Redevelopment Authority - Regular Meeting

Space. Good

afternoon. Thanks for attending. My name is Karen Gottsler, and I am the vice chair of the Housing Authority Commission for the city of Milwaukee. I am taking the role of the chair of the meeting. Chair Hazlett is traveling. We hope she'll be able to join us, but we're not exactly sure when that might take place. So we're going to proceed. This is the regularly scheduled meeting of the housing authority for the city of Milwaukee taking place at 4PM on Wednesday, 11/12/2025. Miss Dee, could you, call roll, please?

Can

you speak into the microphone when you speak, please?

Turn to the mic. Turn to the back.

To the second, love.

Can you guys hear me coming out of the speaker? No. Mic check.

Yeah. It's not done. We'll share.

Okay. Vice chair Gottsler.

Present.

Commissioner Moore. Present. Commissioner Pez Klassen.

Here.

Thank you. Commissioner Nelson?

Present.

Commissioner Snyder? Here.

Alright. First item on the agenda is the, consent agenda. There as you can see, there's two items on the consent agenda. Hopefully, you've had a chance to take a look at the minutes of the regularly scheduled board meeting as well as the listening session from October 22. Is there a commissioner that would like to move the approval of the consent agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Patty, could you do the roll call, please?

Vice Chair Gottsler? Aye. Commissioner Epez Clason? Aye. Commissioner Nelson? Aye. Commissioner Moore? Aye. Commissioner Snyder? Aye. Motion passes. Under b, reports and discussion items, item number one is a resolution approving an amendment to section 4.1 of the Kanban Hill two zero two Holdings Inc. Bylaws to permit the housing authority to specify a person other than the assistant secretary executive director to serve as director. Ken Barbo will speak on this item.

Good afternoon, commissioners. So Convent Hill two zero two Holdings is a was created in 2023 by the board. It was with the assistance of Michael Best. As Friends of Housing was winding down, the one item that they still had ownership of was 36 units of what is called Section 202 Housing in Convent Hill. So out of the 120 units, it's 30 a group of 36 units in there.

We worked closely Michael Best worked closely with HUD to figure out an appropriate vehicle to, have, as the purchaser, and it is a subsidiary of the housing authority known as Convent Hill two zero two Holdings Inc. These bylaws were created in 2023. We're currently working to try and activate it before the end of the year, because we're trying to finalize that transaction. So one of the items that we noted or was noted by Tom Gartner, of Michael Best was the fact that, it had as one of the directors, the assistant secretary deputy direct, director at that time, which was Fernando Aniban. We do not currently have that position.

I'm not sure when we'll have it in the future. In order to make sure that we can put people onto this board, We also are recommending that we and this is recommended by Michael Best that we, include that it could be the assistant, secretary, executive director unless another person is specified by the housing authority by resolution. And so that would be you, the board of commissioners, who would specify that instead of that position, you wanted to name some somebody else to that position on that board. I believe that this is an appropriate action, so that we can can actually get this board, active prior to the the end of this year. I'll take with that, I'll take any questions on the item.

Madam chair?

Commissioner Moore?

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for that update, Ken. Can you provide for me again the total number of board members that are needed to support this?

There are seven board members on that board similar to the board of commissioners and similar to Travol.

And are there currently are we are we looking to recruit all seven, or are there some that are currently there?

Well, there are some that are named as part of the of the bylaws, which would be the secretary executive director. So that would be one out of the seven. Mhmm. The others would be recruited. There are some specifics that, in discussions with HUD that, we agreed upon to include. So for example, one has to be a representative of a nonprofit developer. One has to be a representative of a, supportive service provider. One has to be a representative of a financial institution. One has to be one of the board of commissioners. And so, there are a number of different one has to be a Convent Hill resident.

So there are a number of different positions there. The next item we'll talk about, but I wanna hold that one over, it was to start naming some of the people. We did not complete or finalize those until after the posting time for this agenda. Mhmm. So we're gonna have to take that up at the next future meeting. But but I think that this change in the bylaws is necessary before we get to that point.

Got it. And are we confident that we're able to recruit or, you know, recruit the six by the end of the year?

We we will recruit at a minimum the a quorum quorum, and then we will work continue to work on the others, within the next month or two.

Excellent. Thank you.

Madam chair?

Commissioner Snyder?

Yeah. Mister Barbo, I'm not gonna vote on something that I don't understand.

Okay.

If you could go into a little more detail I mean, I know what a board is, and I know what section two zero two is. But I don't know what what the purpose of this board is and what they're supposed to do and how the housing fits into it.

