Missoula Housing Authority Board Regular Board Meeting Wednesday, Mar 21 th, 2012

Transcription

1 Missoula Housing Authority Board Regular Board Meeting Wednesday, Mar 21 th, MINUTES- Members Present: Members Absent: Staff Present: Guests Present: David Warren, Fred Simpson, Sheila Lund, Jamie Hoffmann, Betty Zander Collin Bangs, Emily Bentley Lori Davidson, Kevin Schouweiler, Gloria Fortier, James Weir, Jim McGrath, Mary Melton, Karl Pare Melissa Bangs I. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 5:31 pm. II. Attendance: See Above. III. Intro: -None IV. Minutes: -Feb 7 th, 2012 Simpson noted that explanation of 10% percent rule was not provided at said meeting. To be stricken from the minutes. Davidson explained that the payment and performance bond cost of $15,000 is actually $15,000 per million for a total of $75,000. Simpson moved to approved corrected minutes. Lund Second. -Feb 15 th, 2012 Simpson motioned to approve. Warren seconded. None opposed. Minutes approved with all in favor. V. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None VI. Commissioner Comments None 1

2 VII. Public Comments on Items not on Agenda: Jim gave a reminder on Missoula Housing Report Press Conference on April 12 th at 10am. VIII. Action Items Resolution 955- Giving Documents Authorization to Jamie Hoffmann. Davidson states that this is the very much the same resolution signed before that granted herself, Lori Davidson, the authority to sign the documents. Davidson may be out of country on the date the closing is to occur. Resolution 955 is to grand Jamie Hoffmann authority to sign all closing documents in place of Lori Davidson Lund abstains from voting due to conflict of interest regarding Glacier Bank passing the Palace project on to its sister bank, First Security Bank, as partial lender. Simpson motioned for approval. Floyd seconded. Motion carries with all in favor. Resolution 956- Approval of Public Housing Write-offs Karl Pare provided discussion on the balances for each tenant: Brenda Costa with $25.00 in late fees, $ in Maintenance Materials, $ in Overpaid URP and $ in Carpet Cleaning costs. Lund asked Pare if Ms Costa was a previous employee of Missoula Housing Authority. Pare responded that Ms Costa was a former employee of MHA, but was no longer an employee at the time the unreported income and other unpaid charges were accrued. Sandra Baylor abandoned her unit after being served with A termination notice for Smoking and Alcohol voiation in unit. Discussion on Enterprise Income Verification System(EIV) and the national database for recording debts owed to a housing authority was provided by Jim McGrath. Lund asked if amounts approved for write off are recorded to a credit bureau. Davidson responded that debts written off are referred to a formal debt collection service, whereby, amounts are reported at one or more of the 3 major credit bureaus. Simpson motioned for approval. Lund seconded. Motion passed with all in favor. IX. Board Development Melissa Bangs led discussion on chapter two of the Commissioner Handbook. 2

3 Lori Adam, Jim and Melissa will meet next month to discuss the strategic plan of the board. Chapter 3 to be read by all board members and discussed at the next monthly meeting in May. Confirmation of this for next month will be decided at the next committee meeting. Budget topic will be discussed. X. Action Items-(Con t) Resolution 957- Eliminating single s preference for public housing waiting list. McGrath gave comment that the current selection system all allows all other demographics to bypass single, able-bodied applicants and move up on the waiting list. For example, families of more than one, disabled, elderly and other demographics. The removing of this policy would allow for the silvertip to fill its units in a fashion that would cohabitate both single able-bodied and other demographics. Projects such as, vantage villa, already carry their own waiting list requirements Gloria Fortier pointed out that this would help to house a demographic that commonly gets overlooked. Fortier also commented that in 1998 HUD removed its manatory single preference allowing housing authorities flexibility on whether to keep this policy in place. Davidson states that over 50% of the waiting lists are comprised of 1-person households. Simpson motioned for approval. Lund seconded. Motion passed with all in favor. XI. Staff Reports a) Shelterplus Care Vouchers Davidson states MHA received a new allocation of shelter plus care vouchers. 5 new vouchers total. Davidson provided a brief overview of this program for new board members. b) Palace- Davidson reports that the is humming. Will switch the perm loan from PNC over to First Security. The development staff is busy answering questions for contractors and excepting bid packets from prospective subcontractors. Deadline is Monday for the competitive sealed bid process. Hoping to close by April 6 th with April 13 th as a setback date for closing. Want to close on the property as soon as possible. Underwriter has been switched. 3

