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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-03-13-LHA-minLEXINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY REGULAR MEETING — MARCH 13, 2013 MINUTES 1. ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by Chairman Melinda Walker at 6:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT OTHERS PRESENT Melinda Walker Nicholas Santosuosso Steve Keane Leo P. McSweeney Robert D. Peters Dan McCabe Weidong Wang Ted McCormack Mike Ascolese, Jr. Bill Landi Mike Richmond 2. PUBLIC COMMENT Dan McCabe gave an update on the Greeley Village tenants association. At the last meeting 15 -16 tenants attended. A large number of attendee's do not speak English; there is a large variety of languages. The association is working on having an interpreter attend the meeting and to help translate the tenant association newsletter and minutes. Ted McCormack was glad to view his first full meeting. He met the Board briefly when he first started. 3. MINUTES Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting of February 13, 2013 The Board requested that the name of the contractor for the Countryside Village bathtub project, Varieka Construction, be included in the change order requisitions. Steve also clarified the use of MRVP vouchers at Judges Road. The property manager there began taking Section 8 vouchers, which should not have been done, instead of MRVP vouchers. LHA has 6 inactive MRVP vouchers at this time. As soon as a vacancy arises at Judges Road, the property manager will alert LHA so we can go to our list to the next available MRVP applicant. Upon motion by Weidong Wang and seconded by Leo P. McSweeney, the Board voted to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of February 13, 2013, all members having received copies. The roll call vote was as follows: YEAS NAYS ABSTAIN ABSENT Melinda Walker NONE NONE Nicholas Santosuosso Leo P. McSweeney Robert D. Peters Weidong Wang 4. BILLS & CHECKS Approval of Bills and Checks paid in February 2013 Februa . 667- C/705 -2 REVOLVING FUND 067 -1 & 3 689 -C MANAGEMENT BEDFORD STREET Check Numbers 7120 through 7122 Check Numbers 11535 through 11597 Check Numbers 4161 and 4162 Check Number 2181 Check Number 1166 PARKER MANOR Check Number 1971 MRVP VOUCHER Check Numbers 2838 and 2839 SECTION 8 Check Numbers 16341 through 16372 Upon a motion by Leo P. McSweeney and seconded by Weidong Wang, the Board voted to accept the Bills and Checks as presented for February 2013. The roll call vote was as follows: YEAS NAYS Melinda Walker NONE Leo P. McSweeney Weidong Wang 5. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT ABSTAIN ABSENT NONE Nicholas Santosuosso Robert D. Peters A. LHA and Parker Financials The Board was given copies of the current LHA and January Parker Financials, as well as the LHA independent audit performed by Ross & Associates. There were no findings this year. The Parker Manor sewerage backup from last month has been cleaned up but the issue is not fully resolved yet because it will involve digging and the ground is still frozen. Our tenants are back in their unit. Steve signed the Operating Subsidy Agreement from DHCD for FYI as required. ON Upon a motion by Leo P. McSweeney and seconded by Weidong Wang, the Board voted to accept the current LHA Financials, the independent audit and the January Parker Manor Financials. The roll call vote was as follows: YEAS NAYS Melinda Walker NONE Leo P. McSweeney Weidong Wang ABSTAIN ABSENT NONE Nicholas Santosuosso Robert D. Peters B. FY 15 Formula Funding, Health & Safety Initiative Award, CFA Amendment $258,323.00 DHCD has approved funding in the amount of $258,323.00 in the form of a Contract for Financial (CFA) for the FY15 Formula Funding. This amount includes the Formula Funding amount of $241,214.00 and a Health and Safety Award for Greeley Village in the amount of $17,109.00 for paving repair of $9,888.00 and stair tread installation material of $7,221.00. Upon a motion by Leo P. McSweeney and seconded by Weidong Wang, the Board voted to accept the CFA in the amount of $258,323.00. The roll call vote was as follows: YEAS NAYS ABSTAIN ABSENT Melinda Walker NONE NONE Nicholas Santosuosso Leo P. McSweeney Robert D. Peters Weidong Wang With approval from the town, LHA has partnered with their yearly paving bid that is due sometime in April. Steve is working with the town's engineering department and procurement officer. The initial approval to bid is estimated at $160,000.00 before any softs costs. C. MRVP- Renewal of Standard Contracts The MRVP standard contracts must be renewed every 5 years. LHA administers the program, including tenant eligibility, selection and reporting. DHCD requires these contracts to be renewed so that the funding will be put in place. D. NAHRO Conference Ad The Annual NAHRO Conference is being held again in Hyannis. The price for a full page ad is $125.00. As in all past years, the Board placed the full page ad. Upon a motion by Leo P. McSweeney and seconded