SHA September 25, 2023 Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes
MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE
SANFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2023, AT 6:00 P.M.
317 CHATHAM STREET SANFORD, NC 27330
Board of Commissioners Meeting Monday, September 25, 2023
BOARD MINUTES
A meeting of the Board of Commissioners for Sanford Housing Authority was held on Monday, September 25, 2023, at 6:00 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 Carolyn Gilchrist
- Commissioner Karen Wicker
- Commissioner Erin Britton
ABSENT:
- Commissioner William Newby
- Commissioner Holly Aeschliman
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Ms. White asked for a motion to be made to approve the board minutes from the August 28, 2023, Regular Board meeting. Ms. Gilchrist made the motion to adopt the minutes from the August 28, 2023, board meeting. The motion was seconded by Ms. Britton & Ms. Wicker. All were in favor; the motion passed unanimously.
3. Financial Report
Jake discussed the financials through August 2023, which is for 11 months out of 12 months because the fiscal year ends at the end of September 2023. Public housing is looking good; there is a net income of $39,000 for the year compared to a budget of $76,000 for the year. He said that once we draw down the capital funds, we will be right on budget. The net income that we show includes the loss from Stewart Manor, which has eased since everyone has moved from Stewart Manor. Overall, the operations are better.
Central Office, there is a loss of $58,000 compared to a budgeted loss of $170,000 and so the loss is less than expected. He said that the developer fees that we will eventually get from Matthews, Garden Gilmore, and the surplus cash is designed to cover this loss.
HCV, has an administrative loss of $9300 for the year, so just a little less than break-even but after a month it may be at break-even or a little less. Based on Jake and Sherri's conversations, we are working on lease-ups, we should get more top-line revenue to cover the expenses.
Balance Sheet: The public housing reserves are starting to increase. Jake hopes that we can get to the $1.5 million months of reserves and collect the shortfall money. The COCC cash is low so until we get the Matthews Court and Garden-Gilmore money, the COCC is b01Towing money from public housing and HUD may slap us on the wrist for that on the FDS but when we get the money, it should rectify itself. He said that he thinks that as of September 30, 2023, COCC may still be borrowing money from public housing.
Jake asked if anyone had any questions. Mr. Goodson asked when we should be able to ask for the second installment of the first shortfall money; Jake said that we must submit the FDS for September 30th which we will not be able to do until mid to late November showing that we have a reserve level of 1.5 times the monthly operating expenses, so once that's done, we are entitled to the second installment. Mr. Goodson asked if the ratio is based on the date of September 30, date that we must have received the money from NCDOT for the money to count. Jake asked what the money from NCDOT was for and Mr. Goodson stated that we sold some of the land that the old administrative building is on. Jake said that we could count that money as receivables because we know that it is collectible, so it's as good as cash. Jake explained that September 30, 2023, is the key date. Jake said that it looks like we have been approved for part one of the second shortfall installation. He said that we may be able to use the same improvement plan that we used for the first one, but we need to speak to the HUD field representative to make sure. Mr. Goodson asked how much it would be and Jake responded that Gabby sent an email that said that the amount is $460,000; $299,755 of the first award, second installment for 2023; Jake said that he thinks that that's it. Mr. Goodson said, hopefully, this is accurate because this would be a lot more than what we got last time, which was $89,000.
2024 Budget: Jake said the budget is broken down into separate departmental budgets: Public Housing, COCC, and an HCV administrative budget that all exist separately but tie together in various ways, but we can't pool the money together. Jake said that we are budgeting a healthy net income of about $337,000 for the year. Jake said that one of the main reasons that we will have this income is because Stewart Manor is no longer draining the resources and we will still receive some subsidy for Stewart Manor from HUD. He said that we won' t be able to be vacant indefinitely, but you can HUD approved vacancies for up to three years and get the subsidy. Mr. Goodson explained that because some of them have already been offline for a period of time, some of the units may come back online before others and may hurt us; he explained that the clock differs for different units.
