GLOVERSVILLE HOUSING AUTHORITY
Minutes of a Regular Meeting
The Gloversville Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners met at its monthly meeting that was held at Dubois Garden Apartments, 181 West Street Gloversville NY on January 18, 2024 at 6:00p.m.
Board Members Present:
- Ellen Anadio, Commissioner
- Gail Peters, Commissioner
- Ronald Holly, Commissioner
- Sherry Courtney, Resident Commissioner
Others Present:
- Anthony Casale, Authority Legal Counsel
- Kayla Potter – Executive Director
- Bryan Goldberger, Esq. – Authority Labor Counsel
Commissioner Anadio called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. All present stood for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a moment of silence.
Commissioner Anadio conducted a roll call memorializing the presence of the above-named individuals.
Commissioner Anadio opened the floor for public comment, with there being no persons coming forward, the board proceeded with its agenda.
Commissioner Anadio opened the floor for Announcements by Commissioners and with there being none, the board proceeded with its agenda.
Commissioner Anadio opened the floor for Communications and with there being none, the board proceeded with its agenda.
Commissioner Anadio opened the floor for old business and made inquiry about the status of the website. Director Potter indicated that it is being worked on and updated and that the contact was on vacation this week and that a further update would be forthcoming.
The Executive Director’s Report was provided by Kayla Potter.
Markham LLP is scheduled to be on site next week to do site work for the independent audits . starting Tuesday and they will be here until the 25th. We have been working on that pretty diligently. Jesse has been pulling files and it’s been taking quite some time. We’re pulling files from four years prior, so he’s been doing that at the towers. I have been up here pulling files as well. So hopefully by Tuesday we’ll be all set and then after they complete the 2020 audit, the subsequent audits are expected two months each, one after another ….
I have been in communication with HUD so they know what is going on with that. And I’ve added from some notes from last week, so bear with me. We can touch base on our vacancies. We are still 82%. Jesse has filled some units, but we also had some evictions. We have all of the units at Forest Hill and Kingsborough all cleared out. Frankie has turned 6 units within a month, which is at Forest Hill. At Kingsboro, John had just turned 1 unit. He’s, you know, it’s taking a little bit longer down there because there are a little bit more maintenance issues. But there are two or three that he says he can turn within a couple of weeks……
And then I also called in a vendor to take some pressure off of him as well to kind of get the units back up to being rented. And then Dubois, Building 7 – We just rehoused our last tenant from the ground floor and Joe suggested we rehouse the upstairs residents because that would be easier on the contractor to complete the job in a timely manner…..
I have Eric now going into two of the units that we are temporarily using, hopefully by the end of February we’ll have those 10 and three housed two of the temporary homes. And then we can get right in there and complete building 7. That’s my goal….
We had a sewer break on Tuesday the 9th, which was outside of building 3. They were able to get that completed within a couple of days because it wasn’t inside of a unit. Luckily, so that was a two day job. And that’s the update on the sewer issues at Dubois…….
I was able to submit 10 units to be taken offline for modernization, which the sewer lines that falls under that category for HUD. So those 10 units that are taken offline, we will still receive their subsidy. It’s just not going to count against our occupancy rate which is great. I hoping to have that confirmed Jennifer was out on vacation so she should be back on Monday, the HUD Rep……
I found out Tuesday in my meeting with HUD that we have a grant that is expiring in February so that capital money is going to go towards the key fobs at Kingsboro and also the replacement of the doors at Kingsboro and Forest Hill. The side doors, along with fixing the intercom system, and that’s at both towers. So that will kind of cure the grant that it is expiring in February. …..
And then we also have grant funds that have to be expended by May of this year. Next month, I will have more of a plan of action about where we’re putting the funds to use….
And then also on Tuesday we touched base on the Corrective Action Plan that we had submitted. Remember I had mentioned last meeting I received the letter. So we submitted that and Chevelle our rep said that it looked good with her. She just kind of has to run it up the chain and we will have more information about that next week……
And we also are continuing, she had suggested kind of looking at how the operation functions. So we’re still looking into that as suggested by HUD. ……
Regarding evictions, we are in the process of some non payment evictions that were sent out last month and we also have two nuisance evictions at Kingsboro and two at Dubois. …
It’s going to seem like a lot of evictions. But in the long run, we’re going to see a huge difference. I mean, we’re kind of thinning the herd. Our waiting list is extensive, so we’re not going to have an issue filling the units at all….
And that was another thing – once we get through this audit next week we can focus on filling those units. I’m like itching to get down with Jesse, but we’ve been so focused on this audit, with gathering all the information and pulling files and making sure all the information is in the files. It’s kind of taken over the last couple of weeks.
[Commissioner Holly inquired if there was anything that the Board could do to help and Potter replied:]
Yeah, you’re literally, honestly, it’s the support that I’m getting and that’s all I need. I just need the backing of you guys to support and. And we’ll get there. I mean, it may take a few months, I think in two months. I think we’re even going to see a difference in two months, honestly. So bear with me. We have one that was in court earlier this month. Is scheduled for a warrant on January 30th. Yeah, we have 7 that are on for. The date of February. 6th we have three that are on for trial next. So that’s 7 + 9 + 1 is 11. And we have 3. Additional ones that we filed today. So we have 14 active evictions.
Commissioner Anadio opened the floor for board committee reports and with there being none, the board continued with its agenda.
Commissioner Anadio opened the floor for new business and presented Resolution 861 regarding monthly vendor invoices and read said resolution, said resolution reading as following: into the record as follows:
Whereas the Gloversville Housing Authority’s Finance Committee has reviewed the monthly vendor invoices for payment of the financial obligations of the Gloversville Housing Authority for the month of December 2023 and finds all payments on the attached list to be in order.
Now therefore be it resolved, the Board of Commissioners of the Gloversville Housing Authority has reviewed the monthly vendor invoices for payment as set forth on the attached list.”
A motion was made by Commissioner Peters adopting Resolution 861, and said motion was seconded by Commissioner Holly. There was no additional discussion and Resolution 860 was approved by a vote of 4-0 in the affirmative…..
Commissioner Anadio presented Resolution #862 Approving Submission of Designated Housing Plan. A motion was made by Commissioner Holly adopting Resolution #862 and said motion was seconded by Commissioner Peters. There was no additional discussion and said resolution was adopted by a vote of 4-0 in the affirmative.
Commissioner Anadio asked for a motion approving the minutes for the meeting held on December 11, 2023.. Said motion was made by Commissioner Peters and seconded by Commissioner Holly. There was no further discussion and the motion was carried by a vote of 4-0 in the affirmative.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Commissioner Peters and seconded by Commissioner Holly. The motion carried by a vote of 4-0 in the affirmative. The meeting was adjourned at 6:20 pm.
Lashawn Hawkins, Secretary