in contact with you and if even if there's other

resident leaders in those meet those buildings you can bring them introduce Absolutely. Yeah. And I know I didn't call him back from Baressa yet, but I when I when I speak to him again, I'll just see how Mitchell goes and see if they're going to be willing to do the same thing as far as getting us somebody that's going to, you know, stand up and be able to speak and not not create

roadblocks and you guys are very unique.

That wish list wish list wish list wish list wish list wish list wish list wish list wish list wish list wish can't be like out in left field somewhere. It's got to be reasonable. And I get all that stuff. I just I know they just want it.

I guess I guess that's why they're reaching out to me. I I spoke to Monica Soua. Oh my god, man. I didn't know she was there until last week, but I'd love to get her up there at Cartel doing what they do over there with their lunch program. I know I uh the girl from the farmer's thing there, the local thing, she's coming, I guess, the end of the month. I've already had a sign. And I'm

going to have Todd print it up tomorrow or Wednesday and hang it up for so they can see and actually know what the steps are, what what they come for, what they what they have to spend. And so I would suggest yeah, meet with them, Bob. Uh get the information, get the wish list, and then we can speak and we'll Okay.

move in the right direction. Absolutely.

and I will uh the information that you're going to need for next month for Clarissa, the one of the nurses that helped save the guy and I just bring to your attention that she was sitting there playing cards again. Her mom is a resident there. So when she comes to visit, she was playing cards again and we had a fall and she didn't even blink.

Soon as somebody came down and said they fell, she went right up there and basically handled their business. I just think it's going to go a big way cuz it'll give her a boost in morale and but I'll send you all that information for next month and uh the other resident that is actually in the building Scott is 607. So I'll send you that by the end of the week anyway. We'll talk before

next month's meeting. All right. We'll get that squared away. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you.

Any other residents here wish to speak?

All right, Ed Gagnon. For those of you who know me, all right, the uh bookmobile that Mitchell have been having is now active at Olive Vera. We had the first one on 44. Bishop Bead had theirs on 49 and on the 28th, it'll be here at O'Brien. It'll be every two weeks after that. I guess the one of Bishop Bead, we talked to Don Hamilton this morning. Everything they're in Seabth Heaven. They love this bookmobile

apparently.

And on the 7th of May, we're taking 16 residents to the state house along with uh the folks from Brockton. I think we have 21 for a lobby day with the rest.

Okay. And of course, the mass union conference will be in October this year.

The main one on that. Very good. Get me the list. I'll send you I'll be sending you a bill. Oh, slight Mario just called me. We'll have the bill tomorrow morning for October.

Right on time. Past October.

Thank you, Ed. Thank you, Ed.

Anyone else?

None. The uh commissioner reviewed the minutes of uh regular meeting held March 10th. Recommendation to accept.

Hey guys, I get a motion to accept.

Motion to accept the minutes. Second.

All those in favor? I

I bills and communications again. It's a

again. Hope we all review these. Um, this is the uh that's the vouchers.

The vouchers.

Um, there's nothing I didn't see anything in here. That was our light.

Um, I'll make a motion to accept the uh vouchers. Second. Motion made and seconded. All those in favor I opposed. Management reports.

Applications. We have application occupancy reports. The tenant accounts receivable work order report. Monthly section 8 voucher activity report.

Monthly personnel account report.

Director of modernization monthly report. bank investment and bond debt balance reports. Just the one I pay most account to is the uh uh tenants accounts receivable and the uh um occupancy reports and they seem to be either staying level or moving up and that's a good thing.

So I'll make a motion to accept the management reports.

Second. Motion made seconded. All those in favor? I I financial reports for the period ending 22825.

Again, I hope you reviewed them. I don't I don't see anything there that's out of line. Uh I didn't have anything that wanted a question on it.

Anybody got any questions? That's can open it up. But on order, I'll uh accept a motion to accept. Motion to accept the uh financial report. Second. Made seconded. All those in favor? I I federal write

offs. I'll make a motion to accept the write offs.

Motion made. We have a second.

Can I just ask a question, please? Yep.

I probably forget this and ask it every year or at least every other year. So, when we have someone who is partaking in this um if they're unsuccessful, like I guess what I'm asking is can they be repeat?

So, those are all vacated. Yeah. So, um, whoever, uh, vacated our properties, they left on a balance. Um, we still retain the right. We go after those balances. Attorney Souza and his team, uh, go go go after these residents legally. And if a lot of times they'll reapply sometime in the future, that's what I'm thinking. And they have to make amends with with whatever that is. They

have to clear the balance before they can get back in. All right. Thank you. I I think it's good for people to hear that too and not just writing it off and moving on. I think it's good that the uh taxpayers understand that uh you know that it a lot of the tenants that are in our uh apartments do pay rent.

