Fall River Housing 2 13 23

welcome everyone to the Housing Authority regular session meeting it is Monday February 13 2023 and it is 4 35 pm after the roll call please Simon Sahara here Vice chairman on the hill here commissioner Burns here Bentley here is here thank you attorney Souza the open thank you madam chairwoman now the language for the open meeting law is as follows a person went 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 Central recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible thank you um the first item is Citizens input do we have any citizens input seeing no one residence input you know it already but yeah the farmers

market are now extended Europe in fact the banners are out that could be redone to take the dates off of them and put open open every week you know you gotta Zoom back I saw the banners back out yeah it wasn't a big fan of the two big banners oh okay the two big banders who brought back to uh the design shop he's going to take the January to June off and he's going to

put open year-round perfect on himself of course I'll put it back up it'll be up Thursday and I guess next next Friday David next Friday the 24th we've got uh a whole bunch of vendors that are going to be there so you'll all be seeing the invitations what's the hours again and we'd be getting Outsiders I know because as I'm going by and I'm going out there a couple days last week

three or four of them walking up through where's the Farmers Market okay excellent yeah well it's always good to get fresh vegetables yes it is so and that's pretty much it we're trying to get more tenant leaders but it's just I got a better chance of going to the dentist thank you thank you item two to a is the minutes of the annual meeting held January 9th 2023. do I have a motion to accept minutes

motion to accept the minutes second questions all in favor aye Item B is the executive session minutes from September 13 2021 to December 12 2022. do I have a motion to accept the executive session minutes what's up second all in favor all right item three is bills and communication you have the vouchers in your packet do I have a motion to accept the Motions as presented

second any questions or concerns regarding the vouchers hearing none all in favor all right item three is the management reports the eight reports are included in your packet item one is the applications two is the occupancy reports three is the tenants accounts receivable report four is the work order report five is the monthly Section 8 voucher activity report six is the monthly Personnel

report seven is the director of modernization's monthly report and eight is the Bank investment and bond debt balance report do I have a motion to the accept the reports as presented make a motion to accept the reports as presented a second any questions with regard to any of these reports included in your packet seeing none all in favor item three is the financial statements a

is the financial statement report before period ended 12 31 22. and that was included in your packet have a motion to accept the financial report for the period ended 12 31 22.

that would be the nine month period how should I accept the financial reports second second any questions with regard to um the reports that are included in your pet all in favor aye Item B is the state quarterly modernization reports for the same period the period ended 12 31 22. do I have a motion to accept the modernization section

any questions with regard to this report saying none all in favor aye item three is to stay quarterly operating statement it's for the same period 12 31 22 that is the report that was on the table this evening when you arrived do I have a motion promotion to accept the state quarterly operating statements second any questions with regard to these statements hearing none all in favor aye

item six is an update from the executive director thank you madam chairwoman good evening everyone first just to touch on the financial statements our new Director of Finance um Nella Souza unfortunately had a prior commitment tonight and is not able to be here but going forward should you have any questions on the financial statements she'll be in addition to answer any questions

so a few things on my updates to find board members South South Coast Health will continue conducting Wellness clinics at our elderly buildings the next slate of Wellness of the wellness program will be stroke and fall prevention for our elderly so Joey dasilva from our resident services once again coordinates that with South Coast Health and it's a great program for our elderly and those sites

we had another round table meeting again coordinated with Joe Da Silva at Oak Village uh similar to what representative Carol Fiola did a few months back where we brought in all the different social service agencies in the community and of course as you can imagine the topic was the affordable housing and homeless crisis that we're experiencing and just again tossing out the ideas off of one

another on what we can do and how we can do it better serve to serve these people so that was believe it was uh the end of January we had that we also met with the duelen residence just to give them an update on some of the concerns that they've been raising over the months with some of the problematic residents um things like that uh so it was very positive kudos to site management

attorney Souza for his aggressiveness on evicting some of these problematic residents our commission is on the hill and Medeiros who were very involved in that Ed Gagnon The Joint tenants the police department uh Deb Morrissette and her staff so things have been better there not perfect but we just wanted to give an update to the residents to let them know and with their self-reporting that

