we're going to open the meeting on May 15th at 10:01 a.m. let's start off with the Pledge of Allegiance people could stand remove their hats or whatever pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay call the order and roll call just go down the that's right here right this list oh I'm sorry okay Timothy Kon Here Andrew extrom present Pauline BR bro here Elizabeth Collins here and our director we have to do that and assistant director we don't have to do them no okay all right approval of the minutes of April 24th 2024 is there a motion motion to approve is there any discussion all there is one but I'm I just got this part of the I'm it's not Cosmic I'm just going to let it be small that's okay okay hearing none then is there a second second all in favor I so voted so moved or whatever okay all right approval of the financial reports is there a motion on the floor to approve the financial reports well do one at time the check warrant first okay okay so a motion for the check warrant all right a motion for the check warrant of April 24th I have a question is is this you're on the transcription account is that what you're on yes yeah this yeah okay I have a question um I wasn't around I had been ill at that time um but a question I wanted to know was uh when when the uh police department came and they were here from many many uh meetings um whose budget did that come out of we didn't pay for that that was their service to us and Kyle Fernandez is assigned he was notified of the meeting but if he's on patrol he he's not coming there does not come out of our budget okay or anything for the police department I I didn't know at that time and I wasn't well enough to y any other questions yes check 5749 V A Shan that's a comment right Pauline yes is that that the full amount that is the full of full amount that went to that person um in the settlement however there's other things that um in the settlement that we will pay for such as a tub cut again what a shame I agree any other questions okay um did we do did I do a motion in a second yet we haven't had a motion oh that's right not yet okay we're going down so we need a motion in a second on the general ledger which is what we just talked about okay can I have a motion on the accept the uh general ledger motion to motion to approve second second all in favor I any opposed hearing none so moved okay accountant report is that go to the same thing yep okay accountant reports if available it is available you have a copy okay e yeah oh yeah motion okay is there a motion to accept so moved all right second second all in favor I hearing okay uh any oppos so move before you take the vote next time you're G to ask for discussion oh yeah sorry okay you're talking to our town l y all right so now what are we on to mmdt mmdt statement as of April 24th 2024 and 2024 and you also received a copy of that that's right and everybody received a copy of that motion to place on file there a motion to place on file so moved okay a second second any discussion okay all in favor I and second no any opposed so moved all right we had nothing from that there was no checks nothing got passed so there was no separate correct okay I guess we're on to adabor Housing Authority uh it's it's good to be here um I I just want to introduce myself to the board and to the residents uh that are assembled in your in your board packet you have uh you have my resume um you have you know some information about uh you know things you know that Ado can can bring to the table just a little history um back in I think it was 2013 or 2014 there was a move of foot in the state of Massachusetts to you know regionalize how authorities and um you know it was uh uh it was governor Patrick at the time whose idea was to kind of regionalize everything there was a lot of push back on the part of local boards to that and You Know It ultimately did not pass it you know it it it was not a thing that they that they moved forward um however um they had to you know they had to get a little bit out of the deal so as a result of of that the state you know implemented all sorts of new audits you know agreed upon procedures and you know annual plans and and all sorts of things that if you've been on the board for a while you know what that is um however um you know over time um you know housing authorities are are you know finding it you know really difficult to hire executive directors you know especially the smaller ones that you know have have very limited you know hours available and so forth so um so what you're seeing uh throughout Massachusetts is you know you're seeing regionalization you know happen organically it's kind of happening on its own without any sort of you know State mandates um the adbor Housing Authority I guess you could say is a moderate sized Authority you know we're not huge like a Boston or a Fall River but we're you know we're not tiny either like a planville or you know this Housing Authority um we have 431 units we also have a housing Choice Voucher Program uh and a Massachusetts rental voucher program we have a staff of we we have a total staff of 22 people we we have nine maintenance folks and we have uh we have 11 admin people in the office um we have been asked and we've applied to uh do management agreements in in several smaller housing authorities um I been in adelar since 2018 uh I you know I inherited seon they were already part of adelar um and then we took on planville um uh planville was forly managed by the Mansfield Housing Authority um she had a she had staffing issues in Mansfield where she she had to she had to restaff After People retired and left she didn't feel that she could adequately oversee plane B so uh she approached me and had me make a presentation to the planville board planville you know subsequently