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Home My WebLink About2007-10-01 Reading Housing Authority MinutesREADING HOUSING AUTHORITY MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD MEETING, October 1. 2007 A regular business meeting of the Reading Housing Authority was held on Monday, October 1, 2007 at 7:00 P.M at the office of the Reading Housing Authority the town of Reading, Mass. The meeting was called to order at 7:03 P.M. with the Chair, Timothy J. Kelley, presiding. Those members present and forming a quorum were Diane Cohen, Mary Connors and Karen L. Flammia as well as the Secretary/Executive Director, Lyn Whyte, Accountant Jill Fenton and Attorney Brad Latham.. Minutes Move Mary Second Karen Vote 4 -0 08 -019 VOTED: To accept for the record the Minutes of the Regular Business Meeting of Septemb r 10, 2007, as presented. Finances Move Mary Second Diane Vote 4 -0 08 -020 VOTED: To approve and sign the checkroll/billroll for the period for Accounts Payable heck #1182 -1227 Payroll Summary as presented for September, 2007. Section 8 Voucher Program, # 886- 1976 as presented. Finances Move Diane Second Mary Vote 4 -0 08 -021 VOTED: To certify receipt of monthly operating statements for all RHA programs for the end August, 2007 of the current fiscal year. FY 2008 Budget Presentation - Our accountants, Fenton, Ewald & Associates, prepared the budget for FY2008 in accordance with DHCD budget guidelines. Jill Fenton made the presentation to the Board noting that the Director would be inputting the numbers via the internet on a secured web site for DHCD. FY 2008 4001 Budget Move Mary Second Karen Vote 4 -0 08 -022 VOTED: To approve and sign the FY 2008 4001 Budget as submitted. FY 2008 689 Budget Move Mary Second Karen Vote 4 -0 08 -023 VOTED: To approve and sign the FY 2008 689 Budget as submitted. Renewal Accounting Contract Move Mary Second Karen Vote 4 -0 08 -224 VOTED: To approve and authorize Executive Director to sign one year contracts, July 1, through June 30, 2008 with the accounting firm of Fenton, Ewald & Associates per agreements and current budget guidelines. Award for walkways and curbing Move Mary Second Karen Vote 4 -0 08 -225 VOTED: To accept and enter into an agreement with DHCD for capital improvement bond funding in the amount of $90,000 to replace the walkways and curbing at the 667 -1 &2 Frank D. Tanner Drive development and to authorize Executive Director to enter into a Memo of Understanding with the Town of Reading to complete this project on behalf of the Housing Authority. Personnel Matters: - Office holiday schedule to coincide with Reading Town Hall. At this time, RHA will be clos d on Monday, December 24 -25th and Monday December 31" and January 1St. Maintenance will rotate on- call duty and be available for emergency calls. - New hire, Gloria Dooley, has decided to retire from her administrative position. At this time, will maintain the position within our budget and utilize part-time staff member, Katelyn Veglia. She has asked to be given the opportunity to train for this position. Katelyn will be working two full days of eight hours while attending college and more hours as her schedule allows. The Executive Director will review this arrangement in coming months. . Report of Programs: - Vacancy Report- Program Coordinator, Mitch Hudzik provided a monthly report. There contin es to be an unusually high turnover in our elderly program, however, our wait list is ample, to ft 1 the expected vacancies in a timely manner. The family state program is fully leased. - Sec 8 Report - RHA continues to struggle with it leasing rates due to a lack of response from tho 3e on the centralized wait list. We are expecting to schedule a briefing for seven potential voucher holders within the month of October. If they all lease up within the initial time frames, RHA would be fully leased by December 07. - Resident Service Coordinator- Current Tannerville Newsletter provided. New Business: - Jill Fenton from Fenton, Ewald & Associates was present at tonight's meeting. She reviewed the FY 2008 proposed budget with the Board. Current guidelines provide for an overall 12% bottom line increase over last year's budget along with an administrative salary increase of 7 %. Our state programs and Section 8 program is expected to earn income throughout the year. Unfortunately, our RHA-owned program is expected to experience a loss this fiscal year. This loss can be directly associated with the vacant 75 Pleasant Street property. As a result of this potential loss, the Executive Director has scheduled no additional extraordinary maintenance jobs at any of our other RHA -owned properties until a decision has been made regarding 75 Pleasant Street. A one time $1000 bonus to employees who elect