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Home My Public Portal AboutHousing Authority -- 2020-04-22 Minutes Minutes of the Meeting BREWSTER HOUSING AUTHORITY Board of Commissioners O �'BISTER TON C- l. E %K April 22 , 2020 Date : April 22 , 2020 ' to iul%url K '�� Time : 5 : 30 PM Location : Remote meeting due to COVID - 19 . GoToMeeting # 186 072 181 Members Present : Robert Hooper, Laurel Labdon, and Barbara Burgo , Members Absent : Zachary Volpicelli Others Present : Leila Botsford, Executive Director/Managing Agent, and Cynthia Bingham List of documents and other exhibits used at the meeting and retained at the Authority ' s office $ • Meeting Notice/Agenda • Minutes of meeting held January 15 , 2020 • Warrants for January , February and March 2020 • Financial reports quarter ended 3 /31 /20 • DHCD Five-year Subsidy Agreement • Change Order FISH#040144 • Amended and Restated Disposition Agreement ; Brewster Woods • Accounting Contract; Fenton, Ewald & Associates • DHCD FMR (Property Management Review) FY 2019 • Email from C . Bingham dated January 23 , 2020 DECISIONS MADE/ACTION TAKEN ARE IN BOLD - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 . CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE Robert Hooper, Chairperson, convened the regular meeting of the Brewster Housing Authority' s Board of Commissioners at 5 : 35 PM via GoToMeeting . 2 . MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS) The minutes for the meetings of January 15 , 2020 were distributed prior to meeting . It was noted that there was a type- o . "Burnham" needed to be changed to ` Bingham" on page 3 . Laurel Labdon made a motion to approve the minutes of the January meeting, as corrected . Barbara Burgo seconded the motion which was voted unanimously. 3 . TREASURER' S REPORT/WARRANT APPROVAL Mrs . Botsford sent the warrants to members before the meeting to review. They were for 3 months , since we haven ' t met since January . January , February , and March 2020 were presented for approval . Mrs . Botsford had provided members with a copy of the financials for period ended March 31 , 2019 and briefly reviewed them. Warrants for January , February and March were also provided to board members previous to the meeting . Mrs . Botsford reported that rents are paid at both developments with the exception of a one who hasn ' t paid and one with a Page 1 of 4 bounced check, which should be paid by end of week . Mrs . Botsford is requesting write off approval for $ 158 . 00 for tenant that moved to nursing home and we believe has since passed away . Barbara Burgo made a motion to approve writing off $ 158 . 00 , deemed uncollectable. Laurel Labdon seconded the motion which was voted unanimously. Barbara Burgo made a motion to approve warrants for January, February and March 2020 . Laurel Labdon seconded the motion which was voted unanimously. 4. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR' S REPORT • Mrs . Botsford reported that we have 2 vacancies at Huckleberry . One is capital job and almost complete . The other is being leased May 1 and is a transfer from another unit . She reported that we have 2 vacancies at Frederick Court . One is being leased May 8 and the other we just got keys to . The previous resident left apartment filled with belongings so it is going to take time to clean it out. We don ' t think the dump is accepting furniture, mattresses etc . , right now, so this is going to affect the rate of turnover. • Corona Virus : since the onset of COVID4 9 , all offices remain closed to the public, with administrative staff reporting to work, with some work approved remotely . Maintenance staff is cleaning and sanitizing all common areas daily, including Saturday and Sunday . In addition to that, they are responding to emergency work orders (only) and doing work only in unoccupied units and outdoors . Capital jobs are delayed if they involve going into residents ' apartments . Updates are going out to residents on a regular basis by both written notices and phone calls using Call-em-all , which is our reverse 941 I system . Mrs . Botsford attends weekly telephone conference calls with DHCD for updates and daily emails from multiple sources are received and reviewed . Ms . Burgo stated that she thought that as much work should be done remotely as possible , Mrs . Botsford should not be going into the office unless absolutely necessary . Mrs . Botsford informed the board that she is working remotely when possible . Administrative staff are allowed to stay home if they want to and when people are in the office it, it is only one at a time . Maintenance is sanitizing office areas daily, as well . • Capital jobs at a standstill except for outdoor jobs and vacancies . FISH #041044 — Apt . # 80 rehabilitation is just about complete but we do need to approve a change order for $ 523 . 