August 23, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes

THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA
REGULAR BOARD MEETING MINUTES
501 Alonzo Watson Drive
South Bend IN 46601
August 23rd, 2022 @ 9 a.m.

• CALL TO ORDER:
  Commissioner Calvin called the meeting to order 9:00 a.m.
  
  
• ROLL CALL:
  Commissioner Virginia Calvin, Commissioner Stephen Luecke, Commissioner Roland Chamblee; Commissioner Steve Camilleri; Commissioner McNally
  
  
• HASB STAFF:
  Dr. Catherine Lamberg, Ms. Lori Wallace, Director of HCV; Mrs. Deborah Mobley, Director of Public Housing; Mr. Chris Truex, Director of IT; Mr. Brian Hueni, Finance; Ms. Pamela Rogers, Administrative Assistant to Executive Director/Board Secretary
  
  
• OTHERS:
  Attorney J. Harris Jr
  
  
• OLD BUSINESS:
  Commissioner Luecke moved to approval of Minutes from the June 28, 2022, and July 26th, 2022, board of commission meetings. Commissioner Calamari second the motion. The vote was as following
  
  Commissioner Luecke AYE
  Commissioner Camilleri AYE
  Commissioner McNally AYE
  Commissioner Calvin AYE
  
  Commissioner Calvin noted and certified that the commissioners also met in executive session on July 201'\ 2022, and that nothing was discussed during that meeting other than the topic
  including on the posted and advertised noticed of the meeting that is required under Indiana code 5.14.1.561 all call for the approval of the executive session minutes.
  
  Commissioner Luecke moved for approval and Commissioner Calamari second the motion.
  
  
• PUBLIC COMMENTS:
  None
  
  
• NEW BUSINESS:
  Resolution No. 22-4399
  
  Resolution No. 22-4399
  Commissioner Luecke stated that when we hired Dr. Lamberg to lead the Housing Authority of South Bend, we knew that there was some significant work that needed to be done to our properties, but we didn't know how significant it was. We have entered into significant extra work, to develop, repair and replace existing units. This is work really over and above the standard work for an Executive Director of a Housing Authority, so we have been in discussions with Dr. Lamberg about providing some additional incentive pay for her for bringing a new and replacement unit online to bring our Housing sock up to where it should be. We have researched and discovered that this is happening in many Housing Authorities across the country and believe what we are proposing is a fair compensation for the additional work and the expertise that Dr. Lamberg bring to our Housing Authority to allow us to replace
  
  Rabbi Shulman and eventually move beyond that and upgrade other units of the Housing Authority. I move that we approve resolution 22-4399.
  
  Commissioner Calvin advised the motion is on the floor do we have a 2nd.
  
  Commissioner Camilleri seconded the motion. The vote went as following
  
  Commissioner Luecke AYE
  Commissioner Chamblee AYE
  Commissioner Camilleri AYE
  Commissioner McNally AYE
  Commissioner Calvin AYE
  
  Commissioner Luecke noted is what the resolution does is authorizes the chair to sign an agreement for additional compensation for development work with the Executive Director.
  
  
• DEPARTMENT REPORTS:
  
  
• RESIDENT INITIATIVE:
  Dr. Lamberg continued with we had a great summer with resident services at the community centers at Harbor Homes, Edison, and LaSalle Landing. We participated with the school corporation to do the summer meals program and followed up with additional programing at the locations. At Harbor homes we had an after-school programs to engage in educational programming along with the summer programing. We also want to share with you the information from the study that was done by Purdue University. We partnered with them for several months pertaining to advance pest control techniques at the 51 building. They isolated a number of units, and you will see on the chart on page 10 the significant reduction we had with the success of services they provided in those particular units. We coupled the study with tenant education to make sure that the tenant is doing their part to help eradicate the issues of the infestation that we have. While they have a test group, we still have regular pest control with Orkin for the remainder of the building. That also allow us to have the success that we have gained. This along with education of the residents, housekeeping classes, increased maintenance and regular unit inspections this has helped to see progress of a long-term problem.
  
  
• ADMINISTRATION REPORT:
  
  
• HUMAN RESOURCES & IT:
  Pamela said basically the Day-to-Day operations to make sure that all of our employees are prepared. We are preparing for open enrollment as far as benefits goes. Open enrollment will start either September or October. We have two new employees, and we will have ongoing training as we see necessary.
  
  Dr Lamberg stated that the local HUD office provided the Housing Authority with some technical systems. And they came in and did training in finance, capital funds and housing management.    Under the housing management training an exam and I proud to say that Mrs. Mobley and all of her staff passed the exam with flying colors and received certifications for improved techniques. The minimum passing score was 70 and our staff passed with near perfect scores across the board.
  
  Mrs. Mobley added that it was wonderful training and glad that the staff had an opportunity to have the training.
  
