Redevelopment Authority - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone. Can you hear me okay? All right, wonderful. This is a regularly scheduled meeting of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee taking place at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19th, 2026. Can we get a roll call, Patty?

Commissioner Paz-Classen?

Here.

Commissioner Burrell? Present. Commissioner Snyder?

Here.

Chair Hazlitt? Here. Vice Chair Gatzler?

Present.

Commissioner Nelson?

Present.

Commissioner Moore?

Present.

Thank you. All right. Would a commissioner like to move approval of all items within the consent agenda? So moved.

Second.

Thank you. Can we get a roll call?

Commissioner Pesclasson. Aye. Commissioner Burrell.

Aye.

Commissioner Snyder. Aye. Chair Hazlett. Aye. Vice Chair Gotsler. Aye. Commissioner Nelson. Aye. Commissioner Moore. Aye. under b one reports and discussion items item number one is a general public listening session this listening session is agenda item number b one part of the four p m wednesday out august nineteenth twenty twenty six meeting the hackham board of commissioners at city hall room three oh one b the purpose of the session is to give interested persons a reasonable opportunity to present their views to hackham's board of commissioners each speaker will have two minutes to speak This listening session does not have a specific topic. Persons who wish to speak, if they have not already done so, should sign up at the sign-in sheet located at the side table on your right. For those who have prepared written comments, those comments will be shared with the board. Any comments received by 11 a.m. today have been distributed to the commissioners. per open meetings a lot and at a listening session the commissioners do not engage in a dialogue with the speakers but will be listening to all comments so they may receive input from the public we ask that everyone be respectful of the process and of all of the folks either speaking as well as those who are here to listen after you provide your comment property management staff may reach out to you here at this meeting or afterward to learn more from you or provide you with information related to your comment or question It is critical that speakers respect the two-minute time limit in place for all speakers, so signs will be held up to let people know when they have 30 seconds left and to let people know when their two minutes are up. We also ask that the audience be respectful of the speakers while they are offering their comments, whether you agree or disagree with what they have to say. Please, for your fellow neighbors and our residents, be considerate of their time to speak and let the board hear their comments. A few more points and a summary for the speakers. Please, everyone, mute your phones. All comments should be addressed to the commissioners. Any member of the public is welcome to share that input. If you are a Hackam tenant, voucher program participant, landlord, or staff, and are willing to share that information, the board would find that information helpful, but neither being a resident or participant nor sharing that information is required to speak. Speakers may be asked to return to their seat or leave the meeting if they do not follow the instructions. In order to ensure all of us in the room can hear, unruly or disruptive behavior from either speakers or the audience is prohibited. Mr. Sawyer, would you like to come up and be the first speaker? Ms. Newton, we have you on the on-deck circle. Thank you.

Mike check. Can y'all hear me?

Yep. Yes. Welcome.

Hi everybody. How y'all doing today? I'm Mr. Sawyer. I want to make sure it's clear cause I, I don't ever make sure it's clear. I am a rab board member, but I'm actually the rent assistance representative. Thank you so much. And, uh, i'm still concerned about the fact that i'm went to the equal rights commission meeting because you guys had today i thought you would guys were having to me and they found out what was they made me come to sit in here and uh... they talked about some of the stuff going on with the landlords and things like that they had a pretty good presentation i think you guys need to get their presentation uh... we want to make sure we utilize in the vouchers at a level where We can spread them a little bit more, at least throughout the county, not clustering people, taking opportunities away from them. I've actually got certain stuff that we talked about and approved on how to use the rent assistance vouchers. When you have an HCV voucher, it's not impossible. You can have a roommate. There's a way that the rent assistance voucher is used. We don't have to have people homeless with a voucher. There are ways around that. The other thing I would like to say is, because my colleagues will be speaking a little later so I don't have to worry about speaking on that is, I want you to understand, you guys have been here for about most of you for a year. You've had employees and people come talk to you guys and you ask questions about common documents and things of that nature and you see how they look at you guys and with that. Imagine being a resident, Going through that, and instead of just working these things out, they rather give people little jobs and stuff. They spend more money to prove themselves right than anything. I just want y'all to understand that if they act like that with you guys, imagine how they treat resident leaders. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Sawyer.

Thank you.

Ms. Newton, you are next and then Diana Hinton, you will be after Ms. Newton.

good evening the chairs i'm betty newton i'm a resident of convent hills i'm an ro member i am a rab member and i want to talk about two things in uh 2023 i noticed that my name had been removed off of the wait list for convent hills and when i question it uh People tried to act like they didn't know. I asked the manager's boss. I talked to Elizabeth at Rent Assistance, Maria Guzman, Jackie Martinez, and I was ignored. I talked to Dale Darrow about it and showed him the six unanswered emails that I had sent about being removed off of that wait list. I put myself back on there in 2023. I noticed lately with this Save Your Spot campaign They want to recognize 2023 when I put myself back on it. I had emailed Tina Royalty. I want clarification because I know I should have been on there from 2020 or 2021. The second thing I wanted to talk about at our President's meeting, I invited Mr. Ince, Ms. Farrell, and what I wanted to discuss was the problems with storage at Convent for equipment or things that we use for events for the building and that our manager is being unresponsive or uncooperative in providing space. So I want to know in a building that I live in that has empty space, why we cannot use that space to store things that we do to engage residents. Again, I sent an email on Sunday and I invited the commissioner chairwoman. I invited Mr. Ince. I invited Ms. Farrell that I would like to see you at convent to discuss these things. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, Ms. Hinton Hinton.

Hello. Welcome.

So I just have a few issues. One is complaints. I did several complaints with Hackham and I've had zero, zero response since 2024, zero. Also, I received numerous public safety reports that gave me lease violations, which I was never aware of until I contacted Amy with open records. And I just said, can you send me any documentation that has my name? And these release violations include residents, Hackham staff, and nothing. I'm not getting any results from anywhere. And when I do, like, I'm not going to mention a name, but one of your people came in. The other day, she was very rude. She was very nasty. She took the side of the manager, and I watched the manager just lie in her face, and she just treated me like I was nothing. And I just think that's horrible for residents to continue. It reminds me of the same old hack-em before you guys stepped in, where the managers are taken for their word and the residents are treated like trash. and this is a constant inconvenience. Over and over, residents ganging up on other residents, specifically me, writing false reports, public safety taking those reports, never contacting me, and then issuing me lease violations. I'm stalked around the building, I'm threatened around the building. This is all the time and nothing is being done, nothing. So I want to know how I can address that. So if somebody can help me, you're the one who can only help me because everybody under you has not been able to help me or refuses to help me. So me and you really need to get together. Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Stone.

Thank you.

The public also had the opportunity to provide written comments and e-comments. None were received before 11 a.m. today. Is there anyone else who wishes to provide comment today? Okay, you can go ahead and sign up at the sign-up sheet there. Anybody else? Okay. Welcome.

Hello. Welcome, Ms. Schultz. Yes. Thank you. Yes, I am a landlord and a property manager, and I have been refraining from using rent assistance, especially since, well, before, since COVID probably, but more so I've taken on three new tenants January 1, and it has been horrific. It's been six months before I get my money. Right now they're holding my money because of some tenant telling them bogus stories and them not calling me or asking me. And so then I send all, they're like, oh, well, you didn't sign this or somebody didn't sign this. I send them the signed documents. Nothing happens. So I'm just confused why they're holding my money. The tenant and I in dispute here, we're not in dispute anymore. She understands her split or whatever. She's paying that on time but now I'm not getting the majority of my rent and I have rent assistance in a duplex on both units so no money coming in at all. So I would just like to see that. I do know that if it matters to anybody, if you could have the way it's done on the Lisbon Avenue building, if we could go back to the way it used to be where before COVID, where people actually had a caseworker kind of like assigned to them. I would go to the same person all the time for all of my tenants. I mean, we used to have like 30 tenants on rent assistance. Now it's down to three. So anyway, dedicated caseworker for a landlord would be nice. And then getting rid of, oh, one more thing. Tenants who destroy my property after we fix it all up so that it passes inspection, then they rip off the smoke detectors, they take stuff down. They should be held accountable and they should be taken off rent assistance. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to provide comment today? All right, there being no additional speakers at this time, this concludes the public listening session, which was part of the 4 p.m. Wednesday, August 19th, 2026 meeting of the Hackam Board of Commissioners at City Hall Room 301B. Item number two on the agenda is a resolution approving the proposed agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for repayment of unsupported or disallowed housing assistance payments in the amount of $2.9 million. John Larson will speak on this item.

Welcome.

Hi, thanks. Hi, John Larson, Chief Financial Officer. So this is a resolution to approve the repayment.

Can everybody hear John okay? You have to speak uncomfortably close into the microphone. Yes, it's a very uncomfortable feeling. Thank you.

All right, can you hear me now? So this is a resolution to approve the repayment agreement with HUD for the $2.9 million of unsupported disallowed housing assistance payments. The agreement proposed by HUD is a repayment of $2.9 million over the term of 29 years. The payments are $25,000 each quarter or $100,000 each year. There is no interest charged on this debt. Does anyone else have any questions on the, or have any, regarding the background on this?

Madam Chair. Vice Chair Gotsler. Thank you, thank you for getting this done. I think it's wonderful, I think it's very doable, and I'm very grateful to HUD for giving us these terms.

I agree, thank you.

Do we have any other questions or comments from the Commission? All right. There being none, can we get a commissioner to move for the adoption of the resolution? I make the motion.

I second.

Okay. Can we get a roll call, please?

Commissioner Lopez-Classen? Aye. Commissioner Burrell? Aye. Commissioner Snyder? Aye. Chair Hazlett? Aye. Vice Chair Gotsler? Aye. Commissioner Nelson?