05 due to some plywood that needed repair (outside of scope) . Since this job is almost done Mrs . Botsford requested the board to give her approval to sign off when it is complete . Laurel Labdon made a motion to approve the change order as requested and to approve Mrs . Botsford to sign off on the substantial and final completion documents when appropriate. Barbara Burgo seconded the motion which was voted unanimously. • Mrs . Botsford had provided the board with the proposed updated contract for Brewster Woods . After a short discussion, Laurel Labdon made a motion to approve the signing of the new Amended and Restated Disposition Agreement for Brewster Woods , as presented. Barbara Burgo seconded the motion which was voted unanimously. • Mrs . Botsford reported that we received special grant money in the amount of $ 7 , 000 . 00 to do tree removal and pruning at Huckleberry Lane . Ryan got quotes for that and we have selected a contractor who will be doing the work, most likely, in May or June . Page 2 of 4 • Mrs . Botsford mentioned that the housing authority website has been updated . Meeting minutes and notices are going on there from now on . 5 . OLD BUSINESS none 6 . NEW BUSINESS A. Subsidy Agreement Renewal : Mrs . Botsford stated that every 5 years we are required to sign off on an agreement with DHCD in order to continue to receive subsidy . This contract runs from July 1 , 2020 — June 30 , 2025 . Mrs . Botsford signed and submitted to DHCD today . B . Generator — Mrs . Botsford reminded the board that the old generator had broken and was disposed of. The town wanted it replaced but the suggested one they wanted was one that would require maintenance to start it and then come back within 10 hours to refill it . Mrs . Botsford stated that, with the board ' s approval, we can put this in our capital plan and delay some other non-essentials (kitchen upgrades at Frederick Court) . For about $ 9 , 500 to replace with an automatically starting, natural gas one that will power the heat and outlets in the community room. Laurel Labdon made a motion to approve adjusting the capital plan to allow for the purchase of an automatically starting generator, up to $ 9,800 .00 . Barbara Burgo seconded the motion which was voted unanimously. C . Accountant contract renewal : Mrs . Botsford had provided members with the proposed contract for accounting services , which has a start date back to October 1 , 2020 . She stated that the board can approve it but recommends asking the accountant to propose a three-year contract for the next one to be presented before our fiscal year begins on October 1 . After short discussion, Laurel Labdon made a motion to approve one-year contract with Fenton, Ewald, and Associates as presented . Barbara Burgo seconded the motion which was voted unanimously. D . PMR Report and Response : The PMR report had been sent to the board members previously . Mrs . Botsford reviewed it with the board and explained that we were late in getting a report into DHCD , but it couldn ' t be helped. There is little time between the accountant getting the year-end to us, the board meeting, and then getting all signatures on the forms before getting it to DHCD . In our case, not everyone was at the meeting so it took time to gather all signatures and get it into DHCD . Not getting the documents in by the deadline skews other PMR items , so it ' s a little unfair. In general, everyone agreed it was a very good report. Laurel Labdon made a motion to accept the PMR report and issue a response to DHCD if needed. Barbara Burgo seconded the motion which was voted unanimously. 7. OTHER BUSINESS WHICH MAY LEGALLY COME BEFORE THE BOARD None 8 . CORRESPONDENCE : The chair recognized the email from Ms . Bingham and thanked her for looking into the televising of meetings . 9 . NEXT MEETING : The next meeting was scheduled for May 20 , 2020 at 5 : 30 PM . If needed, it will also be a remote-access meeting . Page 3 of 4 10. ADJOURNMENT Laurel Labdon made a motion to adjourn the meeting . Barbara Burgo seconded the motion which was voted unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6 : 15 p , m . Respectfully subm*ed, Leilaotsford,(MPHA, PHM, C 13P Executive Director/Managing Agent Secretary Ex -Officio Page 4 of 4