SHA July 24, 2023 Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes

MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE
SANFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY
MONDAY, JULY 24, 2023, AT 6:00 P.M. 
317 CHATHAM STREET SANFORD, NC 27330

Board of Commissioners Meeting Monday, July 24, 2023

BOARD MINUTES

A meeting of the Board of Commissioners for Sanford Housing Authority was held on Monday, July 24, 2023, at 6:05 p.m. at SHA Central Office, 317 Chatham Street, Sanford, NC 27330. Notice of this meeting was duly posted.

1. Roll Call:

ATTENDANCE:

• Commissioner Hope White, Chairperson
• Commissioner William Newby, Vice Chairperson
• Commissioner Erin Britton
• Commissioner Carolyn Gilchrist
• Commissioner Karen Wicker (Called In)
• Commissioner Aeschliman

ABSENT:

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Ms. White asked for a motion to be made to approve the board minutes from the May 22, 2023, regular board meeting. Mr. Newby moved to approve the May 22, 2023 , board minutes, with corrections. Mr. Newby motioned to adopt the minutes. (Could not determine who seconded the motion). The motion passed unanimously.

Ms. White said that she thinks that Shkera' s name is spelled wrong and there was an incomplete sentence in the first paragraph of the CEO' s rep011, Ms. White was speaking but the sentence is incomplete and it either needs to be revised or removed. Mr. Goodson said that on page 5, her name is spelled correctly. Shkera confirmed that the spelling was correct. Mr. Goodson said that we try to do the minutes verbatim as best we can. We try to get it right as best as we can. Mr. Goodson asked if we could speak up so that the microphone could pick up what was being said. Ms. White said that they do not have to be verbatim. Mr. Goodson said that when we do not do it verbatim, it can be subjective, and we do not want to misrepresent what the person said.

3. Audit Report

Mr. Goodson stated that we have a lengthy agenda because we did not meet in June. Sergio Gonzalez, one of the auditors, gave a review of the audit report. Mr. Goodson said that we had 1 finding but we will get better and eventually have O findings. Mr. Goodson said that BDO also has played a key role in the findings, being as few as possible. Sergio said that he appreciated everyone who took part in the audit, the staff and Jake were very cooperative and helpful. Sergio made disclaimers before he started his presentation. He stated that the accounting policies are described in note one, there were no new policies adopted during the year and that all numbers in the financial statements are not all hard and fast numbers, some require estimates like depreciation. He gave the example: If you purchase a building for a million dollars, you will not expense the building during the first year, but you will expense it or depreciate it over the life of the building which is typically 40 years. Another estimate that is built into the financial statements is for tenant receivables and note receivables, which can be a rather large allowance for Garden-Gilmore; this estimate is based on projected future and based on a present cash flow value basis; these can change from year to year.

Sergio said that he also had to make the disclaimer that there were no difficulties met when conducting the audit. If there were any uncorrected misstatements, there were one or two miscellaneous things that they passed during adjustments but were not immaterial, so they did not need to be addressed.

He stated that there was only one material adjustment and that was towards the end of the audit where he and Jake discussed the allowance for uncollectible notes receivables for Matthews, Garden, and Gilmore and based on future cash projections and cash flows, that allowance should have been increased by a million dollars which was the only adjustment posted that was significant. He said that this was done for accounting purposes and does not mean that any money is missing. There were no disagreements with management.

Sergio continued to the financial statements, he said that he would give an overview of them and if anyone had questions, they could just stop him. Page 1 showed the Independent Auditor's Report with the auditor's opinion which is at the front of the report instead of the back of the book like previous years. Sergio said that the audit is a clean opinion as of September 30, 2022, which means that you can rely on the financials and there were no material misstatements that were not corrected. On page 12 he pointed out the balance sheet, which is called in a for-profit business but in a non-profit organization, it's called a Statement of Net Position; it shows your assets and liabilities up to a specific date, which is September 30th. He said that it is different than in prior years. The discrete part unit MGG, as of December 31 , 2021 , was audited by other auditors; SHA has a small percentage of ownership and that's why they are included.