Aye.

Commissioner Moore? Aye. Motion passes. Item number three. Thank you, John. Thank you. Item number three is a discussion regarding a potential survey of board members. Chair Hazlett, I believe you wanted to speak on this item.

Yes.

Can we take one and pass them down, please?

Take one and pass them down.

We did provide them with that.

Oh, okay.

Just right here?

Oh, no, we did. Okay. Not that.

Okay. This is something else. Wait.

I thought we had also already provided a copy.

Thank you for confusing me.

Keep me on my toes, team. Well, I know as we were appointed to become commissioners of the Hackham Board, early on, a lot of the commissioners had talked about having a board survey just to sort of measure where we are, where we're going, and considering our time around the board, I think now is a fitting time to entertain what this looks like for us moving forward. So the survey gives an important opportunity to evaluate how well we are carrying out our responsibilities during this critical period of recovery and change at HACM. This survey will also help us identify our strengths, address any gaps in communication, oversight, training, and accountability, as well as ensure that our decisions remain aligned with HACM's mission, HUD's requirements, as well as our financial stability and the needs of our residents. The results will guide a practical board development plan and help us to become more informed, prepared, and an effective governing body. This is the first draft of what the survey looks like. I would like for each of my fellow commissioners to review it, weigh in on it, and work with Patty if there are any changes. But we are asking if you can have those changes to Patty by next week, Friday. I don't know what that date is. by next friday if you can have okay thank you august twenty eight to make sure that we can disseminate this surveys right now we are also looking to maintain the integrity of this process which is very important as we are being transparent in this initiative as to have uh... where we're weighing how the information will be disseminated as well as uh... shared among us and the public so we are exploring ways with either a third party or how this will be best resolved so once again the integrity of the process is not compromised so we will come back hopefully by the next meeting and let you know uh... how we will move forward with this but the goal is to have this completed by this fall so uh... If you have any questions or comments around the survey, please let me know. But just for everyone, I mean, most of us have served on boards before. This is common practice, you know, whereas we are, well... we've been pretty pretty busy with this board for sure but we just want to make sure that we are rendering the best services and the best support to the agency and the residents and whereas we hold the staff accountable we're holding the residents accountable we have to hold ourselves accountable as well this is our transparent way of doing that so

i will yield to my fellow commissioners if you all have any questions or comments i'm happy to you care i think it must your guts i didn't think thank you manager i do have the opportunity to uh... review these questions uh... prior to this meeting i i did put them in any uh... a questionnaire tool which we could use uh... i've guy i have noted a couple of additions and over the last month or so i've been collecting surveys from other organizations so i i think we've got a good pool of questions but um don't leave it up to the chair and myself to figure out what those questions should be yeah so okay

Thank you, Vice Chair Gotsler. Do we have any other questions, comments, concerns?

No.

Yes. Commissioner Yepes-Classen.

Yeah, thank you. I think this is really great. I mean, I just skimmed through all the questions ahead of time, and I was working with another colleague on a different board survey as well, and so these are very similar questions, and so I think this is really timely. Thank you. You can just send those right over to us, too. Oh, okay. I will. But this is great. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Yepes-Classen. Commissioner Moore.

Thank you so much. Quick question. Is there a plan to have like a pre and a post? Because going through some of these, it's just like I feel one way now, but in a year from now, I may feel differently, right? So is it something that could be done yearly or... something to that nature?

Absolutely. So on the very first page, I think we shared it. This will be an annual tool that we use because again, we're trying to notice or recognize the trends of the board where we may need training, what's getting better, what's getting worse. So this is a way that we can measure our progress. Perfect. So this will be annual. Thank you. Typically around fall. Yes, Commissioner Nelson.

Yeah, I think this is fantastic. It allows us the opportunity to be thinkers, you know, figure out beyond just a daily routine and stuff. This is a hard-working board for those who don't know it. We're super busy. But In addition to the directive you gave us, so you want us to check off the boxes or what do you want? You said some things. I want to be clear.

Yes, sir.

What do we do next with this right here?

well next this is just a draft form so what you will do is review them the questions that's within it and if you feel like everything is ok we will collect everyone's uh... information and come back together to decide on on what how we would like to move forward And then this will be distributed electronically. But for those who don't want it electronically, we still, again, have to have a space where we don't compromise the integrity. Like if you're turning in a paper copy, who receives that? So again, we will... preferred to send it electronically because it's easier to capture the data and recognize the trends based on our responses however we will work those things out but that's the next process commissioner nelson is just to go through everything and whereas you see the board member information uh... in the years of service we sort of left all of this in here because we didn't know if you wanted it to be anonymous or if you want it to be recognized these are my answers and here's why but this is up to the board to determine if you want it to be an anonymous survey or if we would like to recognize who we are in our years of service as we are going through you know the process chairwoman yes sir thank you very much for that i agree with the commissioner to my left right here that if we could have uh

this year, once a year, have a time period, some continuity, a schedule. I've been a member for one year. So if you look at my first year, which was August of 2025, up until now, it was like night and day, because there was a learning curve, a learning process, and I learned a whole lot more in that year than what I began with. So I would like to see us do this once a year at least, annually, if you want to use that word.

Yes, sir. And I would just like to add that it's extremely important because we are going through a recovery phase.

Right.

So just as when I started in 2024, it looks completely different from, you know, the onset of coming into the board, but to where you are now. So I agree. But this is where that information will be captured.

Right.

and disseminate it, or for us to think strategically about how we're moving as a commission. How effective are we?

I will have some comments, I'm sure, and this provides us like a blueprint or a plate to really think about a lot of stuff that we may not normally think about, dig a little bit deeper, and hopefully as a result of that, we become a better board we're more effective because there's a lot of good that's done but you know with the listening session you can see we're still trying to uh get other issues squared away but overall i think this group has put for a valiant effort to make sure things are done correctly yes you know yes so uh thank you very much

Thank you, Commissioner Nelson. I agree that this is one of the best teams I've ever worked with around the board. Everybody is very active, and I appreciate it. None of us are benchwarmers. We are engulfed and take our responsibilities very seriously. So thank you all for continuing to move lockstep and speak one voice, which is highly important as we're going through this phase of transformation with the agency. But I'm looking for the best is yet to come. We are certainly moving in the right direction, but again, this is a way to hold ourselves accountable and put things on record so we know where we need to improve, what to do, start doing, stop doing, or continue doing.

That's right.

So do we have any other questions or comments?

Madam Chair?

Yes, Commissioner Snyder.

I don't know exactly how to put this. I looked over this really briefly and there are, I mean they're all subjective questions. Like how are we doing? I would say to a greater or lesser extent it's pretty hard when you're a board member and when you're talking about governance to be able to judge whether we're doing well on a day to day basis. I don't know how to put that into a survey Maybe it's electronic or maybe there's an open-ended, a way to be able to, like we hear a lot at the public listening sessions. We hear stories. It would be nice for me to hear how they were resolved. if they were resolved, how they were resolved, and are the people who told the stories, were they okay with the resolution? How to put that into the survey so that there's a little bit more I'm gonna call it depth in our understanding. I mean, we should have committees, we'll have committees, and we'll all be smarter and understand how the organization works over time. But when somebody from uh... part of of one of our tenants comes and says this is what's happening and we don't hear the end of it and there's no way to put it down maybe it's it's against the law i don't know but i would like to be able to say i want to know the answers to some of these questions and we've heard a lot of them yes To that point, you hear about emails that aren't returned. Well, I want to hear about the emails that do get returned because there's a lot of good stories and a lot of people who are not rude and a lot of people who get their phone calls returned and get satisfaction with their problems. I'd like to hear a little bit of that too. because it's not all bad news.

Absolutely.

I agree.

It is captured in here. There are open-ended questions for you to answer as well as some other questions where you can check if you strongly agree or disagree or however you will basically assess yourself and your governing status. The To comment on the listening sessions, we do receive information from the team in regards to how every concern was handled. It's emailed to us shortly after the responsible staff has had a chance to review it and respond. So I'm not sure if you're not getting that. We can talk offline and make sure that you are receiving that response.

I have never gotten a response like that.

Okay, so Maria Okay They'll make sure but yes, anytime we host a listening session That's the purpose of these sessions is for us to allow the public to come in Tell us what's ailing them or not only what's ailing them but what we're doing, right and then for us to disseminate that information respectfully to our uh... dedicated staff members to resolve right away it back to you all but it does not fall on deaf ears and uh... apologize for anyone who's continuing to work through some of these matters take more time than just a day's turnaround sometimes people have to go in and and investigate a little further go back a little further we are working with a brand new team here with Harold being in place since April, the CFO coming in a month after, the COO coming in a month after that. So I just wanna be fair to the team, certainly allow them to do their due diligence, because at the end of the day, yes, we want to resolve those concerns. We do wanna have a healthy relationship, not only with the residents, but with all of our stakeholders. So this is what this looks like. And if you feel as though, and this is just a general statement, things aren't moving swiftly, continue to work with the staff. Continue to work with the dedicated person who's over whatever the concern falls in line with. So we will make sure that you have what you need so you will be brought up to speed on how we handle it.

Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Snider?

Sure.

Commissioner Nelson?

Okay, my heart goes out because I'm a resident of Arlington Court. So when I sit here as a commissioner, I'm also a resident. So I'm a stakeholder, so to speak. So the truth is I cringe anytime someone says they're not treated right for whatever reason, because I'm a resident too, and I say, I can't imagine how I would react personally if that happened to me. Okay, let me get to the point that I want to get to. For clarification, for the purpose of being transparent, we just had a listening session. Several people came forward with issues, challenges they were faced with. So if I'm one of these people who just spoke and they're speaking to us, the board members, what is the process that happens next? So this person speaks, that person speaks. What happens next? Who does what?