retained Adar to manage them Sharon was a different story Sharon was in a little bit of difficulty and we were asked by the uh you know then you know then dhcd to come in to kind of stabilize Sharon which we we have done we've had Sharon for about the past year and a half and things have really turned around there um so adelar is in a position now where we feel that you know we can you know we can take over one more Authority um and um I was approached or you know several housing authorities I I guess were approached by eohc now to to think about Westport what's happening in Westport is Somerset now overseas West Lucia um is going to be retiring at the end of June it's my understanding in that uh that the management agreement you know with Somerset also ends on June 30th so now now you folks you know we'll need another management agreement um anal um is willing to do it um I've I've attached um some you know some key staff members that will that are on the team uh you know that can assist um with our management fees coming in from the different agencies we are in a position where we can hire you know we can hire an additional staff member which um you know won't be a 100 you know probably won't be you know 100% you know down here in Westport but a lot of of their time will be spent down here I'm still kind of working that out I have some time to do that um you know I think adle borrow brings a lot to the table um one thing you you may be concerned about and I I understand that is um it's about a you know depending on the traffic it's about a 35 minute you know drive from my office in adbar you know down here um so we're not um you know you know we're not nearby technically uh but we have you know we have the staff you know I think that we can you know we can devote to it um as far as you know as far as as the board is concerned I understand that um at least three of you are brand new um I you know I've worked with you know a total now of of uh you know 20 board members um I deal with all different kinds of personalities I deal with people who uh don't want to be at meetings at all and are doing this you know when's this going to end and I deal with people who have a lot of questions so I deal with a bunch of different people um I you know I like to educate people as far as um you know what's going on with the Housing Authority what kind of shape we're in uh what we have coming up um I also engage with the residents quite frequently um I uh in all of my managed agencies I I I have monthly meetings with the residents just to gauge their input you know find out what's on their mind find out what we can do better find out um you know really what you know what's going on like you know a the ground type thing so so I do that and I'm also heavily involved in um you know in in the different towns that you know that we're in um I I introduced myself to the the um the select boards in all the towns I I I've got a really good relationship with with you know local officials with the uh legislative delegations um so that you know that's something that I want to spend some time with um we are well thought of in the state as a Housing Authority at um we were encouraged to give Westport serious thought even though we're you know at least a half an hour away um so I think that I you know I think that you know we bring a lot to the table it's a well-run Housing Authority financially uh it uh it would be a basic management agreement for as long as you folks would want and I and I Believe Management agreements can be anywhere from from one year to 5 years whatever you you feel you know comfortable with um what what um what seeon and planville did was they they gave us five years Sharon gave me two years just because they wanted to keep the option open of of having their own director down the road um although I've been told I've been told since then that um they're really happy with the way things are being run in Sharon so they don't foresee them hiring a new director they will keep us on when the two years are up um so I uh I'd be happy to answer any you know any questions that the board has I guess the process that would play out from here is you know you would Talk Amongst yourselves um and then you you would decide if you want us to come on board or not if you do you would vote to enter into a management agreement I would then have to go back to adelar and get the anal borrow board to agree to it um and I which I don't I you know I don't foresee their you know there be any problem there there's also a new regulation or some new rule that just came out a couple of months ago where if you have a loow if you have a tenant organization in your housing authority and you are contemplating going into a management agreement I I have one in Adar yeah we don't so I have to I have to have a meeting with the the tenant association board and just inform them of what um of what I'm contemplating and then hear their hear their viewpoints on it which again I you know you knock on whatever this is knock on wood I I have a decent relationship with the resident Association um so I'm not I'm not anticipating any problems it would be a basic agreement it would not be a it would not be an agreement with a management plan attached to it because is not a troubled Housing Authority so it would just be a straight management agreement um it's it's pretty cut and dry as far as uh you know what the numbers are you know the fee accountants can kind of plug it into the formula you know you you kind of need a mathematical degree to figure out how to calculate a management fee or whatever but um we've you know we've done several of them now so it's not a problem um uh you know as far as operations concerned we like to keep things consistent among all of our housing authorities so um there would be