He said that we would however focus on the authority column. The first number that Sergio focused on was the total assets and deferred outflows of resources which was a total of $10,763,996; last year's total assets for $11 ,500,000. Sergio pointed out that this is a difference of about $800,000 and the reason for the decrease is that the cash went down by about a million dollars and notes receivable. Went down about a million dollars and capital assets increased by about 1.6 million dollars, mostly from the Linden development. He then covered total liabilities which is $1 ,369,939, last year's was approximately $900,5000, which is about a difference of $500,000 because the Linden prope1iy was financed with a note payable so that is why the debt increased. Net position is your equity, the difference between assets and liabilities, or what you have earned over all the years the authority. Net position as of September 30, 2022, was $9.3 million, last year's was $10.6 million so it went down by $1.2 million which means that the expenses were higher than the revenues.

On page 13 Sergio spoke about the Income Statement or the Revenues, Expenses, and Changes in Fund Net Position. The loss or change in position was $1 ,237,886 for the year. He explained that the total operating revenue was over $6.6 million but last year's revenue was about $7.6 million, The reason is that last year we had developer's fees of about $800,000 thousand from discrete part income, but we did not have them for this particular year. Operating expenses are $8.3 million; last year's operating expenses were $8.5 million. The loss of $1.6 million should be offset by what you received from HUD in Capital Grans of $445,655, you get a net loss of $1 .2 million; Sergio said that this may change each year because it depends on the type of funding being received and the amounts received.

Sergio mentioned that pages 15-37 are notes of the financial statements and they confirm the financial statements and proceeded on to discuss page 52, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Cost. Sergio said that some organizations have multiple findings but one finding is good, but the goal is zero findings of course. He said that it is a recurring finding in the HCV tenant files. By HUD standards, we are supposed to have certain documents in the tenant files and do our due diligence to have things signed and our income calculations should be correct. He recommended that the key is to be detail-oriented with all HUD paperwork updated in the tenant files . Sergio said that there was a lot of turnover in the past years so it's a good audit and we will get better as Mr. Goodson stated. On page 59 there is a management letter with a recommendation to conduct quality control re-inspections throughout the year, not all at one point in time. This recommendation was the only recommendation and did not affect the overall audit. Sergio asked if there were any questions. Sherri Campanale asked if there was corrective action; Sergio said that the corrective action plan was completed and is on page 56. He said that the corrective action plan had to be attached to the audit and the action that was taken is outlined on page 57. There were no questions.

4. Financial Report

Jake presented financials as of June 30, 2023. Jake said that September is the end of the fiscal year, so we are three quarters before the end of the fiscal year, so we have a good sample size. Jake said that public housing has a year-to-date net income of $15,000 dollars compared to the budgeted income which is about $110,000 dollars. One of the primary reasons for the variance is the CFP 1406 money but we are drawing that money down now. Also, there is some HUD money that we had budgeted but have not received because the paperwork is still being processed and once that's done, we should almost be on budget.

As far as an AMP-by-AMP basis, it's been the same theme all year.

AMP One has a net income of $110,000, AMP Three has an income of $9,800 but Stewart Manor has a loss of $105,000, but actions are being taken by management to address that. Jake said that AMP 1 and AMP 3 are at a break-even point plus a surplus, but AMP 2 has been running that loss. Mr. Goodson reiterated that we've got Stewart Manor emptied out, so as we get further into the year, those numbers should change since everyone has been out for about a month and now, we should start seeing more black under AMP 2. Jake said that we will start having discussions about where to reallocate the staff costs; we can put them somewhere else.

Jake addressed the Central Office Call Center (COCC), and 226 Linden grouped together because the Housing Authority now owns 226 Linden outright so it's not its own separate entity. We have a budget loss of $139,000 dollars, the actual is $58,000, though that is obviously a substantial loss, it's not as much as budgeted.

The administrative expenses are less than budgeted because there are savings in the salaries category. There's a full finance director and executive director, among other things included in the salary budget but you haven't incurred those costs year to date, although you do have consulting costs for BDO and Mr. Goodson, but overall, the administrative costs and then so you're running that loss but not as high as expected.

We have that budget of loss on COCC, and we'll just reiterate again that we' re structured to have the loss in this area until Matthews Court and Garden Gilmore produce excess cash; if those properties run at a profit and money comes back free and clear to the Housing Authority to supplement the operating loss on the central office, management's goal of clearing the loss will be achieved.

Jake explained that we should have a developer's fee coming in for Matthew's Court and Garden-Gilmore to supplement the losses somewhere for a couple hundred thousand dollars. Jake asked Mr. Goodson if there were any updates on that. Mr. Goodson said that construction is done and now we need to address stabilization from an operations standpoint and now that Sherri is here, we can speak about how we will resolve this issue. Mr. Goodson reiterated that it is a lease-up issue.

