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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-01-18 - Minutes - Archive• • • • MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 18, 2005 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., January 18, 2005, in the City Administration Building, Room 326, Fayetteville, AR. Robin Ross, Chairperson called the meeting to order at approximately 8:00 a.m. Commissioners Present. Commissioners Absent: Others Present. Janet Richardson, Robin Ross, Betty Turner Richard Royal and Deborah Olsen None Fredia Sawin, Laura Higgins (Fay. Housing Auth.), Charlie Morasch (NW AR Times) and Sara Terry (Morning News) Dr. Ross requested that Item I. -Executive Session to Discuss Employee Evaluation Form under New Business be moved up on the agenda and all board members agreed. After executive session was completed, board members reconvened. Dr. Ross explained that the board discussed updating the employee evaluation form used for the executive director's position to a table format. Ms. Richardson moved to adopt this new evaluation form, seconded by Mr. Royal and carried unanimously. Old Business A. Update on Future Plans for Upgrade of Public Housing Playground Equipment -Ms. Richardson advised she has been in contact with Jeff Collier who works for the Parks Dept. of the City of Fayetteville and he has agreed to come to each site and evaluate the present equipment, and advise what equipment can stay and what should be removed. Mr. Collier does this type of work for the City and has a lot of experience in this area. Ms. Richardson stated that he would be doing these inspections sometime this week and she would report back at the next board meeting. Ms. Turner advised that cost needed to be reviewed before anything is done and the board agreed. Mr. Royal reviewed non profit requirements and that it takes a long time to establish. There is a state organization called Community Foundation that could give legal council and guidance through this process for free however, it is a lengthy process. Ms. Sawin stated that you can use Capitol Grant Funds for playground equipment but there were other things that needed to be done first. It was agreed by the board that it would be better to look at short term solutions for now and to wait for the report back from Mr. Collier. B. Discussion of Plans to Increase Minimum Rent for Public Housing and Section 8 Voucher Participants -Ms Sawin advised that the comment letters were sent out to the participants and also a public hearing was conducted on January 14, 2005 and only one written comment has been received which was shown to the board. Ms. Sawin stated that we are still in the comment period until January 31, 2005 and she would let the board know if there are any other comments at the next meeting. Since the phase in process could not be done over a five month period then the date the increase would go into effect should be extended from a 30 to 90 day period. A resolution will be presented at the next regular board meeting. C. Discussion of Possible Policy Changes in the Definition of a Family -Ms. Sawin contacted other local Housing Authorities and most of them have already eliminated the wording "related by blood, marriage or adoption" and the remainder of your definition of a family would remain the same After discussion, Ms. Turner motioned to eliminate the wording "related by blood, marriage or adoption", seconded by Mr. Royal and carried unanimously. Ms Sawin advised that you must first give a 30 day public comment period which she will post in the Housing Authority lobby and place an advertisement in the local paper. After the end of the comment period, then a resolution can be presented to the board for their approval. D. Further Discussion and Update on the Recommendations from the Housing Authority's Management Needs Assessment -Dr. Ross requested that each board member review the Management Needs Assessment report and thoroughly examine each suggestion made. Dr. Ross would add a suggestion from this report onto the agenda each month for discussion. Ms. Sawin advised she will mail another copy of the report to Ms. Richardson, Dr. Ross and Mr. Royal along with the minutes. E Schedule Meeting with the Fayetteville Planning Commission -Dr. Ross felt it would be important for the Housing Authority to understand the Downtown Master Plan and how it relates to the people we help, therefore a meeting with the Planning Commission to discuss this issue has been scheduled for Monday, April 4, 2005 at 5:30 p.m. and the board, Ms. Sawin and any Housing Authority staff are invited to attend. Dr. Ross will get back with everyone on the location of this meeting. New Business A. Approval of Minutes of Previous Regular Meeting -Ms. Turner motioned to accept the minutes from the December 21, 2004 regular meeting, seconded by Mr. Royal and carried unanimously. B. Approval of December 2004 Financial Statements -Ms. Sawin reviewed some of the expenses from the financial statement, including higher than usual legal expenses due to an eviction and maintenance costs to replace 75 feet of sewer line. Ms. Richardson then motioned to accept, seconded by Ms. Turner and carried unanimously. • • • • C. Approval of Resolution 721 Adopting Revised Portability Requirements in the Section 8 Rental Assistance Program -Ms. Sawin explained that due to cuts in funding this restriction on portability is needed and HUD has allowed PHA's to adopt this into their administrative policies This ruling will eliminate large Housing Authority's from billing for higher rents than the Fayetteville Housing Authority allows and taking up extra slots. Ms. Richardson motioned to accept Resolution 721, seconded by Mr. Royal and camed unanimously. D. Discussion of Adopting a Policy Allowing Police Officers to Live in Public Housing Units for Security Purposes -Ms. Ross stated that she had checked into getting a police officer for security purposes but found that it would be too costly. Ms. Sawin brought up that you could allow a police officer to reside in one of your public housing units and not charge them any rent and in exchange for that, they would provide security for your sites. Ms. Sawin passed out information from the Springdale Housing Authority who are already using this source of security. Ms. Sawin also indicated that you must have written approval from HUD and it was also decided by the board to limit it to one apartment so that you are not tying up