Sure. So a section of two zero two, as you know, but not everyone, is a a grant from HUD to create, elderly housing units. Section two zero two, created or was used in Friends of House and and, typically, the owner of a 202 is a nonprofit organization, and not a housing authority.

Mhmm.

The two zero two that owned it is Friends of Housing Inc. In terms of because we also own the rest of the building, it's unusual for two zero two units to be separate. Usually, it's a whole separate building, but these are separate units within a 120 units. So that's unusual, and that's why one of the reasons why we have created, condos of different units that one of the condos the housing authority owns for or actually Convent Hill LLC owns to own the rest of the units, and this one was owned by Friends of Housing. It is now to be what in discussions with HUD, we had to create a subsidiary of the housing authority because the housing authority could not own them directly, but a subsidiary could.

So we created one that would meet the requirements to own the 36 units of 202 and then operate it. In our in our operations, we'll probably be utilizing consultant and staff to manage that property, the same manager that is in Convent. But we will we needed this organization to actually own the property.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Sorry.

Mister madam chair?

Commissioner Moore.

Thank you so much. Can how many so that was a really great explanation, and I thank my colleague for asking for that clarification because I'm still learning. Based on what you just shared, as far as when we talk about section two zero two housing, that it's specifically for our aging population, our elderly, how many of those do we have as HACM?

In in total?

Well

We over over all of our properties and our voucher program, we have several thousand seniors that are, age 62 or older.

Correct. Okay. And but how you specified this particular piece. Right? Like, these 36 units, are typically owned by, I'm assume you know, the friend no. No. No. No. Where did I see it? It was by Friends of Housing, but it's now by Common Hill two zero two Holdings Inc.

Right? Well, it will be once the transaction's finalized.

Once the correct. Once the transaction is finalized, are those entities different across the across our Portfolio? Yes. Our portfolio.

Okay.

Right? So you had so CommonHill is one of Hill is one of would be one of them. Is there another one that are there others that are

in the portfolio? This is the only section two zero two housing we have in our portfolio.

Got it.

And it's just 36 units out of a 120 units.

Okay. Thank you.

Madam chair?

Commissioner commissioner Snyder?

Yeah. Mister Barbell, you said that this was a a was a senior moment. You said that it was a condominium. You're talking about of organizations, not of units.

I'm talking about sections of the building, not of units. So for example, there's also a, a UPS store in the building. Right. That is a separate condominium as well because so the condominiums are portions of the buildings.

Oh, I understand that. Yeah. So I just wanted to make sure that I understood.

They are not they are not we don't have own any condominium units.

Correct. And

how many member how many members are there of the association? The condo association?

Of the condo association? One, two, three, four, five, I believe. But I I will I will have to double check that.

And Hakim is not one of them?

No. Well, no. Travaux owns the second storefront, so there's an a Travaux office. The old Friends of Housing office is still there in that building. That was a separate condominium. That's another portion that will be dealt with. The two zero two units are a condominium. The remaining units that are Conduent Hill LLC is a condominium, and then the UPS store is a condominium.

Okay. A member.

Oh, a member. A a member of, yeah, a member of the condominium association. Correct. Yes.

And and and let me if I could just clarify, Treveau is an instrumentality of the housing authority. So we we actually control we, the commission, actually control Treveau by virtue of the fact that we appoint the board of directors and we manage its finances, and our CEO is the president of the board of Treveau. So it is an instrumentality of ours. And this entity, the, two zero two holding, will will will have a similar kind of a arm's length relationship. But because we are making the appointments to the two zero two board, we are we will be controlling that entity as well.

Madam

Chair, can I ask another question?

Of course.

Mister Barbo, the okay. So typically in a condo association, there's a managing partner.

Somebody who's Yeah.

At the end of the day is in charge. Right. Who is the managing partner in this particular association?

I'm guessing that in the end, the housing authority is, but I would have to double check that. I know it's not, I don't know. Actually, I'm gonna say I don't know the answer to that. I will have to get back to you because I don't a 100%.

Fair enough.

But I'm guessing it's

us. Thank you, madam chair.

Any other questions from commissioners? Would someone like to make a motion to approve the resolution?

I'll move.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

Patty, could you do the roll call, please?

Vice Chair Gottsler?

Aye.

Commissioner Epez Klassen? Aye. Commissioner Nelson? Aye. Commissioner Moore? Aye. Commissioner Snyder?

Aye.