  
• FSS:
  The Family Self Sufficiency program on page 9 in July we have 69 participants in the program. Currently FSS program is going through a transition in HUD and temporary put a hold on us . enrolling new participants. Katherina and I are working on developing a new FSS plan, so we are in the processing of completing the new program in according to the new requirements.
  
  
• LOW-INCOME PUBLIC HOUSING (LIPH):
  Mrs. Mobley states that we are working on our wait list. We have brought it done to around 1200 with an occupancy rate of74%. She went over the chart that is on page IO showing the breakdown of the items.
  
  Dr Lamberg wanted to say that at Monroe Circle we did receive approval for Tenant protection voucher to relocate those residents out. At harbor homes we have boilers and wanted to do a boiler conversion. We had planned on converting the boilers in that development to furnace however it proved to be too costly, so we are having a contractor go out and look at the units and do all necessary repairs to make sure all units have heat. In Westcott while we are working on the entire building the plumbing issue is the most significant. The plumbing system is failing throughout the entire building; we are working with a plumber to address the issued as we can, but all the pipes in the building is damaged. We have brought in contractors to clean out the pipes, but it is on a case-by-case basis to see what we can do, but the entire building need a lot of repairs.
  
  Commissioner McNally acknowledged that the units are not livable and very little we can do to combat that. And because it is not livable it is not much we can do.
  
  Commissioner Chamblee asked if the problem is both supply and drainage?
  
  Dr. Lamberg stated we brought in a commercial plumber and cleaned it out as much as we could without fear of collapsing of the lines. We did a lot of resident education asking them to stop pouring grease in the sink which is clogging up the lines as well. Many of the pipes has build up corrosion because of the hard water.
  
  Mrs. Mobley continued with page 11 stating that we are bringing our work order down. The maintenance men our out there and repairing the units. In rent collection we are still over 100% by having more tenants on repayment agreements.
  
  Dr. Lamberg said on page 14 the majority of the capital fund is going toward our vacancy reduction program and we do have some capital funding going toward some funding of Rabbi Shulman and Monroe Circle.
  
  
• HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER PROGRAM (HCVP):
  Ms. Wallace stated on page 13 that as of July 2022 we are serving 2071 households. And our wait list is at 2810. There are 152 vouchers issued on the street and 23 end of participation. We have 178 annual inspection,151re-inspection, 64 abatements, 67 missed inspections and 11 quality control inspections.
  
  
• FINANCE:
  Dr Lamberg said Brian will give the financial report. All 4 Amps rental income is up, and we have expenses is under control. Brian did the comparison of income verses budgeted income. Expenses are up because of the money spent on repairing the units. We are spending a lot of capital money trying to get the units repaired. The shortfall money is all in the South Bend Avenue area. Most of the upgrade has not been in Amp 4. We are paying all the vouchers that we get in HCV. We have increased the dollar amount that we are paying out on vouchers, and after doing that the average rent is higher, but we also see that the tenant is making more money and paying more of their portion of the rent. On the HCV admin side, the fraud income we are collecting as well as we are collecting some funds for re -inspection that are taking place.
  
  Commissioner Luecke asked was it budgeted at full occupancy Brian said not at 100% but close
  
  Commissioner Luecke asked part of the increase of the rental income is because we entered into the rental agreement, how much longer will the repayment agreement will last
  
  Dr. Lamberg said the repayment agreement last for 6-month period. They have to pay 50% of the balance they owe to the housing Authority and the remaining period Is split up over 6 months. So far, we have not had any eviction for non-payment. We couple that with pulling information from a HUD system called EIV, (which show unreported income) and when that is done, we talk to them and recalculated the rent and have them to pay the amount that they should have paid and that has caused an increased in income. For HCV that is less HAP we pay and more rent under PH but a combination of improved management and educating the tenants.
  
  
• DEVELOPMENT UPDATES:
  Dr. Lamberg said the Housing Authority partnered with the city of South Bend and sent in our application for the Ready Grant. We are waiting to see if we will be selected for that opportunity, and it should come out about mid-September. If we receive funding from that grant, it will be used for the demolition and development of Rabbi Shulman.
  
  Commissioner Luecke said he wanted to applaud the work to get us where we are on the development side. Some real struggle and kudos to get the grant in timely and getting the city to commitment to match dollars is critical. A bright and shining light to keep up moving forward
  
  Commissioner Chamblee stated that he is enthusiastic every time he comes in, to the staff and Catherine, he will ride the horse until the end. It is truly exciting to be a part of the process.
  
  Commissioner Camilleri said he feel like we should continue to ask the Mayor to appointment replacements because his term ends in December, so we need to get in front of that. He stated he was excited concerning the infestation report, that was fascinating and grateful for all the work and reports that is being done
  
  Commissioner Calvin said the next meeting will be September 27th, 2022, at 9:00. / thanks to the staff to all they do
  
  Commissioner Luecke moved to adjourn, and commissioner Camilleri seconded.