Jake explained that the expectation for the rest of public housing is that the revenue and expenses should stay about the same. We will get some more shortfall money so our reserves will increase, and our HUD score will improve. He said that it improved from last year and should improve more during and by the end of next year. Ms. White asked about the maintenance expenses. Jake said that the amounts are based on how the company trends. He said, that when you see things like your current year projected is based on what was spent in the past year. He said that the maintenance cost does not include the capital improvements because this is the operation budget and capital improvements are paid for through capital funding which is budgeted through the five-year plan.
Ms. White said that they got rid of maintenance uniforms and asked if we pay for them to clean the uniforms; Mr. Goodson said that his understanding is that they come by and pick the uniforms up to be cleaned. Ms. White said that she thought that they got their own shirts. Sherri said that her understanding is that maintenance does not do this because they only have five uniforms and it takes a week for them to pick them up and clean; therefore, they would not have enough uniforms to wear to work during that time. She said that we can revisit them getting their own uniforms. Mr. Goodson said that Sherri is working on it. Anesha and Michelle stated that since they have been here, the uniforms have come from Unifirst.
Jake asked if there were any additional questions on public housing; there were no additional questions.
Central Office is budgeting an operation loss of $250,000, which is unavoidable; however, next year, he doesn't think that Matthews and Garden-Gilmore will be able to cover the loss based on cash surplus alone, but we will get about a $200,000 developer fee. Ms. White asked Jake for the budget without depending on Matthews and Garden-Gilmore considering that we have been waiting on the money for two years and have not received it because we are too dependent on the developer's fee. Jake said that we would get the developer's fee, but it would be a loss if we didn't get it. He said that the COCC doesn't have any cash because it has not been able to receive the fees from Matthews and Garden-Gilmore. Mr. Goodson said that it is now within reach because we now have the last unit inspected and there are just a few more administrative things that Robin needs for RBC. Jake said that no one else is entitled to the developer's fee other than the COCC. Jake said that we will need to reevaluate next year. He said that there are some potential options to overhaul and eliminate the COCC; however, it would take over a lot of surplus cash from public housing that is needed to improve the HUD score; therefore, he doesn't advise us to go that route right now. He said that if the COCC could just make it one more year, hopefully, Matthews and Garden-Gilmore would become revenue producing.
Jake covered the HCV budget and explained that this is the administration of the HCV program and not the actual vouchers paid to the landlord because that is a separate budget that runs in a calendar year with HUD. He said that we have plenty of budgeting power to lease up more and a plan is in place to lease up to 750, which is about 40 to 50 more vouchers than we currently have. The way to get paid from HUD is the more you lease, the more of the fee. The administrative fees are fixed. He said that hitting the leasing target of 750 is important so that HCV will break even. Ms. White asked what kind of maintenance we have for HCV. Jake said that it is a miscellaneous fee for supplies, pest control, and other materials; it's been consistent allocation-wise from year to year at about six to eight thousand. Ms. White asked what general expenses were; Jake said that it is the Worker's Compensation amount for HCV employees.
Ms. White asked if the board had any additional questions about the budget, but there were no additional questions. Jake asked for notification if the budget is approved.
4. Public Housing
Michelle reported that the waitlist has been purged; letters were mailed out to people on the waitlist giving them 30 days to respond if they did not, they were taken off the waitlist and we may be able to open the waitlist again but not yet. Ms. White asked how many people were on the waitlist; Michelle replied that we have about 100 people on the waitlist. Michelle said that we have plenty of tenants and have been able to move people in due to renovations made to the units. She said that once we get appliances for the other units, we will be able to pull more people off the waitlist. Ms. White asked if there were still appliances at the bottom of the old building. Sherri replied, no. Ms. White said that the last time she was there, there were black stoves and refrigerators there; Sherri said that if they are black, they are for MGG.