too many apartments from potential clients. Ms. Sawin stated that the first thing to do was to contact the Fayetteville Police Department and talk with the chief of police and see if there would be a police officer available. Dr. Ross offered to contact the chief of police at the Fayetteville Police Department and proceed from there. E Discussion of Future Housing Trends and the Hiring of a Consultant -Dr. Ross advised that after talking with Ms Sawin about the changes being made in future housing that it may be necessary to hire a consultant to advise the Housing Authority and the board as to other funding available for low income housing. Dr. Ross motioned for a RFP to be started to hire a consultant, Mr. Royal so moved, seconded by Ms. Richardson and carried unanimously. F. Diversity Training for the Housing Authority Staff -Dr. Ross felt it would also be a good idea to have diversity training for the Housing Authority staff due to the growth in Northwest Arkansas. Dr. Ross offered to look around for an organization that could do the training. Mr. Royal offered free services for diversity training for people with disabilities. G. Explanation from Mr. Richard Royal on the Need for a One Stop Work Force Investment Board -Mr. Royal will get back with the board at a future time with this information. H. Executive Directors Report- Ms. Sawin reviewed her report. Ms. Sawin informed the board that she had attended a meeting in Searcy, Arkansas to get training on a new report to be done for the annual audit. Ms. Sawin advised that to cut costs, the employee medical insurance has been changed to Blue Cross/Blue Shield which will be effective Feb. 1, 2005. This new policy will cost slightly less and provide better benefits. Ms. Sawin reported to the board that the Housing Authority did not get funding for the FSS Coordinator. The Housing Authority will be reapplying for this grant when another NOFA comes out in February 2005. • • Under "Other Business" Dr. Ross requested that the board members review the applications passed out to them last month and discuss this along with policies on criminal history at the next month's board meeting. Ms. Sawin will contact Jesse Westover at HUD and make arrangements for the board training meeting with HUD staff. There being no further business, meeting was adjourned. THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS C airperson ATTEST: aeaSt Secretary 1 FAYETTEVILLE HOUSING AUTHORITY #1 North School Ave. Fayetteville, AR 72701-5928 PH: (479)521-3850 FAX: (479)442-6771 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT January 14, 2005 1. Things of importance that should be mentioned for this months Accounting Summary Report are as follows: 1. Legal Expenses were above normal due to an eviction in Public Housing that was settled through the courts. 2. Casualty Losses were paid out in the amount of $2346.74 due to an accident where a maintenance employee backed into a post with a maintenance vehicle. The accident was turned over to our insurance which was in turn paid to the Fayetteville Housing Authority and then we paid the Body shop for the repairs. 3. Under Extraordinary Maintenance - Contract Costs $950.00 was paid to Quality Lawn Services for trim work and dead tree removal completed at Hillcrest Towers and Morgan Manor. $6,026.83 was paid to Johnson plumbing for a major sewer stoppage at Willow Heights which entailed replacing approximately 75 ft. of sewer pipes. This stoppage and damage was caused by tree roots. The old clay sewer pipes were replaced with (Scheduled 60 PVC) pipes. This job involved a lot of labor in digging and replacing pipes. This sewer pipe was connected to one building at Willow, which was lucky for us in that it did not cause any apartment damage when it backed up. • • • PAGE 2 2. Due to changes in HUD Regulations, this years audit will be required to have a Management, Discussion -Analysis Report which is filed with the Auditors Financial Submission to the REAC Website. This report must be submitted to the auditor by the Executive Director. This report discusses the financial condition of the Housing Authority in relation to current activity and reasons why there were changes from last year to this year. In order to complete this report I had to receive training. This training was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (January 12th and 13th) by Lindsey and Co. in Searcy, Arkansas. 3. Public Housing has 7 vacancies, 2 at Lewis Plaza, 3 at Willow Heights, 1 at Hillcrest Towers and 1 at Morgan Manor. The Section 8 Program has 4 openings. The Section 8 Director has completed a contact from the waiting list to fill these openings. 4. The Fayetteville Housing Authority's Employee Benefit plan for Health Insurance will be changing from Municipal Health to Blue Cross Blue Shield Over the past two years, the Municipal Health plan has raised their premiums to almost double. We reviewed quotes from United Medical, Blue Cross Blue Shield and our current plan with Municipal Health. The Blue Cross Blue Shield was by far the better plan and will end up saving the Housing Authority around $3,300 annually. This new plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield will have a $1,000 deductible with the $20/$40 Co -pay coverage and start on February 1, 2005. RESOLUTION NO. 721 • RESOLUTION ADOPTING REVISED PORTABILITY REQUIREMENTS IN THE SECTION 8 RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM • • WHEREAS, the Housing Authority of the City of Fayetteville operates it's Section 8 Rental Assistance Program within the guidelines set forth by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and therefore the Administration Policy needs to be updated to reflect changes in the requirements of portability and WHEREAS, the following will be added in the Administrative Policy of the Housing Authority of the City of Fayetteville under Section E. "Restrictions on Portability" The PHA will not permit the family to exercise portability if the receiving Housing Authority's Payment Standard exceeds the Fayetteville Housing Authority's Payment Standard and the receiving Housing Authority refuses to absorb said family into their own program. BE IT RESOLVED by the Commissioners of the Housing Authority of Fayetteville, Arkansas that the above revised policy be adopted into the Section 8 Voucher Administrative Plan effective January 1, 2005. THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS CHJIIRPERSON ATTEST: SE RETARV SE RETARY