October 25, 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
October 25th, 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 Camilleri, Commissioner Roland Chamblee; Commissioner McNally
HASB STAFF:
Dr. Catherine Lamberg, Ms. Lori Wallace, Director of HCV; Mrs. Deborah Mobley, Director of Public Housing; Mr. Andy Delaney, CFO; 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 September 27th, 2022, board of commission meetings. Commissioner McNally second the motion. The vote was as following
- Commissioner Luecke AYE
- Commissioner Camilleri AYE
- Commissioner Chamblee AYE
- Commissioner McNally AYE
- Commissioner Calvin AYE
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
None
NEW BUSINESS:
Resolution No 22-4403

A RESOLUTION BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONES OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL OF THE TWO-YEAR EXTENSION OF THE CONTRACT FOR LEGAL SERVICES WITH THE HARRIS LAW FIRM

WHEREAS, the Housing Authority of the City of South Bend (HASB) has an existing Contract for Legal Services with the Harris Law Firm that was executed in November 2020 for a two-year term: and

WHEREAS, the HASB finds the services rendered by the Harris Law Firm covering these two year periods under the contract to be critical to the continued recovery of the Housing Authority; and

WHEREAS, the Contract allows for renewable terms with a mutual agreement of both parties

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the City of South Bend: that the Contract for Legal Services with the Harris Law Firm be renewed for an additional two-year term Effective November 61h,2022, be approved: and

The Executive Director or his Designee is hereby authorized and shall take such measures as may be necessary to place the renewal contract into effect on behalf of the HASB.

Commissioner Luecke motion to accept resolution 22-4403, Commissioner Chamblee seconded the motion. The vote went as following

Commissioner Luecke AYE
Commissioner Camilleri AYE
Commissioner Chamblee AYE
Commissioner McNally AYE
Commissioner Calvin AYE

Commissioner Luecke said it didn't seem like it has been 2 years and wanted to thank Attorney Harris for working with the board and being very helpful.

Attorney Harris said he appreciated the opportunity
MEMORANDUM:
Dr Lamberg stated there is a memorandum for the board of commissioners. The Indianapolis HUD office had sought out our assistance in assisting the Michigan City Housing Authority. They had an exit of staff and have a very small section 8 program. The majority of the assistance will be on non-South Bend housing authority hours. (Friday and Saturdays, and Tuesdays) HASB has provided a maintenance staff person on a part time bases where 50% of his salary expenses are covered by the MCHA and the HCV Program is staffed two days per week on Monday and Friday and additional business services are provided for during non-HASB working hours. This assistance is short term with an anticipation it will not continue beyond December 2022. We wanted to bring it to your attention that we are helping out our neighboring housing authority

Commissioner McNally asked are they be compensated. Dr Lamberg said yes.

Commissioner Camilleri said he felt it was fantastic because in the past this housing authority had needed help and now, we are helping others, this is fantastic.

Commissioner Calvin agreed that it was nice to help others
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT:
RESIDENT INITIATIVES:
Dr. Lamberg welcomed the new resident coordinator Rochelle Brown. Announced the meeting at the Kroc center where the HASB has partnered with the City of South Bend and REAL Services to hold events and disseminate information regarding the Utility Assistance Programs offered by both. Events will be held during the months of October and November to assist our residents with completing applications for utility assistance through both programs. Also the residence will have the opportunity to sign up for the Christmas programs that the Kroc center will host.
HUMAN RESOURCES:
Pamela stated that continuation of the day-to-day operations to ensure process and procedures in the Human Resource department is running smoothly. Open enrollment has a small snag, where united health premiums are going up by 17% so Horton is in the process of re-negotiating the price or new vender for health insurance. We are still on target for having an open enrollment in November and we also will have Aflac and globe life to come in and provide information to the employees. We have one new employee in residence initiative and looking for another one in maintenance.

Dr Lamberg discussed that we went out to found us a better insurance carrier for our worker comp insurance. We compared liberty mutual verse patriot insurance, and we realized the savings of over $9,000.00 annually.