Mr. Goodson also explained that we had a couple of outstanding invoices for vendors and contractors that we had to get paid which we did because there were a couple of liens that hadn't been called in as liens, but we had to pay them off before we closed out. Mr. Goodson said that we just paid the last one, which was Powerlift, for about $29,000 but we're close to receiving developer fees.

Jake moved on to the Housing Choice Voucher Program. Jake reported that on the administration of the voucher program, we are at an $8,000 loss year-to-date compared to a budget of about break-even and various costs are over budget. Jake thinks that a decent amount is due to timing. So, before any action is taken, Jake recommends that we wait to see the outcome closer to the end of the year. For the HAP part, there is $86,000 of restricted net position but this will basically zero out over time.

The balance sheet shows that cash is tight and the COCC is in a deficit cash position essentially borrowing from business activity as well as the CCSD entity, and a little from public housing. Jake said that hopefully, developer fees can come in before the fiscal year ends because he doesn't want to show a loss on the financials because the COCC borrowed from public housing which is what is taking place right now. Jake explained that it's all in one account, which is fine. Mr. Goodson explained that the developer fees should be in well before the end of the fiscal year. Jake said if we get developer fees in, we'll be good, and we won't have to worry about it. Mr. Goodson said that they should come in August.

Ms. White asked what was causing the big deficit at the COCC and why it was so high. Jake said that it has to do with the structure because of an effective RAD back inversion. The public housing management fees are a lot higher than the tax credit entity management fees and with pretty much all agencies that convert to RAD, the ongoing fees are a lot lower so you can have the same setup in the central office as before, but because the management fees you're getting on a monthly basis are a lot lower now than when that property was public housing, you run those deficits. The other side of it is if that tax credit property runs at a profit, all that money can come over to the COCC. So, it's riskier but more rewarding. Mr. Goodson explained that the problem that we're having is that we've still got this vacancy rate, so we're losing out on revenue each month; We did a quick calculation in a staff meeting and it's about $17,000 a month which is $204,000 dollars for 12 months that we're losing out on. Mr. Haire asked if this was due to the units not being online or are people not applying. Ms. White asked Jake to finish first before the conversation continued. Jake asked if there were any questions. There were no questions for Jake.

Mr. Goodson answered Mr. Haire's question and said that it is a combination of both, we have units that are offline that need to be turned. Mr. Goodson introduced Sherri Campanale, the new Director of Operations. Mr. Haire explained that Stewart Manor has 99 units that everyone was moved out of because it needed to be renovated. Mr. Goodson said that the occupancy has decreased over time because of the condition of the building. Mr. Goodson pointed out that within a month, Sherri has uncovered a lot of things that we have to correct and now we are figuring out what we don't know and what we need to know. Mr. Goodson said that his priority when he got here was to get the staff out of the Carthage Street office location and to get the tenants out of Stewart Manor because of their conditions.

Ms. White directed the board 's attention back to the reports. Ms. White said that if board members have questions about operations to call Sherri. Ms. White also introduced Holly as the new board member and explained that Dr. Wicker was absent due to a family emergency. Mr. Goodson said that he's met with Holly but has not had a chance to take her around to show her all the properties but would do so.

5. Public Housing and Maintenance Reports

Linden Heights, Utley Plaza, Foushee Heights

Michelle Walker reported that 226 Linden A venue is 100% occupied. Michelle also shared that at Utley Plaza, we have four offline units that need a lot of work done to them and two units that still need to be turned. For Utley Plaza, we have two offline units and six that need to be turned in by the contractors. Foushee Heights has one offline and though the repo11 shows five, it's six that need to be turned. Michelle reiterated that we have units that are vacant and that we're losing money so we need contractors who can tum the units because we have plenty of people who we can put in the units.

Ms. White asked what happened to the contractors and Mr. Goodson said we are bringing in another contractor. Ms. White asked if we are replacing the current contractors or in addition to the current contractors. Mr. Goodson explained that the new contractors would be in addition to the current contractors. Ms. White asked if that was financially smart. Mr. Goodson said that we don't make any decisions that we cannot manage; we are learning things now that the current contractor is not doing what he should be doing. Ms. White said that in her opinion, we should not keep the current contractors if they are not doing the job and get rid of them because we do not have the money to play around with anyone. Mr. Goodson explained that we have a new Maintenance Supervisor who is overseeing this project. So, Sherri will be investigating before we approach the current contractor about the scope of their work. Ms. White asked if we would have a definitive answer on this before 30 days and Mr. Goodson said that we'll know sooner. Ms. White asked that a decision be made sooner rather than later and then asked the other board members for their opinions about the red in the financials.