Motion passes. Item number two is a resolution to appoint Convent Hill two zero two Holdings, Inc. Directors. Ken Barbeau will speak on this item.

So as I mentioned a little earlier, we don't have the directors for this. So I would hope that the commission would make a motion to hold this over to the next meeting.

Is there a motion to hold this over so we can make suggestions for the board?

I so move.

Is there a second?

I'll second. Thank

you, Irma. Roll call, please, Patty.

Chair I'm sorry. Vice Chair Gottsler? Aye. Commissioner Paz Klassen? Aye. Commissioner Nelson? Aye. Commissioner Moore? Aye. Commissioner Snyder? Aye. Motion passes, held over. Item number three is a resolution approving an amendment to section 5.1 of the Travaux Inc. Bylaws to permit a person other than a director to serve as vice president. Ken Bravo will speak on this item.

Good afternoon, commissioners. On this so this is the Trabeau bylaws. As we were meeting with the Trabeau board of directors, it was suggested by the person who, who is, currently vice president of the board, that she recommended that, that we also include the fact that if there that the vice president does not have to be a director. In the past, the bylaws stated that the president and vice president had to be directors of Travaux. The secretary is not does not have to be a director.

The treasurer does not have to be a director. Typically, those are staff people. In this case, the vice president who who is a director of Travaux, felt that because the vice president has to exercise the duties of the president, should the president become, you know, disabled or incapacitated or absent, that because she has a whole full time job, she might not be able to take on those duties. And so would it be helpful to have a different person, possibly listed? Now these, the people who are named as directors, you know so right now, the change that's proposed is, right now, it's a the bylaw state, except for the president and vice president who must be directors, the other officers need not be directors.

What we are, asking for is to, take out vice president so that, those that position also, like secretary or treasurer, could be filled by somebody else if so desired. Could be filled by a director, but it doesn't have to be. Any questions on that item? And and commissioner Gottsler, since you were on that meeting, if you have anything to add that I missed, let me know.

Of course, I always do. Thank you. So I just wanna make it clear that this does not mean that it couldn't be a director, who's on the board. It also doesn't preclude, another commissioner of the housing authority to be on the board, but it leaves open, that position for multiple options. But it could be, for example, it could be, a a staff person.

So for example, it could be a director of property operations, since that's one of the things that Treveau is responsible for. It could be another commissioner besides myself, or it could also be somebody who's on the Treveau board because the purse the person filling this position right now is Kimberly Hurtado, who I think some of you might know, who is an attorney. And her concern was that she would like to continue to stay on the board if possible, but she's not sure that she would always be available to fill this, to to fill the role of the, the duties of the vice chair if the chair was not available. So are there any questions? Okay.

Hearing none, would anyone like to move approval of the resolution?

I move.

I second.

Pat, can you do the roll call, please?

Vice Chair Gottsler?

Aye.

Commissioner Pez Klassen?

Aye.

Commissioner Nelson. Aye. Commissioner Moore. Aye. Commissioner Snyder. Abstain. Motion passes. Item number four is a resolution approving the first quarter twenty twenty five write off of delinquent former resident accounts for low income housing authority developments in the amount of $95,914.63. This resolution will authorize the write up of the write off of delinquent former resident accounts for the period 01/01/2025 to 03/31/2025. Although these accounts are written off for accounting purposes, the city attorney's office seeks judgments against all tenants evicted by court action.

These judgments and all unpaid final tenant accounts may be sent to the Department of Revenue to intercept tax returns. Ken Barbeau will speak on this item.

So this is our normal quarterly write off. This one is for the 2025 is what we're up to in terms of writing off. The amount of $95,000, and this is just for public housing developments. The amount of $95,000 is less than what it typically has been. So for example, the in the 2024, the amount was $304,000 approximately.

In the third quarter, it was a 159,000. In the second quarter, it was $2.31. And in the first quarter, it was 202,000. What I believe the the reason is is that we are starting to finally see the end of some of the buildup of big balances during COVID. And so we're getting to more normal balances, as we work through our, caseload. So that is the amount you know, 95,000 is the amount for public housing that we feel is uncollected, for the first uncollectible during the first quarter.

Does anyone have any questions? Irma, I think you oh, go ahead.

But before, before commissioner, Yipes Klassen, I also just wanna point out, and and I think what's been pointed out in the past, because we write it off doesn't mean we do not try to collect them. We do. So I just wanna make sure people understand that.

Right. So Commissioner Yeppes Klassen, this has been one of your, one of your issues over the past year. So, I I'm hoping that you're pleased that the numbers are going down.

Yes. Yes. And I know that there's still an attempt to can you hear me? Yes. Yeah. To continue to collect on that too. So

K.

Any other questions on this?

Madam Chair?

Mhmm. Commissioner Nelson?

Concerning the delinquent write offs and the amount that you're trying to collect, and, of course, has been turned over to, did you say, the DA department Office rather? We do Who pursues the collection of, I don't have my glasses on. Is that 95,000? Who collects that amount?

So I can answer on that because I'm involved in those. We do have, we don't we don't work with a collection agency. It's mostly, I guess, how I'd characterize it as a passive collection. Before, if people would be interested in being rehoused with us, they would have to have it paid off, and that's a pretty big incentive for people to do that. Mhmm. For larger amounts too, we will also, we work with the state, and we can intercept tax returns, state tax returns to get funds back that way. So that's probably the closest thing we have to a collection agency. But it's it's mostly, taken are taken care of in house.

So those who are delinquent, are they still housed at the different apartments, units, or have they been removed and then the collection starts?

I believe that this represents all people who have left our tenancy, but we'll have Greg Cruz speak a little bit more on that.

Yeah. Greg Cruz with the office of the city attorney. Yeah. So so for these balances, my understanding is that these are post eviction balances. So the people have already been evicted oftentimes because of nonpayment of rent. And then those balances go over to Patty to be passively collected, potentially put into trip. And HUD gets the information about the balances that are outstanding as well because not only can they not stay with HACM, they actually can't stay with any public housing authorities while they have a balance owed to any public housing authority, if that makes sense. So I hope that answers your question. But there we do have, of course, delinquent accounts that are pre eviction. That's not part of this number.

Those people are still housed, they can work out payment plans and, and may eventually get to that eviction.

One other, I guess, you could call this a hypothetical question, but maybe we use percentages. How successful are we at collecting any money at all from the people who are delinquent. We talk in post, of course. Mhmm. How successful have we been with garnering any money back going to our call. Defer to you on

I would say it probably averages between 40 and 60,000 a year.

So That would be, like, 50%. What what figures are we talking?

No. It would be less than that.

Yes. That's

it. But it it's

That was my question. Right.

Yeah.

I started out asking for sentence. Yeah.

I guess I would be especially because of the variation we've seen with the rents with the with the, pandemic, kind of hard to predict. So the those have been a little outsized lately in the last year or two. So a little hard to give a a solid percentage on that. So

say something else.

And I would say, especially during the pandemic, since we were under for a good chunk of it, we were under orders that we could not evict people. Some balances built up to very large numbers. Especially for people who don't necessarily have the ability to to repay. So Right.

Yeah. It's good to add that too. A lot of the people that we're talking about are it's very difficult to collect outside of tax refunds because they don't have the sort of wages or assets

that you would

go after in a traditional attachment or garnishment.

Okay. Thank you, both very much.

Madam chair?

Commissioner Moore?

Thank you. Is that data point that we could request? So for example, if we look at just I I think it'll help us in in some ways, but, if we can maybe look at the past few years, to to just see because we already know the amounts. I would love to get an estimate of how much was collected for 2024 and how much was collected for 2023. I know the pandemic, you know, is an outlier, but just even going back a couple years, I would be curious to see where we are, on those collection efforts. And, again, maybe maybe we need to do some things differently. Thank you.

Madam chair?

Commissioner Snyder?

Mister Barbo, here's a, it's a big number anyway, whether it's percentage or just a flat number. So my question is, I'm assuming that this is reflected in our audit.

Yeah. I I believe it is. We we have an allowance for for doubtful accounts. So, yes, it is.

Okay. Is the number when what at what point does a number get to a get to a place where you're talking to HUD about it or HUD is talking to you about it? Do they consider that as part of our operational issues over the past couple of years?

No. I I believe with these well, accounts receivable in general, yes, has been part of has been one of the issues. They have during the pandemic, we probably did let receivables go higher than what normally you see even after the end of the eviction moratorium. But some of that had to do with capacity. We had in order to evict people, we had to have the capacity to take on those cases.

I would say that I mean, HUD this is actually one of the standard procedures HUD requires of us in in terms of these write offs. So this is a standard procedure that we do. But but, yes, receivables have been a question. And and if you look at our sustainability plan, there are a couple one or two items that deal with accounts receivable. So in the audit,

there's do we ever get to a level where write offs become a finding of any kind?