there would be certain things that I would like to change certain things that the board will will be fully informed of um you know and I and um you know if uh you know if you do allow us to come on board you know as of July uh I will let you know ahead of time what you know what those would be but I think that um we would we would probably change fee accountants because we our fee accountant that we have now does all you know all four of the other housing authorities so we you know we want to keep that consistent and we're also thinking of um uh you know going uh you know implementing a Housing Authority software package that we use in all the other housing authorities as well although that that hasn't that hasn't been firmly decided yet um so you know there's um I I think we bring a lot to the table I think we can do a good job for the residents and for you and um yeah you know that's really all I have if anybody has any questions for me I'd be happy to answer them go ahead um you said you uh one of the things if you are elected to take on this position um and you normally at your other Housing Authority meet with residents yes and how how often do you do that I try to do it once a month once a month I try to do it once a month um although I I will admit um in it's easy for me to do it in Sharon in planville and in seock because it's all you know it's all together in you know one location it's more of a challenge in you know I'm in adelar because I have seven different locations so sometimes I I you know I I have to combine the meetings and sometimes residents don't don't like that particularly the residents that have to that have to go from their from their from their development to where the meetings being held but okay the other part of my question is um when you're meeting once a month with the residents what is what comes out first to you what what do the residents want to know and what do you want them to take back from this meeting well I I think that the most important thing is I I think the residents want to know that if they have a concern or they have a problem that they'll listen to and um I you know I um um I get maybe 15 calls a week from you know different you know folks throughout the portfolio and uh you know usually it's um you know something along the lines of hey I uh you know I I asked you know I I asked for a work order Monday and it's now Thursday and I I haven't seen anybody or um um you know when are you going to take care of this or you know there's a pothole in the entrance that needs to be done you know you know things along those lines um every so often I it's um you know residents get in you know get into disagreements with each other and uh we we have we have to step in and try to mediate um I I've got a resident services coordinator that uh is very good you know at you know sort of helping me out with you know with those kinds of things um but it's you know it's just a you know it's a Time the meetings are a time for me just just to hear what you know what is on people's minds and you know you know most of the time if it you know if it's a problem with a staff member or you know if it's an issue with with a work order it can it can easily be resolved sometimes people have ideas you know hey why don't you you know you know you know why don't you move the dumpster from over here to over here you know sometimes it's you know something like that that you know we can talk about and things like that but um I I just think it's you know the residents wanting to be heard and wanting to be you know wanting the feeling that you know that there's somebody listening to you know their concerns good ideas do you um you personally won't be here month to month you won't be the director for you'll be the director but somebody will be here directing I will will I will be here on um um at least twice a week okay at uh you know uh at the beginning I have a deputy director who does all of the the um the recertifications which I understand we don't have to worry about until next May um I I've got a resident services coordinator that uh you know can hand can handle resident issues and I'm also going to have have two part-time people that will that will also be here on a rotating basis so there you know there uh there will be coverage every single day in the office except maybe Fridays I don't I don't do office coverage at any of the managed agencies on Fridays now speaking of that um what what is the coverage going to be you know I mean do you have a a set time frame or do you have a you know mornings or afternoon I have to we we have we have to get together as a as a staff and we need to determine what it's going to be I understand if I if I recall correctly right now it's uh uh you're here five days a week correct sometimes in the mornings and sometimes in the afternoons all mornings right now all all mornings okay okay so it might be something where we do um um I think the the allocation is 16 hours 16 hours a week so it might it it might be something like uh you know we you know we could set it up the way that it's set up now or or we could do U you know taking Fridays out of the equation we could do you know 9 to three three days a week we could you know what we do in planville which is which is comparable to the size of of Westport yeah planville is only 40 units Westport is 48 planville um I uh we cover the office Tuesdays 8 to 4 Thursdays 8 to 4 and Wednesdays 9 to3 with the resident services coordinator and our maintenance team is on site Mondays Mondays and half of Fridays so there's always somebody there in Plano we always have somebody in Sharon I cover Sharon one day a week myself um and then and then seon and I hate to say this because I'm going to drinx myself SE kind of runs itself seeon is I don't have any problems in seeon