by Weidong Wang, the Board voted to place a full page Conference Ad in the amount of $125.00. The roll call vote was as follows: YEAS NAYS Melinda Walker NONE Leo P. McSweeney Weidong Wang E. Executive Director evaluation ABSTAIN ABSENT NONE Nicholas Santosuosso Robert D. Peters The Board asked to table this as there are 2 members not present this evening. F. Project updates: Countryside, Greeley, Vynebrooke, Parker, Home Funds We have a signed contract with Alvord Architects for the HUD Physical Needs and 504 Assessments. All shower units are installed at Countryside Village. Vareika Construction has submitted a change order revision from $485.00 to $544.00 as the contractor neglected to include markup on change order #1. This change order was to lower the 3 shower heads that were installed and needed to be adjusted after concerns from tenants. Upon a motion by Weidong Wang and seconded by Leo P. McSweeney, the Board voted to amend change order #1 from $485.00 to $544.00. This was approved but not processed. The roll call vote was as follows: YEAS NAYS Melinda Walker NONE Leo P. McSweeney Weidong Wang ABSTAIN ABSENT NONE Nicholas Santosuosso Robert D. Peters Vareika Construction has also submitted a revised change order #3 from $456.00 to $1,594.00. The original change order was for removing concrete from 2 encased drains. Vareika Construction now states there were 7 drains that were encased, not 2 as originally submitted. LHA is disputing this amount as we were not given the opportunity to clarify the work that was done. This revision is pending. Varieka Construction has submitted change order #4 in the amount of $468.00 for a toilet flange that needed to be replaced. The plumber leaned on the toilet causing the partially rusted flange to fail. Steve has asked Varieka Construction if they would consider splitting the cost of this repair. Change order #4 is also pending. Alvord Architects has submitted the Certificate for Substantial Completion with a small punch list. Upon a motion by Leo P. McSweeney and seconded by Weidong Wang, the Board voted to accept the Certificate of Substantial Completion from Vareika Construction. The roll call vote was as follows: YEAS NAYS Melinda Walker NONE Leo P. McSweeney Weidong Wang ABSTAIN ABSENT NONE Nicholas Santosuosso Robert D. Peters The final Revised Submission for the Vynebrooke Village Water Remediation project has been submitted to DHCD. We have the approval to go out to bid but Steve is waiting for the formal letter to proceed. The Greeley and Vynebrooke Village heat pump water heater replacement project is on schedule. Steve anticipates this to be completed by the next Board meeting. There are some condensation drain and venting issued that need clarification from the plumbing department. The contractor, Victory Plumbing and Heating, is working with the building department. The positioning of the 4 new unit building at Greeley Village may look somewhat unconventional but will have enormous savings in the future by utilizing passive solar gain in the winter and shade in the summer. The test bores are scheduled in the next few weeks to see if the location is acceptable. Steve has been in touch with the ZBA and town counsel regarding permits in light of the new zoning changes included in town meeting this year. Another project is being done now at Vynebrooke Village. The front and rear hall lighting is being replaced with energy efficient fluorescent fixtures, timers and possible retrofit on the pole lights if funding is available and a cost saving solution can be reached. This project is funded by Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) at no cost to LHA. As Steve mentioned, the new sewerage line has not been installed at Parker Manor yet. Also, there is still no signed contract with the property manager. The Home Funds Project is scheduled to go before the BOS on 4/8/13 for formal approval. G. Contract Approvals The low proposal for drafting the engineering documents and putting the project out to bid for the Countryside Village generator project was Nangle Engineering in the amount of $7,970.00. The estimated project cost is $50,000.00 to $60,000.00 plus the engineering costs. The other proposal received was in the amount of $11,800.00 from 2020 Engineering. Victory Plumbing did not respond to the proposal as they are unable to stamp engineering documents. Included with these proposals is a quote from Nangle Engineering to install portable generators at both Greeley and Vynebrooke Village, in the amount of $1,400.00. The estimated cost for the portable generators is $25,000.00 to $35,000.00. This quote will only be used if funding can be secured by DHCD. Upon a motion by Leo P. McSweeney and seconded by Weidong Wang, the Board voted to accept Nangle Engineering as the low bidder of $7,970.00 for document preparation and bidding of the Countryside Village generator and the alternate bid of $1,400.00 for document preparation and bidding of the Greeley and Vynebrooke Village generator project. The roll call vote was as follows: YEAS NAYS ABSTAIN ABSENT Melinda Walker NONE NONE Nicholas Santosuosso Leo P. McSweeney Robert D. Peters Weidong Wang H. Maintenance summer hours This discussion is included in the Personnel Policy item in Unfinished Business. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS As discussed at the February meeting, our maintenance staff did a tremendous job with snow removal the weekend of the NEMO Blizzard. The Board discussed a $50.00 stipend to each of the maintenance staff. Upon a motion by Weidong Wang and seconded Leo P. McSweeney, the Board voted to give each of the maintenance staff a $50.00 stipend for the tremendous job last month with snow removal from the NEMO Blizzard. The roll call vote was as follows: YEAS NAYS ABSTAIN ABSENT Melinda Walker NONE NONE Nicholas Santosuosso Leo P. McSweeney Robert D. Peters Weidong Wang We received the Personnel Policy back from the legal department of DHCD with 4 changes they request we make. • Conversion of sick time to personal time should be reviewed annually LHA management and Board • Inclusion of all employees subject to Drug Free Workplace, not just those paid from federal funds • Sexual Harassment policy should be headed as "Attachment #1" • Sick leave buy back provision will only be effective for employees hired before 2/15/13, new hires limited to maximum buy back benefit of 20% of accrued sick time at retirement from LHA. In addition, the state share if this buyout will be dictated by the proration of employee benefits between federal and state funding applicable at the time of the expenditure. Melinda asked to have a footer on each page with the DHCD approval date as there were many copies of the policy distributed when the Board worked on editing many months ago. Steve also wanted to discuss summer maintenance hours with the Board. In all past years, the maintenance staff began summer hours from the start of daylight savings time until the end of daylight savings. This practice was allowed if all work was being completed in a timely manner and the Personnel Policy rules and regulations were being followed by all staff. If this was not being done, the hours would revert back to the regular hours per the Executive Director. The maintenance hours are 8 hours per day from 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Summer hours are 4 days per week from 7:00 A.M.to 4:30 P.M. and the remaining day from 7 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. This allows staff to have a Friday or Monday afternoon off due to the rotating schedule and there is always a maintenance staff member on the premises. However, there is one staff member who prefers to start his day year round at 8:00 A.M. so he does not participate in the summer hours. This practice is not stated in the Personnel Policy. Steve discussed this with our DHCD Asset Manager Marty Robb. Marty stated that this practice is entirely at the discretion of the Executive Director but the Board should be aware of these hours and offer any comments, although the Executive Director handles the day to day operation of the agency and determines flex time. The Board asked if these hours are done at other agencies. Steve said he could poll surrounding agencies. Another practice that has always been followed is to close the agency a half day on the Friday before a major holiday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving. DHCD suggested this practice be halted as the Personnel Policy clearly states the holidays and allows some unused sick days to be converted to personal days so any additional time off should be taken as such. In past years this practice may have occasionally been done but in light of recent issues regarding troubled agencies, this practice should be stopped. The office hours were discussed also. The office hours stated in the Personnel Policy are Monday through Thursday from 8:15 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. and Friday from 8:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. If at any time the Executive Director feels the need to change those hours it can be done also at his /her discretion. The Board does not have an issue with these hours but feels very strongly that DHCD should put in writing that the agency hours are the decision of the Executive Director and the needs of the agency. Steve stated that the position of DHCD is that the Executive Director runs the day to day operation of the agency which includes staff hours. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided to table the maintenance summer hours until the next Board meeting so there is a full Board present. 7. NEW BUSINESS As a reminder to the Board, the April 10, 2013 meeting is also the Annual Meeting and the Public Hearing for the Agency Plan. Mike Richmond successfully passed his building test. He now possesses an Unrestricted Construction Supervisor License. 8. ADJOURNMENT 7:30 P.M. A true copy attest ........................... STEPHEN KEANE, SECRETARY