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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-08-28 - Minutes -Meeting Minutes BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR SESSION – August 28, 2025, 5:00 PM I. Call to Order The Fayetteville Housing Authority Board of Commissioners Agenda Session was called to order on Thursday, August 28, 2025 at 5pm via Zoom. II. Roll Call Present: Commissioners Moore, Cole, Nathan, Humphrey; Executive Director Tapley & Director of Programs Tara West; Special Guest, Sunny Shaw from NAHRO and 1 member of the public Absent: Commissioner Deutch III. Approval of the Agenda Motion to approve: Commissioner Moore; Second: Commissioner Cole. Unanimously approved. IV. Consent Agenda Motion to approve: Commissioner Moore; Second: Commissioner Cole. Unanimously approved. V. Reports A. FHA Chair Report - Board Chair Moore discussed attending City Council and how the City of Fayetteville has approved funding to the FHA for $200,000 to help repay debt owed from previous leadership. Chair Moore mentioned that the council meeting was over 4 hours long but the support of the Fayetteville City Council was greatly appreciated. B. Staff Reports – Chonda Tapley discussed the funding that Chair Moore mentioned and how she had been attending meetings with various City department heads and other city members and in discussions with Mayor Rawn. Mayor Rawn asked how the City can help the FHA immediately and Chonda asked if the City would help with repayment of debt owed to the US Treasury and back to Public Housing that HUD QAD has determined the FHA owes with non -federal funds which includes $60,961.45 must be repaid directly to the U.S. Department of the Treasury due to the closure of the 2017 Emergency Grant; $123,758.00 must be returned to FHA’s Public Housing program using nonfederal fund. The remaining $15,280.55 will be deposited in a new non-federal fund account to be used for rehabilitation and development purposes of affordable housing. Meeting Minutes BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR SESSION – August 28, 2025, 5:00 PM She gave an update on the Safety & Security Grant work and updated everyone that progress is starting. The sliding doors in HCT have been installed, the cameras, fob and door security are still on order. She gave an overview of several program reviews and progress with the forensic audit. Staff are attending training today and tomorrow through NAHRO for Customer Service. The office continues to work on standard operating procedures, Morgan Manor compliance, and working with Natural State Housing. Federal Budget is still in progress, everyone is hoping that when the House is back in session in September that a budget that will support affordable housing and its programs will be approved. Chonda mentioned that Charles Wheeler has retired from FHA and that they are reviewing and changing some positions. Chonda also discussed how there were some fire alarm issues this week and how she, the team, fire department and service company all were responsive at 3:45am multiple times during the week and that a resident had also pushed buttons on the panel and when that happens it triggers the elevators to shut down and in turn we have to call Otis and that is an additional expense that is unnecessary and unplanned. The team is continuing to work on proactive measures with annual work orders and working on upgrading and replacing items to help improve our facilities for our residents. She also mentioned that they are looking at a plexiglass cover for the panel in the lobby to prevent the public from accessing it and that the plan is to purchase a covering similar to w hat the University and school district use as is preferred by the Fire Department. Executive Director Tapley stressed the need for residents to contact the office with work orders when there are items that are broken. VI. Old Business A. FHA Board Procurement Training: Executive Director Tapley presented the options for procurement training and mentioned that Commissioner Nathan had attended the training earlier in the week. VII. New Business Meeting Minutes BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR SESSION – August 28, 2025, 5:00 PM A. Resolution 1357 Authorization to Open a New Bank Account - Commissioner Moore made a motion to authorize Executive Director, Chonda Tapley to open a new bank account to be used for Non-Federal Funds seconded by Commissioner Nathan, motion approved unanimously. VIII. Final Comments & Announcements A. Chair Moore asked if there were any additional comments and introduced Sunny Shaw. Ms. Shaw who is an Executive Director in Idaho and manages 4 Public Housing Authoriries also trains for NAHRO. She discussed the training that she was conducting at FHA, that is Customer Service, which encompasses a variety of topics to include e motional intelligence training and how to interact with both internal and external customers. She discussed how this is important for housing authorities because we need to understand how to work with our customers more than ever due to the challenging times today due to all the regulations and rules that PHA’s must follow . B. Commissioner Humphrey asked Chonda about how fast the team responds to Emergency Work Orders and Chonda explained that they respond immediately, if necessary, based on the work needed and what other emergencies are already scheduled, and she asked what categorized an emergency work order. Chonda explained that the emergency is categorized and that depending on the list of emergency items needed to be completed they could be categorized. Chonda discussed that the team responds accordingly and per HUD regulations. Commissioner Humphrey asked what an emergency work order is and Chonda explained what an emergency work order is. Commissioner Humphrey brought up a situation with a resident and the call on a weekend about a water issue and responsiveness from the maintenance department, without giving out any personally identifiable information a discussion happened, and Chonda clarified that the situation was responded to in a timely manner. Commissioner Humphrey explained that since then the resident’s floor is buckling, Chonda asked Tara West to check the work orders and no work order has been initiated by any resident for floor buckling. Chonda asked Commissioner Humphrey to please remind the residents to put in work orders for needed repairs so that the FHA team can respond appropriately. IX. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm.