Willington Housing Authority
60 Old Farms Road
10/15/12, 2012 Meeting Minutes
Present – Claudia D’Agata, Don Berg, Laurel Millix, Wilbur Gangaway; financial consultant David Berto. Absent: WHA Chairman Robert Campbell
Call to Order – W. Gangaway called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m.
Present to Speak – No members of the public were present to speak.
Old Business – Button Hill Senior Housing project
D. Berto reported that an application cannot by submitted to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston because of difficulties with Rockville Bank that led to trying to find another bank to submit the application with only a few days remaining until the deadline.
The project’s site plan was approved, plans were completed, adequate pricing estimates were completed, but Rockville Bank did not fulfill its end of arrangement that the WHA thought was in place in early September. While Rockville Bank has done applications like this one, apparently the staff assigned to the WHA’s application did not have this experience.
D. Berto said the bank came up with unexpected reasons why it would need more time than was available, and that the bank asked for an appraisal that is unnecessary at this stage of the application process.
D. Berg said an appraisal would have added 5 to 6 weeks to the process.
D. Berto said he confirmed with the Federal Home Loan Bank that an appraisal wasn’t necessary at this stage and that a representative contacted the project staff person at Rockville Bank but the bank did not respond.
D. Berto said the bank gets an appraisal after you get your funding and the bank does its real underwriting. At the stage WHA is now, the bank just needs to say, “this looks good for now.”
In an effort to still meet the Federal Home Loan Bank deadline, WHA members collected a list of possible banks that would meet the Home Loan Bank requirements.
D. Berto said Eastern Federal wouldn’t be able to complete the application in time. Dime Bank in the Norwich/New London area has experience with these applications but wouldn’t have enough time to complete the work. Liberty Bank also couldn’t meet the deadline. D. Berto said banks that were interested didn’t have time to go through their internal process within a few days.
D. Berto said that it has to be a bank that submits the application; it cannot be done by the WHA. And the bank has to submit a letter that says it has reviewed the application and it meets its underwriting guidelines and it will provide the funds according to the terms in the application.
D. Berg said he spoke with someone at Stafford Savings Bank but they don’t do anything as “big” as this kind of application.
W. Gangaway said he spoke with someone at People’s Bank and asked them to contact D. Berto, but apparently no one did.
D. Berto said it would have been too late.
D. Berg asked which bank wanted the WHA to have a “track record” of paying off mortgages and loans.
D. Berto said it may have been Eastern Federal that wanted a financial history.
D. Berto said that if the WHA plans to submit an application for the next cycle (next fall), they could begin contacting interested banks in July and make sure they understand the process.
W. Gangaway said he didn’t think July would be early enough to talk with banks and get a firm commitment and ensure that the people WHA works with know what the application process entails.
D. Berto said the WHA could begin earlier.
D. Berto talked about another option that might allow the WHA to submit a Federal Home Loan Bank application this spring, instead of waiting until the next fall cycle.
He said Federal Home Loan has different regions – Connecticut falls within the Boston region – and that about half the regions have springtime deadlines. Each region may also have different criteria. However, if there is a bank in California, for example, that is a national institution with banks all over the country, it might submit the WHA application.
D. Berto said Indianapolis has criteria that lines up with the WHA project.
W. Gangaway asked about RBJ Citizens Bank NA, which is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland. He said it is the 15th largest bank in the U.S. and its headquarters here are in Providence, RI – and they have a Citizens Bank in New Haven, CT.
W. Gangaway also suggested Genesis, a credit union that merged with T&C Federal Credit Company/USA Credit Union. He said they’re not a Better Business Bureau bank but they have an A-plus rating.
W. Gangaway said he also researched Chemical Bank, which is a subsidiary of Chemical Financial Corp., which is a bank holding company. It is the second largest holding company in the state of Michigan, he said. It acquired Chase Manhattan and others and was renamed several times but is now J.P. Morgan Partners and has a BBB rating of A-plus.
W. Gangaway said Genesis and Chemical Bank apparently don’t have any complaints against them. Citizens Bank has about 252 complaints – but there were none with the New Haven Citizens Bank. So, with their headquarters in Rhode Island, they might still be an option.
(W. Gangaway gave copies of his research to D. Berto.)
D. Berto said in order to meet a spring application deadline, the bank would need to be a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank in the Indianapolis region. He said some banks choose, if they are national, to be a member only in one region and often that is related to their history when they were mall. Some banks may join more than one region, but he would have to research that.