No. I don't believe they get to be that material. Okay. Yeah.

Thank you.

I believe I do believe that our procedures and policies over managing receivables, could be an internal control finding at times.

Okay. Thank you, madam chair.

Any other questions for either attorney Cruz or mister Barbeau? Okay. Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the resolution?

So I'll move. Second.

Thank Roll call, please, Patty.

Vice Chair Gottsler.

Aye.

Commissioner Epez Klassen? Aye. Commissioner Nelson?

Aye.

Commissioner Moore? Aye. Commissioner Snyder? Aye. Motion carries. Item number five is a resolution approving the first quarter twenty twenty five write off of delinquent former resident accounts for South Lawn, North Lawn, and Berryland in the amount of $21,615.12. This resolution will off authorize the write off of delinquent former resident accounts for the period 01/01/2025 to 03/31/2025. Although these accounts are written off for accounting purposes, the city attorney's office seeks judgments against all tenants evicted by court action. These judgments and all unpaid final tenant accounts may be sent to the Department of Revenue to intercept tax returns. Ken Barbeau will speak on this item.

So, for South Lawn, North Lawn, and Berryland, obviously, the amount is, less this quarter than it is for all of public housing. Part of that is because public housing is more units. But for Southland, Northland and Berryland, this quarter, it's or for the first quarter twenty twenty five, it is 21,615. The last quarter that we, that you approved for write offs, the fourth quarter twenty twenty four, it was a 136,909. So it is down from that amount. I'll take any questions.

K. Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the resolution?

So moved. So moved. Okay.

Vice chair Gottsler? Aye. Commissioner Paz Klassen?

Aye.

Commissioner Nelson? Aye. Commissioner Moore? Aye. Commissioner Snyder? Aye. Item number six is a resolution approving a change order to purchase order number 868 with DMJ Services LLC doing businesses action heating, cooling, plumbing, Milwaukee, Wisconsin for furnace installation at the Northlawn development and various Hakim locations in an amount not to exceed $600,000. Ken Barbo will speak on this item.

Hello, commissioners. This item is related to the storm damage and our insurance amounts. We had extensive storm damage at our North Lawn development where the water rose high enough that water heaters and furnaces had to be replaced. We are in the process of that because that was a time is of the essence type of thing. We had a purchase order with a HVAC company that would assist with the with installation.

They are, they were willing to take this on. A lot of the HVAC companies are busy, still with items that they're working on after the storm. We needed to, up their purchase order, by 600,000 to try and make sure that we can replace all these before the winter season really gets into effect. While some of the furnaces at North Lawn are operational, the damage was such that we want to replace them as soon as possible. And we did get, sufficient funds from the insurance, especially for Northlawn, to cover that.

So this is, this is going to you know, we're bringing it to the board because we wanted to bring it to at the next meeting so that the board could approve it. Normally, the board approves anything over $250,000, any change orders over 250,000. We already start moving ahead because this was the time is of the essence. We could not wait for a board meeting. So, that this is already in process. Action Heating also is bringing on subcontractors because, their staff can't handle all the work. But that is, that, is allowable under the purchase order with our approval. So

Any questions on this from any commissioners? Could you speak, Ken, to the issue of insurance? I know we, so far are in the denial phase of the FEMA money. And but it was is our insurance paying for any of this?

Yes. Insurance is paying for all of all of this, the North Lawn portion. Mhmm. At West Lawn, we had our insurance coverage with only ended up they only paid out a 100,000 because that was the max allowed at West Lawn. So we will so there, we may have we may spend more than what the insurance brought in. However, at Northlawn, we may spend a little less than than what the insurance brought in. So I think it will even out in the end. Good. But this is covered by the insurance, and it's just so you know the size, we're talking 240

Mhmm.

247 or 249 units at Northwell. So it is a number of units that we're dealing with.

Mhmm.

Thank you, madam madam vice chair. Actually, I was gonna ask the number of units that the $600,000 was gonna cover in the refund, but then you just brought this up. But we have a denial. I was gonna ask if FEMA was gonna be covering any of the cost or or HVAC system replacement for any other damage sustained during the storm?

So right, I'll update you. Right now, we're included in what is known as the governmental nonprofit section of FEMA. FEMA had approved for the state of Wisconsin owners of single family homes. So the owner of a home can get reimbursed. But governments and affiliates of government and nonprofits fall into a different category.

And the administration federal administration denied governor Evers' request for that to be covered. And so right now, the governor is appealing that. I do not know if the federal government will will rule any differently on the appeal, but, hopefully, but I do not know that, so I can't count on that money.

