Public Housing Authority Board

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF ANACONDA HELD MAY 23, 2023 The Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the City of Anaconda met at the Housing Authority Office, 10 Main Street, on May 23, 2023. The Meeting was called to order at 4:31PM. Vice-Chairman Dan Wood presided over the meeting, prior to Chairman Vauthier arriving. Upon roll call the following were present or absent as named: PRESENT ABSENT Dan Wood Katherine Basirico Camille Erickson Adam Vauthier (4:35) Sharati Pia (4:35) Others Present: Secretary Kaitlin Leary, Assistant Director Paul Fenchak APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Minutes of the Annual Meeting of April 18, 2023 were reviewed by the Board, with Vice- Chairman Wood calling for any additions, deletions, corrections or comments. Seeing no further discussion, Vice-Chairman Wood announced he would entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the Annual meeting of April 18, 2023. Commissioner Basirico motioned that the minutes of the regular meeting be approved. Commissioner Erickson seconded the motion, and upon roll call, Vice-Chairman Wood declared said motion carried unanimously. Minutes of the Regular Meeting of April 18, 2023 were reviewed by the Board, with Vice- Chairman Wood calling for any additions, deletions, corrections or comments. Seeing no further discussion, Vice-Chairman Wood announced he would entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of April 18, 2023. Commissioner Basirico motioned that the minutes of the regular meeting be approved. Commissioner Erickson seconded the motion, and upon roll call, Vice-Chairman Wood declared said motion carried unanimously. BILLS AND COMMUNICATIONS APRIL VOUCHERS The PHA and Pintlar Vouchers for the month of April were reviewed. The Assistant Director reported on the PHA and Pintlar extraordinary expenditures in April. For PHA, they included: staff training for the Assistant Director to go the Nelrod Annual Conference, Annual MRI software fees, Anaconda Fire & Safety charge for recharging all fire extinguishers, and the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) to the County. The Assistant Director noted that the cost listed under glass and materials to Butte Glass was an error, and will be removed. For Pintlar, two advertising payments for the CDBG RFP were processed. The Assistant Director noted that these would be reimbursed. There was also one payment to Anaconda Fire & Safety for recharge of all fire extinguishers. Seeing no further discussion, Chairman Vauthier announced he would entertain a motion to approve the PHA and Pintlar Vouchers for April. Commissioner Basirico motioned that the April Vouchers for PHA and Pintlar be approved. Commissioner Erickson seconded the motion and upon roll call, Chairman Vauthier declared said motion carried unanimously. The Assistant Director stated that Spectrum Business billing for phone and internet is a problem. By the time staff receives the bill, there is very little time for the Assistant Director to cut the check, gather signatures, and mail the bill in without being charged a late fee. This is due to the small turnaround time by Spectrum and the increase in mail delay of USPS. Spectrum has not cooperated with the late fees so far. The Assistant Director requested the Board to consider letting the Executive Director and Assistant Director sign for Spectrum Business payments to facilitate timely payment. Commissioner Basirico questioned whether it could be done online. The Assistant Director stated that then we would have to pay by credit card, and would not get the paper statement. She asked about printing the statement out. The Secretary clarified that staff could login and print out, but Spectrum doesn’t get the bill out until the 11th or 12th, and then it is due before the end of the month. She added that Spectrum’s turnaround requirement isn’t very conducive to our check signings, which are generally the 10th, board meeting day, and the last business day of the month. The Secretary noted that if we wait until the board meeting, as we have been, we end up getting a late fee. The Board considered the issue.  Seeing no further discussion, Chairman Vauthier announced he would entertain a motion on the Spectrum check signing. Commissioner Basirico motioned to allow the Executive Director and Assistant Director to both sign for Spectrum check payments in order to effect timely payment. Commissioner Pia seconded the motion and upon roll call, Chairman Vauthier declared said motion carried unanimously. MONTHLY NOTICES - TENANTS APRIL The Secretary informed the Board that there were six (6) notices sent in April. They included five (5) 3-Day Notices, zero (0) 14-Day notices, and 1 Notice of Termination sent. Of the 3-Day notices, 1 paid, 2 made a partial payment, 1 made a payment agreement, and 1 did not pay. The Secretary stated that the Notice of Termination was for Boarders and Lodgers, but an agreement was made. