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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-09-17 - Minutes - Archive• • • • MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS The Housing Authority of the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas met in Regular Session at 8:00 a.m., Wednesday, September 17th, 2003 in the office of the Authority #1 North School Ave., Fayetteville, AR. Gary Garton, Chairperson, called the meeting to order. Commissioners Present: Garton, Watson, Bolin, Richardson, Coleman Commissioners Absent: None Others Present: Fredia Sawin, Hugh Eamest (City of Fayetteville), Yolanda Fields (City of Fayetteville), Trish Hollenbeck (N. W. AR Times) Ms. Bolin commented that she disagreed with the content of the last paragraph regarding the proposed Housing Project This was not a direct quote and should not have been directed as one. However this is a comment for reference to future minutes and the present minutes do not need to be changed. Minutes of the August 20th, 2003 Regular Meeting were approved by motion from Ms. Richardson, seconded by Ms. Watson and carried unanimously. Ms. Bolin acknowledged her appreciation of the changes in the Financial Statement but relayed that she would be addressing, later in this meeting, expenditures which she feels are out of line. The August Financial Statement was approved by motion from Ms. Richardson, seconded by Mr. Garton and carried unanimously. The contents of the Executive Director's Report were discussed between the commissioners and in conclusion was approved by motion from Ms. Richardson, seconded by Ms. Watson and carried unanimously. The agenda item for the possibility of a public housing unit evaluation was postponed to the next board meeting for clanty on the pnce and guidance on how to proceed. Board members Richardson, Garton and Bolin agreed to meet at the Housing Authority on Wednesday September 24th, 2003 at 8:00a.m. for a tour of the Public Housing sites. This tour will be conducted by Ms Sawm. Mr.Garton asked that the agenda item to discuss the proposed Housing Project be postponed until the potential developers along with the City of Fayetteville could meet and pull this all together. Ms. Sawin presented Mr. Garton with the disposition of property guidelines from HUD to be reviewed for future reference. • • • • • 'PAGE 2 September 17, 2003 Resolution #690 (Approval of 2004 Budget), was declined as presented due to questions concerning travel, training, Nahro traps, Drug Awareness, Garbage Disposal, Tenant Stipend funds etc. Motion was made by Ms. Bolin to decline this Resolution #690, seconded by Ms. Watson and carried unanimously. Mr. Garton volunteered to work with Ms. Sawin to review the budget items in question. Mr. Coleman presented to the Board his ideas in converting the Lewis Plaza Head Start Building into a Police Sub Station/Resource Learning Center. " This Learning Center would be for the residents of Public Housing and help to build relationships in the Housing Community as a whole " Mr. Coleman has touched base with several U of A officials in regards to the fraternities setting up a mentorship program and a tutonal - program for the children in Public Housing. He also announced that the Housing Authority has scheduled a tenants meeting on September 18th, 2003 at the Lewis Plaza Head Start Building and that the commissioners are welcome to attend. Mr. Garton relayed that if Mr. Coleman heads up this Resource Learning Center program, the rest of the commissioners will help out, as time permits. Mr. Garton made a motion to allow the utilization of the Lewis Plaza Head Start Building for a Police Substation/Resource Learning Center, motion was seconded by Ms. Richardson and carried unanimously. Ms. Richardson requested that Ms. Sawin initial each item on the agenda in reference to which board member initiated the discussion. The resolution items should have Ms. Sawin's initials. Ms. Richardson presented to the Board a draft proposal for the Executive Director's evaluation. "I tried to make it not too complicated". Ms. Bohn expressed that she appreciated Ms. Richardson's effort but felt that it should be more specific with the criteria being looked at. Ms. Richardson acknowledged that Ms: Bolin's draft evaluation was very good but also very long. "I tried to put things that are specific to our situation, like working with the City for instance, more job specific and shorter." Ms. Watson questioned Mr. Hugh Earnest and Yolanda Fields (City of Fayetteville) as to how their evaluations are conducted and how often Mr. Eamest responded by saying that the City's evaluations are done once per year unless a person is on a probationary penod in which this evaluation could be done in six months intervals. Ms Fields added that the type of evaluation received is based on where you are in your grading system. Mr. Eamest reiterated that he would be glad to provide the commissioners with the City's evaluation documents, however, we are presently changing our system. "I suggest that you devise a criteria you are comfortable with, our criteria is our criteria which doesn't necessarily fit to yours. Mr. Garton made motion to accept Ms. Richardson's evaluation document as a good starting place with an eye to continue to develop as changes occurs, motion was seconded by Ms. Watson, motion carried as four I votes and one nay vote. • • • • • PAGE 3 September 17, 2003 Ms. Richardson suggested that the board prioritize as to what items to discuss are important and look at whether the board is in compliance with the Housing Authority By - Laws in regards to the Special Meetings. The board needs to decide if the item is important enough to have a Special Meeting or can it be discussed at the Regular monthly meetings. Mr. Garton made a motion to the board that the Regular Meeting day be changed from the third Wednesday of the month to the third Tuesday of the month, due to his conflicts with other meetings, motion was seconded by Ms. Bolin and carred unanimously.