Michelle reported that for August, we have 8 vacant units on Linden, pg. 59; some are offline, but we are working on 3 that maintenance will work on them to get them up to par for move-ins. Ms. White asked why we had outstanding work orders and Michelle said that when they did inspections, there were some issues that would be resolved by maintenance. Sherri said that when she did her quarterly inspections, there were issues identified, and therefore a work order was generated but currently, she only has one maintenance worker, so it takes longer to resolve the issues. Michelle said that we give the priority or urgent work orders to the staff first and then the vacancy returns are the next priority because we need to get the units ready for tenants to move in. Ms. White said that there is still one outstanding work order on the report, but Michelle said that all has been completed. Michelle said that we have had a total of 27 vacant units during the month of August, some have been taken offline but there are plumbing issues. Ms. White asked if there were any questions. Ms. Gilchrist spoke about the hole at Linden. Michelle said that the hole is there because they had to get someone to come and work on plumbing, but they will have to go back under there. Ms. White said that we should be economical.
Ms. Gilchrist said that we should be economical, but she is concerned about the hole. Sherri added that if there is a hole, there should be caution tape around it. Ms. Gilchrist said that Halloween is coming up and we need to cover the holes. Michelle said that the city is aware of it and thought that they would fix it considering that it is so close to the manhole, but the city said that it is not their responsibility to fix it because it is owned by Sanford Housing Authority. Ms. White asked Mr. Haire if he could get us some dirt from the city. Mr. Haire asked how much dirt is needed on Linden Avenue. Mr. Haire asked who he talked to; she said Eva. Mr. Haire said that he could talk to the City Manager, and he would tell them to get in contact with Michelle. Michelle said that before they said that they would do it but then they changed their mind; Michelle said that it was at 230 Talley.
5. Matthews Garde-Gilmore Terrace
Sherri reported that though the report shows 17 vacant units, to date, there are 13 vacancies, and all units are accounted for, we are waiting for the locksmith to produce some keys for us. Ms. White asked if the five-bedroom was turned and Anesha replied, yes. Sherri reported that we must get into the units more because the more we are in them, the less damage we should see. Right now, you will see a lot of work orders generated because we are starting to inspect the units more often, but we have limited capacity to get the work orders done because we are short-staffed. She1Ti said that we are hoping that MGG will be at 98% occupied within the next 10 days; Sherri reported that we are now at 96% occupied. Ms. White asked who goes through the files. Sherri said that we can't move anyone in until the compliance company approves the file.
Mr. Goodson said that we were short-staffed because Sherri had a maintenance person tell Sherri what he was not going to do. Sherri said that she went over to Michelle's property when Michelle was off and she found 17 work orders in the maintenance shop. She asked why they were not being done, and the maintenance employee said that he was not going to do them. The maintenance guy said that he would quit then, Sherri said, ok, I accept your resignation. Sherri explained that some of the work orders were emergency work orders and one was for a thermostat that he refused to install. Sherri said that if a unit is bad, she will go buy hazmat suits, masks, etc. for the maintenance staff, but they need to get in the unit and get the job done.
Ms. White asked if the maintenance staff has always picked what they want or will not do. She said that about two years ago, the board set up a system where work orders were written and then uploaded; once they were completed, they had to be signed off by two people and in order by number so they could not pick. Ms. White said that there was a Work Order Clerk, Sherri said that we don't have a Work Order Clerk. Michelle said that the Property Manager and the Assistant Property Manager uploads the work order and get it to the staff. Sherri explained that a work order report should be generated daily, and the Property Manager should meet with the maintenance staff each morning for about 5 to 10 minutes to find out the status of the work orders. Sherri said that she has found is when the tenants tell you that they came but it wasn't resolved, the tenants are being truthful. She said that either someone went but did not follow up to resolve the issue or that they never came, and we just call vendors versus our maintenance staff fixing the problems.
