HomeMy WebLinkAbout1-15-2007 CHA MINUTESCaldwell Housing Authority
Minutes of "Regular" Meeting
January 15, 2007
Board Members Present:
Estella Zamora, Andy Rodriguez, Dana Schuck, Patricia Benedict, Sid Freeman
Staff Present: Mike Dittenber
Members absent: Jim Blacker
Quests: None
In order of business:
Roll call and call to order at 12:05pm
Estella had not arrived yet so Andy called the meeting to order at 12:05. Shortly after the
meeting had started, Estella arrived at 12:08pm.
Review of November minutes
Mike provided the Board with an electronic copy (via e-mail) of the minutes for the month of
November. Andy asked if everyone had an opportunity to read the minutes and wanted to know
if there was any discussion. Sid and Patricia indicated there were 2 spelling errors in the minutes
and asked them to be corrected before the last meeting. Misspelled words were "where" in lieu
of "were" and "al" in lieu of "all ". Both corrections were made and neither changed the context
of what was being said.
At 12:07, Patricia made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Sid, and the
minutes were unanimously approved.
Financial Report
Mike indicated Ayde was back at the office completing some timely financial records, and was
working with one of our software vendors to correct some data errors that needed corrected
immediately. Mike asked the Board to compare the 2 budget documents; one was the actual
expenditures, and the other was the program budget. Mike explained the CHA will likely come
in right on budget when the end of the year financial information is available.
Mike indicated CHA is in a positive cash -flow basis. Andy commented that the variances in the
reports are confusing, but wanted to know if CHA was in the red or black. Mike told the Board
that CHA was operating in a positive cash flow and is transferring $10,000+ from 1 month to the
next month.
At 12:15pm, Dana made a motion to accept the financial statement, seconded by Patricia,
unanimously approved.
4 Directors Report
Mike started his report by updating the Board about the progress in hiring for the Lease
Compliance Officer position. He indicated that he received 5 applications and narrowed the
search down to 2 candidates. One of the candidates that interviewed well and would be a great
addition to the team was non - Spanish speaking. The other qualified candidate was Spanish
speaking and had housing experience, but failed to show up for either of the 2 scheduled
interviews. Mike indicated he was likely going to offer the job to the candidate who did show up
for the interview although she did not speak Spanish.
Mike spoke about the necessity to improve the work stations in the offices. He indicated that the
older desks were causing some pain and discomfort and one employee had filed a Worker's
Compensation claim for medical damages. In addition to newer furniture, Mike indicated the
customer service window will also close for 2 hours during the day to give Florina a chance to sit
for a while during the day and catch up on other paperwork.
Mike indicated IHFA waived 18- months of payments on the masonry units to give us some
breathing room in the budget to address some needed repair and security around the masonry
units. Sid wanted to know if it was a payment deferment and the payment was added on to the
remaining loan balance. Mike indicated he thought it was a waiver and not a deferment. Patricia
said we should check with IHFA to make sure we know which is correct. [Subsequent
information from JHFA provided January 30, 2008 indicates it is a payment deferral.]
Mike told the Board that CHA, in 1995, offered more property restrictions to IHFA for favorable
loan consideration than what was necessary. In bargaining with IHFA, Mike indicated that
IHFA would not want to foreclose on the property because of the condition of the property and
that IHFA would not manage it, nor could they sell it. That puts CHA in a good position to
renegotiate terms of the original loan and regulatory agreement.
Mike indicated the Sheriff s Offices are completed. The Sheriffs Office has moved in their
forms and has their programs installed that allow them access to their law enforcement. Two
deputies have been assigned the primary responsibility of patrolling CHA.
Mike indicated that CHA is still getting hit with graffiti. He anticipates it dropping off over the
next couple of months, but it still shows up every couple of days. The Sheriffs Office and
Caldwell Police are investigating a couple of people who live at CHA for graffiti in Caldwell and
have made a couple of arrests. Those arrested also admitted to spraying graffiti at CHA and
were evicted. As a result of the evictions, staff did receive some threats. Andy suggested CHA
ask the judge for a lease addendum in any suit were there may not be enough evidence to secure
an eviction.
CHA is still processing ineligible tenants. Mike reminded everyone of the waiver CHA received
this last October to lease to non -farm laborers. CHA is still waiting for IHFA to follow suit and
lift that requirement. Estella had some concerns regarding the article in the paper; that it
appeared housing would no longer be available for farm laborers. She also indicated that she had
received some inquiries from the Department of Labor wanting to know if housing would be
available for farm workers. Mike said that CHA would need the farm labor tenants over the
Summer and Fall months to increase the tenancy enough to pay for the additional expenses
associated with summer. Sid said he understood the farming communities need for summer
housing, but also understand the Housing Authority's need to lease units during the Winter
months when farm workers may not be available to rent. Sid also noted the farming trend away
from laborers in lieu of bio- technological crops that reduce the need for hands -on labor.
Mike updated the Board about the community tenants —the store is struggling; Terry Reilly
broke the lease agreement and moved out.
There was a drinking water scare in December. CHA was required to run some additional water
tests. In the process of running those tests, previous year's results were erroneously read as
current results. Mike also indicated he had worked with Holladay Engineering and Sid to
determine if CHA storm drains are connected to the irrigation canals, and dumps into a holding
pond on the other side of the road. CHA needs to provide EPA with information about our storm
drain system by the end of January of the first part of February. Sid expressed concern that
contamination from CHA may end up on someone's crop.
Mike told the Board that he had taken the necessary classes to take his drinking water test in
March, but thought it necessary to start taking the classes for the waste water systems. That way
CHA would not have to hire a second operator at $400 a month (contractually). Mike said there
was free training available in northern Idaho and that it might be appropriate to attend that
training. Estella thought that going to training in the winter might be favorable than trying to
attend training in the Spring or Summer when my schedule might be more busy.
The final issue on the Directors report was some efforts Mike took to pass legislation allowing
landlords greater flexibility in evicting gang members from public housing. Mike drafted
legislation and sent it off to State Senator John McGee who is researching the bill. The Attorney
General's Office had some concerns about the legislation and thought it might be an uphill battle
to get this law passed. Andy indicated his initial concern about the existing gang laws that might
inappropriately stereotype individuals into gangs. Sid said law enforcement has a responsibility
to protect public property and the bill was worth looking into. Andy said he did not have issue
with giving more tools to landlords, but his issue was how law enforcement identified a gang
member.
Patricia brought to the Boards attention one item that was overlooked on the Director's Report.
That issue was the RD vouchers program. Mike explained the CHA has 150 subsidy vouchers.
Of those, approximately 43 are not being used because of the income of the tenants. Mike
agreed to lend Wilder Housing Authority 17 of those unused vouchers for a period of time until
we could recoup those, or get them back through attrition.
At 1:25pm Estella made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Sid seconded.
Adjourn: 1;25pm