===PAGE 1=== LUNENBURG HOUSING AUTHORITY MINUTES OF THE REMOTE REGULAR MEETING 131 White Street, Lunenburg, MA September 23, 2021 Members Present: Members Absent: Jon Hogue, Chair None Deborah A.H. Christen, Vice Chair Linda McDonald, Treasurer Catherine Clark, Assistant Treasurer Stanley Randall, Town Appointed Tenant Board Member Also Present: Benjamin Gold, Executive Director Adam Gautie, Assistant Executive Director Denise Ivaldi, Recording Secretary 1. Meeting called to order a. Chair Jon Hogue asked for a roll call of members present: Deborah Christen -present, Linda McDonald-present, Catherine Clark -present, Stanley Randall -present, Jon Hogue -present. Also present were Benjamin Gold, Executive Director; Adam Gautie, Assistant Executive Directo r and Denise Ivaldi, Administrative Assistant. The Chair declared a quorum present and opened the meeting at 2:16 p.m. b. Stanley Randall questioned the minutes of the June 22nd meeting in regards to the Personal Property Policy Resolution. He stated the minutes reflected items on the deck and should have been under the deck. It was noted that those minutes had already be en approved at the August meeting. There was discussion on flowers and policies set. Deborah Christen made a motion to accept and approve t he minutes of the August 19, 2021 meeting. Linda McDonald seconded and upon roll call vote with Deborah Christen-aye, Linda McDonald -aye, Jon Hogue -aye, Catherine Clark -aye, Stanley Randall - no; the minutes were accepted and approved by a 4 to 1 vote in favor. c. Opportunity for Public Comment: • There were no comments during this time but earlier during the Annual Plan Public Hearing, a resident, Lourdes, asked about the smoking policy and the results of the tenant survey. She also asked what areas were considered common areas. The Executive Dir ector noted that it is difficult to police smoking when staff is not there 24 hours a day; we are trying to have minimized smoking on site. The housing authority will put “no smoking” signs up in the common areas until the policy is approved by the Board and a smoking area is put in place. 2. The Executive Director Report • COVID Update – The housing authority has done everything possible to keep tenants safe. It has worked as we have no known cases. The community room was closed temporarily, along with community rooms at all other housing authorities. We put sanitizing stations out, installed touchless faucets, sent packets to tenants with masks, etc. We held vaccination clinics in Leominster for the 1 st and 2 nd doses as well as offered transportation. The State is now concerned with the Delta Variant and issued a PHN regarding commun ity room closings, leaving it up to the housing authority. ===PAGE 2=== • Governor’s Appointee Seat – Congratulations to Deb. • Welcome to Stan Randall, Town Appointed Tenant Board Member • Mass NAHRO conference held this past weekend. Was nice to see people, network and gain insight on things going on around the State. A resident, Louise, wanted to say she was very happy Leominster offered a vaccination clinic. She is more than willing to participate for the booster shot and come to Leominster again if another clinic is offered for Moderna. 3. Financial Report – August 2021 • Reserves are at 96.88%, doing very well. The Assistant E.D. had a list of items being purchased with some of the reserve money to bring it down to 60/65%. We are using some money for sidewalk repairs, multiple trip hazard repairs, gutter repair and Rennai hot water servicing with a resolution for approval later in the meeting. • Shelter rents are doing well; a little behind due to an eviction a few months ago. • Maintenance is doing very good; maintenance labor, supplies and contract costs are all to the good. Extraordinary maintenance expenses for flooring, vacancies and COVID labor. • No concerns at this time. Stanley Randall questioned line 4191 and wanted explanation – after reviewing the financials to see what he was referring to; it was noted he was looking at a page in the Annual Plan. That can be addressed during discussion on the resolution later in the meeting. Motion to approve the August 2021 financial repor t made by Linda McDonald ; Deborah Christen seconded. Linda McDonald-aye, Deborah Christen-aye, Catherine Clark-aye, Jon Hogue-aye, Stanley Randall-no and financials were accepted and approved with a vote of 4 to 1. 