Okay. But, obviously, we can't wait. Obviously, people need need hot water, and they need heat. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. And and we are just so folks know, we are prioritizing, any unit that does not have heat is has been prioritized, So that's why we haven't been inundated with phone calls. Mhmm. And we are prioritizing, folks who may have health conditions as well. Madam chair?

Commissioner Schneider?

I got dressed up today, so I plan on asking a lot of questions. You're all paying for, Mister Barbo, all three of the North Side public housing developments are in the the old North Milwaukee floodplain. All of them. North Lawn's downhill. Berryland is downhill.

West Lawn is kinda flat. But there's been an awful lot of work with MMSD to do storm water and flood water mitigation work. And we own so much property that it seems to me I don't know that you could get MMST to prioritize this over something else, but we're right in the middle of a floodplain that a lot of the city isn't. And I've wondered whether or not you've been in contact with the people over there to start doing the kinds of stuff we did in the 30th Street quarter, all kinds of stuff. It was expensive, but, you know, that's what political political push does for you sometimes.

The Westlawn revitalization, we did apply for and receive funds from MMSD, for storm water, retention. And so, if you when you go through, Westlawn, you'll see bioswales. You'll we have storm water retention ponds or areas. We have a huge storm water retention tank under the, playground of Browning School, elementary school. So we did work very carefully on this.

The problem was this was a once and I don't know how many years event. Now I don't know with climate change if it will become more and more frequent, but this was a very unusual amount of rain in a short period that overwhelmed everything. And so even at Westlawn, we had a couple of units, where the water rose to the top of the the basement, the ceiling of the basement. A couple units, not all. And so we we will continue to look at that and make sure that those retention areas are working to the extent they were designed to work.

At Berryland and Northland, I think that's a good suggestion we can look at. Are there possibilities to do something there as well?

There's an old saying that I learned from dealing with the MMST people is water goes where it wants to go Mhmm. And there's no boundaries for it. And the whole most of the North Side's a flood plain. And, and those three particular not well, not Westlawn, not so much because you've done the work, but the others are right in the middle of North Milwaukee, the old North Milwaukee. I've been spending a lot of time at McGovern and with the flood there.

And, yeah, it's one time, but it rains all the time. Every year, there's rain. And every year, there is all kinds of problems all over the city, particularly on the North Side. So they could MMSD could say it was a one time, once in a they're all once in a 500 year. Trust me. They talk about this all the time, and every drop that goes in the ground doesn't go into somebody's basement. And so there's things to do that are not that expensive.

Yeah. We we will take a we had it before the storm, we actually had it on our radar to look at Berryland and North Lawn in terms of, there is some water infiltration issues at Berryland and North Lawn in some units, not all on a regular basis. This one this one was all now Berryland was not hit as as severely as North Lawn, and so we were able to repair the, furnaces because water did not get as high at Berry in the Berryland Basement.

What about Park Lawn?

Park Lawn does not have basements. They have I mean, there's tunnels under there, you know, because this was built in 1937, and there were at one there was at one point in a energy facility, a a electric facility, a power plant in the middle of pair of Parklawn. And certain steam actually ran through some of the tunnels to the units, but that that was a while ago. But there are no basements at Park Lawn and be and because it's right next to the creek as well.

Thank you, madam chair.

Madam chair? Questions? Was that commissioner Moore?

Yes. Yes. Thank you. Mhmm. I just have a question in regards to insurance because I know a lot of insurance companies don't offer flood insurance. What, insurance do we have on, you know, those high end, mechanical items in our properties?

We do have flood insurance, at Northlawn, and Berryland, I believe. I do not I I think the flood insurance, I'd have to check on Westlawn. I think one of the reasons why is we were not able to get it because it is in a floodplain. Mhmm. But I will double check on that.

And so thank you so much. So based on that, does does our insurance cover any of our out of pocket cost?

The insurance covers yeah. The insurance for North Lawn and and Berryland will cover a good chunk. The insurance for Westlawn, as I said, covered a 100,000. It was really the older section of Westlawn, the one the the East Side primarily

Yeah.

That got hit because those have basements, the others don't. And so the those, we got a 100,000, and we probably have 300,000 in damages. Right.

Thank you. Thanks, Ken.

Are there any other questions on this item? Is there a motion to approve the resolution? That you raising your hand, Commissioner Gebbis Klassen? Okay.

Oh, no. Just to I was just gonna move. Yes.