I'm happy to answer that, or I can let Harold answer that, but I just really want us to make sure that we're staying on topic of the board survey. So I will, but that's a valid question, Commissioner Nelson.

The reason I'm asking, just in general, we want people to know this information is not being lost or set on a shelf, or if your complaint is I never get an email back or whatever, We don't want that to continue with us. The buck stops here. So I just want everybody to hear what the process is in general. Not in detail, but just in general. I heard this, now what?

Yes, sir. Okay, I will turn it over to Harold to respond.

If the staff is here, they get on it the next day or that evening if it's an emergency type of situation. The administrative staff, Patty, Talisa, and Maria also pull it out of the minutes and they send it out so that we keep on it and they ask for the responses. so that the board will know but it also keeps us honest and keeps us working on the problem without forgetting because you know as we are in troubled status we have a lot going on okay that makes sense to me you know

Okay.

Thank you.

Yes. Thank you so much, Commissioner Snyder. Were there any other comments as it relates to the board survey? If there being none, we can go to the next topic, Patty.

Item number four is a report from the Secretary Executive Director.

We will start with CVR.

Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Tracy Sheffield. I'm going to have to get closer, Tracy.

Swallow that microphone, please.

Tracy Sheffield, Senior Vice President with CBR Associates.

Good evening. Michael Tonowitz, Co-President with CBR Associates.

Tina Royalty, Housing HCV Director. Yes.

All right, good afternoon. July was a busy, busy month for us regarding waiting list type activities. We initiated a Save My Spot campaign for applicants who are on our project-based and public housing waiting lists. and that reached tens of thousands of people. We also pulled our first set of Housing Choice Voucher applicants off of the waiting list once we came off of shortfall with HUD. To date, we have pulled a total of 800 families off of the waiting list for eligibility review. We have been able to successfully issue over 50 vouchers already, which is, our goal was to at least do 50 for the month of August. We are already there and expect to issue about 25 more at the end of this week. So I'm really pleased with the progress that we're making on getting additional vouchers on the street. and being able to assist more families off of the waiting list. We are continuing to plan to do briefings for these families every week for the foreseeable future as we continue to monitor our leasing activities. I did include in our packets our brand new briefing packet that goes out with the families when they get briefed for the program. I also sent over our briefing video that they received so that You can see what information we provide to them when they're being briefed on the program and also Provided our latest request for tenancy approval packet that we just started using where which is the form that a tenant and a landlord will fill out when they're interested in working together on Leasing a unit this work this initiates the inspection request So I was able to provide all of those Forms for you so you can see the new initiatives we're putting in place with those forms. We are also looking at Some different electronic options to help streamline the process so that people don't have to worry about printing out a whole bunch of forms So we're exploring that with our IT department now And hope to have something soon to report back back on that but we are actively looking into that issue But I think that it will help streamline that process even further so people don't have to worry about where can I find a printer, where all this paperwork being printed out, so we are looking and exploring that with our IT department now. We also submitted draft language to the executive director to amend the administrative plan to be able to convert emergency housing vouchers. I believe that may be going to the board next month. Patty, is that correct? I think so.

I read it and said it was fine.

I mentioned that because that is also a part of our leasing strategy to be able to spend the appropriate amount of funding for indicator 13 for CMAP. The other big initiative within that is, or there's two more. One is absorbing all of our portability vouchers into our own program, which is underway. And the last is working very closely with Zaina and her team on leasing families in our project-based voucher units. I know there's been a reorg recently, and so they're working on getting through the referrals that we've sent over so that we can get families leased into those properties as well. As far as continued occupancy, we have continued to reduce the recertification backlog. We are down to 500. We are within range to receive partial points at this time. My goal by the end of the year is to receive all the points. We are about 200 away from that right now. So we're looking really good with that. We have also added two additional staff members to our leasing team to be able to work through the HAP contracts and the lease processes where we're requesting either leases from landlord, corrected leases, getting HAP contracts back so we can get those payments out the door. So we did add two additional team members to that team to help work through that group. Productions in inspections were historically high. For this month, we completed 1,359 inspections during the month of July. We are continuing to make owners aware of abatement issues and the INSPIRE standards that went into place October of 2025 as those standards are a bit different than the former housing quality standards that were in place prior with this new standard that HUD has put forth. We are continuing to do great with our PIC reporting rate. It holds steady at 98% so that is looking well as well and we're currently on target for standard performer for CMAP. We did a refresher training for indicator three which is adjusted income calculations in July. We're about to do another one for rent reasonableness for indicator two. And we are very heavily looking at indicator 13, which is our lease and spending between these four initiatives to try to get at least 15 of the 20 points for 2026. The difficulty with that particular indicator is that HUD did not release us from shortfall until the end of June. So that substantially limits the amount of time that we have to spend. And with all of these voucher holders that we are pulling off the waiting list now, they have 120 days to search for a unit. So if we're issuing in August, that puts us at the end of the year. There's not much that we can spend in 2026. So we are continuing to look at that very closely and trying to be aggressive with our leasing strategies. Thank you very much. Open for any questions.

Thank you. Do we have any questions or comments? Madam Chair. Commissioner Moore.

Thank you. Thank you all so much for the update. In regards to when the HAP contracts are sent to owners, what is typically the timeline for correction?

It depends on what is needed to be corrected and how quickly the landlord provides that information. Sometimes we get them back the next day. Sometimes we have to reach out multiple times. Sometimes we get information back, but it's still incorrect and we have to reach out again. So it depends on the situation. But sometimes it's quick. Sometimes it takes longer. And these are

Thank you And these are for our residents that are right now. So if a owner has a we're waiting for a contract from an owner There's a resident that's waiting to be placed into that space that is for a resident who is housed They're already housed in the unit and this initiate this gives us the ability to pay that landlord for their assistance gotcha and That happens on an annual, how often does that happen?

The moves can happen at, usually they happen at recertification if a family wants to move because they sign a lease for a year term. But it depends on how frequent the family wants to move. Some families live in the same unit for 15 years. Sure. Other families move annually.

And to clarify, I'm sorry, but recertification usually starts four months before the year is up.

Got it. Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you, Commissioner Moore. Do we have any other questions? Comments? All right. Well, thank you all. Thank you.

Thank you.

I did.

Oh, I'm sorry. One last question. Commissioner Yepes-Classen. I just wanted to say thank you. I think you have the most recent month's activity on there, so I appreciate your doing that. Oh, yes.

As soon as you made that comment, I've changed it ever since to make it more clear. So you're welcome. No problem.

Thank you all. Thank you all.

Thank you.

I put a handout out and it's a summary because they came to me when I first got here that The board does not get to see all of the recovery plan and all of the changes. So in my handout, you will see the changes. The board, I think my staff will speak about some of the changes, sorry. I've never been told I was quiet. My staff will speak on some of the changes. But I will give you the executive summary. Hackam continues to make progress across public housing, the LLCs, and the market rate portfolios, despite significant operational challenges caused by maintenance reorganization, staffing shortages, and procedural inefficiency. Vacancy levels remain elevated, particularly in public housing and LLC units, primarily due to limited maintenance capacity and outdated application workflows. Strategic actions including contractor support, hiring initiatives, and process streamlining are underway to accelerate unit turnover and leasing. Rent collection trends show mixed results. Public housing collections improved when are viewed against historical average while LLC collections decline partly driven by overdue recertifications and delayed subsidy payments. Leadership is engaging with CVR to resolve subsidy processing gaps and strengthening overall collection performance. Maintenance and work order backlogs remain a major operational pressure point, decentralizing exposed skills, exposed skill gaps among personnel requiring rapid hiring and retraining. Interim efforts prioritize emergency work, unit turns and safety related tasks. Full unit inspections will resume once staffing stabilizes. Financial and governance reforms are progressing. HACM is restructuring finance functions, updating policies, and reviewing fiscal year 2026 data to ensure timely and accurate HUD submissions. In the physical operation space, inventory management is being shifted to site level responsibility and annual REAC inspections are being reestablished and staffing levels improve. Overall, HACM is advancing corrective actions across operations, finance, governance, and physical asset management. The organization's path forward relies heavily on restoring staffing levels, streamlining core processes, and reestablishing consistent compliance practices. And as a result of us trying to do this, we have our consultants are here to help us improve our processes and to improve our SOPs and workflows.

Thank you.

Yeah, no. We are gonna have the summary occupancy report and that would be from Zana Farah, our COO.

Hi, hello everybody.

Hello. Hello.

Good to see y'all again. Welcome back. Thank you. All right. Can you hear me okay?

Pull it a little closer. No. Can you hear me?

No.

No. Pull it closer.

Okay. Swallow the mic.

Okay. Can you hear me now? Yes. I can yell. I can talk loudly. All right. Public housing, we did have a slight decline in the occupancy. It is down below 96%, but above 95%. Part of that is because some units came offline out of offline unit status with HUD. However, at this time, there are 107 vacant units that are not in offline unit status. and 57 of those units are ready to rent and 27 applicants are assigned to the units. So we've had some movement there in the application processing. Right now, the compliance team under the direction of Marquetta has 528 pending applications, which is good. the tax out and we will be uh... bringing in contractors to start turning those units hopefully we'll be getting some bids and proposals and get moving on that the LLC portfolio has 248 vacant units. At this time we've moved the application processing over to the compliance team under the direction of Marquetta Treadway. She's making rapid progress on that and getting applications ready and processed and working closely, very closely with CBR to start getting some applicants into the units. I'll have better numbers next month for you on that. The primary focus right now is Highland Gardens and West Lawn in the LLC portfolio as far as the application process. And we're still holding steady at 93% at the market rate. I do think that we could probably improve once we have more employees that can turn the vacant units. The only thing holding up those market rate rentals are not having the teams, the people, to turn the units. So rent collections?