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY VACANCIES APRIL The Secretary reported on the Authority's vacancies for April 2023. She stated that the PHA vacancies totaled twenty-eight (28), and that the total vacancies for the same period of the previous year totaled twenty-five (25). The Secretary noted that this total includes the 20 offline units. The Secretary reported that Pintlar vacancies totaled one (1), and that vacancies for the same period of the previous year totaled one (1). FINANCIAL STATEMENTS APRIL Financial Statements were provided to the Commissioners in advance of the meeting for review. The balance in the General Fund for PHA at First Montana was $525,668.15. The savings balance plus checking totaled $530,446.69. The Certificates of Deposit remains at $400,000.00; and after receiving interest on the Money Market Savings at First Montana Bank, the new balance is $93,348.42. Total Savings and Investments: $1,023,795.11. Delinquent Account Total was $11,232.60, as opposed to $4,968.25 at this time last year. The Secretary noted that there were several tenant accounts with high balances who are either working  with staff through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program or have moved out. For the Pintlar Apartments, the balance in the General Fund was $92,516.07. The Secretary noted that this included the siding and windows loan amount and without this amount the account balance would be $79,163.57, and loan at $13,352.50. The Secretary stated that the loan savings account at Southwest Credit Union has a balance of $4,185.26. She continued that the Security Deposit Account was $4,609.90 for a combined total of $101,311.23 in savings. The savings balance plus checking totaled $107,544.38. Delinquent Accounts Total was $1,527.29. This was opposed to $833.00 delinquent at this time last year. The Secretary noted that a tenant passed away at the end of April without paying rent, and staff has been working with the family, but the account would likely go to collections. Seeing no further discussion, Chairman Vauthier announced he would entertain a motion to approve the April PHA and Pintlar Financials. Commissioner Pia motioned to approve the PHA and Pintlar Financials. Commissioner Erickson seconded the motion and upon roll call, Chairman Vauthier declared said motion carried unanimously. REPORT: COMMUNITY POLICE STATISTICS APRIL The Secretary reported that there were 5 calls related to the Housing Authority. There were 2 from Cedar Park, 1 from Mount Haggin, 1 from the Manor and 1 from Pintlar. There were no arrests. The Secretary noted that this is a low call volume, and Officer Arment expects it to pick up with nice weather. OLD BUSINESS CDBG UPFRONT COSTS The Secretary stated that she spoke with John Sholey, CFO at the County, and after some further discussion with the County Planning Director, Mr. Sholey is good with paying CDBG costs upfront. The Housing Authority is still on the hook for the $10,000 match, from which the advertising costs already accrued will be counted. PERSONNEL UPDATES  The Secretary stated that they were able to promote a current Maintenance Laborer to the Maintenance Mechanic position, and are now reviewing applications for a Maintenance Laborer. The Secretary stated that it will be a relatively younger Maintenance crew, which comes with pros and cons. The Secretary stated that she reviewed the budget numbers and has brought a budget revision to the Board. The Secretary noted that she was not comfortable increasing the Directors salaries as was proposed by the Board: $85,000 for the Executive Director and $55,000 for the Assistant Director, or about $25,000 total increase. She stated that she believes the following proposal may be more in line: Executive Director at $78,000, Assistant Director at $56,000, and a $1/hour or $2,080/year increase for the Administrative Assistance, as workloads for all have increased. This would result in about a $21,000 increase. The Secretary stated that this proposal comes in less than the Board’s proposal for the Executive and Assistant Directors by about $4,000. The Secretary stated that she worked these figures into the proposed budget revision, and that the Board could review and consider the increases under this agenda item or with the budget revision item. The Secretary noted that she ran the estimated 2024 FY wage calculations, and with Union required increases, the total increase would be about $37,000. The Board agreed to review the figures with the budget revision. NEW BUSINESS RESPONSES TO CDBG PLANNING GRANT RFP The Secretary stated that two responses were received for the Request for Proposals (RFP). One from Gerson Real Estate Consulting, and one from Good Housing Partnership. The Secretary noted that both proposals were provided to Board members for review, and based off of feedback, she submitted the staff recommendation to select the Good Housing Partnership to the County Commission. The Secretary stated that she would like the board to affirm the selection for the minutes. Seeing no further discussion, Commissioner Basirico motioned to approve recommendation of Good Housing Partnership for the CDBG Planning Grant Housing Site Redevelopment plan for a portion of Cedar Park. Commissioner Erickson seconded the motion and upon roll call, Chairman Vauthier declared said motion carried unanimously.  