It's not totally free, right? And they're, you know, being held accountable and and that's, you know, I'm okay with that. So, and it's not just to come back into Fall River. Many times they apply at other housing authorities across the state. Oh, really? And we have a record and when there's a background check, we pick it up just as we do for new residents coming in our coming from somewhere. I

don't think I've ever heard that, but that's uh Yeah, it's a good good process. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. And my thing is if they overbalance and they want to move um can they Let's say they want to go back to Boston or something like that or go to a different they won't get accepted from the other they have a record of going up if they have a record outstanding right

they have to clear that balance and that's that's good to know also I have a motion made I need a second second motion made and seconded all those in favor I I write offs basically the same thing a little less cuz we have less statement but uh basically the same thing. So we'll uh motion to approve the uh state rideoffs report. Second. Motion made second. All those in favor.

Now we have the update from our executive director.

Okay. Thank you, Chairman Long. Good evening everyone.

A few things on my update. First, under human resources, we hired two maintenance custodians for the facilities department, and we did have one um positioning clerical uh that resigned. Under financial, you see the attached letter. That was an email I received from the financial unit of HUD.

uh they've reviewed our audit and they found no findings or or question uh cost. So that's always a good thing. Um Markham does our audit. It gets submitted by the end of December.

Obviously it takes HUD some time to review uh the audit and then we receive communication from them and that was a positive communication that there were there were no red flags so to speak.

So, I wanted to share that with you. Um, under management, under the new contract that took effect April 1st, now everyone uh is required to start at 8:30. That was part of the negotiations.

We had some staff members that were grandfathered in and uh were allowed to come in at 9:00, but effective April 1st, the uh business hours for the housing authority are 8:30 to 4 for everyone. Uh and some of us it's 8, but for the for the public it's 8:30 to 4. Uh wanted to touch on um the Catel group that was just here. If you recall, they were here uh last month with some

concerns uh not only at the building but in the neighborhood and uh they had a resident meeting and I wanted to thank Chairman Long and Commissioner Maderas.

Um they both attended uh observed the meeting. It was a good turnout. Some of the concerns they had were of uh security. There was um a stabbing in the neighborhood a month or so ago. Uh so we uh through our deputy Tim McCoy, he procured uh emergency security services for the weekends, Friday and Saturday evenings. That started on March the 21st and we'll continue that for about 90 days and then we'll

um we'll gauge where we're at and uh how that's going. I did inform the residents that it wouldn't be a permanent thing.

Um but we would do it and um see how that that works out. We also through um Ed and his facilities department um we are or we did install additional parking signs for residents only and no trespassing on the property. That was another concern of theirs that uh they requested of us.

uh personnel changes. Um we swapped out the site management and the site maintenance uh to give the residents a fresh start. Um we increased the hours.

Um unfortunately uh the first week of the new hours, the the new manager uh took ill so wasn't wasn't in today.

That's what uh Mr. Balo was uh referring to. But um we did increase the hours there. We swapped out the staff. So I I I think that that's going to work out for them. We also um moved some picnic tables around. We purchased a bingo machine thanks to Martha and our purchasing department. They spearheaded that effort. And we've also uh have uh w free Wi-Fi services being installed in

Um, resident services to uh touch on what uh Mr. Gagnon spoke of earlier when I met with Commissioner Run Hill. he was working with the Fall River Library to get this book mobile um to go to additional sites and according to Ed's update that's that's happened. So, thank you Commissioner Rand Hill that uh that's a good thing for the reading enjoyment of our our elder residents. Uh, and the last thing I

have, um, Tim Burke, Ed Majuski, and myself, we went up to the state house, um, last week or the week before for legislative day. We met with Senator Rodri. We met with, uh, Representative Fiola. We discussed some of the concerns um, regarding public housing, uh, sites in specific. So, it was uh, and we met with with colleagues. there were many housing authority uh representatives up

there, but it was nice to meet with our local delegation and had some constructive conversations regarding finance and some other things. So, uh that went really well and and we were happy to attend that.

The last thing I have uh it's just uh in June the uh regular schedule board meeting is scheduled for June the 9th, the 2nd Monday. However, our gateway project at Maple Gardens, um the bidding will be completed on June the 5th and the designer is asking for additional time to vet the general contractor and the subcontractors. So, I am requesting uh that we move the June meeting to the

16th at the same time to give them an additional week. So you can uh look at your schedules and and and see if that works. Um and that is all I have. Thank you. I'd also like to uh comment on the uh the audit that we received from Martin. Um it was well done. There was no uh no findings and that's a that's a good feather in their cap. um any and the administration of uh affordable

housing authority.

Um that's a good thing. We did have a a meeting um at Cartel and I wanted to uh thank Commissioner Maderas for coming.