Mr. Newby said that we need a system of checks and balances. He said that we should have a checklist of things that the contractors should be doing so that the contractors and maintenance are on the same page. In the future, we won't have to go through this if the contractors are not working out, then we can just choose a different contractor. Mr. Newby said that he feels Ms. White's frustration because of what we've been through and some of the other board members may not because they're newer and we don't need to keep going through these issues after the fact because brings back some tension and some anxiety from the things that we've experienced in the past. Mr. Newby referenced a corrective action plan going forward so that whatever contractor we go with will be given the checklist that the Maintenance Lead and the contractor can go by to make sure the job is done right the first time.

Mr. Goodson said that there is a checklist but what we recently found out is that the contractor was only using two employees, but we thought that they had at least four employees working on the units. He also said that we are now finding out that the contractor is asking for more money because there are two different paint colors in the units. Mr. Newby asked if it is a breach of contract considering that we were promised a certain time limit and four employees working instead of two. Mr. Goodson said that we are trying to stay out of legal battles and there are ways to part ways amicably. Mr. Goodson said that a decision will be made this week. Ms. White said moving forward, Sherri and the prope11y managers need a list of what needs to be done in the units . Ms. White said that if contractors are not doing the job, we need to part ways because we've been burnt too many times and we've had too many court cases.

Stewart Manor & Harris Court

Ms. White asked about an after-hours work order for Stewart Manor. Anesha explained that it was to open the door for a contractor and that Sheni is working with maintenance to better decide what constitutes an emergency.

RAD (LIHTC) Housing & Maintenance Reports

Danielle Tilghman, Property Manager, said that we currently have 17 vacancies. We also have two people who should be moving in this week, and they are working on other applicants. Danielle said that we have a couple of units that need to be turned. Ms. White asked if we got the unit back in Matthews Court where someone died. Danielle said yes, and we now have 2 vacancies in Matthews Court other than 333 and 352. Ms. White asked what we are doing with the space that used to be an office at Gilmore Terrace. Danielle said that it is an office and a unit together, but the unit is empty because the tenant moved to LUF. Ms. White asked how many units need to be leased up so that we can reach stabilization and Sherri said 10 must be leased up. Ms. White asked if we have a waitlist. Sherri said that we met with Section 8 and the Property Managers, and we don't have a waitlist for the 3 bedrooms, therefore Michelle, and HCV staff have letters going out to invite applicants on their waitlist to apply for MGG because they may get housed quicker. We need nine people to qualify for the 3-bedroom units and 1 to qualify for the 2-bedroom units. Sherri said that if we have specific tenants that could be candidates for MGG, they must go through qualifying first because the requirements are different from public housing (In public housing you can have a higher income than at the tax credit units).

Mr. Goodson explained that during our staff meeting last week, we decided to prioritize MGG getting leased up. The letter went out to potentially eligible candidates to apply for MGG on a voluntary basis. All the new units have brand-new appliances and HV AC. Mr. Goodson explained that we are actively recruiting qualified tenants in public housing and HCV participants for MGG because we've got to get MGG leased up because it will bring in more revenue and help the HCV department's numbers as well. Mr. Goodson explained that when he speaks of leasing up at MGG and helping the HCV department's numbers, it is because MGG has Project Based Vouchers and the voucher is connected to the unit, not the person. Mr. Haire asked, what are the qualifications? Sherri explained that they must meet the income qualifications which cannot be above 50% of the AMI. Mr. Haire asked how many people we needed to have to qualify for the three-bedroom and Sherri said nine people.

Sherri also said that with public housing, the air conditioning units are failing daily so hopefully this will work in our favor and people will apply for the newer units at MGG. We cannot buy new air conditioning units right now so if they qualify for a unit at MGG and move, this will help the agency. Sherri explained that there is no waitlist for MGG and therefore, they could possibly get housed sooner than remaining on the public housing waitlist only. Mr. Newby reiterated that we could pull them from the public housing waitlist and move them over to the MGG waitlist. Sherri said that we are not putting off MGG, but this is $204,000 dollars in revenue that we are not getting so that is why this has been pushed to priority and securing the other contractors to turn the units quickly so that they will be ready for lease-up within a 30-day period. After we lease up all units at MGG, then we will move on to public housing.

