Willington Housing Authority
60 Old Farms Road
April 8, 2013 Meeting Minutes
Present: Chairman Robert Campbell; Vice-Chairman Wilbur Gangaway; Treasurer Claudia D’Agata; members Don Berg, Laurel Millix; financial consultant David Berto; recording secretary Brenda Sullivan; First Selectman Christina Mailhos
1. Call to order – Chairman R. Campbell called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m.
2. Present to speak – First Selectman Christina Mailhos joined the meeting at 6:07 p.m.
3. Old Business – Senior Housing “Button Hill”
D. Berto said that the draft lease and attachments and tax agreement as updated by Atty. Scaramossa were hand-delivered to the town and then forwarded to the town’s attorney, who had some concerns about changes.
C. Mailhos said her understanding is that the “red line” version included changes that were only to adapt the documents to the new project.
C. Mailhos said she did have questions about the “three-phase” electrical service regarding “sole cost and expense” and “to the project” – which she said is “different wording.”
R. Campbell said this project is not “three-phase” but single-phase electric.
D. Berto said the service will go to each unit.
C. Mailhos said the titles and the exhibits don’t match and need to be fixed.
D. Berto said he hadn’t heard any comments about the tax agreement document.
C. Mailhos said it is being reviewed by the town’s attorney; if the attorney says it’s OK, she also needs to run it past the Board of Selectmen.
D. Berto talked about the CHAMP III funding application, which is due May 30, 2013.
He said the more the WHA can show agreements are in place the more this helps with getting points. He said he just received the current point structure (based on 200 points total) and he thinks the WHA application could score 134 points, and the project could get more points next year when more of the funding is in place. He said the WHA project could be eligible for about $1.2 million in grant funds.
He said it also helps the scoring when a general contractor has been selected, so last week an ad was placed – a request for qualifications (RFQ) of contractors. He said when all applications are collected, in about two weeks, the WHA needs to create a working committee to review them and chose one – and then create a pricing document. The WHA would follow the town’s procurement requirements.
C. Mailhos noted that a contract cannot be awarded until the WHA has the money.
D. Berto said this is correct, that the selected contractor will know they’ve been selected but that they will have to wait for the contract. He said someone from his office will email details of the project and a brief set of plans to the applicants so they know what they’re applying for.
D. Berto noted that concerning DECD funding, this agency wants you to have all your other funds in line – which cannot be done until the Federal Home Loan application is submitted in the fall, so the DECD funding would have be considered “contingent.”
D. Berto said a project also has to verify that its construction site isn’t contaminated. He said he got quotes from TRC in Windsor and Fuss & O’Neill in Manchester on the cost of an Initial Assessment to Evaluate the Condition of the Site and the Fuss & O’Neill quote was $200 less, so he asked for a vote by the WHA for this firm to do the work. They will be paid from DECD pre-development money.
R. Campbell said the cost is approximately $2,500.
D. Berto said they only have to assess the lease area – and that they will contact C. Mailhos when they come out, to walk to the site with them.
R. Campbell said he needs a WHA member to find the previously completed Phase I/II environmental evaluation documents for this property and send him an electronic copy. C. Mailhos said she also will check her files.
D. Berg moved, and L. Millix seconded the motion to hire Fuss & O’Neill to conduct a Phase One Study. The motion passed unanimously.
R. Campbell reported on a meeting with Eastern Savings in Norwich and said it went well.
D. Berto said there was a message from his contact from the bank earlier this afternoon, saying the bank has some questions, but that he didn’t have an opportunity yet to get back to that person. R. Campbell said the CEO asked about seeing a copy of the land lease.
C. Mailhos said it’s just “small things” that need to be corrected.
R. Campbell said President and CEO Gerald Coia and Senior VP and Chief Lending Officer Jesse Wenzel walked the site. R. Campbell said he expects to have an answer from the bank by the end of April. He said he thinks that their seeing Willington Woods made a good impression regarding an “affordable housing project.”
R. Campbell said that if Eastern Savings doesn’t take the project, he will contact The Savings Institute (based in Willlimantic).
There was discussion about spending the town funding – phasing work so that as much as possible is spent, and done so efficiently.
C. Mailhos said review of the finalized documents can be put on the next Board of Selectmen’s agenda. As for choosing a contractor, she believes the town engineer would probably want to review the choice and then bring it to the Board of Selectmen. She said she also needs to know who will sign the checks.
R. Campbell said the town signs the checks for the expenditure of its funds.
D. Berto left the meeting at 6:47 p.m.
R. Campbell questioned C. Mailhos about the WHA’s request for a transfer of funds (See resolution passed at March meeting: Resolved that the Willington Housing Authority (WHA) ask the Willington Board of Selectmen to transfer from the closed-out Town EDI grant surplus funds the amount of $3,000, to the WHA, in the same manner as the last transfer.) C. Mailhos said this would require the WHA going to the Finance Board – and that there is a fund threshold that would require holding a Town Meeting.
C. D’Agata said this is money that was already appropriated, so it’s a question of approving a transfer of funds, versus appropriating funds.
4. New Business – There was discussion about the town’s proposal to standardize the way the recording secretaries for the boards and commissions are paid. C. Mailhos said currently there are too many differences, i.e. some are paid travel time, some are paid by the hour, some get a flat fee. She also said that currently the board and committee chairs do not sign off on the payroll sheets, so there’s no real accountability. And there’s been discussion of having the Board of Selectmen or the Town Clerk appoint/reappoint the secretaries.
5. Approval of minutes – L. Milix moved and W. Gangaway seconded a motion to accept the March 11, 2013 minutes as presented; the motion passed unanimously.
6. Treasurer’s report – C. D’Agata reported that the only expenditure was $53.87 for secretarial services, leaving a balance of $3,657.40
7. Correspondence – None.
8. Adjourn – Meeting adjourned at 7:27 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Brenda Sullivan
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