not to request medical benefits through the HA will be made available to eligible employees. At the present time, two staff members will qualify in FY2008. The only change with maintenance salaries is an increase in the supervisory rate; it will increase from $1.00 per hour to $3.00 per hour per budget guidelines. The Executive Director requested to expand the hours of our part -time maintenance person, Kevin Boyle. In the time that Mr. Boyle and Mr. Costello have been employed by the RHA, we have not had to engage in the services of either an electrician or plumber, thus, reducing our contractual service line item. The Executive Director for discussion and approval presented any extraordinary maintenance items listed in the budget. We will continue to maintain and upgrade our developments as necessary and within our budget. Subsequently, the budget was expanded to reach the maximum allowable limits for the FY 2008. Motions to approve the budgets for all programs were presented- - The Executive Director presented the current accounting contract for review and approval by the board. Per 2008 budget guidelines, fee accountants are entitled to a 7% increase. Fenton, Ewald & Associates requested a 4.7% increase in their contract for this year. A motion was presented bye the Director to approve the contract as presented. - The Executive Director has recommended that we table the conversion of our Summer/Main p operty to gas heat until spring of 2008. RHA staff feels that we are approaching the winter season and weather could delay this project, therefore, it is best to wait until spring. All reasonable efforts will be made to monitor the older oil heat system in place. Any preventative maintenance measures of said system would take place during the month of October 07 in preparation for the upcoming winter beating season. The Housing Authority has just received a Capital Improvement Plan funding award of $90,p00 to supplement our operating reserve in order to address deteriorating walkways and granite curbing at our 667 elderly development. The HA plans to partner with the Town of Reading to complete this job. Our hope is to complete it by mid November. The Executive Director asked for a motion to accept the funding _ g Town of R ad ng to perform this wo k subsequently The l proposed twork may exceed the funding saward; ho ever, every effort will be made to work with the Town to lower any costs associated with this project. If the costs do exceed the award, the Board has authorized the Executive Director to expend funds fr m our restricted reserve in order to complete the job. The Chair will be kept apprised of this pr ject if developments occur prior to our November 5 `h regular board meeting. Real Estate Matter: Update 75 Pleasant Street: Brad Latham was present to provide all the Board members with a progress report on our comprehensive permit. The September 20`h ZBA meeting was continued until November 1, 2007. Based on the latest developments, the Town now wants a complete new drainage system (underground). This new system may cost $60,000. Brad suggested that we meet with the Town to discuss in detail the development of the "new" municipal parking lot and any costs associated with that aspect of the project and hammer out details prior to our Novernber 1 meeting. The Executive Director will contact our engineer to request a cost estimate o the drainage system that the local engineering office has requested us to install per a merno of 9/20/07. This may enable us to be better prepared for the impact these costs may have o the overall project. The HA could stand their ground and not include any parking lot issues in the comprehensive permit. Brad has written a draft for ZBA review that he feels can best address the issues, satisfy the ZBA, and not render the project financially impossible. Per request of Board Member, John Coote, the Executive Director did provide to the Bo d for their review and discussion the following; 1) a spec on the financial position of the RIHA to purchase a multi - family unit in town, 2) anticipated value of existing structure for re-sale, 3) recent market sales and current multi - family property for sale in town and 4) 30B procedures for resale of existing property. Every effort will be made to address the cost issues prior to the November 1" ZBA hearing. Based on the latest delays per changes in initial plans and the most current financial analysis as presented by our fee accountant, the Board may need to make a final decision on the direction of this proposed project before year end. Board Schedule November, 2007 BOARD MEETING: 11/05/2007 @ 7 PM 08 -027 TO ADJOURN: 8:30 PM. M Res7ry/ Ily submitted, 11 4 �,- �z Lyn E. Whyte, Secretar. & Executive Director Diane Second Mary Vote 4 -0