FY 2023 BUDGET REVISION #1 and RESOLUTION NO. 593 The Secretary presented FY 2023 Budget Revision No. 1. The Secretary noted that expenditures are expected to increase about $38,000 over the original budget, largely due to insurance, materials costs, and utilities. She also noted that income is expected to increase by about $85,000, largely due to increase in dwelling rent and Capital Funding for Operations, which provided good offset. The Secretary reminded the Board of the wish to spend down some of the Operating Reserves, as they are a bit high. She stated that the original budget projected a -$139,490 cut into reserves, but the revision only proposes a -$92,080 cut into reserves, as some Capital Funding was required to be drawn down. The Secretary provided a line-by-line comparison of the original and proposed revision budget items. The Secretary noted that the proposed increase for administrative staff would result in only about a $3,000 increase for the rest of this fiscal year, but would be felt more in FY 2024 as earlier discussed. Chairman Vauthier asked when the administrative staff increases would begin. The Secretary replied that the revised budget accounted for the increases beginning in the month of May. The Board reviewed the budget revision and Resolution No. 593 to approve the revision. Seeing no further discussion, Commissioner Wood motioned to approve Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Revision #1 and Resolution No. 593. Commissioner Pia seconded the motion and upon roll call, Chairman Vauthier declared said motion carried unanimously. HOTMA OVER-INCOME POLICY UPDATE 2023 and RESOLUTION No. 594 Assistant Director Fenchak noted that HOTMA is the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act. The Secretary stated that the Board had discussed the Over-Income Policy and need to update the policy previously. She presented the Board with the HOTMA Over-Oncome Limit Policy – 2023 Update and Resolution No. 594 to update the Over-Income Limit Policy and amend the Authority’s Admissions and Continued Occupancy (ACOP) policy. The Board reviewed the Over-Income Policy update. Commissioner Basirico asked how it would affect overhoused people, those 1-adult households we’ve overhoused in a two-bedroom unit. Assistant Director Fenchak responded that it would not impact overhoused households, and added that an overhoused household is not evicted if the unit is needed. Rather an overhoused household would be transferred only if a more accurate bedroom size were available for transfer. Seeing no further discussion, Commissioner Basirico motioned to approve the HOTMA Over-Income Policy Update 2023 and Resolution No. 594 to update the policy and amend the ACOP. Commissioner Erickson seconded the motion and upon roll call, Chairman Vauthier declared said motion carried unanimously.  ENERGY AUDIT REPORT The Secretary stated that the Energy Audit Report is hot off the presses, completed by Apollo Energies. She provided the Board with a printout of the report, and stated that Mark with Apollo would like to set-up a review meeting. The Secretary asked the Board if they would like to be included in this meeting. Commissioners indicated they would like to join. The Secretary will find some acceptable times in June and contact the Commissioners to schedule the review meeting. ANACONDA-DEER LODGE COUNTY BOARD GUIDELINES AND OPERATING PROCEDURES The Secretary presented the Board with new guidelines and procedures adopted by the County, by which all County Boards and Boards appointed by the County should operate. The Board reviewed the guidelines and procedures, along with an excerpt provided by the County on Montana Open Meetings Law. INFORMATION MT HOUSING CONFERENCE The Secretary stated that she and Director Fenchak attended the Montana Housing Conference in Helena. HUD COMPLIANCE REVIEW The Secretary reminded the Board that the Housing Authority is scheduled for a HUD compliance review at the end of June. She noted that HUD provided a two- page list of items, so staff will be quite busy in June. INSPECTIONS The Secretary stated that site-wide inspections are scheduled for the middle of June. MISCELLANEOUS The Secretary stated that they received an estimate for the railroad fence replacement from Continental Fence & Supply. It came to $9,310. She has  submitted this to Patriot Rail, and they came back and said that they would waive the application fee, and lower the ROE to $2,000. The Secretary stated that she went back and requested they waiver the ROE fee, as well, but was told it could not be waived and was already lowered considerably. The Secretary reminded the Board the Patriot stated that they do not have record of the fence belonging to Patriot/BAP, so the cost and ROE fee would fall to us for a fence that is not ours. Assistant Director Fenchak stated that there might be a work- around with HUD on the fencing regulations. The Secretary stated that HUD did provide some information on this, but it didn’t sound promising. The Secretary stated that the fence is damaged, and it may be in our interest to move forward with replacement and repair, but she will look into it. Chairman Vauthier agreed that replacement may be best. PUBLIC COMMENT None ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, Commissioner Erickson motioned that the meeting be adjourned; Commissioner Basirico seconded the motion and upon roll call, the said motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 5:10PM. ___________________________________ Chairman ______________ Date Seal Secretary