- Ms. nanimously: Ms. Bolin asked for clarification from the chairman (Mr. Garton) as to the By-laws and what the guidelines for a Special Meeting are. In this day and time, will e-mail work for the written request or must the request be received by U.S. mail. Mr. Garton responded that either way was agreeable with him. Ms Richardson announced that the Executive Director evaluations would need to be returned to her by Friday, September 26th, 2003 It can be mailed or dropped by her house. Ms Watson reminded the commissioners of Ms. Ruth King's previous visit to the Board regarding donations to the Elderly Angel Tree Project. " Mr. Garton graciously presented Ms. King with a donation from the Bank and himself." Mr. Garton relayed to Ms. Watson that he could hopefully get some more donations in here. Ms. Bolin also pledged that each of the commissioners could personally take an angel from the tree to show support for this project. The commissioners discussed in depth the need for an objective minute taker to be appointed by the secretary (Executive Director) in order to allow the secretary to be more involved in the discussions of the meetings. Ms. Bolin quoted that she is of the opinion that this is a personnel capacity issue and should be decided in a personnel manner by executive session. After further discussion, Ms. Richardson made a motion to amend the By -Laws and enable the secretary (Executive Director) to appoint an objective minute taker for the Regular Board Meetings, motion was seconded by Mr. Coleman, the motion carried at four I votes and one nay vote. • • PAGE 4 September 17, 2003 Mr. Hugh Earnest with the City of Fayetteville relayed to the board, on behalf of the Mayor, " we try to improve communications between two groups who have many of the same objectives, especially in certain areas of town." "We need to be very careful in moving forward on this proposal that deals with Housing at a public park". "It was not my intent to have this surface for any type of public discussion until we had an opportunity to visit with you and, mostly important, with the City Council." " Thank you for saying lets all sit down and talk this through." "There is a series of suggestions in the Mayor's letter that I would like the board to look at and consider, one of which is the use of a more public place for your meetings, this is your call but it would raise your visibility and this is good." "The other suggestion is for us all to work together on -your yearly and five year plans to make sure that we are in consort." "I also think the Police Sub -station is a fantastic idea and would be a perfect opportunity for us to work together " Ms. Watson questioned Mr. Earnest as to the possibility of the Housing Authonty getting involved in the city cleanup and being furnished with a trash can for the bus stop located in the front of Hillcrest Towers. Mr. Earnest reiterated that he would be glad to work with the Housing Authority on this issue also. Mr. Earnest and Ms. Fields excused themselves from the meeting due to other pressing engagements that they must attend. Mr. Earnest asked if he could contact Mr. Garton or Ms. Sawin to set up a meeting with the developers on the Housing Project Proposal. The answer from both parties was yes. Ms. Bolin questioned the Board and Ms. Sawin as to the whereabouts of the three computers replaced back in March, 2003. She proposed that this matter be researched. Also, can we look into the possibility of furnishing the tenant representatives, as a incentative, a computer with intemet access and possibly a stipend payment. Ms. Sawin agreed that the matter would be researched. Ms Bolin thanked Ms. Sawin for providing a copy of the Lindsey Accounting Contract but stated that it does not specify cost on all items handled. Ms. Bolin questioned the Board as to when this Accounting Contract was approved and was the former Executive Director's salary reduced since his job duties were reduced. Ms. Richardson replied that to her memory this Accounting Contract was discussed with the Board but was not approved in the form of a Resolution. "Other Housing Authorities around the state have started using Lindsey for their accounting purposes." "It is my experience that with this easement comes tens of other things to take up your time due to other changes." "No we did not consider it and I do not know that we would have made a downward salary adjustment had we considered it." • • • • • Page 5 September 17, 2003 Ms. Bolin pointed out to the Board that through her research and documentation she has found, the Fayetteville Housing Authority is in violation of HUD regulations by allowing an employee to work under contract labor. The employees in question are Mr. William Drain and Mr. George Reed. Mr. Garton relayed that if the Housing Authority is in violation, we will not do this, let's research and we will adjust our procedures. Ms. Bolin reiterated that the Fair Labor Standards Act states that