Commissioner Calvin asked was 17% excessive

Commissioner Chamblee said it was sufficient and excessive

Dr. Lamberg said it was not something that we have not budgeted for therefore we were a little bit taken aback with the high rate. So, we are looking for better for our employees
IT:
For the past few months, we have been working on a redesign of the HASB Web Page as we are aware that our on-line presence can have a massive impact on our continued success. Having a strong online presence, particularly a website, can be make or break for generating more revenue, improve and increase customer service and coordinate our efforts toward cost savings in going "paperless". The quality of our website impacts results and we are excited about all of the digital improvements we are working toward that will assist in significant improvements to customer service.
FSS:
Dr. Lamberg said that we have four families that went through the financially literacy class. We submitted our revised action plan and HUD has approved that plan and we had a very good session on why credit is important.
LOW-INCOME PUBLIC HOUSING (LIPH):
Mrs. Mobley stated on page 17 that we have now opened the wait list to include all bedroom applications. We now will take 1-5-bedroom applications. On our wait list for September 2022, we have 1191 on the list with 72% occupancy rate, we are shutting down Monroe circle slowly. We are working on the vacant units and have roughly a total of 172. For workorders we had a total of 712 routine work orders, its high because we did some preventive maintenance. In ever unit we sent maintenance to change filters and check for fire stops to ensure all units was looked at. For TARS we are still getting ERA funds coming in and getting help from portage township. The residents are realizing now that they have to have the rent paid to stop evictions.

Commissioner Luecke asked are some of the residents from Monroe circle moving into other housing authority units.

Mrs. Mobley said some are taking vouchers and others are moving into PH, it's their choice.
HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER PROGRAM (HCVP):
Ms. Wallace went over the data on page 19 reflecting 215 vouchers issued on the street with 63 RFTA, with 76 interim changes and 160 annual changes.

Dr Lamberg said that the request for tenancy is a big deal and hats off to Lori and her staff for a great job in getting this number to where it is.

Ms. Wallace continued with inspection summary, 141 annual inspections with 128 re inspections. We had 4 emergency special inspections with 29 missed inspections. September is the first full month that our assistance connects for landlords went live, where landlords can go online and electronically get information related to their scheduled inspections and make corrections if necessary.
FINANCIAL REPORT:
Mr. Delaney said that basically all variances for all the amps are the same. Rental income is more than budgeted because tenants are working more, and income base is increasing. We are paying for two auditors because we are paying for auditors for the last two years. Utility expenses are higher across all 4 amps because fuel, electricity is higher. Maintenance expenses is also higher across all 4 amps for the same reasons, labor and material is higher and we have more contractors working. The two things are on here that normally not on here because of year end things. One is bad debt expense where we went in and scrubbed all of the tenants that had bad debt and removed it off, and compensated absences is where we have to approve for each employee sick leave, vacation and things like that. Mr. Delaney continued with his report from the financial pages in the report. Some things weren't budget for because we normally don't view for it, for example additional inspections, and also because now the inspections are done by a third party and before it was done inhouse. Audit fees are spread around all amps.

Commissioner Luecke asked when we look at the summary, everything is put together is there a concern that our net income after appreciation is negative.

Mr. Delaney said no because appreciation is an estimate.

Dr Lamberg stated our capital fund expenditures a lot is going toward our vacancy's reductions. We are investing in the quality in the unit that we have. Many are long term vacancies, and it takes more resources to bring the unit up to code. So, we are putting the money back into the housing stock, so we don't get into a rabbi Shulman situation going forwards. Dr Lamberg also spoke on information of the development of Rabbi Shulman. We are not actively moving forward with potential demolition until we have the resources for the redevelopment. So, we meet biweekly to see what progress will be met.

Next board meeting will be on November 15, 2022 and will not have a meeting in December 2022.

Meeting was called for adjournment; it was moved and seconded