Ms. White asked how many people we have on the public housing waiting list and Michelle said that we have plenty of people so when they move them out to MGG, we' ll have someone to move in. She1Ti said that she will start working to implement ready files here and that we should always have them for each program so that when people move out, we already have people qualified for the programs. The ready list is an initiative that we must start. With the ready file, when five people move out, you're not calling somebody on the waitlist to come in for an appointment to make them ready and gather their information because you will already have them qualified. Sherri said that it's an ongoing process with a monthly goal to have at least 25 ready files for every bedroom size for each property.

Ms. White asked if we have reached out to any of our community partners regarding MGG vacancies. Sheni said that we have a letter that's going to be going out to all our social service agencies in all counties, Harnett County, Lee County, Southern Pines, and Moore County, so not just our counties. Even though there are housing authorities in those areas, you can still send your information to be posted to social service agencies, churches, and libraries to be posted. Ms. White clarified that she was speaking more of the community pa1tners here like the community agencies in Sanford. Sheni said that we have recruited Kienia to come and help get the word out through her program. Mr. Goodson said that even before Sherri got here, we were doing the work to inform the community partners and Shkera added that she will make sure that the community partners are aware. Mr. Goodson said that we will be expanding to these county agencies like Chatham County and Harnett and other counties because there are people who live in those counties who perhaps would rather live in Lee County.

Ms. White asked who owns the Harnett County Property and Keren clarified that Harnett Training School is a Project Based Voucher property that receives Section 8 vouchers and SHA does not own it.

Ms. White asked if we had removed the graffiti at Garden Street and Shkera replied that it is down.

Mr. Goodson recommended that we be careful because they'll put it back up.

HCV Report

Keren asked if there were any questions about the report. Ms. White commented that we finally made it to 97 utilization. Keren said that MGG has helped the utilization rate. Keren said that the HCV department is processing applicants from the waitlist, and they are about to do another pull.

The first set of applicant letters went out and we're ready to pull the next one. Keren said that they are processing the applicants and are about to do the next pull of applicants because they are pulling 100 applications at a time. Keren said that from the earlier list, we have about 100 applicants who are looking for units and we have started pulling from the new list. Sherri said that our goal is to put 100 voucher holders on the street until we are up to 101 %. On the street means they have been approved and are now looking for a place. Sherri said that statistically she is pulling 100 and out of the 100, only 30% will qualify or show up and that's why she must pull 100 per month because that's not what she's going to get. Sherri explained that the end of the fiscal year is quickly approaching, and we must be at a ce11ain percentage to get our SEMAP score. Ms. White said that the fact that we are at 97% utilization is great, considering we have not been there in a year. Ms. White then spoke about the finding in the files because we need to fix it. Keren said that she is now personally receiving 100% of the files and that this audit was for October 2021 until September 2022, she did not start until April 2022 but now she is reviewing all the files so we should not see the same finding next year. Ms. White said that there was a checklist that was created to make sure that things were not missing. Keren said that they use the checklist. Ms. White said, in her opinion, that if someone has the checklist and the files are still missing things, they should be written up. Sheni commented that she and Keren have spoken about this because Mr. Goodson brought an auditor up here and she found the same thing. She said that she and Keren spoke, and they will do an audit of each file and do a percentage of what each person did for that month; they will randomly pick files to be audited. Sheri agreed that there must be a write-up if the files continue to be wrong otherwise, you'll never see a change and hopefully, the write-up will be taken to promote change. Ms. White said that she doesn't think that it's deliberate but maybe this is a training that needs to be done so that people will know exactly what goes in the file and where they go. Keren sent the file to the auditor but the employees who worked on the file are no longer here. Mr. Goodson said that one good thing that came out of COVID is there is online training being offered through HUD and training is what the staff needs. Sheni said that we have a great staff, and they want to do the work. Ms. White said that she does not want to see that finding again because it has been a finding for at least the past 5 years. Mr. Goodson said that that was unacceptable. Ms. White said every year it 's the same finding: miscalculations in math, driver's license missing, and social security information missing. Mr. Goodson asked if there were any other questions for HCV; there were no questions.