Okay. That's my motion. Okay. Is there a second?

Second.

Roll call, Patty.

Vice chair Gottsler. Aye. Commissioner Pez Klassen?

Aye.

Commissioner Nelson?

Aye.

Commissioner Snyder? Aye. Commissioner Moore? Aye. Item number seven, motion passes. Item number seven is a resolution approving a change order to purchase order number 837 with Our Steel and Heating Supply Company Incorporated, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for various parts and equipment related to the 08/09/2025 flooding to be used throughout various locations for the housing authority city of Milwaukee at an estimated yearly amount of $350,000. Ken Breibro will speak on the side of

So this is very similar to the last one with the exception that the last one was about installation. This was about purchasing purchasing parts and purchasing furnaces, and water heaters for that matter as well. And so, this is we needed to, increase the purchase order, that we had already with our steel. So this is the exact same thing, just the supplies portion of it as opposed to the installation portion.

Any questions from commissioners? Alright. Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the resolution?

So moved. I'll second. Second.

Alright. Roll call, please, Patty.

Vice Chair Gottsler.

Aye.

Commissioner Epez Clason? Aye. Commissioner Nelson?

Aye.

Commissioner Moore? Aye. Commissioner Snyder? Aye. Motion passes.

Item number eight is a resolution approving the 2026 schedule of utility allowances and 2026 schedule of payment standards for the housing choice voucher program with both effective 01/01/2026. Ken Barbo will speak on this item.

Hello, commissioners. So, CVR, has put together, two schedules for us. One is the schedule of utility allowances. One is the schedule payment standards. These are items that are required by HUD to be approved annually.

They don't necessarily have to be approved by the board of commissioners. We had we actually did not do this last year, but CVR does it in a number of their cities that they do this in, and it's actually a good practice. It's a best practice for the boards to look at this and approve them. Utility allowances are are supposed to be examined once a year. They actually well, they they did what we used to do, which was brought in a company to review utility rates.

That company is Nelrod. They did a report and published what they believed were appropriate changes to the utility allowances, new utility allowance rates. These are utility allowances that a voucher holder, if they pay utilities themselves, would receive an allowance for. Obviously, if utilities are included in rent, they don't get the utility allowance. And so, they made this, they proposed the changes.

They're broken out by the type. For example, natural gas heating versus electric heating versus heat oil heating, fuel oil heating, those kinds of things. And dependent upon what the actual unit has is what a utility allowance they receive. So, we have reviewed the the, utility allowances, and those are proposed. The and there's two types.

The first page has to do with multifamily, which are apartments that are three or more units and duplexes. The second side of that page is for single family homes. So the the those are two different schedules. The next item in this resolution is payment standards. What is a payment standard?

Payment standard is the maximum amount that a housing authority can, pay for rent and utilities, overall. This is the maximum this is a very general maximum. There's also a second standard that has to be met besides payment standards. So a lot of people think the payment standard is the maximum that I can get for rent. If I I'm a find a landlord.

Oh, I can get, you know, for a two bedroom, $14.70 $41,471. Not necessarily because it is limited by something called rent reasonableness. We have to check, units within that geographic area that I have the same amenities, that are very similar to see is that what the marketplace is going for? Because we can't pay more than the market. The the federal government is not gonna pay more than the marketplace.

So, we also are limited by rent reasonableness, but the payment standard is something that housing authorities have to set every year. We have two types of payment standards. We have, one that's general for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Statistical Area. So for for our general area, that's the first row there. The one that starts zero bedrooms is an efficiency apartment, just so you know.

Mhmm. So one bedroom is 1,230. Two bedrooms is 1,471, etcetera. That's for the general area. We also had been part of a, program with Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council to, promote mobility, people moving to areas of opportunity as opposed to an area that's a a concentration of poverty.

And so, those areas, we worked with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council to identify 15 ZIP codes that we considered, areas where there were leasable units and that, or sufficient number of leasable units and that, they were areas of opportunity, in terms of income, in terms of racial demographics, in terms of all other kinds of standards. So those are set out there. What that allows us to do so we are able to set what's known as a small area fair market rent, s a f m r, for those ZIP codes. And what that is is to allow more people to be able to find housing in those ZIP codes because the cost of housing is a lot larger in those ZIP codes. So so for example, if you are looking at a unit in Whitefish Bay, that payment standard is almost $400 more more than $400 more than the general Milwaukee area.

Mhmm. And that's because of the cost of that house. So it allows our, our, participants to find housing in an area of opportunity more, readily. So that breaks it down. Those payment standards have been set at we are able to set it between 90% of what HUD sets every year.