Mr. Goodson asked Sherri to share about the refrigerator issue. Sherri said that she came to Michelle's property and saw a refrigerator outside in the yard without a safety feature. She said that the door should have been taped so that no one could get into it. She said that she found food and maggots in the refrigerator so now the refrigerator will be destroyed, and that this has been happening but will not happen anymore. She also said that we should be cleaning out these refrigerators immediately because if they are kept closed and mold gets into the rubber, they have to be destroyed. Michelle said that the Maintenance Supervisor has been out, so the staff has had little direction. Sherri said that these refrigerators have been left like this for months and possibly a year. Mr. Goodson said that we probably have been spending more money on appliances than we must because of these types of issues that we are now addressing, and the board will see a change in the bottom line in the next 12-18 months because of the adjustments. He said that we would be able to make the board members aware of what is going on in operations to improve the agency during the board retreat and that all are not on board with the changes being made to improve. Sherri stated that once we get the right staff in place and change the mindsets of the ones who are here and the new ones coming on, things will flow much better. Mr. Goodson said that we are not forcing people out but if people are not doing what they are asked to do to get us back in good standing as an agency, they can leave.
Sherri said that there was a unit that was very dirty, and the maintenance staff would not go into the unit to do the unit turn but she had to get her third-party vendor to turn the unit. Sherri said that the same day or the next day after someone moves out, maintenance needs to be there to clean. She1Ti said that MGG' s waitlist is still open and they are getting phone calls and people coming in daily to be added to the waitlist. The waitlist will remain open until the property management tells her to close it.
6. Housing Choice Voucher
Keren referred to pages 61 and 62 of the board report. She said the numbers are consistently going up. We have a goal of 750 vouchers issued and we are cmTently at 708. The total between MGG, HCV, and V ASH is 706. Sherri said that Keren is doubling what she is doing now than before. She said that she would rather have too many vouchers issued than not enough. She said that her attrition rate is at about 6 or 7% and at the end of HUD's fiscal year, they will see how much you have leased up in order to set your funding for the following year. Ms. White asked who checks Keren' s files and Sherri said that Keren audits her staffs files. Ms. White asked Keren if she had removed the slanted papers. Mr. Haire asked who the landlords are, and Sherri explained that they are landlords who have qualified for the program who receive partial rent payments from the tenant and the other portion from us. Mr. Haire asked how do one or two people process 708 vouchers, Sherri said that we have three people who work on the vouchers and HUD pays us an administrative fee per file, but it is not enough.
7. Resident Services Report
Shkera reported that National Night Out will be held on October 3, 2023, from 5 pm until 7 pm at Foushee Heights on Aames Dr. and 200 Church St. She said that Sonic has committed to donating 50 hotdogs, Piggly Wiggly will donate four cases of water, McDonald's will donate 75 hamburger and fry combos. Sherri said that she spoke with Keren Kennedy's new assistant, and he is working on trying to get us more hotdogs and hotdog buns. Ms. White said that Bubba's, Domino's, Dunkin Doughnuts, and Wendy's have given donations in the past. Shkera also confirmed that she has coloring books and games for the kids. Sherri said that she tends to lean on the vendors that we pay a lot of money for donations like Lowes, our plumbing company, etc. Ms. White said that the event is big, so she wants to make sure that we have enough stuff to go around. She said that if she thinks of anyone else, she will let Mr. Goodson know.
Shkera said that Truist Bank is doing a homeownership workshop for the participants on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.
Ms. White asked if Shkera started the housekeeping workshops and Shkera said that she had not yet, but she would be getting them back going. Ms. White asked if Shkera was responsible for the bulletin boards because they usually are never up to date at the properties. Sherri said that it depends on which bulletin board; the Property Managers have a HUD-required bulletin board that must be up to date. Shkera said that when she has an event, she' 11 take off the Resident Services information after an event is done. Ms. White said that she just wants people to see her sign for National Night Out and make sure the boards are up to date. Shkera said that she has residents passing out fliers and she must pick up the signs to put in the ground from the city. Ms. White asked about fliers and Shkera said that she would send them out. Ms. White asked Mr. Haire what giveaways would be given out for the National Night Out, and Mr. Haire said that he would ask tomorrow. He said that he would get the number from the city to get the number of giveaways.