You can go into rent collections and physical sustainability update.

Okay, thanks. Rent collections, they did show a decline from 104% to 94% in July. I don't know where the 104% number came from. I'm not confident that that number was accurate. So I went back and I did the average collection rate for five months, January to May, and that average collection rate was 90%. So being at 94% in July indicates that we have showed some improvement in rent collections under the public housing. The LLCs, there has been some additional decline. And we're looking at it closely and definitely taking a more aggressive approach. The LLC managers are reporting to me now and they're well aware that they need to collect the rents or evict people if they can't pay the rent. And we're also looking at the subsidy. We have some past due subsidy out there. We're trying to drill down into that to find out why we're not getting our subsidy payments. Market rate units are at 92 percent collection. Under the sustainability, did an update on the physical uh... physical 05 and we still need to continue to work on ordering and inventory responsibilities uh... again reorganization of the maintenance department once we stabilize we'll be able to do a comprehensive inventory of all our supplies and equipment. And then once we get that done, we'll figure out how we will distribute those supplies out to the developments to the property so that they're built to the appropriate property. Hopefully, the dream is to have a centralized warehouse.

That's my dream. Commissioner Moore.

Before you continue, quick question in reference to the work order report. It listed several staff lack needed skill sets. What has happened? What has happened with that? Are staff being retrained? Are people leaving based on this statement?

What are we doing? We will do some retraining. We do have some people who have left. and we are hiring and we're being very specific. We're looking for specific skill sets in the hiring process. So right now what they have to do is they have to go into a vacant unit that is not ready to rent. They have to identify the repairs needed and identify whether or not they're able to complete the repairs. And they're also doing that, if I recall correctly, on the exterior of a building, too.

And are we still able to support? So those staff that we have don't have the particular skill sets. Yes, training is a part of it, but, you know, so I'm thinking about these individuals have been here for years. a length of time that have not produced any results because they didn't have the skill sets to do it. So do we move them in different positions? I'm just trying to understand because that had been one of the issues or complaints that we have staffing. We have staff in particular positions that don't have the skill sets to be there. I'm just trying to think about for us to know realistically what is sort of the course of action for these individuals.

Part of that is our consultants will be evaluating the staff to find out what their skills are. The other part is Ms. Farah has asked some of the staff who had the skills to show them what to do so that we can improve their skills and they can do their job better. Got it.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Commissioner Nelson.

I don't want to interrupt the flow because he's still doing a presentation, but you mentioned two things, rent collection, and we had talked about this previously. Money coming in, we need money. So what is the status now of rent collection? Has it improved? You had mentioned something about it. And why has it improved? The collection.

Yeah, so the rent collection in the public housing development has improved. I would say under the direction of the Keisha. Remember, I don't even hear a little over a month, less than two months, so this was already in place. Under the direction of the Keisha, the managers are being much more aggressive with the rent collections. Okay. And the LLC, you know, managers need that, the direction and the encouragement and the reinforcement to collect rent.

Okay.

Thank you. Or proceed with eviction.

Okay. Thank you. Then the other part is we speak of turning the units. So I guess that's the last step to making a unit available for an applicant to to put in a request for apartment. And you mentioned about needing or getting ready to get additional staffing to get that done.

yeah yes we need additional uh... team members and maintenance the team members that were handling the unit turnovers uh... were not did not have the skill set to actually turn right unit and prepare it for occupancy and we're also bringing in contractors who are looking at contractors to turn the more difficult units okay we talked about that earlier so uh... for me

My ears go up when we talk about openings. Some kind of way people, meaning the public, have gotten my cell number, and they call me even today. Mr. Nelson, you don't know me, but I'm Mary Jane, and I like to get an apartment with the City of Milwaukee Housing Authority. So I give them the information, let them know up front that there will be a waiting list. So people expect me to have answers and the real reason for calling me quite frankly is that they think I could help them skip the process. So right away, part of my spiel is that you have to apply and there will matter of factly be a waiting period. So I'm glad to see you have a plan. I know you're new, but you appear to be a good worker. Thank you. You know, once again, as a board member, we're looking for a production. People are looking at me when I get back to the building. What happened at the meeting? Did you talk about this? You talk about that. So I'm under constant eyeballing by the residents because, once again, I'm a resident at Arlington Court. So... Thank you for the plan you have. I hear you loud and clear on what you're attempting to do. That's it.

Thank you, Commissioner Nelson. Commissioner Moore.

Really, really quick. How are we communicating with residents in regards to the high volume of work orders? knowing that we have a staffing issue.

Well, the site team, maintenance is aware that they should be referring any resident concerns to managers, right? So we've kind of stopped. We need to keep it at the manager level. And managers have been told to just... Let them know we're short staffed right now we're doing everything we can we're handling emergency work orders and then once we're caught up and we get some more people will start come back around. You know, it's unfortunate. It's not the best situation by any means. It's not the situation I would like to be in. And having to tell residents we can't fix your repairs right now, but that is where we are for non-emergency items.

I'm just hoping that we can have, I'm just hoping that staff is just communicating with residents about that. So that's the main thing for me.

Thank you. Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Moore. Commissioner... Burrell. Commissioner Burrell.

I don't think they're doing it, okay? Because I'm studying phone calls regarding work orders being put in and no communication. Can you someway, somehow push the issue with the staff?

Absolutely.

Managers, please?

Absolutely.

So I can get a little relaxation.

I'll do what I can.

Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Commissioner Burrell. Okay, you can continue.

So yeah, so we talked about inventory inspections. Again, as mentioned earlier, we will be working on the inspections, getting those caught up again once we're fully staffed or fully trained. uh... and and we get these vacant units turned and get people into homes into their homes then we'll start going through and doing annual inspections and identifying the condition of the units and what needs to be done madam jerry commissioner moore what is sc our staff or get to see our trainees So apparently the SHARE program, they have custodial personnel who can come in, sometimes office assistants and people who can help in the office. And my understanding is that it is not charged to it. We're not necessarily charged for that. I could be incorrect. But it's a program to help people get into the workforce. If they're in there, we'll hopefully get them going and maybe at some point be able to offer them a job. If nothing else, it alleviates the smaller Duties it alleviates the more skilled workers from having to go pick up trash clean hallways and you know Answer the phones and take messages.

Yeah, is this an external program? Yeah, I'm understanding it correctly.

Okay Mm-hmm.

That's awesome. Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Okay Thanks, I know you're welcome I'd like to talk a little bit about the consultants that we have brought there in the audience. It's Tiffany, correct? And Nigel? And I'm sorry, I... Carl.

Could you guys wave so everybody can see who you are? Yeah, we want to know who you are.

We put out an RFP as a result of me getting here April 27th and learning more and more of... the issues that I mentioned in the interview that we would find out. It became clear that we would not be able to meet the sustainability by December 31st. I came up with an RFP. I worked with Chairman Haislip. She reviewed it and all we put it out. and we received several bids, which was really good, because the first one we put out, we only received one bid, and that was partly because of my impatience in only putting it out for two weeks. When the purchasing director, Kent, said put it out, give them 30 days, we got, five or six bids, and AMA became the clear leader of the bids. They have been here this week, thankfully, working interviewing some of the staff and some of the board members so that they can come up with a plan as to what we need they will be back to interview all of the board members all of the staff and some residents so that we can figure out how we can get everything moving and make substantial progress on all of our

indicators on the recovery plan man chair commissioner more would we be able to have our consultants come to the table so that they can officially sort of introduce themselves and just provide uh... just the level of experience that they have we went with them for a reason run is that an option Oh, gotcha.

We are still going through a process.

Okay, okay.

And these are just some preliminary things that we're doing because we are so entrenched and in troubled status that for whichever consultant that was chosen, Harold and his team came up with the solution of bringing them in so they can see firsthand what's happening, not just what's transferred onto paper. As we know, it looks like one thing on paper, but when you're here, you see it completely different. So we just wanted to extend the courtesy to have them to come and do some preliminary work before we could solidify everything else around it. So once it is... Official.

We will have them at the table.

We're excited here.

Madam Chair.

Thank you for that question, Commissioner Moore. Commissioner Nelson.

Yeah. If I'm not inching too far, are they from out of town or... Yes. Just a yes or a no. Okay. Thank you.

and they come as a group the the people as a team okay yes and it was quite a comprehensive extensive rfp process this was not for the faint of heart they will be expected to do a lot of things uh... in a very short period of time because as you know we are up against the clock with our recovery agreement and sustainability plan that expires December 31st of this year. We just thank everyone for their interest of running into the burning building i like to say because you know we we have some substantial change that's needed and um so more to come but we are moving expeditiously to get the team that the help that they need as well as provide as much support as we possibly can before the end of the year to move the agency in the right direction excellent

And that, Commissioner Moore, goes back to your question about the staff that needs training. They will be here to help train the staff.

Excellent. Thank you.

Madam Chair.

Yes. Commissioner Snyder. Sorry. I had too much coffee.

Running into a burning building is one thing. Running out is something else. That's right.

Yes, sir.

You're a chair of great analogies. I hope that this is the last board meeting that we come to where we hear something about how staff people got hired that didn't have skills. You guys were not here when that happened. I understand that.

No, I get it.

But we're all responsible now. Right. And as someone who did a lot of hiring in my day, I know if I hired somebody without skills, I was the one that got the blame. But the people who did that aren't here, but it's just us now. And we're running out of the building, so I hope we don't get burned.