that's helped assist us in combating against some of these issues so that that happened a couple weeks back um I do want to acknowledge Ed Majewski director of facilities and Mike Joe and the rest of his staff some of our maintenance Personnel plumbers for addressing this most recent frigid weekend we had numerous broken pipes uh no heat calls throughout our sites and they did a fantastic job they worked

a ton of overtime mitigating these issues restoring heat to our residents getting these water situations in check so kudos to him and his staff and our plumbers and maintenance Personnel for that uh one other acknowledgment to Paul kitchen Finance director at Diamond they had a surplus of Lysol wipes and disinfectant products that they reached out to us and donated to the far of a housing authority to for

us to distribute either to the residents or to our sites what we feel is best and what is needed so I wanted to acknowledge Paul kitchen for his graciousness there on that so that's what I have for you people tonight thank you okay any questions thank you next item is new business it's modernization item a is the certificate of substantial completion for the bathroom Renovations at Sunset Hill

Heritage height and father defarious Village recommended action is approval of the certificate of substantial completion approved second any questions all in favor Item B is the certificate of final completion for the fire alarm panel replacement at home's Apartments the recommended action is approval motion to approve second any questions all in favor aye item C is permission to advertise

for bids for a roof project it's buildings 24 and 25 at Sunset Hill recommended action is approval team we make a motion to advertise for bids for the roof projects at Sunset home second any questions with regard to this project hearing none all in favor all right all right did you want to add something no okay item D is permission to advertise for bids for basement upgrades at father

devarious Village recommended action is approval motion approved second any questions with regard to this spin carrying none all in favor item two is miscellaneous two a is lead-based paint certificate of compliance the recommended action is executive execution of certificate by each commissioner and executive director for submission to dhcd OT everyone so we've all signed that so there's

nothing further to do on that one item B is the open meeting lore complaint filed by Patrick Higgins in reference to the 12 12 2022 regular board meeting um attorney Souza did you we discussed that at the previous meeting to respond I did respond on your behalf at U.S at the board's recommendation and approval um and the uh the responses included in the letter it was sent by the date that

was required by January 25th to the Office of the Attorney General it's waiting on we're just waiting on some basic you know compliance letter to say that okay you're a young compliance or you're not so okay I think what I did provide is there was I did go back and I I didn't review the uh the Youtube video and it was in audible because we had a lot of people that we were presenting uh

citations to that night um and you can be heard I just put in the end of the letter that you could be heard saying that we have to announce that we're going into executive session and then the and then the camera cut off so I did um respond to the attorney general at this correspondence perfect thank you item C is the security guard service contract for Tyler Medeiros Towers in

barasi Heights the recommended action is to award a three-year contract to Jet Security in the amount not to exceed 648 281.40 do I have a motion to avoid this contract motion to reward contract three years to Jet security not to exceed six hundred and forty thousand two hundred and eighty one dollars and forty cents thank you second time any questions

that stands out any questions no uh kind of went over it does anyone need any information it's the same company we've had right no it's not yeah I think in my opinion they were getting a little too comfortable for the job I can take things for granted you know so I think it's time for a change and awarding it to this new provider does it come with any different kinds of benefits different than the previous um

I mean essentially essentially Commissioned I I can't say it's necessarily any benefits it's coverage you're trying to you get a company you've never dealt with before so you're trying to deal with and integrity is not really the right word because that almost makes it appear that there's something nefarious sort of a really reliability so as much as you can go on is you know our I mean it's um

it's not a secret to say we have two sites right now on that main contract one has been okay one has been issues um but In fairness as you know I would have liked to have have had this come before the last meeting I didn't feel like I had enough information especially if I wasn't going to go with the low with which is what we're entitled to do you know you want

to make sure that all the other factors come into play um so I had conversations and if you want to call them interviews but not necessarily that formal the conversations with internal staff uh we actually had the newer potential client on contractors one actually physically came and the other one was a conference call um references you know the selected company essentially as I put me justification

which is more kind of required for some sort of price reasonability causal responsiveness and and reasonability as far as the cost it's a little bit easier when you're doing bids and obviously because you're kind of getting a sample of the market and snapshot in time but the company that are kind of moving forward here to you guys for acceptance I I have um and exact I think I use the term like mirror image

