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03-16-2000 Minutes HOUSING AUTHORITY OF SALINA REGULAR BOARD MEETING Thursday, March 16, 2000 469 S. 5, Salina, Kansas 4:00 P.M. The Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority was called to order by Chair Rita Cooper. The following were present when roll was called: . MEMBERS Rita Cooper Lavina Worth Troy Vancil ~.~ (()) IP )f OTHERS Alan Jilka Andy Stierwalt Darcie M. Rose City Commissioner Executive Director Office Mgr/Bkkpr As there were no Citizen Concerns, Ms. Cooper asked for approval of the minutes from the February 17, 2000 Regular Board Meeting. After discussion, Mr. Vancil made a motion to accept. Ms. Worth seconded. All were in favor. Motion passed. Copies of the bills paid were made available for the Board Members to review. Mr. Stierwalt handed out bound editions of the audit report for Fiscal Year 1999 performed by Niewedde & Weins. Mr. Stierwalt began the Report of the Secretary. He informed the Board that he checked into how the notification to the public on the Agency Plan was to be handled. He reminded the Board that a notification was made to all applicants and clients, as is the normal procedure when there are policy changes. However, the policies were simply attachments to our Agency Plan, and notification to the public in general needed to be made. Therefore, Mr. Stierwalt ran an ad in the Salina Journal on the Public Meeting to be held at the April Board Meeting. Mr. Vancil asked if the League of Women Voters or anyone else had requested to be notified of our meetings. Mr. Stierwalt answered that we have not had a request from the League of Women Voters but individual citizens have requested to be placed on the notification list in the past. Currently, the media are the only others receiving notification. The public in general Ü: notified by the listing in the paper, and on the Government Channel. The City handles this notification, after they receive the information from our office. Mr. Stierwalt then informed the Board that a Public Housing tenant, who has been evicted for violence, has retained an attorney and is attempt:ing to argue the "One Strike You're Out" Policy. This policy was a Presidential mandate for Housing Authorities and has been in effect at the .Salina Housing Authority since 1995. Mr. Stierwalt explained that all tenants are aware clf the policy and sign off to this understanding when they lease up with our agrency. After 1 some discussion on the drug and violence policies, it was determined that, at the next meeting, the "One Strike" policy will be reviewed for the benefit of all Board Members. Mr. Stierwalt went on to say that the budgets for Fiscal Year 2001 and the Fiscal Year 2000 budget revisions are not yet completed by Lindsey & Co. There are still some questions on how HUD is going to handle the Section 8 funding as Certificates are being changed into Vouchers. This has caused some problem in the funding increments. As the FY2001budget is due in to HUD by April 30, they will have to be approved at the April meeting. Housing Authority staff is currently working on a property evaluation project that will assist in a preventive maintenance program. Mr. Vancil offered to sit down with staff to assist with this project. Mr. Stierwalt gave the Board the results of his outreach to five auditors for the completion of our Fiscal Year 2000 audit. Cynthia Warren came in with the lowest bid of $1800.00, which includes the electronic submissions required for this year's audit. After discussion, Ms. Worth made a motion to award the contract to Cynthia Warren. Mr. Vancil seconded. All were in favor. Motion passed. Our part-time maintenance laborer recently resigned as he has accepted a full- time position elsewhere. We have run an ad in the newspaper and will be accepting applications for this position until noon this Friday. If we do not have a good response, we will rerun the ad in a couple of weeks. Mr. Stierwalt said that he has not heard back on the conciliation agreement, including how many ramps are necessary at our 05 Development sites, following the Civil Rights Audit last year. He will keep the Board informed. At this time, Mr. Stierwalt handed out a draft of the new Public Housing lease for the Board to take and review. He also let them know that he has established a web site for the Housing Authority, in which users can review agency plans. He currently has around 150 pages of information in the site, with more to follow. The printouts from the site with the address were given to the Board. This concluded the Report of the Secretary. Mr. Vancil then commented on the Housing Authority's standard of 9" on grass height, which is 1" lower than the City's requirement. He believes our requirement should be stricter. Mr. Stierwalt responded by saying that we have only one staff member who maintains all properties at 151 sca1:tered sites. When an occupied unit receives a notice from us, it is taken care of within 48 hours. He went on to explain that sometimes weather and the weekends can effect this schedule. After discussion, it was determined that the 9" requirement was sufficient. Mr. Vancil then expressed his concern for safety of employees af1:er reading a comment from the Maintenance Supervisor, Gary Stuart in the paper on a "Violence in the Workplace" seminar recently held in Salina. l-tr. Stierwalt explained this is an ongoing' concern and that. staff member Darcie Rose has suggested that there be some remodeling to--include a bullet proof window in the lobby and a coded security lock on the door leading to the office. There are still some concerns for maintenance staff who have to go out to units. Staff is researching these issues and the Board will be informed of the results. At this time, the Balance Sheets and Operations Report were discussed. 2 . . As the budgets are not yet complete, Resolutions 358 and 359 were tabled until next month. The next item of business was Resolution #360. This is a mandatory resolution issuing new income limits for program participants, handed down by HUD annually. Mr. Vancil made a motion to accept. Ms. Worth seconded. All were in favor. Motion passed. There being no other business, Mr. Vancil.made a motion to adjourn. seconded. All were in favor. Meeting adjourned.. Ms. Worth ATTEST: . Sè.r.~ 3