8. Development
Mr. Goodson said that typically when we send out an RFQ he expects 4 or 5 but we only got 1. Ms. White said that Bridgette used to have to send it out multiple times. Mr. Goodson said that the proposal that we received is from Smith and Henzy out of Florida. He said that they are familiar with him, and he has worked with them on various projects. He said that they are great developers, but he hoped that we would get at least one from North Carolina because he doesn't want people to think that he is getting everyone from Florida. Ms. White agreed that this is how it will look. Mr. Goodson said he understands but if we have a quality developer with the financial means who wants to take the project on, we should not drag our feet on their proposal. Mr. Goodson said that he would like to have them on board before the end of the month so that we can start seeking out tax credits, bonds, and finances to get Stewart Manor back online. Ms. White asked the board to chime in about this, she said that from a perception standpoint, she would recommend re-running the RFQ to do our due diligence and also contact the City Manager to see if he knows of someone who is interested; so we repost and wait for 30 days to make sure that we have done our due diligence. Ms. Wicker, Ms. Britton, and Ms. Gilchrist agreed that we should re-run it for 30 more days and then vote on it. Mr. Goodson said that we need to move forward because we need to be proactive. Mr. Goodson said, we are being proactive in what we do, for example, the crew that came from Florida to turn units completed 55 unit turns in 30 days. We must bring companies here that can move quickly. Sherri said that we have tried to locate local vendors, like roofers but 2 roofers who made a bid on a job, one rescinded and then we were left with no roofer. We happened to be a lunch and met a man who gave us a contact to a North Carolina roofing company. Mr. Goodson said that we would go back out this week and give them until the end of October, which may give people a chance to bid if they saw it the first time but did not bid on it as well.
October 23rd is the first day that the new CFO will start. Mr. Goodson said that we need to go ahead and plan for a board retreat so that we can talk more in detail about the operations and cover topics that we do not get to cover during a regular board meeting, and he proposed January. Ms. White asked Mr. Goodson to come up with three dates and send an email to the board so that all can respond with their choice and the date designated will be determined by the majority. Ms. White said that typically, the board retreats are in September or October; Mr. Goodson said that he would prefer to wait until January because the new CFO will be in place. Ms. White said that we typically have the retreat at the Civic Center. Ms. White said that Anesha would send out an email and make sure to respond with a date so that we can get a majority vote. Mr. Goodson said that he would try to look at all weeks except for the first week in January because of the holidays. Ms. White asked that Mr. Goodson pick different days of the week as well.
9. New Business
New Business Item I: HCV Payment Standard
Ms. White asked for someone to make the motion to approve the HCV Payment Standard. Ms. White made a motion to approve the HCV Payment Standards found on page 68; Ms. Wicker seconded the motion; all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously. Ms. White asked if there were any questions. She said that each year the Payment Standard must be approved.
New Business Item II:
Ms. White asked for someone to make the motion to approve the operational budget for FYE2024. Ms. Gilchrist moved to approve the operational budget for FYE2024. Ms. Britton seconded the motion; all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously.
10. Commissioners' Comments
Ms. White asked for a paper copy of the board packet at each board meeting for her and Ms. Gilchrist. Ms. Britton and Ms. Wicker said that a paper copy is not necessary for them. Anesha said that as we get the packet together in a more timely manner, we can email and mail it out.
Ms. White said that we would email a spreadsheet of the contracts, she said that we need to update contracts with vendors that we were continuing business with like the Banks Law Firm. Mr. Goodson said that we would.
Ms. White also reiterated that the Commissioners are invited to the National Night Out. Ms. Britton said that she would be out of town during that time. Ms. Gilchrist said that she would be there.
11. Public Comments
There were no public comments.
12. Closed Session
There was no closed session.
13. Adjournment
Ms. White asked someone to make a motion to adjourn the meeting; Ms. Gilchrist made the motion to adjourn, and it was seconded by Ms. Britton; all were in favor. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:19 p.m.
Attest: Marcus D. Goodson