We both attended. There were many uh comments that were made. They were happy to see us, but it was also very apparent with some of the words that were coming out of the of the hands-on approach that uh Director Spardella takes with all of the all of the uh residents that he's available. He's you can get in touch with him. Uh he responds, he returns phone calls and really is a hands-on uh

director. And I think that's a that's that's incredible the amount of time that he puts in and the relationships that he has with everybody here. It's uh I I I think it's probably uh if he went up against and they had a contest of all the directors in Massachusetts, I think he'd be one of the top ones uh in what he does and how he approaches his his job. So, I just wanted to thank him for

that. And of course, I always want to thank Dave Underh Hill and the uh uh how he approaches everything. He's a he's a doorhead guy. He really uh takes this stuff serious. and as a resident, you know, he attends all the residential meetings and does all the things that he has to do. Um, and I thank him for all his uh his uh information that he gets that he reverts back to to this board.

So, um I just wanted to make that as comments that I have for that. So, thank thank you and thank the administration and thank everybody that works here.

They do a really really good job. Um, and it's and it's evident by the reports we get and as you walk as you look at, we can see it just going up, going up, going up, going up. And uh, it's it's it's pretty awesome to to uh, witness that. It's a good thing. All right, we're moving on. Where are we at? Thank you, chairman. You're welcome.

Yeah. Is that important right here? Oh.

Okay, good. Okay, the modernization. Okay, we uh have a certificate of completion consolidated for the boiler and domestic water heater replacement project at the cartel heights uh mass 6-10.

Um so it's recommended for approval. So I'll entertain a uh that contract was completed that was done by Frasier Engineering, right? clearly work under the fund contract. The amount was $498,943.35. So recommending approval of the closeout documents. I'll make a motion to approve. Second.

Motion made and seconded. All those in favor? I opposed. The contract for the war of gas piping replacement project at Kadir's Towers Mass 6.8.

Four bids were received and opened March 20th, 2025. The recommended actions to contract the lowest bid at Stallion Plumbing and Heating Cooling in the amount of $25,500. Do I have a motion?

Motion to accept the uh low bidder Stallion Plumbing. Second.

Any discussion? All those in favor? I I opposed contract to award the replacement addition of smoke detectors project at the Clario Village Apartments uh 6-3. Five bids were received and opened March 20th, 2025. After review of the bids, we received it was it was determined at the low bid. It was Harrison Electrical LLC. It was not a DAM certified as a general contractor per the project specification requirements.

The recommended action is to award the low contract award the contract to the second low bidder Larass electrical contract in the amount of 126 300,000.

Motion to award the contract for Defario addition and replacement of smoke detectors. Second.

All those in favor? I opposed. Okay. The uh miscellaneous the executive director contract which was discussed at last meeting to ratify a five a five-year contract.

That's it. It's a me memorandum of agreement between two separate items.

The first one is is that I thought it was the same thing. All right. To ratify a 5-year contract for the executive director. We have a motion. I make a motion to ratify the 5-year contract.

Second. I I'll I'll uh second it and then I'll uh if if uh Commissioner Hill doesn't have anything I would discuss. I So I wasn't here and I don't have everything in front of me, but I think it was from the previous meeting. So I guess I just have a couple questions.

You know, I I feel conflicted and and I'm pretty uh open and honest about about this. I I I always um like to make sure that our employees are being recognized um with a number that looks similar to what our executive director is getting. Um I also am a firm believer in the market value and doing the comps and and um I think the comps show that Kevin is underpaid. Um and I think you

know working with you alongside you for a long time I I understand the time and effort that you put into it. So, I'm very appreciative, but I feel conflicted with those two with those two um issues, right? Because I know I our employees are also at a disadvantage if they were doing comps too, right? So, it is do I, you know, stop the process of making sure salaries are fair across the board with the

executive director and then we get to the employees um or or do we kind of like do this in a slower process. This is not a shot at you. Um I hope you guys understand my my conflict. I think I've been pretty straightforward about this for uh my entire time on the board and we we can appreciate that. And let me just tell you that in executive committee I brought your feelings that

we discussed prior to y um and we understand it. Um all the commissioners understand where you're coming from and we uh we can we understand it. So it wasn't that we uh didn't pay attention to it and that your comments and the way you feel about it weren't considered.

But after consideration of everything and none of your comments that you just made it um it would came out as a uh um it was unanimous. It was unan unanimous recommendation out of the fellow commissioners. So we get it. We understand any further comments. No, I I mean I mean I clearly I wasn't at the meeting. So if anybody has any additional information, I mean if it's just the admission the the information

that we have and and the idea that hey, it was considered I respect that. I I I don't necessarily agree, but I I respect the process of hearing it out and having a conversation and having a dialogue.

That's what we're here for. Get it? I have a motion made and seconded. Any further any further comments? All those in favor? I I all those opposed I then the second part is retribution the non-union and grant employees second the memorandum of agreement between the former housing authority and non-union and grant employees from 421 to 33028 um recommended action is approval I have a motion

I'll make a motion to approve. Second.

Discussion.

All those in favor? I

opposed

information. Huh? This This was in the packet. Oh, no. That was That was just for information. That was just for information. That was the ruling by the AG, right? Yeah. Want to make a motion to That's that we've concluded the business.

Um I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to second. All in favor? I opposed. I This meeting is now adjourned.