Resident Services Report

Ms. White asked if there was a new date for Family Day. Shkera said that it is Thursday at the same place, Gilmore, from 1 pm-3 pm. Ms. White said that she didn't know and asked Dr. Wicker if she knew. Dr. Wicker said that she knew because Blue Cross Blue Shield had to reschedule to the new date. Shkera said that she let the partners know but not the commissioners. Shkera said that she would send the information to Mr. Goodson to update the commissioners. Mr. Goodson took responsibility and apologized for not communicating with them about the new date.

Shkera said that we had 9 participants in the Kramden Institute computer class, which is based out of Durham. The participants received a free computer, a flash drive, and a year of technical support. We will have another class in August, the 7th through the 11th. Mr. Goodson said that he went by to say hello to the participants and the computers were nice. Ms. White asked if Shkera was still doing housekeeping workshops and how often they should be done. Shkera said that she had not done one recently. Michelle said that we are supposed to do it at least once a year unless there is a continuous problem and then we can go in more often. Shen-i said that HUD requires that we are inside the units at least once a year, but we will be doing it a minimum of once a quai1er. Shkera said that she doesn't go into the units, but she offers workshops. Shen-i said that she has talked to Shkera, and we do need to send tenants to the housekeeping courses because some people don't know, and they need to be taught how to do housekeeping. Ms. White said that she would like to see the housekeeping courses start again.

Ms. Gilchrist said that she went to the house where there were so many cats. Michelle said that she has it in writing and the lady now knows not to feed the cats. Sherri said that even if the resident stops feeding the cat, they will still come back. Ms. Gilchrist asked if we could call Animal Control, but Michelle said that she called, and was told that unless the animal has attacked someone, they will not come out. Ms. White asked who was coming to the Family Day and Shkera replied that she has Legal Aid, alcohol and drug services, Partnerships for Families, SECU, the Foodbank, Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Friendly Dental Van, and the NAACP.

Ms. White said that she is an associate of a foundation called Let's Do It Together and they are giving away about 500 free book bags for school-aged children on August 5th at Horton Park so if anyone knows someone who needs a book bag, they should let them know. The event starts at 10:00 a.m. and will have a DJ, the splash pad, and the pool will be open. Also, community partners like Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) will be there. Shen-i said that Lowes, Home Depot, and Kohl's have people who would come out and help with events and have a line item to give to help the community.

Development & Modernization Report & Interim CEO's Report

Ms. White asked if Stewart Manor has 99 or 100 units based on the Request for Qualifications ad that Mr. Goodson submitted. Mr. Goodson said that he was corrected by Stogner that it is 99 units and 1 office. Ms. White asked if he would now c01Tect the RFQ before it's sent out. Mr. Goodson said that if we put it back online, we would have to put it all back at 100. Mr. Goodson said that this community cannot afford not to have 99 or 100 units offline. Mr. Goodson said that we should do a blended RAD conversion. Ms. White said that she fears another RAD conversion. Mr. Goodson explained that we can do it, but it must be done right. He said that the issue is that with MGG, we used all our reserves and did not have a ready list to fill the units. He said with Stewart Manor, we should have a ready list so that people are ready to come back in and the sooner we make a commitment to getting it back online, both the city and county still have funding to help us. Ms. White said that we had a lot of problems with Stewart Manor. Mr. Goodson said that one of the issues was that it was senior/disabled so you only must be 21 to qualify. Ms. White said that it was under Ms. Judd's tenure that it became elderly/disabled but not anymore.

Ms. White said that she wants to go back to the old way that we do the packets where the action to be taken is clear. She asked the board for a motion. Mr. Newby motioned to approve the RFQ for Stewai1 Manor, and Ms. Gilchrist seconded. All were in favor, the motion passed unanimously.

6. New Business

Ms. Britton made a motion that the board approve the proposed utility allowances for the Housing Choice Voucher program and that they become effective October 1, 2023. Ms. Gilchrist seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion passed unanimously. Ms. White said that it is far out, Sheni said that we should have the public housing one as well, but we don't have it ready because they are in the middle of recertifications; Next month we will start approving the October annuals, so they need to know what the utility allowances are. Sherry explained that the utility allowance is a federal regulation that housing authorities must update annually and is the allowance for utilities that we give our tenants. She said that the Section 8 utility allowance documents show all the different prices that it gives, and they go into detail about which utilities and the different housing structures; so, we must do one for every type of housing structure it is. The caseworker must figure out what part of the utilities the tenant must pay, and the rent is based on the gross rent minus the utility and public housing has the same thing. Sherri said that the tenant only gets the allowance for the utility that they pay for. Also, if the utility rate changes by at least 10%, you must update them, and they have not been updated in the past two years.

