Willington Housing Authority
Regular Meeting June 10, 2013
Willington Senior Center
60 Old Farms Road, Willington CT 06279
Present: Chairman Robert Campbell; Vice-President Wilbur Gangaway; Secretary Don Berg; Treasurer Claudia D’Agata; Member Laurel Millix; Financial Consultant David Berto.
Call to order: 6:05 p.m.
Old Business:
C. D’Agata said there is a new Directors & Officers Insurance Policy (Rabbit Insurance) at a cost of $1,169. R. Campbell noted this is significantly less than the previous policy and recommended the WHA accept it. W. Gangaway moved to accept the new policy; L. Millix seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
R. Campbell said he met last week with a representative of the Savings Institute (Willimantic CT) about the possibility of this bank working on the Federal Home Loan Bank application. He also said the CHAMP III application has been submitted, and he has a copy given to him by D. Berto. C. D’Agata said she can store it in a cabinet with other WHA documents.
R. Campbell said the Town lease document still has not been signed; the Town tax agreement has been signed.
R. Campbell said WHA Atty. Scaramossa sent requested material to Town Atty. John Beck regarding the lease agreement and is now awaiting comment from Atty. Beck. He said he left a message on First Selectman C. Mailhos’s cell phone today to invite her to tonight’s meeting and hoped to discuss the delay with the lease agreement with her. He said he will contact her again and if necessary, will ask Atty. Scaramossa’s office to contact Atty. Beck to try to expedite completion of this task.
D. Berto and D. Berg joined the meeting.
D. Berto said that although the lease agreement has not been signed, the Town Meeting resolution approving the agreement was sufficient to send as part of the CHAMP III application, along with the signed tax agreement with the Town.
D. Berto said now that the CHAMP III application has been submitted, he expects a preliminary review and any initial questions within the next 10 days, after which he expects CHAMP to assign points to the applications and there may be more questions. Once all applications have been evaluated, a list of those approved for funding will be released, at a date to be announced. He said generally less than half of the applicants are approved.
He said WHA’s application for $1.5 million is substantive, but where it falls short is not having an agreement with a bank and not having other funding sources in place, yet.
He noted CHAMP holds a new application period every six months and that one positive regarding WHA’s application is that there already was a round in which several applications were approved so they were not competing in this round. He said if an application is denied in one cycle, applicants can submit again in the next cycle.
R. Campbell said he and D. Berto recently spoke with Savings Institute Senior Vice President, Commercial Loan Officer Bill Anderson regarding having the Savings Institute work with the WHA on its Federal Home Loan Bank application.
R. Campbell said the meeting went well, that B. Anderson asked the right questions and that Anderson also spoke with someone at FHLB. Campbell said he hopes for a response from the Savings Institute soon. He said he also received the name of a suggested contact, if Savings Institute doesn’t work out, from Atty. Scaramossa.
Regarding funds for the Button Hill Senior Housing project infrastructure and development, D. Berto said the WHA is ready to move forward with bidding from contractors and then awarding a contract.
D. Berto also said he’s been in contact with consultant Larry Wagner about settling the question of whether Gardiner & Peterson can be paid from the same funds used to pay them for work related to water and sewer that currently serves Willington Woods and the Senior Center – as part of the three-phase project whose final phase is the Button Hill Senior Housing project.
L. Wagner said that the Town has to state whether or not town officials followed procurement requirements when they originally hired Gardiner & Peterson and if they did, then Gardiner & Peterson should be paid from the remaining funds from the same (now closed out) EDI grant. The amount to be paid is $14,000.
D. Berto said this aspect of the project has been at a standstill for more than two months, waiting for the Board of Selectmen or the appropriate representative of the Town to make this determination.
D. Berto left the meeting.
New Business: None.
Approval of minutes:
May 8, 2013 Special Meeting – D. Berg moved to accept these minutes; W. Gangaway seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
May 13 Regular Meeting – W. Gangaway moved to accept these minutes; L. Millix seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
May 13 Public Information Session –
W. Gangaway noted an error in the response to a question about whether kitchen stoves will be gas or electric. (Lines 108/109) – they will be electric. W. Gangaway moved to accept these minutes as corrected; D. Berg seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report: C. D’Agata reported a balance of $2,738.26 with secretarial expenses of $107.65 (for two meetings). W. Gangaway moved to accept the Treasurer’s Report; D. Berg seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
Correspondence: None.
C. D’Agata noted she will be retiring effective July 5, 2013 and so other arrangements need to be made for picking up WHA mail at Town Hall. R. Campbell said he’d follow up on this.
Adjourn: C. D’Agata moved to adjourn at 6:53 p.m.; L. Millix seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda Sullivan, Recording Secretary
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