responsibilities and duties of what they're currently doing in Brockton and have references out of the product and Housing Authority was you know beyond just good um two of the three companies or I can't say with certainly certainty for our rub I I know there was a law enforcement presence in the origin of the company that we're dealing with both of the other two companies the Massachusetts

company the Connecticut company the veteran again you know very both very responsible and whatnot when I went a little bit deeper this is kind of the I guess that kind of linchpin tipping moment uh going into the current contracts as much as I could through references and whatnot with the company out of Connecticut it appeared that they had a current contract with a um not a Housing Authority but a congregate

living living setting that would have been similar to what I would consider Robin's population that calls a reference that they gave it to us for that particular contract they get no return so I got very positive from a lighthouse Authority in in Brockton really infused I reached out to the executive director was put in touch to some informs with someone who I'm assuming is kind of comparable to our

head director of facilities and um you know they had stated that they had problems in the past nothing to do with our current contract it was a different contractor and like I said they wouldn't be more effusive and afraid of what they were what they had here so you know some of the other stuff maybe stuff like section three stuff I mean that this contract that I selected actually had tried a

program elsewhere with having a resident work Ryan said that they could be open to it either companies says listen or we get strict standards and whatnot I mean they have to pass our standards they both had said too I mean if there is somebody uh that your current property management is comfortable with as far as the existing staff and the other could be more than happy to see to scout with them so I had

one suggestion on that which was from baressi again clearly the conversation was different between caressing and how focusing conflict and with the common contractor again was the cheapest but as you know we did it in an RFP format and not an ifb format and it just seems like I've had enough speaking to current property management and they had some different notes of letters from the

security guards and whatnot it's just since I kind of physically have been down here which is probably late September early October I've gotten some emails you know no show or well no one didn't end up being above no show but generously so there was some there were reliability issues that the folks it was becoming a growing concern for our material folks and I'm sure I know for a fact in

discussions with Ed was just up here but in his capacity as as executive threat to you know joint Senate council concerns that brought to him also so that's in a nutshell that's where we are so you can see my award letter and we can see the backup in relation to the uh in relation to the cost I guess the one figure that you don't have in there I did make a note that

the second company so to speak I think was looking for 15 more holiday pay that the existing companies so I just also want you to be aware what I did kind of the separation and the breakdown of money the difference in a monthly cost over three is the difference in a weekly cost I I did not take into account those 15 holiday pays but obviously it was higher Orion as opposed to Jet so that would

diminish the numbers a little bit you know obviously jet is also having someone in on those days but Jack clearly and there was 1950 less days where they were looking for Holiday kids so there was some there was some cost savings I guess back to Jet and that uh not necessarily a huge significant amount of money but it would even shrink that 150 a week more down a little bit

and now you know the proposals were received I mean once we do a contract the proposals the proposals on their face or not we're all good basically you know those were reviewed by ahead of uh Property Management associate director of property management at Mama Kevin I obviously threw them but I had to do a ranking to send me an email and when I started to dive into more of the the the

extras so to speak other than the paperwork that you get back you know so I don't necessarily think getting into bad company but I I think we need to change I've been you know seven years and it seems like we needed to try something different thank you thank you so I have a first and a second all of Devon hi item D is the uniform physical site inspection react inspection contract the

recommended action is to ratify the 90-day contract with usig in the amount of twenty thousand one hundred sixty six dollars and seventy cents motion I ratify the contract second any questions quick comment the um we had we had no price change from the year before so again really no no inflation or anything like that we wanted to get this in play normally product I wouldn't have the contract executed what now without

coming to you first but we were very concerned that um HUD and Hud's subcontractors were going to be back here quick the first place I believe that we did not get a passing grade in about three years was that father defario I think you were aware we didn't pass by a point but there was some conversation that we thought that they may be back in here quick so we wanted to expedite getting this done I think

they've already set the schedule to start the end of February to do what they're going to do again over to Debbie Morrissette who's a huge help and once the contract's in place a huge help of doing all the scheduling with these folks but we were kind of like we were in a rush to get that schedule set get them back in because obviously it's the as the winter Fades they start getting

really really busy so that was the rush to kind of get into last year kind of seemed like a no-brainer they will I think we had we had sent out to five companies not over but they were the only response but again on the positive side not up anymore than last year so good excellent I have a first and a second on this ratification as well um all in favor item e is the fee accounting service

contract the recommended action is to ratify the contract with Benton and Ewald PC and the amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars motion all right okay second any questions with regard to the the accountant service contract all in favor aye item three is Personnel a is the resignation of an employee it's to accept the resignation of Damar Aponte receptionist at HB HCB Section 8 effective January 6 2023.