D. Berg asked if Federal Home Loan Bank has a data base online of all the banks in each region. D. Berto said yes.
D. Berto said Genesis Credit Union may be an option in the Indianapolis region.
D. Berto said he’d rather not see the WHA wait until the fall to submit its application if there are other options. With the plans ready, the WHA could get the pricing ready and there are other state funding sources coming up in the spring.
He said the WHA should start talking to banks now because being outside the Boston region might add a level of complexity to the application process. He said he also has some ties in Flint, Michigan.
D. Berg asked if Lincoln National Life Insurance is an option.
D. Berto said insurance companies are lower in the list because they don’t provide funding and you get points if they give you funding as part of the project.
D. Berg said they are part of Lincoln Financial, so maybe they would be looking for ways to make guaranteed money.
D. Berto said he could include them in his list of institutions to research.
C. D’Agata asked if the application can be used as is or would it need to be redone.
D. Berto said every region is different, so it’s likely there would be a lot more to do.
D. Berg said that the WHA is still waiting for finalized lease and tax documents from the Board of Selectmen.
D. Berto said the WHA should focus on getting that part of the process done.
W. Gangaway said he was told by First Selectman C. Mailhos that the documents were finalized and forwarded to the necessary contacts.
D. Berto said the town attorneys made some revisions to the documents that the WHA had submitted and these are a “reasonable starting point,” but there were problems with the formatting, which he had to correct. He also noted an Attachment B was missing – this attachment refers to the old access easement for the road coming into the site. He said they need to get that OCR’d so it can be attached, because his project still needs that documentation. Once the attorneys OCR these documents, the WHA will have a lease to sign.
D. Berg said he will follow up on the status of these documents.
D. Berto said the WHA also still needs a final copy of the tax agreement.
C. D’Agata said the WHA has paid the lawyer involved in finalizing this agreement.
D. Berto said what the WHA has now is the resolutions passed at the Town Meeting. He doesn’t recall seeing a draft of the tax agreement.
D. Berg said there also was apparently an error in the tax agreement document because it was in effect only for five years.
D. Berto said that is not accurate because voters approved a 37-year tax agreement.
D. Berg said there’s also a question about whether the tax agreement needs to be a fixed tax assessment or some other vehicle – that this apparently hasn’t been resolved.
D. Berg said he also has a document that confirms the mylar was filed.
D. Berto said the last item that needs to be addressed with the town is working out the procedures for spending the town funding (EDI funds and funds left over from the last project, the 202 project).
D. Berto said he spoke with WHA Chairman R. Campbell about getting that process started with the town and Larry Wagner & Associates, to put together a bid package and open it to public bids for the regular procurement process through the town. WHA would set its budget for infrastructure and what the scope of work would be for that budget – with the goal of getting a shovel in the ground in the spring. This would also mean the WHA could show the bank work is already underway and there is a schedule for completion.
D. Berto said to initiate that process, he needs to speak to Nancy Wagner at L. Wagner & Associates and establish a budget, then set up meetings with the town, and have Gardner & Peterson put the bid paperwork together because it’s all site work. Once a schedule is created for that, then the WHA can work on a schedule for hiring a main project contractor, since the WHA already has plans and specs. For the main project (outside the town-funded part of the project) the WHA would follow a “fair procurement process,” which can be a “qualifications procurement” – and that means they can select three or four of the most qualified bidders. This part should be started between now and springtime.
D. Berto said he’d like to see the town documents finalized within the next six to eight weeks, and then begin working on the town funding procedures.
New Business –
D. Berg spoke about pipes being installed for a possible future emergency generator that would connect all four buildings. This generator would provide emergency lights (i.e. a 15-watt LED light in the living room) and heat.
D. Berto said the generator could be added as a small change order since 24 units wouldn’t be a big load (for the generator).
Approval of Minutes –
The Sept. 10, 2012 minutes were unanimously approved as submitted.
Treasurer’s Report –
C. D’Agata submitted a report and state the only expenditure was $53.80 for secretarial services and that balance was $3,872.71. L. Millix moved to accept the report, D. Berg seconded the motion and the report was accepted unanimously.
Correspondence – none.
Adjournment – The meeting adjourned at 6:58 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda Sullivan, WHA Recording Secretary
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