Yes. Thank you, Commissioner Snyder. I'm sure we're looking towards healthier days as an agency, though, seriously. I am very optimistic with this team that we're moving in the right direction. It was a national search for our fearless leader. uh heraldance jr and he's selected his dream team to move forward with and they have hit the ground running since day one before day one they had already did what they needed to do to come in hitting the ground unfortunately we're just time is not on our side as much as i would like for it to be but you know we still have we're going to do the best with the time that we have now that's what this looks like I'll turn it back over. Oh, wait a minute. Does anybody else have any questions before I turn it back over to Harold and his report? Okay. Thank you.

As our CFO comes back up to give the financial sustainability update, I'd like to let the board know that the Housing Authority received $27 million of public shortfall money. Oh.

Can you say that for the people in the back? I'm sorry. Say that one more time. We can't dream over that.

The Housing Authority received $27 million of public housing shortfall funding to help with the public housing properties. And it's over a four-year period. Hallelujah.

Great. Thank you. Okay. Take it away, John. I'm feeling good with that report.

So on the financial section of the sustainability updates, the first one is HACOM shall conduct performance evaluations on all staff. Boy, this is really hard. So I promised the first bullet leads into the second bullet. And so right now we're in the process of reorganizing the finance and accounting area. Part one of that is to move the staff from Travaux over to Hackam. And we anticipate having that done by 8.31. Actually I was able to do it this week. So we now have all of the staff over here at 809 building. And with that, we are going to start cross-training on items that they've been doing for Travaux and Hackham. And so that will be part of the reorganization. And then finally, moving people into, some people will move into different positions. For example, we didn't have the capital fund accountant left earlier in the year, and so we need someone to take over that responsibility. And then with that everyone will have new position descriptions I do need to update some of them and then based on those I hope to have those done by the end of September and then they will be working under those position descriptions and then we'll do the evaluations in January and then Every year thereafter in January, so I know everyone would want that done right away but I do think this is in the spirit of the Sustainability plan of what they're looking for So for the second item on the financials.

Could you get a little closer to the microphone, please? Madam Chair.

For the second item of the financials.

One moment, John. I believe we have a question or comment. Commissioner Moore.

Because it's just relevant to his point right now. Quick question. The finance team, the Travolta finance team, where were they previously located?

They were over in the Travaux office building, which is part of. Thank you.

Okay. Okay.

I'm like five blocks down.

And so were there any expenses that were being billed for their location there or is that just an absorbed cost? Does that make sense?

That is a good question and on my to-do list, I don't have any answers at this time.

Convent Hill is owned by the Housing Authority. So it is... No matter how you slice it, yes, there was some expenses that we were absorbing as a result of the space could have been rented to someone else and paying rent. So yes, the answer is yes. Got it, thank you, thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. You can continue.

I'm sorry, I'll clarify. Oh.

Oh.

Commissionary, PES class, and commercial space for rent. Commercial. Yes.

Commercial. Thank you. Okay, John, you can continue.

All right, so for the second issue is. Madam Chair, excuse me, maybe you could answer this one.

Commissioner Snyder. Thank you.

Yes. So their staff, Truvo's staff is over at Convent Hill.

They were over at Convent Hill, and now they have moved over to the 809 building with the other Hackham accounting staff. And we own the building. I believe it is.

We don't own 809.

We own Convent Hill. We do not own 809. The building across the streets.

So there's nothing to put on the market. An empty, it's not an empty building.

The former Treveaux office is. It's not empty.

Okay.

But it will be an empty commercial space.

It's empty commercial space. It's in the same building. The UPS is another tenant, right, in that building? Correct, correct. Okay. You know where that is, right? You have to get closer to the microphone. Sorry. I'm just saying it's just up the street, but it's another opportunity to bring in revenue, it seems. Right. Okay.

Thank you, and I apologize.

Thank you. And I'd just like to add, it makes sense for John to have his team in one space for functionality. So I certainly support his efforts of bringing his team closer.

Agreed.

And reviewing their skill sets as well as looking at their job descriptions because under the sustainability plan, under... Finance 01, it states that HACM does not employ enough individuals in the appropriate skills or with the appropriate skills, knowledge, and expertise to prepare its financial statements and related account reconciliations. Key positions in the financial staff have remained unfilled for significant periods of time. So this is his way of addressing some of the components of our sustainability plan so i just want to make sure we stay you know focused and tied in to the reasons of why he's moving the way he's moving okay thank you sure continue

Okay, so the FIN02 update, and in that, HECM shall update financial policies and procedures that include a quality control process to ensure future financial reporting is accurate. And so with that, we are currently in the process of reviewing the finance and accounting policies and procedures and the FY2026 financial data. The management will update the finance and accounting policies and procedures. We do anticipate being able to do that by the end of the calendar year. We will also review the FY26 financial data for accuracy to ensure that we can submit the information to HUD for the unaudited FY2026 financial submission, and that is due by March 1st.

Madam Chair. Is that a 2027? Yes. Okay. Okay.

It's a typo. 2027. Yes, a typo.

20, okay.

Yes, 27.

Got it.

Okay. We have a question from Commissioner Snyder.

I'm close enough to get hit. We won't do that. We won't do that. If I'm not mistaken, typically, the financial policies as we're talking about would go in front of the board for their approval and usually be vetted by a finance committee. So I think everybody knows that I've been pushing for a finance committee for the year that I've been on the board, but I would like to see any fiscal policies that we anticipate that not just go through your staff and come to us after it's done. I'd like a chance to be able to see them prior to that and certainly for it to go through a finance committee structure with professionals and with people who've done that kind of work before.

Yes. Madam Chair. Yes. Thank you for that comment. Commissioner Moore.

I appreciate my colleagues sentiments in reference to that. However, Which one comes first? How do they say it? The egg or the chicken? As far as getting the financial team in a place where we can have the information that we need and i know that you know there was some conversations um sort of on the back end around um the committee and making sure that the team is in place to be able to provide the committee with the information that they need so um you know commissioner snyder i'm just trying to understand uh having you know a committee in in place without having a finance committee in place without fully having the finance team fully where they need to be so that they can pull those necessary ports, do those necessary things. How can we adhere to what you're requesting when there are certain things that are not fully completed yet because John just got here? And I don't know who can answer that question. I'm just putting it out there because it seems like we're rushing the process a little bit because I really want to make sure the finance team is together before we pull together a finance committee Am I making sense, people? Yes. Yes.

Yes. And I think what might help a bit is I do plan on separating out the policies versus the procedures. And so the policies will be a higher level document that does get board approval. The procedures is something that does not typically go to the board. So I think in some ways, it will be we'll be able to do that even though I do plan on having both of those in place as far as what's going to the board and we might be reviewed by the board, it would be just the policies.

All right. But just to acknowledge, we acknowledge what you're saying, Commissioner Snyder, about the finance committee. We did approve the resolution to create such a committee. We just want to make sure we're doing our due diligence before we start adding to that committee to make sure that it's instrumental to the agency, this department, and to the full commission. So it's not that we're not moving on those things. We just want to give John a fair chance to get his team in order so that he knows how to better govern the committee, which he would be leading as our internal staff member. All right.

All right, so Finance 05 update, determining a reasonable methodology for allocating costs over the different programs and incorporate that methodology into a cost allocation plan. And so that will be basically rolled up into the policies and procedures and be a part of that. So we anticipate being able to complete that by 1231 as well. And so with the upcoming change in staffing, getting reassigned to the properties, we'll be incorporating that new cost allocation in for the rest of the year as well.

Vice Chair Gatzler. I'm wondering, in the meantime, how funds from the LLCs are getting allocated without a formal plan to come back to the Housing Authority?

Basically at this time I have just left the cost allocations in place of what was there. So whatever was happening before is what's happening now. I will need to revisit that and probably come up with an interim. But all that will be incorporated into the FY26 review and make any adjusting journal entries I might need to make for that.

I mean that makes perfect sense to me. It's just that for the last year and a half I've been you know, really pushing very hard about a cost allocation plan because I think of the Housing Authority as kind of the mothership of, you know, all of our entities, that the mothership has to get funded, and I don't believe that we're receiving, that that entity is receiving its fair share. So, you know, I was really hoping we'd get that done faster, but I see your plan, and it makes sense to me, so thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair Gotzler. Do we have any additional questions or comments for CFO John Larson? Okay. Well, thank you so much for your report. Thank you.

Public safety. Are they here?

Mm-hmm.

And our last report is from Public Safety.

He might be out in the hallway because he is here.

Madam Chair? Yes, Vice Chair Gatzler. Could I ask a question while we're waiting for Public Safety's report? Yes. This is really a question, sort of a general question for all the departments, and that is, are we aggressively recruiting for all these vacancies we have?

Yes, we are.

I ask that question because I personally have not seen any vacancies marketing for any of the positions except what was on the website. And I think most people that I know who are accountants or maintenance managers or property managers would not necessarily think to look on the Housing Authority's website for a job.

I don't disagree with you. We are on Indeed. We are looking into ZipRecruiter. We have a new person who is handling the recruiting at this point. She will be recruiting off of LinkedIn. I can tell you I put out several positions. In a week, I had 12 applicants for the HR director. Out of it, eight of them are qualified and the interviews are already scheduled. We are actively moving this forward.

Well, and I think if there's anything that we as commissioners can do, for instance, on LinkedIn or Facebook or, you know, any other social media platforms that we have that we can link to some of that, I think it would be worth it just because we all have different networks.

Absolutely. And that's what I would implore us to do on all of our social media platforms. Our open positions are also promoted in the Hackham Hub every week, so you will see those changes. Recruiter is doing a phenomenal job in gaining traction around a lot of our open positions. And thanks to Todd and his leadership under HR to ensure that these positions are more visible than they've been in the past. Right. So I think that was a really good call for them to add a recruiter to the team to expedite filling a lot of these positions. So, yes, we are exploring every avenue, including veteran boards, every other board. We can't even name them all. But we are getting the word out there that we are hiring the best and the brightest talent, as well as looking at some of these job descriptions before posting. Madam Chair. Thank you.