emotional instead of resignation second hi Adam B is the temporary receptionist position for hcv Section 8 the recommended action is to appoint ratify the appointment of Brian montelvo Hotel so I have a motion to ratify the uh second Martha no call please yeah

item C is the Director of Finance position this is to ratify the appointment of Maria Nella Sousa effective January 24th 2023.

promotion to ratify this appointment second yeah yes Mr Bentley yes commissioner Burns yes yes item day is property manager of positions this is to ratify six positions we need a separate vote for each appointment again okay so the first one this is a property manager position so the first one is to ratify the appointment of my tiza our oxy RC RC RC motion to ratify appointment of Maritza arson second

commissioner Medeiros yes commissioner Underhill yes commissioner Burns yes commissioner Bentley yes yes property manager position number two is Allison faga ratify the appointment of Allison fager I'm gonna make a motion to ratify the appointment of Allison Fagan second Mr Bentley yes yes commissioner Burns yes tonight yes item three is to ratify the appointment of Betsy Guzman as a property manager position

on the hill yes social Burns yes Mr Bentley yes social Medeiros yes yes Lori Lapoint ratify the appointment as a property manager position motion to ratify the appointment Lori Lapointe second commissioner Burns yes Mr Bentley yes yes Katie Roberts recommend ratify the appointment of Katie Roberts for property management position a motion to ratify the appointment of Katie Roberts second

commissioner Medeiros yes commissioner Burns yes commissioner Bradley yes commissioner Underhill yes yes and Sarah Souza also ratify the appointment as a property manager we'll make a motion to ratify the appointment of Sarah Souza yes Mr Underhill yes Mr Burns yes yes thank you item C is the clerk interviewer hcv tenant selection position this is to ratify the appointment of yazel Rivera

a motion to ratify the appointment of yazio Rivera a second commissioner Medeiros yes commissioner Burns yes commissioner Bentley yes Mr Underhill yes yes item f is temporary director of maintenance positions this is to ratify the appointment of Todd Benavides as a temporary director of meetings I'll make a motion to ratify the appointment of Todd Benavides second commissioner Bentley yes Mr Burns yes

commissioner Medeiros yes commissioner Underhill yes yes this is to ratify the appointment of Jason forsia as a temporary director of maintenance commissioner Underhill yes Mr Burns yes yes item G is to ratify the appointment of Kevin brodericks this is a temporary maintenance leader position motion to ratify the appointment of Evan Rogers second commissioner Medeiros yes commissioner Bentley yes Mr Burns yes

commissioner yes yes item H is to ratify the appointment of Dewitt's duats Souza this is a maintenance mechanic third shift position commissioner Burns yes commissioner Underhill yes yes Mr Bentley yes yes that is the end of our regular meeting we have four items four executive session

thank you anime is the executive director's evaluation it's anticipated that executive session pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 30 a section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel Item B is the HUD audit update to maintain compliance with the HUD action

plan the anticipated executive session is pursuant to master the Law chapter 30A section 21a7 to comply with or act under the authority of or any general or special law or Federal Grant in Aid requirements item C is executive team restructuring anticipated executive session is pursuant to master the Law chapter 30A section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations

with non-union Personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel and item D is also anticipated executive session this is for Union negotiations pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 30A section 21a3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if any open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or

litigating position of the public body and the chair so to so declares thank you you're welcome you're welcome um at this particular point we'll take a motion to go into executive session at the end of executive executive session we will not be coming into coming back into regular sessions so a motion to adjourn from regular session as well motion to go into executive session a second all in favor aye

motion to adjourn upon completion second thank you all in favor aye thank you thank you all