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Home My WebLink About2006-05-15 Reading Housing Authority MinutesREADING HOUSING AUTHORITY MINUTES OF THE REGULAR BOARD MEETING. Mav 15. 2006 A regular business meeting of the Reading Housing Authority was held on Monday, May 15, 2006 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 7:12 P.M. with the Chair, Karen L. Flammia, presiding. Those members present aric forming a quorum were Tim Kelley, Mary Connors and John Coote as well as the Secretary/Executive Director, Lyn Whyte. Minutes Move Tim Second Mary Vote 3 -0 -1 02 -289 VOTED: To accept for the record the Minutes of the Regular Business Meeting of April 3, 2 06, as presented. Finances Move Tim Second Mary Vote 4 -0 02 -290 VOTED: To approve and sign the checkroll/billroll for the period for Accounts Payable Check #197 -269, Payroll Check Summary as presented for April, 2006 ; Section 8 Voucher Program, #289-378, as presented. Finances Move Tim Second Mary Vote 4 -0 02 -291 VOTED: To certify receipt of monthly operating statements for all RHA programs fo the month end March, 2006 of the current fiscal year. - - Reimbursement for schooling /licensing Move Tim Second Mary Vote 4 -0 02 -292 VOTED: To approve a reimbursement to Frank Veglia in the amount of $622.15 for schooling' and licensing fees for completion of construction supervisors license course and state testing. i Gazebo Sprinkler System Install Move John Second Tim Vote 0 -4 02 -293 VOTED: To approve request by Summit Village Condominium Trust Association to enter our three votes in favor of the installation of a water irrigation system at the Gazebo Village property site. Personnel Matters: - Executive Director provided confirmation of schooling for building/construction supervisor's ti-ade and completion of state licensing for Frank Veglia. A request was made to reimburse Mr. Veglia the expenses incurred. This additional schooling and licensing is job related, enhances his skill level and experience in the trade will be a value to the RHA. - Executive Director proposed eliminating a maintenance position in the next fiscal year due to impending and continuing level funded budgets. More information will be forthcoming as state presents its budget guidelines in the next six weeks. Report of Programs: - Vacancy Report- All units in all programs fully leased as stated in reports presented. Sec 8 Report- No report provided until Qtr. End 03/06. - FSS Report — No report provided until Qtr. End 03/06 - Resident Service Coordinator- Current Tannerville Newsletter provided. New Business: A request form the Management Company overseeing the Gazebo Circle development to reconsid r our initial non - response to a vote to install an irrigation system at this property was presented once again by the Executive Director. The project cost of this project was expected to be $150,000 and the purpose as stated in a letter from Management Company was to eliminate an annual expense item of $7500 The payback on this investment is twenty years. Overall, the Board maintained its position as an agency administering low income housing of not voting for any changes that could eventually impact the reserves for this development resulting in future assessments that could be costly to the agenc . A motion was made on this decision and the Executive Director would forward the vote to the Management Company. A small insurance dividend for FYE 2005 was realized by the RHA upon audit of our Workmen's Compensation Insurance Policy. Despite overall increases in insurance state wide, it was a welcomed surprise to receive even a small dividend to offset some of these costs. Executive Director requested that Board Members sign additional Reading Cooperative signature cards in order to invest some of our funds for our three programs into more interest bearing accounts; certificate of deposits or money markets. The funds will be distributed on a rolling basis between 60 days, 90 days and 180 days in order to have any of these funds easily assessable. As a result of the recent rains, the RHA encountered some major problems in two RHA locations The Bancroft property was receiving heavy water intake in the basement. Maintenance has been on-call since Saturday, May 13`h overseeing the removal of water there. Excessive rains and wind have also caused extensive damage at our Summer Avenue property to the roof and upstairs bedroom of the 4507 unit. DHCD has been called in order to expedite the process to repair this damage. The Exec itive Director has applied for an emergency waiver to address roof replacement and bedroom ceiling repairs. Upon suggestion of DHCD Candy Tempesta, a former contractor, Meadows Construction Company, has been contacted to do this emergency repair. This company is DCAM certified and on the state vendor list. As a result of their status, DHCD has informed me that this choice would result in an immediate waiver in order to move forward with repairs by week's end. Our insurance company has also been contacted relative to this situation and we have engaged the services of an adjuster to assist with that process. Damages have been documented with pictures and labor costs tracked in order to validate our claim and also substantiate possible requests for future MEMA funding reimbursements as a result of the state of emergency imposed by the Governor. Real Estate Matter: Update 75 Pleasant Street: Not much progress has been made on the project since we are wailing for a letter of approval from the DHCD department that oversees initiative projects in towns and cities. A time line of calls was provided to Board indicating ongoing communication with the parties involved in the project. RHA staff has had conversations with the building dep ent regarding our position in this matter. An application for a building permit must be submitted to the building inspector. This application will be signed by the Town Manager, per his suggestion, since we do not own the land and cannot proceed to the next level without the building permit being denied. In order to proceed to the ZBA we must have a denial by the building inspector d a letter of approval from DHCD to submit along with their application. The Board would lik to keep the process going since there is still no outlay of dollars on our behalf. Discussion continues as to the likelihood of the financial feasibility of this project. We have been working on it for three years now and recent changes could drastically affect us; interest rates: going up, FMR's have dropped and are expected to drop once again in the Fall 2006, cost of supplies has increased, labor costs have escalated as well. We have also received a request by one of the present tenants to move. We cannot deny her request to move and RHA will have great difficulty leasing the existing unit as it stands today. Although the rent from the unit remaining leased will cover just the direct cost of the existing mortgage, it will have a significant band negative impact on our overall RHA -owned properties in the next fiscal year. Can we afford to take this chance? - Various options have been presented. 1) We can continue along as planned, go to ZBA,' put project out to bid as a modular and wait to make a decision on the existing house. We must look into an issue of whether our existing land is non - conforming and if we can reduce its size d' e to land swap and still have an option to sell. The results of these findings could impact our dec Sion 2) We can opt to discontinue project and make plans to pull a demolition permit and sell the existing house and land as it stands today. We would then put aside any profits in a restricted reserve account, wait for the market to decline and attempt to purchase a multi - family home in town in the future. The consensus was that there may be no other options to consider at this time but the two noted. We will continue to monitor the project closely and gather more information and proceed with extreme caution. Board Schedule June, 2006 BOARD MEETING: 06/05/2006 @ 7 PM 02 -294 TO ADJOURN: 9:15 PM. Move Tim Second Res pec ly submitted, A (� 6&4'� Lyn E. Whyte, Secretary & Executive Director Vote 4 -0