Yes, Commissioner Moore. Really quick. Is that information integrated into the city of Milwaukee? We have an employment department here and so I'm glad that Karen has brought this up because I didn't know that we were in a hiring blitz because I like to get information out to people. People have asked me about positions. I've been telling them, hey, just hang tight. Information is going to come out. but you know the city of Milwaukee has a really great outreach as well and it would have been it would be great to see that information go out into that I think it's weekly or bi-weekly yes we will make sure that please do it's a great resource

We're not in those weekly, which I do receive those. We're not in the weekly blitz. We are along with MMSD, all of the quasi-governmental agencies. There is a webpage on the city's website that leads people to it. But as far as what you're talking about with the weekly requisitions that are promoted with the city, I don't.

We can ask. We can absolutely ask that that information be incorporated because, again, it's time sensitive. So it's something that should be low hanging fruit. Yes. But I'll make sure to make the connection.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Welcome, Chief.

Hey, good to be here.

Okay.

Good evening. I'm Marlon Davis. I'm the Chief of Public Safety for the Housing Authority of City of Milwaukee. So we'll talk about the Public Safety Analytics and Initiatives Report reporting time from July 22nd, 2026 to August 4th. In that time, I know we just highlight some of the some important stuff. The calls for service were 643, 643 calls for service during this time and 1,000 officer-initiated events or activities. What that looks like is a 5% increase in calls for service and a 6% increase in proactive officer-initiated activity. When you look at the numbers and break them down as an overall, 60% of our activity is officer-initiated. And the other 40, of course, is the calls for service. But the 60%, overshadowing the 40%, is important. Because that means that our teams are out there being proactive and doing what they need to do, being visible. visible and also effective in those environments, ensuring those environments stay safe and secure and reporting our things. So I'll jump to page three, which goes over the beginning of the new operational metrics. We looked at some of the things that we initially put in this report. uh... months ago for the matrix when we finally got a handle on how to make a good reporting uh... vehicle for this uh... body and then of course i always want to look at ways that i can grow and develop as a as a leader and as a as an effective partner in the housing authority so we went to reporting categories being incident documentation and more importantly you guys asked for as community engagement and uh... some of that lease compliance that i heard talked about uh... we do have the lease compliance based on uh... the resident rules in the handbooks and we make those notifications to the management so they can help uh... manage their residents as far as it relates to their continued occupancy relative to them following the rules. The community engagement part is very important because we initially started out at the beginning of the year dedicating our senior supervisor, Lieutenant Powers, to reaching out to the resident organization presidents and vice presidents. Well, we saw some results from that which led us to now dedicate that same staff member to more outreach with some of the city departments like DOCWIS, Department of Community Wellness and Safety, Safe and Sound, the Milwaukee Police Department. So that lieutenant has now began to engage very deeply in some of that community involvement and outreach. And I think we're seeing some good results from that pivot. life and safety infrastructure systems. We're working with Brad Birdie and his team, IT and their team to look at some of the life and safety components, electronic devices and stuff that we have in our building and making sure that we're staying on top of those. Some of which are coming end of life and that includes cameras and some other systems that are outdated and parts starting to be scarce. So we're continuing to work with that. Then we talk about our monitoring. One of the things that I added to this report that I thought was very important that I was missing was the dispatch operations side of the house. We talk about our people on the street all the time, and we missed the opportunity to give the dispatch operations that 24-7 operation their just due. So they're in this report now as well on page five. I thought that was important to put in what they contribute to insurance safe and secure environments. I always focused on just automatically as what goes on in the street, where the rubber meets the road. But we got to talk about the driver of the wheel, and the driver is those dispatch operators. We've witnessed that from several incidents where They were the catalyst for bringing some of this stuff to our attention, some of the supporting stuff, the active shooter guy. So that's a new component to this report as well. And then we changed some of the wording regarding the initiatives and analytics. We changed it to partnerships and operational highlights. I think that gives a better read of what it is that we're actually doing. In this rating period, we had Narcan training for the team, which was administrated by our City of Milwaukee department. Our whole team has been trained in the use and recognize situations where Narcan can be used. Mr. Snyder's not here, but we know that was important. Westlawn Gardens community pop-up event that occurred in July. Again, the lieutenant participated in the planning and execution of that with, again, two other partners. Having external partners as well as internal stakeholders is very important to me. Then we participated in a national night out last week over at Carver Park for District 5. All these things we're doing to continue our engagement and what it looks like to be in partnership with the Housing Authority within ourselves to get these things done. I thought I had the top eight in here. We went to We went to the top eight most active developments for reporting. That's on page three. And that's Merrill Park, College Park, Ogle Village, Cherry, Locust, Lapham, and the Veterans Homes and the Hillside High Rise. Those are determined by the cost for service. And then we put them out here as a reflection of where the meat and potatoes of our work is going. If you look at the Merrill Park one, it's the biggest piece of the pie. 330 officer-initiated events make up that pie, and 19 calls for service. We're embedded in Merrill Park, very much so right now. We actually executed a new plan in Merrill Park where we designed a posting for trespass individuals. So we took six. And we got six on the poster. Those posters were put up this afternoon in the elevator lobbies and in the property manager's office. Because we're doing the work, but we have to make sure that the residents know they have a partner, too. So that's a... It's a pilot we put out today. Merrill Park is the place, and we know we've been concentrating on Merrill a lot, and the property manager is concentrating on things, and the city attorney is helping with some of that stuff, too, and I think after some targeted execution of that, we will see results and get that building filled up with some people who understand what it takes to live in our properties. That's it. The next one up is College Court, 31 calls for service, 69 officer-initiated. Ogle Village, we found that we have responsibilities there, so we've begun spending some time over there with our officer-initiated activity of 91 in that time period. and seven calls for service so it's pretty low but again they had an ask and we had to figure out a way to to react to those asks because the property manager's engagement is important because if they believe in what public safety is doing and that they're going to get some results they'll be giving us a call we're actively in a situation right now so That's all I got.

Thank you. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Harold. Thank you. Do we have any questions of the board? Madam Chair? Yes. Commissioner Moore?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for that update, Chief. I live in Merrill Park, and so it's been one of my primary concerns to make sure that we're doing as best as much as we can to really bring that development back to a safe status. With that and knowing what some of the strategies that you all have employed, I know that more foot traffic as far as staffing was put over there consistently. Would you say that things are slowly turning around based on what residents may be hearing or what you're hearing from residents based on some of the things that you all have originally initiated? Has that made a difference?

Not yet. i think we we've lowered the cost of service but there's a culture in that bill and it's a large culture and some of that culture needs to be exercise through some of the things that we can do with the legal team and things of that nature that's why i say once we we level setting and execute some of these cultural changes i think we'll be in a better place because that manager is dedicated to what she's doing now and we're putting things in place but we have to wait for some of this stuff to get executed of course and then take an assessment as how it looks after some of the people who are used to the culture are gone yep is it a new manager over there yes

Okay, and Harold, can you share how long that new manager has been over at Merrill Park, if we know?

About two months. Yeah, I was going to say about two months.

Okay, okay. I'll continue to look for updates and just... making sure that we're just moving in the right direction. That's my primary thing because the residents there definitely deserve better. I haven't received much of any calls or emails in regards to Merrill. So that's a good, for me, I look at that as a good thing. And I do too. Yeah, so I'm hoping that we just continue, but thank you for the work that you and the team continue to do. Absolutely. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Commissioner Nelson.

okay uh thank you chief davis yes i always emphasize that uh i'm a resident auditing court 2020 there was a lot of challenges and issues but most of those have been curtailed or shut down period Once again, my position is twofold. I'm concerned about where I live, the residents expect for me to go say certain things at these meetings, I'm in one now, bring back that information, but then across the board at other facilities owned by the city, you know, housing authority, people come to me with their concerns too because I'm a board member. You say, well, why are you coming to me? Because you're a board member, sir. And so one of the concerns is that, Certain housing, and I could tell you about this later in private, they're concerned, they're alarmed at drug activity that's taking place. Cells and what comes with that, that culture, that attitude. And then public urination, you know. And so with me, I try and look at the whole picture and I say, What is the central point? Who do you talk to first about issues concerning a certain facility? Property manager? Do we call public safety for everything or is this a RO issue?

well it's it's it's a combined issue i've always talked about the partnership between the residents the management public safety and everyone else the police department i did speak with that resident today and i understand that that frustration we know that that's another bill that we're working on that lapham development uh... has some challenges as well when we talk about building culture building the building has a culture that's what we're talking about uh... so i spoke with the resident and uh... i'm gonna voice some of his address some of his concerns some of them such as cameras and things of that nature of course this planning but we can also talk about going in and being proactive so uh... the captain who wasn't able to make it today that does our strategic data driven deployments and community-based deployments uh... so we will be uh... looking at lapham in particular uh... based on some of the information that i will tell you we are working with local law enforcement and several of our buildings uh... but some of those things take time okay uh...

Thank you very much for that. One final thing. Got your report right here. Yes. You mentioned the dispatch center facilitates communication between residents, property management. Okay, say I'm a resident. or a property manager, how do I go about utilizing or communicating with the dispatch center? And what do they do? What can they do for me? What makes it a tool that we could use?

They answer calls coming into the 286-5100 number all day, all night. And holidays, too. So if you have a concern such as I heard about maintenance concerns after hours, the dispatch center starts to initiate emergency work order response for after hours calls. That's one of the things they do. Another thing they do is when we have residents who have life and safety medical alarm, pull alarms, push alarms, whatever, Our public safety dispatch center operates that system as well. There's a separate computer where those things come in on. They respond and react to those, and then they subsequently either turn the alarm off after talking to the residents or dispatch out a public safety specialist or a public safety supervisor to respond to those pull alarms. And that's throughout the whole city, right?

