The Regular meeting of the LHA was held on Tuesday Jan. 8, 2013 at 4:30 PM at the Curtis.
- The meeting was called to order by Chairman T. Sorrentino at 4:35 PM.
- Roll Call: Present – Tess Sorrentino, Chairman
Catherine May, Vice Chairman/State Appointee
Jan Ward, Treasurer
Marge Pero/Member
Diana Kirby, Member
Martha Joyner, Exec. Dir.
Absent – None Others Present: None
Marge Pero requested a moment of silence in memory of our longtime board member Tony Fiorini who passed away last week.
No requests for agenda.
b. Minutes- Dec. Regular meeting.
M. Pero made the motion to accept the minutes, D. Kirby seconded. Four members voted in favor, J. Ward abstained (was not in attendance at Dec. meeting). Minutes will be forwarded to the town web site.
c. Accounts Payable/Dec.
Accounts payable for Dec. were approved. As of today the 4001 balance is approximately $ 6,000.00, no transfer from 689 MMA to 4001, and porch fund as of 12/31/12 was
$ 2668.10, Nov. balance sheets were distributed.
d. Request for BCHC Community Service – hallways Curtis
The painting of all three Curtis hallways has been completed. Exec. Dir. will put in another request for the Curtis/13 Church St. stairwells.
As of 1/1/13 Curtis 0, TT 0, families 2 (3 bed), one is still undergoing renovations and the other should be leased 1/15/13.
- Atty. P.M. LaFore contract
T. Sorrentino commented that Atty. LaFore has been very accommodating for the LHA;
C. May stated she is very worthwhile because of her knowledge of housing regulations and her excellent response time. Exec. Dir. depends on her expertise to assist in keeping conflicts out of court which in turn saves the authority money. C. May made the motion to continue to keep Atty. LaFore on retainer for the period 12/1/12 thru 11/30/13 at a monthly fee of $125.00. J. Ward seconded and all in attendance voted in favor. A copy of the fully executed contract will be forwarded to DHCD for their file.
h. LHA Staff/Board Member Contact Information
A brief discussion of this administrative reform that requires that all LHA’s make publicly available in the business office for each LHA, LHA website (if one exists), and on the town website the names and contact information for their respective Exec. Dir. and Commissioners. This list is and has been available in the office, at the town, and is updated as needed. In addition, it is forwarded to DHCD and the State Auditors. Members preferred contact information to be in care of the authority at 6 Main St. and use the LHA phone number of 413-637-5585. If each member’s personal information was made available, there would be a tendency to circumvent the process in place – Exec. Dir. handles inquiries and complaints initially. If unable to resolve an issue
satisfactorily the “Grievance Procedure” must be followed.
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i. Old Business
Smoke Free housing update – Smoking survey has been distributed to all tenants. Exec. Dir. stated that the new medical marijuana laws stand to have a significant impact on the management of public housing. Atty. LaFore had been doing some reading on this issue and would like to get together with any of us who have non-smoking policies to discuss this very important issue on 1/14 in Easthampton. Exec. Dir. plans on attending.
State Family Homelessness System assistance request – DHCD has asked for LHA assistance as they implement comprehensive reforms to the state’s family homelessness system. The new system may necessitate that families double up for a period of time. LHA’s are being asked to give special consideration to related and un-related families living together and to give greater consideration for longer “guest time”. Current lease states a guest can stay 21 overnights in a 12 month period. Exec. Dir has serious concerns regarding drains on utilities/water/sewer, wear and tear/damages to units, parking issues, no CORI or references required for guests, and adherence to sanitary codes that extra people would be creating. Guests must be a temporary stay as
spelled out in the lease, safety has to be maintained for the peaceful enjoyment of other tenants, and sanitary codes must be adhered to. Doubling up families would impact the authority in a negative way, control and protection that we work so hard to maintain on a daily basis would be lost, and it would cost the authority – this request mentions nothing about obtaining rental income from these “guests”! The Exec. Dir. attended a meeting along with other Berk. Cty. authorities on 12/11/12 regarding Western Mass Network to End Homelessness conducted by Pamela Schwartz, Director. A discussion was held about the feasibility of DHCD’s Transitional Housing Program in Berk. Cty. The conclusion was that it is not a good fit due to limited turnover and overall limit in the number of state family units in this region. Funding for rehabbing units is a challenge at best. Regionalization was discussed – concerns about loss
of local control, networking to add voice for local control.
Consolidation news? – no response from Mass NAHRO at this time. A lengthy discussion was held regarding when tenant notification and media involvement should take place, the huge amount of money to implement this new system, and the loss of local control and community connections.
j. New Business
Board member training - very costly -mileage and travel time, one attendee would not make a big enough impact, access to information should be made easier such as thru “webinar”. This would eliminate having to travel, all board members would have access to information as a group or individually, questions could be submitted as needed, and the cost for each authority would be significantly reduced. T. Sorrentino will send this suggestion to MassNAHRO.
Health & Safety Initiative – Exec. Dir. has submitted a request for funding to cover the Curtis rear entrance paving issue and the replacement of Curtis hall flooring.
T. Sorrentino adjourned the meeting at 5:45 PM. All members in attendance voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted
Martha Joyner, Secretary/Executive Director
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