Willington Housing Authority
40 Old Farms Road
February 14, 2011
Meeting Minutes
Members Present:
Robert Campbell
Laurel Millix
Don Berg
Members Excused:
Claudia D’Agata
Members Absent:
Wilbur Gangaway
R. Campbell called the meeting to order at 6:02 PM.
D. Berg made a motion to accept the minutes of January’s meeting. R. Campbell seconded the motion. All members voted in favor. M. McDonough stated that the October meeting date was incorrect and she would change it to Monday October 3, 2011.
C. D’Agata was not present to submit the treasurer’s report. R. Campbell stated that Dave Berto had been paid this month.
Correspondence:
None
Present to speak:
None
Old Business:
Dave Berto was present to share information on the DECD grant application that the Housing Authority had applied for. Mr. Berto told the housing members that D. Berg had called DECD to find out why it had taken eighteen months to process the Housing Authorities application and they still did not have an answer. Mr. Berto said that DECD called him instead of D. Berg and he was able to have a conversation on the phone with Karen Santana the current supervisor at DECD. Mr. Berto said that he was able to obtain information from the conversation so that the Housing Authority can move forward with the application process. He stated that he Ms. Santana told him that the current budget that was submitted for the architect included everything from pre-development funding through the
completion of the project and DECD now has a policy in place where they will only fund a project to 40% completion.
R. Campbell asked Mr. Berto why this policy was put into place. Mr. Berto stated that there seems to have been a breakdown in communication somewhere at the DECD, so there is no real answer. Mr. Berto told the Housing Authority members that when he spoke with Ms. Santana he told her that he was never told about the 40% funding level and it was not a part of their original application as it was not policy when the Housing Authority submitted their application.
R. Campbell asked Mr. Berto if he will have a submittal package for the board to sign. Mr. Berto said he should have it together by tomorrow. R. Campbell asked Mr. Berto if he knew what the turnaround time would be from the DECD. Mr. Berto said he felt that it should be quick. R. Campbell asked Mr. Berto to follow up with DECD a week after the application is submitted if he does not hear from them before then. R. Campbell said that if they do not hear from DECD in a week or two he will be calling a meeting with them and he will bring along the representatives from local and state government for support. He stated that he does not want to go to those measures but will if need be. R. Campbell expressed his frustration with the amount of time it has taken to get
this project funded when DECD has funding specifically earmarked for this type of project.
D. Berg asked Mr. Berto if he had followed up with Gardner and Peterson, the architects working on the project. Mr. Berto said that he had spoken with Eric Peterson and he reported that they were currently altering their budget to meet the 40% requirement.
Mr. Berto told the Housing Authority members that he needed them to pass a resolution in order to revise the original application.
D. Berg made a motion to revise the existing resolution made by the Willington Housing Authority Commissioners on July 13, 2009 stating that they are aware of the conditions for DECD funding and that they are authorizing the Willington Housing Commission members to file a revised application and authorize Robert Campbell as chairman to execute all documents. L. Millix seconded the motion. All members voted in favor.
R. Campbell asked if there is a closing process to receive the funding. Mr. Berto said that there is an approval process with documents that need to be signed, but that can be done through the mail. D. Berg stated that he would like to see this process pushed along to get the project moving. Mr. Berto stated that they are meeting all of DECD’s requests so hopefully things will run smoothly from this point forward.
New Business
None
D. Berg made a motion to adjourn at 6:36 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Melissa McDonough
Recording Clerk
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