Mm-hmm.

That's what the Dispatch Operations Center does. Anything that you would think that non-emergency operator for any EMS system does, like the Milwaukee Police Department Dispatch Operations Center, The non-emergency side is what we do as it relates to maintenance and some of these other things. Of course, we are also working in conjunction with that entity, the city's dispatch operations center as well, in coordination with some of those things. 24 hours, we're doing the same type of work. a response that you would imagine the dispatch center does. We're not as esteemed as them, but we do have our place. A lot of times they document some events that come in, even though it may not be something that warrants a response, either from maintenance, property management, or public safety, but somebody says, just to let you know. And then we can look at it and vet that in the morning when we do our daily huddles and talk about some of the things that occurred documented through that dispatch operations center.

Okay. Thank you, Chief Davis. Absolutely. I may have overlooked this. Maybe you gave the information already. What is the number? Because we have a safety, you know, number. Is there a separate number? How does that work?

no it's the centralized uh... dispatch public safety numbers almost any telling you a reason for calling and they can get you to the proper department so to speak well that was a that was an issue right because there was i wish that we call you what should we call the police so we put out those informational uh... magnets and i'm you talk about those magnets because here i think that dispelled some of the question if you do have something that you think I mean, I should call the police and I would say call the police because we're not responding as emergency vehicle operators or anything like that. So we did distribute those magnets. They are still profiled on the monitors. So even though it's not the physical, it's on the monitors in our buildings still when the call and who to call. So yeah. Yeah, we're trying to cover the basis of communication, but also get the engagement and the buy-in from the residents, property managers, and everybody else.

Yes, that's the key. Absolutely. One final thing, and I know we're looking at the clock on the wall now. There seems to be a need for several departments on the HACM for personnel. Where do you stand? Everybody's not going to get it. everything they need. Where do you stand in your department As far as personnel, is there a need? Are you on the staff? Are you maximizing what you got and doing okay?

We got your report here, but... We have some opportunities for new staff, for more staff, to level up our staff. We have three real openings, and then we have two openings due to military obligations. So then that three turns into five. So I'm aware and we do the best we can to allocate our resources in the best manner. But of course everybody wants more people. And of course the residents wanna see us more. But I say when you call us, we're coming and we're gonna be effective and help solve and resolve your problems, whatever the staffing level is. And whatever tier of leadership on my team is going to come and deliver the same expected service based on what the expectations in our SOPs are.

Okay, well, I believe in the quality of work, not the quantity. Absolutely. Sometimes more is not better, you know, so you have to look at the quality. Let me touch on this here. You said... There's several openings, vacancies. Yes. So Commissioner Moore talked about us getting the word out for people who are seeking employment.

Yes.

So I'd like to see that. some kind of way, consolidate it, because people call me for employment. I do a lot of Facebooking, LinkedIn, and people are always looking for work. Some are qualified, some aren't, but we know how that goes. And so I would, because I have people talk to me about safety, security. They use the word security.

Right. Yeah.

You know, I like to work security, James. What do you know, man? You know. And so I'll end with that. Thank you very much.

Absolutely. I appreciate that. We are working with two very active recruiters to get the best people. Of course, we want to pick people who understand what professional public safety is as opposed to security. So we have to make that distinction. Sure. My department doesn't sit on a post. We are out there active and responsive and proactive. So we're looking for good people. So I'm kind of selfish because I want to make sure we're devoting our time, effort, and money into getting the right people on board and are able to retain them. That's very important. So I'm fine with three vacancies because I would rather have three vacancies waiting on the right people. then they'll give those vacancies away to somebody just to fill a seat.

I have a question and then I'll turn it over. Commissioner Nelson, all due respect, are you done?

Just one more comment, please. Chief Davis, going back to your history, your work history, you were originally with the Milwaukee Police Department, correct? Absolutely. So you have that experience too that you bring to the table. Yes. Okay then, thank you. I'm done. Thank you.

Okay, Chief Davis, I have three things and then I'll turn it over to Commissioner Moore to close us out. But my question is, how are you working currently with the ROs? What's the measured progress you're making with the ROs? The next question is related to public safety and our commercial properties. For instance, Silver Spring Neighborhood Center Park Line, we have the school or the daycare over there and Hillside. So how are we putting safety around some of those issues? I didn't see it in your report, so I just wanted to know, will that be incorporated into future reports of how we are handling those type of things? Because we are still the owners of the property with tenants. And then lastly, I wanted an update on the partnerships that you are currently, the partners that you're working with. Are we still working with 414 for de-escalation? Are we working with the Office of Wellness? Or do you have new people that we are incorporating partnerships with just to relieve some of the pressure that your department experiences? Okay.

was a good questions the first part the first part of the last the first question the last part question i think i can answer in the same accord uh... how do we work with the arrows uh... we attend the meetings i will uh... a little lieutenant is dedicated to the attend of the meetings and if she can send anyone she said someone in their stead uh... That information that's derived from the meetings is discussed in our huddles and in our conferences when we talk about what did the ROs talk about, what did the residents talk about, what do they need, what's going good, what's going bad. So we do that in conjunction with our monthly check-ins with the RO presidents. If you guys are the president, you are, you receive calls from Lieutenant Powers.

You know I do.

every month uh... on the schedule by the fifteen those cause all have to be made so however many developments i think is twenty three arrows those have to be done by the fifteenth so we can start shaping are going forward uh... deployments as relates to our community driven uh... deployments so i think that's working i think They understand what public safety is. Some of them do, and some of them never will. Public safety can never be enough. We get that in this profession, whichever house it's in. We do take into consideration what their needs are. The prime example is the work we're doing at Merrill. This all started based on the public listening session there. So we do take the information from the ROs and start processing them in the manner in which we can be effective. As far as our operator partnerships, yeah, 414 Life has been in some of our discussions. But we also, we're talking about the Department of Community Wellness and Safety. We partner with them for the pop-out. Safe and Sound, we partner with them for the pop-out. The Police Department, other law enforcement agencies. I was talking to the District Attorney's Victim Witness Services today. So... thankfully some of those relationships are spillover from my years with the police department but some of these like safe and sound and that was our new uh... so we're we're fostering the relationships with with uh... external partnerships and agency social service agencies were involved in some of the things that the uh... resident coordinator does home as far as the the tenant base uh... public safety response of public safety responsibilities strata try to figure those out because they're their own businesses within our business uh... we talk about silver spring neighborhood we do i do have conversations with devon uh... frequently as to some of the things that go on in our building and try to help uh... strategize to uh... give some assistance We discussed partnership and going half and half paying for security out there. So I do have those conversations with those different entities. Park Lawn and the school, that relationship is, I think we've sold the school. So we haven't had many discussions with them. I don't know. No, it's not sold? No, it's not. Okay, okay. So I don't know. So we were in discussions with them about some camera replacements and it all stopped. So I don't know what's going on with that school. I know they had some challenges and most of them were based on the camera placement and some vandalism. But that's another partnership that we can discuss how to work together as far as some of these things that are happening out there. Hillside. Those are the area partnerships that we are now starting to shape because we've been made aware of some things that our residents are doing in that area. And I had conversation with the owner of that property last week and suggested a security firm for them that started Friday. They executed on their security right away and I went down there Tuesday and introduced myself to them and said some of the things that we were seeing from our lens on our side of the house. So I recognize the importance of collaboration and all in this thing together as it relates to public safety and insurance, safe and secure environments. So we're engaged. If there is more engagement that we can do, I encourage anyone that needs to have the conversation to reach out to us and let's make it happen.

Okay. Well, what I would like to see on all of these subjects is our proactivity around some of these things. You and your team do a great job of putting together these dashboards, but we need to see strategy around some of these initiatives just so we know what's happening, especially with our commercial properties as well. We don't want to neglect them. They are part of our community as well. So if we could just be a little more proactive, I know right now we're short in all of the different departments, but I would love, especially now that we are moving in a better direction to be more proactive with identifying some of these things to thwart some of the level of issues that we're having. Some of them we just can't avert. It's a natural, thing for things to happen, vandalism thing, you know, but how are we proactively as an agency addressing it versus these one offs that's happening? So I would love to see you and the secretary executive director come up with a streamlined strategy to address some of these issues. Okay. And I will turn it over to Commissioner Moore.

I'll be brief. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I would say in addition to the request for the commercial properties, I would love to know what is our oversight? Like, what are we responsible for? So when you asked about security, is that in our hands? contract or or not even contract lease agreement um with our commercial properties so you know that could be at a future board meeting or two but i would love to know what are the comer you know what what are all the commercial properties and what are we we we responsible you know for so i would love to add that to our request um to what you're sharing and that's a good point and i mentioned it in in uh the top eight because

That's where we were at with Olga. We didn't understand what our responsibilities were there. I connected with the property management security team and was given access to their computers that they've installed in our building. And We reached out to that partnership not even knowing what our responsibilities were. So I think that's a good point because there are a lot of these one-offs. We got the VA. There's another one. It's managed by someone else but owned by us. We had to figure out what it is that our responsibilities were. So again, that's another ask that we were able to step into the fold and provide them some of the things proactively that they were asking for. Right.