whatsoever the residents are great the infrastructure is good I've got a I've got a strong part-time staff in ccom so you know outside of the board meetings I don't even have to what what I say I don't have to give C con a second thought um you know that's you know you know Westport being new I'm going to have to be be here to learn the people to understand the concerns just just to get the lay of the land with the office and things like that but I I I don't anticipate that it would be a a you know a huge heavy left considering what we've already done last month you made me laugh because you said that you wanted to meet the maintenance crew one guy oh I know I know I know we don't have anybody in planville uh we we had uh um when we took over um the the the full-time person in planville retired and then it took us six months to hire somebody new and then he only lasted he only lasted a few months and uh then we went so so the adbor team you know was essentially covering planville um you know I you know we have a maintenance supervisor that will be assigned here that will sort of oversee the maintenance person here and um and this individual is you know a go he's 24 years old he's very aggressive he's very good with technology um he wants to learn he has a I think he's got a future in the industry um and I'm sort of mentoring him along by giving him additional responsibilities and he's done a great job kind of overseeing the you know maintenance teams of our you know assorted agency so it's worked out pretty well so if I'm hearing you correctly you're going to consider keeping the maintenance man here keeping him here oh that's oh of course yeah yeah that that's not going to change okay I I mean i' I don't know of him I've never met him apparently I I think he's doing a pretty good job he's an employee but he's an employee yeah and I and I um I think you know he knows everybody knows everything and I think it would be our best interest I have not met him yet but he's absolutely going to going to stay yeah yeah you know the good news with him is if he needs help there's you know there'll be a team behind him in alar where where we can send somebody down and then I'm sure with all the maintenance schedules whether it's kitchens or painting or whatever the maintenance requires um I'm sure you're being having your experience you got you're well aware of all the the processes all that stuff right we there's a you know there's a new state system uh where all of the uh State you know state funded projects get you know you know get implemented and done done like that so I'm I'm well versed on that and the prevalent wage has to be paid do you check any of that do do you check any of the prevent wages with contractors periodically they they're obligated to if you um if you're working on a on a state fund project they're obligated to to pay the wage that's correct and then at the at the beginning of the project they are they are to request what those wages are from the state and then all of that gets uploaded onto the cap up system and then as the as as the project goes on um they are they are to provide us with uh certified payroll reports and um which are you know viewed as part of of an audit the next time we get audited and then what they'll do is they will take the wage sheets and they'll make sure that people on the um you know in the on the job are getting paid what they correct what the wage call yeah okay exactly just to let you know we had something like that um David's been the only one here for a long time MH and he does a superb job he's fantastic um and it was an executive director before Lucia and we had some pretty big problems that David needed help for and that executive director was very good with us I mean she had men at her Authority that knew how to do everything B Bing what Authority was that Fair Haven Fair Haven okay and um they would come down and work with David and everything worked out really well you're speaking of of Chris an Shey yes yes okay all right well I've got I I've got some good news for you on that front because um what when I said that she said I I'm looking for a part-time person um she reached out to me she she retired couple years back and she's looking for a few hours a week here and there so she she I don't know how she she um you know she called me an Anar and um I I I you know I told her that depending upon how things shake out down here I I may be able to use her in that you know in that capacity I'm happy for she wants a very uh she wants strictly part-time schedule she wants no no oversight responsibility you know whatsoever so that that that might be something that will that will happen you know during the summer at some point yeah but I'll have more I'll have more to say on that okay as time goes on and just one more question maybe you can't answer this question but we have a lot going on in Westport excuse my throat we have a lot going on in Westport now with water sewer and and we have Mr lanir who's on the affordable housing trust and um do we have any idea when he will be able to sit at the table um I I personally do not um I'm uh if it's any consolation I'm dealing with a similar situation okay up in Sharon um um there was a miscommunication somewhere along the line several years ago but we we've we actually had a woman in Sharon who was sitting on the board as the state appointee um who was never formally appointed at state so um you know um now now we're going through the process to get her to get her on boarded and um I found that if you if you you email consistently um and you invol and you involve eohc in the process things will move along um you know I could um I mean I'm not you know until you know I don't I don't want to do anything until until the management agreement takes effect right but if