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Home My WebLink About1996-10-07 Reading Housing Authority MinutesREADING HOUSING AUTHORITY Minutes of the Meeting of October 7. 1996 A regular Board meeting of the Reading Housing Authority was held on Monday, October 7, 1996, at the office of the Authority, 22 Frank D. Tanner Drive in the Town of Reading, Massachusetts. The Chairman, Robert K. Sweet, Jr., called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. Those members present and forming a quorum were: Mr. Allen, Ms. Connors and Mr. Kelley. Ms. Plansky, the Executive Director, was also in attendance. Minutes Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Ms. Connors, it was unanimously VOTED: To accept for the record the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of September 9, 1996, presented. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Zoning Rv -law Articles regarding ".. flordable Housing" Upon a motion duly made by M. Allen and seconded by Ms. Connors, it was unanimously VOTED: To approve and have Mr. Allen present to the Community Planning and Develi Commission the language changes (prepared by Mr. Greco, our attorney) to the proposed By -law article by adding in the second paragraph of the by -law language of 4.7.2. l .h. the following: After the words, "relative to the development," add: "which units shall be After the words in the next sentence "low income ", add "and" After the words "moderate income ", add 'families" so that the sentence will read in "which units shall be affordable to very -low income, low- income and moderate inco families andlor elderly households... " Also, in the next by -law change for 4.9.4.5.g., by adding the following: After the words "low income ", add "and" After the words "moderate income ", add 'families" so that the sentence will read in "which units are affordable to very -low income, low- income and moderate income families andlor elderly households.. . " The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Finances Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Kelley, it was unanimously Page 2 Minutes 10/7/96 VOTED: To approve and sign the checkroll/billroll for the period for Accounts Payable Check #3009 -3057; Payroll Check #1124 -1156; Section 8 Certificate Program #3288 -3343; Section 8 Voucher Program #1499-1519; and Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program #489 -493, as presented. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Telephone System URgrade Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Kelley, it was unanimously VOTED: To approve and authorize the Executive Director to upgrade the current telephone system with new hardware /software as necessary. Such costs shall not exceed $5500.00. The Board requested that the greeting contain information about Section 8 and family waiting lists and that the calls then be directed to a live person for proper disposition. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. At this point in the meeting, Mr. Allen went to Town Hall to present to CPDC the Board's recommended changes to the wording of the "affordable housing" provisions in the current warrant which will change this section of the Towels Zoning By -laws. Easement - Mineral Street Bridge Upon a motion duly made by Ms. Connors and seconded by Mr. Kelley, it was unanimously VOTED: To ratify and approve the language as prepared by the Authority's attorney for the temporary construction easement for the Mineral Street bridge and which was signed by the Chairman and forwarded to the Town of Reading. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Linkage Units - Summit Village Upon a motion duly made by Ms. Connors and seconded by Mr. Kelley, it was unanimously VOTED: To ratify and approve the language as prepared by the Authority's attorney for the "Discount Rate Certificate" and the "Eligible Purchaser Certificate" and to authorize the Executive Director to sign the same for each affordable purchaser. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. 10/7 Upon a motion duly made by Ms. Connors and seconded by Mr. Kelley, it was unanimously VOTED: To ratify and approve the language as prepared by the Authority's attorney for the "Addendum" to the "Land Use Agreement" between the Reading Housing Authority and the Bear Hill Limited Partnership for the affordable units at Summit Village, which was signed by the Chairman and forwarded to the Bear Hill Limited Partnership. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Window replacement DHCD Architect and Project Manager came out to the site along with Senator Tisei and his aid They reviewed the conditions and they plan to fix the windows until adequate funding is available to replace all units. Although Senator Tisei was not able to get the outside amendme: passed for funding window replacement he hopes to refile in January 1997. DHCD will allow to spend $22,000 to upgrade the current units. As there are so many windows in need of repair do so would be to spend good money after bad. Today we had a window repair.expert review the development. He felt that the windows should be replaced totally. He strongly suggested that we use aluminum windows because they are a structural element whereas the vinyl were n There also seems to be a problem with the overhead window flashing. Our maintenance man will remove some bricks to expose the current conditions in order to assess what the correction should be. Report of Programs Parker Place - 4 BR unit still empty even after we opened the waiting list. We have problems with families earning over the income limits; not sufficient family members for a 4 BR unit; people clearing CORI and/or landlord references. Section 8 Program - Letter from HUD noting that the RHA would get a 10% reduction in th earned administrative fees. This is a problem for us. We have reported our 50058 forms as required. We do not believe that HUD has considered: 1) the required HUD 3 month moratorium on reissuing certificates /vouchers 2) the mobility units in other towns 3) they are not using the base line and adding the current monthly changes Tanner Drive Complex - The Director presented a proposal to erect a pre- fabricated 3 -car behind the current administration building: 2 bays for parking; 1 bay for maintenance woj space. The Board authorized the Directo to forward this request to expend up to $25,000 Operating Reserves for such purpose will be forwarded to DHCD for their approval. to Page 4 Minutes 10/7/96 Assisted Living Facility The Board requested that the Executive Director send a letter to Longwood Place regarding the placement of Reading residents for the "low income" units at the facility. This request will be made in conformance with the agreement between the parties for placing 10% of the low income persons as Reading residents. The agreement requires that this be done at lease -up and every year subsequent. Summit Village The addendum to the Memorandum and the 93A release forms were approved by the sub- committee (Chairman, Tim Kelley, the Executive Director and the RHA attorney) and we have had 7 of the 9 affordable purchasers sign their agreement. We still have two 3 BR units available and have made the offer to 2 more lottery applicants. We may have to readvertise and see if there are any other affordable purchasers who wish to register. The Board requested that the Executive Director send a letter to Drew Dolben regarding the consequences to the affordable purchasers as a result of the long delay in delivery of the buildings. If the units do not pass until after the CPI price adjustment takes effect on January 1, 1997, and the developer exercises the CPI adjustment, it could have a decidedly negative effect on the affordable purchasers. This was briefly discussed with BHLP formerly and with Al Murphy during the walk - through in September. Mr. Murphy suggested that an equitable solution would be to hold the price on the original affordable purchasers even if delivered after the January deadline. Any purchaser selected after the original purchasers would have the CPI adjustment factor. Proposed Telephone Monitoring jX tem Mr. Allen presented the results of his investigation into the questions raised at the prior meeting regarding the phone monitoring system. Mr. Allen has contacted the State Ethics Commission for a determination of his involvement in the monitoring system and his capacity as a Board member. He did state in his letter that he would refrain from any discussion or voting on this proposal. The insurance coverage was more costly than anticipated and that results in an increase in the monthly cost to subscribers from $3 to $5 per month. The question of zoning is one that would have to be answered by the Town and Mr. Allen will continue to investigate this. Board Meeting Schedule The next Board meeting is scheduled for November 4, 1996. At that meeting, the Board was asked to bring their calendars to schedule the next year's meetings. There being no further business before the Board, it was unanimously voted to adjourn at 10 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Margaret Plansky, Secretary and Executive Director