And that goes back to being proactive because these are all of our assets, right? We should know our level of interaction where the line stops and then it's on them or it's on us versus something happening, then we're responding. Right. If possible, it would be great to have something more proactively because we've lived in a space of being reactive for far too long. So I just really want to challenge you and the team to look at it from a safety standpoint because you are our subject matter expert. I don't take anything away from that. But I need you to let us know, hey, this is where we are. What are the risks involved? And then, you know, how do we avert it or how, from a strategic standpoint, how to move forward. So if we do get those calls, we know exactly where to send them or to say, hey, yeah, this is what it is. But we are then equipped, although we're not in the day-to-day. I'm not saying that. But I would love to be in the know of how to handle some of these things. That's right. Just because, you know, we have an obligation to the organization. And safety is one of the priorities of the residents as well as, you know, all of our assets, actually.

Absolutely. And diving into the lease and what does that say is important, too. Yes. Some good information. Good tips, things to look at, for sure.

I just have one final question, Madam Chair. Yes, Commissioner. Really quick, Chief. The emergency systems, the alarms that are pulled or whatnot at the buildings or at the developments, are they tested? annually, quarterly?

Yes. The CEMS does run a test, internal test, and it'll do trouble at test time or test time report. So they do on a frequency, I think it's two or three times a day. Oh. Yeah. They're testing themselves. Test time reports do come out. Test time alarms do come out. So

They're testing themselves. And do you know, and this might be a question for the next meeting off the top, are there certain developments that come up that have sort of, you know, their testing is just like, okay, we're having issues with the system or people pulling the alarm all the time. I know I've been in some developments and the alarm is going off and I'm just like, okay.

Yeah. Yes, I had a conversation with our life and safety partner today, and we have some buildings that have some urgent needs.

Is it because of the old equipment or, I don't know, outdated?

Or ending, you know, everything has its life expectancy. Right, right, right. Yep, so I was made aware that some of this stuff Continually, but I had the conversation today and we're gonna be looking into what we can do to To lift that so we don't be end up in a dire situation. Yeah, so we are paying attention to that and Yeah support.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you madam chair.

Thank you.

All right One more thing for my report.

Yes Sorry, Harold. But thank you so much, Chief.

Thank you. Thank you, Chief. I'd like to thank Commissioner Moore for bringing the interns over to the Housing Authority to meet staff. It was definitely a rewarding experience. Thank you. Yes, yes. very much engaged they were asking good questions and and uh just to let everybody know it will be in the hackham hub this week yes excellent that's great thanks for having us okay does that conclude your report i'm done

Madam Chair? Yes, Commissioner, Vice Chair Gatzler.

You can call me a commissioner too, that's okay. In closing, I want to thank our, I really don't like the title, but I'll say it properly anyway, Secretary, Executive Director, our Chief Financial Officer, and our Chief Operating Officer for today's presentations. It's very refreshing to see us moving in the direction of the kind of reporting that should be coming from the staff to the commission. I appreciate it so much. Not that I wasn't hopeful before, but to see that everybody seems to be on board and moving forward is just really very exciting.

Did y'all hear that back there? Wonderful. Thank you, Vice Chair Gosselaar. Commissioner Nelson.

I guess we're closing out now, so this will be my final. In the buildings, Hackham residential buildings, on a regular scheduled basis, they check every to see if the fire alarms, anything connected to that is functioning properly. They physically come into each and every apartment and they check. And then on, I believe it was the 14th last Friday at the building where I stay out in court, we had a back to school book bag giveaway with supplies. And so our keynote speaker was none other than the secretary, executive director, Harold N.C. Junior. he's a great speaker don't let him don't let the handsome face and smile fool you he's a highly intelligent guy because uh i'm gonna be honest our crowd is different with the residents and i don't mean that in a negative way but there's nothing like residents you know at allerton court yeah and uh We had a lot of fun. I'm not going to mention any more names. I could talk forever. But I'm excited because the purpose of the book bag giveaway is that we have elderly residents. Some have disconnected. with their family, their grandchildren, children, whatever. There could be personal issues. Maybe grandpa didn't buy him what he wanted when he was a kid for Christmas, and he's holding a grudge. It could be some crazy stuff. And so it was opportunity to bring people together, intergenerational. The grandpa finally gets to see the grandbaby with the lure of the kids going back to school and they now have a book bag with supplies. Kids like to eat so we serve pizza, chocolate chip cookies. I'm a health fanatic too so we serve bottled water, how about that? Give me a victory for that. And so I said, man, if we could patent this and take care of every, living facility where each one would have even if you just gave away 50 or 100 book bags that would help curtail a lot of kids because i'm an educator too yeah there's nothing like a kid sitting up in class all the other kids have school supplies book bags and i'm sitting there with nothing What does that do for a kid's self-esteem? And we wonder why they go wrong later. It's how you start out, it's the roots. So I'm so proud that I've been doing this since I think 1986. I used to do it in my backyard with other groups. I've been doing this every year. I don't know, 40, 50 years. Who cares about the time? But that's what we do for our kids. A real man, a real woman are gonna take care of the kids in their neighborhood, in their community. It doesn't matter. You can't come to me and say, well, the mama this, the daddy that. I don't care. I'm looking at the children. So I wanna say thank you once again to Mr. Insay. He said, I wanna meet people where they at. I wanna meet the residents, the participants, and he's done that. He's kept his word. And can I say, We have new washers and dryers. May not seem like a big thing to you, but it's a big thing when you're a resident. new refrigerators and stoves. That's big time. People have to shut up now. They can't complain about this stuff anymore. I wonder what they're going to do now. But I want to say thank you. I'll end with that. I can go on and on.

I'm good.

Thank you. It was a wonderful event. Thank you so much. Commissioner Moore.

Really quick, actually, Commissioner Nelson reminded me that, and I think we talked about this as well, Karen and Chair, how can we do a better job and let, because I would have loved to, if I was available, I would have loved to have known about it prior. I know we hear about it in the Hackham Hub, which is awesome, but a lot of times it's after the fact and when I'm reading it, I was like, oh man, I wish I could have gone just as a board member to be able to be supportive so i think we need to figure out some sort of communication from the various developments that are doing events like that that we can as board members come and just support and you know be in community right and so that would be amazing thank you so much what i would like to do next year i'm sorry no please

is work with Commissioner Nelson and roll it out to all of our staff and find a site that's in the center so everybody can come to that one site because it was a fantastic event. And looking at it and seeing what it can do for the children, it's amazing. That's right.

Yes. Thank you for that. Hold on one second, Commissioner. Really quick, because I know we're wrapping up with time. Just the last thing that I wanted to just add on to Vice Chair was sharing about our new, our dream team here. I just wanted to say that putting the right people in the right positions matter. Experience, expertise, those matter. You see different results when you... when you have people with expertise in place, you see those results. We're starting to see them now. I just want to thank my fellow colleagues for just putting in the work. It definitely was a long time coming. Harold, we just greatly appreciate your leadership and what you're bringing to the table because it's really making a difference. So thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Absolutely. Thank you. Okay, Madam Chair.

Yes, Commissioner. I have to say this here.

Go. So the gathering. Outside of these meetings here, the gathering of commissioners has to be looked at as it relates to who can gather how many and things of that nature. And I look to Patty and to Mr. Inslee to decide, can we legally gather together for certain things outside of the norm, listening sessions and meetings like this.

I think as long as it's noticed, right?

Well, we need to bring that out where everybody understands that. Not just one or two people, but everybody understands.

For those events that we would be providing communication for, we would want to track that and then we can address it as appropriate, legally appropriate.

And a chairwoman, Charlotte Hazlett, was there too for the event. And she introduced Mr. Insay. And she handed out pizza. She rolled her sleeves up. She's a down-to-earth woman.

That's Charlotte, yes.

She wasn't too cute.

She's always cute, though.

But she's, well, I can't go there.

i'm not going to touch that yet dot that's where uh... uh... that's it for me thank you thank you want to get rid of it so uh... thank you so much in it what it was a wonderfully event and thank you and we will do a better job of communicating things that's happening in the developments for us to participate where we can't we're we're working on a structure around that already with herald and communications and everyone Before we adjourn, I would like to acknowledge Commissioner Irma Yepes-Classen.

No, she's not leaving.

We're not leaving. It's bittersweet. She will be leaving us on the commission. But Irma, I would just like to say thank you, thank you, thank you for your continuous commitment. Thank you, Irma. He is such a quiet force, but please don't undergird the force behind her quietness. She's been great. She's been great to this commission and to the residents, and it's bittersweet. I know that you'll still be in contact and in touch. When we call, you'll answer, hopefully. But I just want to say thank you because she's the longest tenured commissioner we have. She started with the previous commission, and she's the only one remaining and now leaving us, but her contributions are second to none. to none. She could have easily bailed like everybody else, but she remained. Thank you very much. I understand the reasoning with her new position that poses a conflict for her to continue on with us. But Irma, your service to this commission and to this agency is second to none. Thank you so very much for continuing to say yes to us. And even though you have to separate, I know that you will continue to answer those calls and we know where you live. No, I'm just kidding. But I will turn it over for your final words.

Well, Madam Chair, thank you so much for your kind words. Honestly, it's been an honor and a privilege. I would say an interesting learning process, I think for all of us. I feel really privileged and honored to have been able to serve the city. and more importantly, residents of the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee in helping to provide some governance and making sure that we're living up to our mission of providing safe, quality housing for our residents. And I know I'm really proud of the work that we've accomplished. I know there's still a lot to go, but I'm excited about where I'm leaving right now. And so we've got a really great leadership team in place. We've got some really great dedicated staff that have been with our agency for a long, long time. including ladies here at the table. And so I really appreciate all of it. It's been a really great learning opportunity, and I am only a phone call or email away, and it is bittersweet that I'm stepping down, but I have a really great opportunity and hope to be able to partner with the authority moving forward as well. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. So with that being said, that's a great way for us to close out. Can I get a motion to adjourn? So moved.

Second. All right. Okay. Okay. All right. Meeting adjourned.