4 Hoffmann requests to hear an update on the project from Court Allen. Cosmo Marfioni, MHA s owner rep from NewBanks, will be here to oversee the bid opening on Tuesday. Sam Oliver will inform the board when Cosmo Marfioni, and Chad PNC Construction Inspector are in town, most likely Tuesday, to offer the an opportunity to meet and share their opinions on the project. Court Allen will not be present. Lund will have Scott Hansen join to this meeting on the project for his benefit in reporting back to the loan committee. Lund feels this will help give more detail on the project and benefit the loan process. c) Silvertip- Davidson reports the project is still on schedule. First building to be completed in April. Davidson states the weather will dictate how soon sidewalks and other finishing items can be put into place, thereby affecting the date MHA will see a Certificate of Occupancy for the project. Karl Pare reports being at the project today and is coordinating a leasing office. The Public Housing department is busy screening applicants for the leasing process. Davidson states the hiring process will start soon for the project manager and maintenance technician. Both positions will be based at the project. d) IDC- Davidson reports attending a council meeting that discussed Brownstone s proposed project. Crispian and Ellen where there asking the council and requesting for legal aid in issuing bonds for the project. Brownstone will states they may not start construction until October. Though, Jim McCloud is optimistic hoping to start as soon as July. Davidson really happy. Brownstone is to pay a penalty of $10,000 per month for each month the sale is not closed with MHA starting April 1 st, including the closing month. This amount is non-refundable and does not get applied toward the purchase price. Simpson inquired as to what the current debt service is on the property. Between $16,000 and $18,000. e) Public Housing Disposition- 105 Platypus is under contract and scheduled to close in April 11 th. HUD has approved the reduction in price to $140,000. At the same time, HUD has approved the reduction in price on 115 Platypus to $140,000. Vacant lot has been reduced in price to $35,000. Hoffman asked if there has been any inquiries on the lot. Davidson reports that there has been two inquiries in the lot since the reduction with Habitat for Humanity as one of the inquiries. Lund asked if the lot is steep. Hoffmann responded that the lot is sloped. There will be additional cost with the removal of fill that will be needed. Though the lot does have a view. 4

5 Hoffmann reports that since July 1, only 44 new home permits, equating to 6 permits per month. This is a slower rate than last year. f) Burns Street- Nothing new. g) RD Self-Help- Davidson states MHA has received its first check from Neighbor Works. These funds are to cover the costs of predevelopment costs. Loan applications have been received from the final two families h) Homeless Plan- Adam Ragsdale, Keithi Worthington and Collin Bangs are all in New Orleans for the Housing First Conference. i) City Surplus Lots- Davidson spoke with Nancy Hart who states the title searches have been completed. They are preparing the deeds to have transferred to MHA. Davidson states they are desperate to have MHA move the house off the lot. The city has determined that it fits the site. Looking at the cost to moving the foundation. Davidson states the unit could easily be split as a duplex with two units each. Davidson would like to have Hoffmann review the floor plan for his insight. Lund asked if accepting the lots means MHA must take the house. Davidson states that it does not. HUD is performing the environmental review now. Davidson is hesitant to acquire this property as part of the public housing program. But given the disposition funds, this is where the money is at to pursue moving the project. Davidson suggests to the board, with HUD s approval, that MHA puts in place project based vouchers for these units. MHA should still be able to move the property using the disposition funds. Davidson states that she does not want the property to be scored under the new public housing REAC inspection standards. Not acquiring the units the public housing program will allow MHA to operate this rental outside of this scoring. Davidson states that MHA has received its Public Housing Assessment System(PHAS) score. MHA is a standard performer for this year. Davidson is upset by this score. Davidson states one of the reasons that HUD will not give us back 20 points in the physical inspection portion is for the electrical boxes. Davidson states these electrical boxes are not deficient and has appealed 3 times over this issue. MHA has not received a response from REAC on the 3 rd appeal and the scoring has now been issued. Davidson feels this is an indication that MHA has been denied on its 3 rd appeal but there is a chance the score may be revised. 5

6 Davidson states that today a packet has been completed to appeal MHA s PHAS score. This may only be done if the impact of the appeal will change an agency s score from standard to high performer or from troubled performer to standard. Davidson is not sure if this will be approved. This is concern is due to a new ruling, implemented in February, called the new interim PHAS rule. This PHAS rule is tied strongly to occupancy in Public Housing. To be high performing, the PHA must maintain at 98% occupancy rate in your public housing. Out of 155 units, MHA would only be allowed 5 vacancies in 1 year. Lund asked for clarification on the definition of vacancy. Davidson responded that it refers to units vacant for more than 30 days. This rate of 98% also is tied to the capital fund scoring. Davidson is concerned this will be devastating going forward. Pare gave comment that this ruling had made him gun shy with approaching conflict between landlord and tenants in fear that this may cause a vacant unit. Title searches have been performed for 2 lots adjacent to Loken s property. Boundary line has not been investigated. Davidson will follow up with the City and pursue more on this. XII. New Business a.) Nicole Court- Northwestern Energy has put an offer on the property at the asking price of $225,000, cash. Their only question is whether the property will need to be rezone for the intended substation. They may be exempted from zoning depending on how Ravalli County interprets the law. Jim Morton reports that the sewer project is not complete and is at least 1 year out. GCN board will investigate further. XIII. Old Business Board Development Committee a.) Board Financial Training- Rector and Reeder, who performs MHA s A133 Audit, has been asked to put on a financial training for board members. They have agreed and September will be 14 th. The seminar is priced at $ but will be free of charge for all MHA Staff and Board members. Board members to respond by or mail to Kevin Schouweiler who will, then, register board members online. b.) Property Tour- Tour is to be pushed out and happen sometime early spring. 6

7 XIV. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:31 pm. Jamie Hoffmann, Board Chair Lori Davidson, Executive Director 7