if you know if the process is underway and you've gotten you've gotten contacted and there's been you know I I think there's a survey you know some sort of questionnaire of some kind you remember that okay and you've done all that okay so the so the process is underway and you know in typical State fashion uh we just have to wait until the you know the bureaucratic stuff plays itself out but it hopefully not much Paul if I can just fill um Miss Collins in on that um I received uh a note today or this week from Paul Schmidt he's also working on I've I've actually been pushing for it because I know Mr lanir is ready he's done all the paperwork all the paperwork has been submitted to dhcd so it's going to be Paul and Michael who are going to have to push dhcd forward because they're sitting on it yeah these are supposed to be Governor's appointments but I think they all come from dhcd so hopefully not much longer okay okay that okay very good the board with that okay uh director's report pleasure of the board it's the pleasure of the board motion to accept and for the file okay thank you for all that information was helpful no for us okay uh direct yeah director's report director's director's report is there a motion to put it on file we've all received it in their folders you've all received it in your folders is there is there a motion to put that on file so move second second okay any discussion all in favor I any oppos hearing none so move okay new business new business um I'll start is there uh what they call the CPC appointment with the town of Westport that uh committee um that Community preservation the community commit Community preservation committee yeah they um there's an appoint appointment from this board to sit on that and um I would be happy to be appointed and I would volunteer for that if if uh if we can get that in the form of a motion I was on that board before became a board mhm so I was on that board for 23 years mhm then I got and I'm back again huh we yeah it's a good board okay there a motion it motion to accepting second second you can't second you're wrong motion second second second all in favor I any oppose no discussion sorry I keep doing that backwards I'm new I'm new anyhow all right we'll write it out for you all right so that's all said all right and then I have um Westport Police Department Kyle anything to tell us anything new anything we should be aware of in town no really I mean business as usual be concern you I know you guys were asking about the sewer and stuff I believe the vote on all that stuff oh yeah went down down pretty serious business of the police department regarding regarding you guys nothing nothing to report I'm sorry is that a good thing or a bad thing a good thing just good thing just I want you to get to know my van on there all right next thing old business I don't have anything all right nothing under old business so uh commissioners comments you can ask them if they have comments anybody have any comments mr's comments what's that Commissioners comments do you have anything um no I think I've gotten enough comments and good ones to boot okay tenants comments go ahead I just want to tell the hopefully um executive director we don't have a tenant or as an organization we have a tenant on the board so there's really no but I I appreciate your and get the next meeting excent thank you okay okay any other comments from the tenants all in sett all the contract done how many units will be under your how many total units yeah um if someone has a calculator um uh 431 adaro 95 in Sharon 80 in seon 48 in Westport 40 in planville 4 9 14 22 26 30 704 M mhm and you're the prime director for all of it correct you you personally Paul I correct I I go to you're answering for it all I go to all the board meetings I answer to the boards okay I do all the reporting I interact with the state um I you know I I don't do recertifications and things like that we have staff for that uh but I um I I sort of run all the projects I do the human resources uh I I do the tenant interaction all of that you work directly with the board yes so the board will have your phone number I have I have I have 20 right now I've got 20 board members okay that I okay answer to go ahead ma'am um I'm surprised that fox it's the third Wednesday I don't have a count get it for you entirely up to to the housing to the you know the executive directors of of the respective authorities um it's it's you know it's totally within their you know their purview to say you know what you know I have enough on my plate in wall I don't on any other issues or um I don't have the staff to do it right right it's not you know it's you know it is becoming you know more and more for it to be you know you know sort of spread out you know we like to keep it close but you know PL Bill and didn't you you know it's very doable common courtesy I wish you wouldn't talk while the tenants are talking thank you okay all right I'm going to make just one comment I apologize for that I don't normally but I was just discussing asking a question when the next meeting so we all be aware I'm sorry I'm apologizing I'm apologizing I won't okay thank you y okay next meeting to be determined is uh normally it's the third Wednesday which would be June 19th at 10:00 a.m. everybody good with that that's a holiday huh oh yeah June 19th is okay so now what do we do on the holidays you can go anywhere you want you can go the Wednesday before the Wednesday after well let's see what's the 12 oh probably want to do the Wednesday before so that I can't do the 12th okay okay how about the 26th everybody good with that yep good Paul good good Andrew good okay that's okay all right is there a motion to adjourn so moved second second all in favor I I thank you very much for attending everybody