4. Administration a. Modernization/Work Order Report – Adam Gautie 667-1 Community Room Decking and Handrail Replacement (Fish #162036) – Bids were due on August 27th. We received three bids; low bidder was FRG Contractor Corp in the amount of $21,950. 23 routine work orders received, 14 completed; 3 emergency work orders, all completed. Linda McDonald asked if a breakdown of the types of work orders from the previous month could be included on this report. b. State-Aided Housing Report – Ben Gold We received 13 standard applications in August; 7 elderly/young disabled and 6 family. We have 1,189 elderly/young disabled and 3,114 families on the waiting list. We are at 100% occupancy. There were no lease-ups or vacancies in August. 5. Unfinished Business – None Lunenburg Housing Authority Regular Meeting Minutes Page 2 September 23, 2021 ===PAGE 3=== 6. New Business Resolution 2021-15 Approval of Community Room Deck Repairs, DHCD Fish #162036 . Bids were due by 2:00 p.m. Friday, August 27 th. We received three bids; bid tab and memo from RCAT Project Manager included. FRG Contractor Corp was low bidder with base bid of $21,950. Recommend Board approval. Stanley Randall asked if this project included the small deck at the back of the building where the fire alarms are. Also, whether the width would be the same or could it be shortened to have more space for cars to pass. No, there were other options being discussed for that area including a pre-cast stair/walk as the residents don’t use. Will be using Trex decking, not wood and the width will be the same. Motion made by Linda McDonald to approve Resolution 202 1-15; Deborah Christen seconded. Deborah Christen-aye, Linda McDonald-aye, Jon Hogue-aye, Catherine Clark-aye, Stanley Randall - aye and motion passed with a 5 to 0 vote in favor. Resolution 2021-16 Approval of Rennai Hot Water System Servicing . Bids are due Wednesday, September 29th. This is a Proprietary System and not a lot of authorized servicers. We reached out to the manufacturer and Rennai suggested someone out of the area with scope of work to include taking the system apart, cleaning and changing the filters for $15,000. We followed procurement regulations; we may not receive other bids but if a bid comes in lower, we would go with that. Brief discussion on the original system and how tenants really liked it; just needs to be serviced. Motion made by Linda McDonald to approve Resolution 2021 -16; Catherine Clark seconded. Linda McDonald-aye, Deborah Christen-aye, Jon Hogue-aye, Catherine Clark-aye, Stanley Randall-aye and motion passed with a 5 to 0 vote in favor. Resolution 2021-17 Approval of FY 2022 Annual Plan Submittal to DHCD. The Annual Plan was presented before the meeting in a Public Hearing. This resolution is to formally approve. Regarding Stanley Randall’s question earlier on line 4191 (which is part of the budget), that amount is money for a Tenant Organization. Lunenburg does not have one but if they had a formal Tenant Organization, they would receive that amount to spend. The money comes from DHCD, if there is no LTO the money is not released and cannot be used for anything else. No further discussion. Motion made by Deborah Christen to approve Resolution 2021 -17; Linda McDonald seconded. Deborah Christen-aye, Jon Hogue-aye, Linda McDonald-aye, Stanley Randall-aye and motion passed with a 4 to 0 vote. Catherine Clark lost connection while vote was being taken. 7. Other Correspondence – The Executive Director reviewed • PHN 2021-18 Continued COVID-19 Vigilance in light of Delta Variant and increasing transmission rates • PHN 2021-19 Treatment pf One-time Benefit to Families Receiving TANF Cash Assistance or TAFDC 8. Resident Participation – None Requested 9. Board Commissioners’ Comments – None 10. Motion to Adjourn: Linda McDonald made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 3:00 p.m.; Deborah McDonald seconded. With all in favor the meeting adjourned. The next meeting will be held Thursday, October 21, 2021. Lunenburg Housing Authority Regular Meeting Minutes Page 3 September 23, 2021