if it s not doing the same work that they are doing as an employee, we do not have to consider the overtime issue. "However, I would not, from my human relations background, like to put myself up in an audit with the Labor Department or the IRS." "I think that this is something the board needs to address." Ms. Bolin also discussed with the board the discrepancies she sees with Mr. James Waddell's cost and the manner in which Mr. Bruce Bowlin is paid. " I own Real Estate and on August 26th, 2003 I had a bathroom totally redone and I have an itemized statement from the gentleman who works for me and he charged me a total of $756.71." "Mr. Waddell charged the Housing Authority $1650.00 to redo a bathroom." Mr. Garton explained that he currently has a job that Mr. Waddell is doing for his bank and he competitively bid it. "Maybe that's an issue, people have a tendency that when they know they are not bidding against someone they might charge too much." Ms. Bolin, continuing on with another issue concerning Mr. Bruce Bowlin, quoted the Fair Labor Standards Act " if you provide materials you have an employee". Ms. Bolin stated that based on these facts Mr. Bowlin is not contract labor. Ms Bolin made a motion for a resolution that the procurement policy be amended to read that for a period of one year, all expenditures over $1000 would require three estimates and advance approval from the Executive Director. Clarification is that this would only be for contract labor. Motion was seconded by Mr. Coleman and carried unanimously. Ms. Bolin approached the board for the goal clarification in response to an e-mail which she received . Mr. Garton gave his perception of what the goal of this board is, "To me we are all here for one thing and that is to provide the best for low income housing and I feel like we are pulling ourselves in so many directions that the over reaching goal is sometimes being missed." "If we take a positive approach, we can better the overall housing stock and that's what we are here for." The board agreed to meet in Executive Session on October 8th, 2003 at 8:00a.m. at the Bank of Fayetteville. This meeting will be held to discuss the Executive Director's evaluation and other personnel issues. • • • • • • • • • Page 6 September 17, 2003 There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS ATTEST: S RETARY • FAYETTEVILLE HOUSING AUTHORITY #1 North School Ave. Fayetteville, AR 72701-5928 PH: (479)521-3850 FAX: (479)442-6771 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT SEPTEMBER 12, 2003 1. Please read the attached NAHRO e-mail concerning the overview of the Senate Appropriations Committee. This will give an update on the funds we receive and the status as to the cuts. 2. HUD has followed through with its threat to recapture funds. According to the rules, Housing Authority's cannot retain over 105% of the original administrative fees for Section 8. We received $53,320 for our Section 8 administrative fees for this month (September). This means that the recaptured funds amount to about $80,000. We are told that they may recapture around $40,000 more in the coming months. I have transferred funds from our money market account in the amount of $55,000. We will have to wait to see what happens for next month 3. The move -outs for Public Housing were two for the month of July and ten for the month of August. Move -ins for July was six and for the month of August were eleven. The vacancies for the month of August are due to a number of things. Three evictions (Two for non-payment of rent and one for criminal activity), one abandoned unit, two moved out of town, one due to health, and three to be near family. 4. Randy Hoeschen has submitted to HUD the revised budget for Capital grant funds. You will be furnished a copy of this at the September board meeting. The board has already approved the five year plan and therefore does not have to approve this budget according to HUD. But as you know, items can be changed as merits with the changing of funds. We should also receive additional funds at the final HUD appropriations and the budget will be revised again. • Public Housing Tenant Representative 1. What steps have been taken in developing Tenant organizations at each public housing site? 2. What monetary incentive is available for Representative? 3. Are Commissioners in favor of providing computers and intemet access to Representatives? 4. Where are computers the Housing Authority replaced in 2003? Accounting Contract I. Does the Housing Authority have a contract for accounting services? 2. If so, was it a competitive contract and when was h awarded? 3. Are monthly fees specified? 4. Did the board approve the contract? 5. Considering the substantial decrease in the accounting responsibility when removing the frnction from the duties of the Executive Director, was his salary adjusted accordingly? Expenditure vertficatton Please provide verification on July expenditures on contract labor to employees William Drain and George Reed. 2. Please provide verification on July expenditures to Bruce Bollin, James Waddell, and Kenny Delk. • Proposed Personnel Policy update 1. Proposed policy change regarding Contract labor provided by employees. 2. Form task group to address updating personnel policy manual. 1. For a period of one year, al expenditures over $1,000 would require three estimates and advance approval of the Executive Director. Proposed bidding policy Adjourn to Executive Session to discuss personnel issues