7. Board of Commissioners' Comments

Ms. White said that she wants to make sure that our procurement file with contracts is up to date. She said that she has asked for this information for the past six months and is scared that some contracts have not been renewed. She said that she wants every contract that we have at the next board meeting because she wants to make sure that we comply. She also expressed concern about our finances and wants all the outstanding balances that we have at the next board meeting. She said that she is particularly concerned about the Banks Law Firm and wants to know the plan to get them paid. She said that she had not shared this information with the board prior to now, but she got a call from the Banks Law Firm about the outstanding balances with them. She spoke with Mr. Goodson, and he sent payment the very next day. She said that she wants them to stay in our good graces and does not want this to change.

Ms. White said that she does not want to get a call from the community about invoices, she wants to know in advance about what is outstanding. Mr. Newby said that we need to pay the bills or at least get in contact with who we owe. Mr. Goodson said that he missed the Banks Law Finn invoice, but he called our creditors and explained to them what was going on. Mr. Newby said that we should be on top of all our monthly bills and if we don't have it, we should still be communicating. Ms. Whites said that she does not know how to afford it, but she wants an advertisement for a CFO. She said that she is asking for the job description to be put in order, I explained that we already have the job description. Mr. Goodson said that the challenge is how we will pay the person; we can get rid of BDO. She said that the CFO position must be a priority for us and explained in order a list of priorities for the agency: 1. Contracts, 2. Outstanding Bills, 3. CFO. Ms. White said that the staff has 30 days with the board's approval to manage these 3 priorities. Dr. Karen said that the 30 days is reasonable. Ms. White said that she is nervous that we have not renewed any contracts for the last year or a year and a half. She said that we were paying the feds back because we were paying an attorney whom we did not have a valid contract with.

Mr. Goodson said that with the outstanding invoices, he has called all creditors about when bills are late but, again, The Banks Law Firm he missed. Mr. Goodson said that he can get us a CFO, but he'll have to think about it. Ms. White said that it is not as imperative as the other two priority items. Mr. Goodson said that we need a CFO because the issues that we're dealing with are due to not having one. Mr. Goodson said that he and Sheni have the perfect person, but the person won't relocate from Florida. Ms. White said that we've already tried having a remote CFO and it didn't work. Mr. Goodson said that he would think about it. Ms. White said that the board does not hire or fire so it's up to Mr. Goodson.

Mr. Goodson addressed the board packets. He said that what with the July board packet was unacceptable. He said that our goal is to get the board packets to the board at least 1 week before the board meeting; the Monday before the board meeting. We will do better with the board packets. He said that BDO said that their agreement caused them to get them to us by the 20th of the month so some months we will have to send the finances separately. Sherri said that she has spoken with her staff, and they know the expectations for the board packet information,

Mr. Goodson said that financially, we are struggling but he knows that we are going to get there. He compared our financial situation to Lee County Florida, an agency about half the size of SHA; they were not eligible for any shortfall money from HUD because of its financial strength; however, Sanford is eligible for the shortfall money and is strained financially.

Sherri said that outstanding balances at the sites are a priority to her. She said that we have a lot of people who owe us money. She said that each of the Property Managers has a plan, and we are writing a letter stating what they owe and following it up with a 30-day notice and then a termination letter. She also said that there are some payment agreements that are being offered but in the past when a tenant does not pay their rent, HUD does not allow them to make payment agreements. HUD allowed them during COVID but now it's done; so, they either pay their rent or they must go. Sherri said that we must collect the money that we are owed and get it off our books. Mr. Haire asked if we go after the people who owe us money and Mr. Goodson said yes, we send them to a collection agency; also, if we evict them, they still must pay. Sherri added that we also report the outstanding balances to HUD so that it is in their database if they try to transfer to anywhere in the United States; they will not be eligible for government housing programs until they pay us our money back.

8. Public Comments

There were no public comments.

9. Closed Session

There was no close session.

10. Adjournment

The meeting ended at 7:56 pm

Attest Marcus D. Goodson