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Home My WebLink About1998-04-06 Reading Housing Authority MinutesREADING HOUSING AUTHORITY MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD MEETING OF APRIL 6, 1998 A regular business meeting of the Reading Housing Authority was held on Monday, April 6, 1998 at 5:30 P.M. at the office of the Authority, 22 Frank D. Tanner Drive in the town of Reading, Massachusetts. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 P.M. with the Vice - Chairman, Mr. Allen, presiding. Those members present and forming a quorum were: Mr. Kelley, Ms. Galvin and Ms. Connors. The Executive Director, Ms. Plansky, was also in attendance. Mr. Sweet was not in attendance. Minutes Upon a motion duly made by Ms. Connors and seconded by Mr. Kelley, it was unanimously VOTED: To accept for the record the Minutes of the Regular Business Meeting of March 2, 1998, as presented. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Finances Upon a motion duly made by Ms. Galvin and seconded by Mr. Kelley, it was unanimously VOTED: To approve and sign the checkroll/billroll for the period for Accounts Payable Check #3963 -4023; Payroll Check #1705 -1731; Section 8 Certificate Program #4279 -4316; Section 8 Voucher Program #1880 -1915; and Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program #543 -544, as presented. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Section 8 Budgets and RFR from DHCD for Section 8 Program Upon a motion duly made by Ms. Connors and seconded by. Ms. Galvin, it was unanimously VOTED: To ratify the FY'99 budgets as submitted to HUD on March 31, 1998 for both the Section 8 Certificate and Voucher Programs as prepared by the fee accountant, Fenton, Ewald & Associates. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Kelley and seconded by Ms. Galvin, it was unanimously Page 2 Minutes - 4/6/98 VOTED: To authorize the Executive Directolr to sign an agreement with other area housing authorities to establish a consortium to respond to the Section 8 RFR from the Department of Housing and Community Development. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Kelley and seconded by Ms. Galvin, it was unanimously VOTED: To authorize and approve the new paging/cellular phone system with NEXTEL; equipment not to exceed $1000.00 and service contract not to exceed $275.00 per month. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. The Department of Labor and Industries published the new wages for maintenance personnel. The new rates: for Tom $15.51 (plus 25 cents for supervision) per hour; Mark and Bob - $14.09/hour. Town -owned land - PleasandWilson Streets - The Board of Selectmen has scheduled a meeting for April 21, 1998 from 8 -9 PM to discuss the transfer of the Pleasant/Wilson Street lot. The delineation is complete and the Conservation Commission has determined that the Rivers Protection Act does not apply to this lot and has set the wetlands as marked and denoted the depression as "land subject to periodic flooding ". In order to assess the impact on what can be built, we will have to hire an architect familiar with wetland setbacks and requirements. Sanborn Home Care 4 The current home care provider at Tannerville is Howe's Works. They are supposedly using a cluster model whereby residents can receive services 7 days per week/24 hours day. However, it is working as a cluster provider model not a cluster service model. The home care agency has several homemakers that serve clients on a regular weekly schedule without much flexibility. As the elderly age in place, their needs are greater and more diverse. As we have discussed, we would like to see a program that is more responsive to the needs of the residents. In meetings with Peter Sanborn Place director, Jacquie Carson, and Elder Services Director, Lois Bond, this issue has been raised and discussed over the past several months. Jacquie has established a separate homemaker agency, Sanborn Home Care, which provides service coordination as well as tmemaker services to the residents. Page 3 Minutes- 4/6/98 We discussed using this model at Tannerville. We subsequently met with Mystic Valley Elder Services (MVES) Director, Dan O'Leary, and he agreed to have Sanborn Home Care become the agency for Tannerville. Lois has requested that Jacquie Carson meet with the Council on Aging Board tonight to discuss funding some service coordination money for the community, including Tannerville. We may have to request money for funding from DHCD for this also. We met last week with the Case Managers of MVES and have set June 1st as the day of change from Howe's Works to Sanborn Home Care. We have 3 meetings scheduled for tenants /families to introduce them to the new home care agency. We also have an in -house training session scheduled for April 8, 1998 for staff and maintenance. We hope that this new home care concept will become a model for other home care agencies and housing developments. Report of Programs: Summer/Main Street - All units leased. We are planning to remove the old porch deck and replace it due to leaks and structural problems. We have had several informal conferences with tenants about unauthorized occupants living in their units. They are in the process of providing the necessary verification for proof of residency elsewhere for these persons. Schoolhouse - Condo fees remain same; one time assessment charge of $288 per unit for RHA due and payable on April 1, 1998 is ready for Board signature. Gazebo Circle - All units are leased. Received a bill for RE taxes (pro- rated) from Dolben. Contacted Board of Assessors regarding rebate issued per PILOT agreement with Town. Mr. Billard is calculating this to determine the accuracy of the invoice. Bancroft Avenue - -Special Needs Housing The Authority received a call today from Jane Ryder at DMH regarding the $2000. co- payment for repairs and maintenance. As of today, she says that she is well of her $2000 requirement and will be sending a bill to the Authority for $1000.00 for I installation of the hot water heater at Bancroft Avenue. The old hot water hea (hwh) began to leak; it was so big it had to be broken up to get it out; a new 70 gall hwh was installed at a cost of $2400.00. Jane will send the back -up information the $1000.00 payment she is requesting. It will be reviewed and approved appropriate. Page 4 Minutes - 4/6/98 New Garage and Office Layout Garage layout was sent to Ed Roche at DHCD. He suggested several things: Put a dormer on the second floor of the garage to give extra room without a lot of extra cost. The question of adequacy of office space came up and Ed asked why we didn't design semething different that would give us more office space and provide the necessary workshop /garage for the maintenance department. He suggested that since we have missed this year's construction schedule, we relook at the project and redesign to include the necessary office space as well as handicapped access. Personnel Upon a motion' duly made by Mr. Kelley and seconded by Ms. Galvin, it was unanimously VOTED: To authorize and—approve the payment of $300 to Eva Foley for successfully completing the probationary period and as was promised to her upon employment. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Kelley and seconded by Ms. Galvin, it was unanimously VOTED: To authorize and approve the payment of $300 to Catherine Sutherland for her assistance and extra effort during the interim before hiring the new Program Coordinator and for her help in training the new Coordinator. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Evaluation forms for Executive Director position were deferred to a subsequent meeting. The next regularly scheduled Board meeting will be May 4. 1998 at 5:30 P.M. The Board of Selectmen meeting for transfer of land at Pleasant/Wilson Street is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, 1998 at 8 P.M. Page 5 Minutes - 4/6/98 There being no further business before the Board, it was unanimously voted to adjourn at 7:15 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Margare K. Plansky, Secretary and Executive Director