HUD HUD sets out their their regular fair mark, fair market rents every year, and that's what housing authorities base payment standards on. We can go between 90% and a 110% without asking for permit for additional permission. And so what we did was we set it at a 110% for both the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area and the small area fair mark small area fair market rents, the ZIP code. So it's set at a 110% already, and that's what you see on your sheet. Any questions about these two schedules?

Because this is this will be effective for any any recertification or new certification that happens at 01/01/2026 or later.

And who does our rent reasonableness?

I will ask, Tracy Sheffield to come up, about, how we do rent reasonableness. Because we actually do it internally, but we can talk about that. Hi,

Tracy.

Good afternoon.

Oh, talk directly into the bike. Yep.

Yep. Can everyone

hear me? Trace.

Good afternoon. Tracy Schaffel with CBR Associates. We use affordablehousing.com, to do our rent reasonableness studies, for them. So we will take the information that the landlord provides on the request for tenancy approval document to indicate the rent that they're seeking, the utilities that they're including, and the rent, the age of the property, amenities, things like that. And we do a study to determine if the rent that they're asking for is reasonable based on comparable properties surrounding where that unit is located.

So we do a test for every new admission, every rent increase, Any unit change that happens, we're doing those rent reasonableness determinations to make sure that that rent is rent reasonable for the property. Excuse me.

Great. Any questions for either mister Barbeau or our c CVR manager?

Madam chair.

Commissioner Snyder.

Mister Barbeau, is there an issue of public here that we're encouraging people to leave the city of Milwaukee?

This was a discussion. The voucher program, just so you know, it was actually created in the mid seventies, and it was created to allow people mobility. People can actually take their voucher and move to a different city. So they can they could take a voucher, live in Milwaukee for a year. I believe that's the Mhmm.

And then take it and move to and relocate to Texas or Mississippi or New York City or anywhere that has a housing authority that will accept that has a voucher program. And so, mobility was built into the voucher program. One of the complaints when we were working with Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council is people can't find units in, the time frame that you give them with the rents that you give them because those rents, the the normal payment standards, the landlords are above that. And so how can we help them find housing in a area of opportunity? Now a number of these areas are also in the city of Milwaukee.

So you'll see the the I don't have it in front of me, but I you'll see on the side the, there it is, which ones have a portion of Milwaukee. And so, for example, Bayview is listed, but Bayview is actually Milwaukee. So, you know, so 2 53207 is in Milwaukee. 53202 and 203 are in Milwaukee. So a number of these are in Milwaukee. Some are in a suburb. In general, are we encouraging people to live outside the city? No. We're encouraging people to do what is right for them. For some people, they need to stay not necessarily in an area of opportunity because maybe all their support system is located somewhere else.

And so people have to make that decision. We're just trying to give them options that could work for them possibly. So but it is a good question. When we, you know, had to, drop that question, that was one of the first questions that was asked by our executive director at that time. And, you know, we we explained why we thought it was a good idea. Now we are not doing every single ZIP code. We're we've limited it to 15 here. And a number of them, as I said, are, have at least a portion of the ZIP code in Milwaukee. Thank you, madam chair.

Are there any other questions? Commissioner Nelson, go ahead.

Thank you. This is just a basic question. There's a lot of information being disseminated. Some things you would think I would know, but I don't. So how long once a person secures a voucher we talked about it. You have residency here in Milwaukee for a year to move to other states. How long does that voucher last? In other words, I get the voucher as long as I don't violate doing nothing really crazy. How long do I get to keep that voucher? Is there a time, a expiration date on it?

No. Under the current regulations, there is no maximum timer as long as you are meeting the program regulations and you are income eligible for the program. You can have it for your whole life.

So does as you move from state to state, like, from Wisconsin to New York, is it governed by further rules and regulations and stipulations? Do they have the option of well, we're in New York, and our laws say we do it this way.

Yes. There are some items that are specific to PHA, so they may have, an example would be different pay subsidy standards. So if our subsidy standard here indicates that, if I am a as an adult and I have one minor child, I might be awarded two bedrooms here for a unit. But if I go to New York or some other PHA, they may say two heartbeats per bedroom, and they're gonna give me one bedroom. So there there are different options that PHAs are given by HUD outside of regulatory that they have the option to make it, in the way that they want.

Okay. Me

And these will show up in our administrative plan for the for the voucher program.

So, basically, what does the voucher get you? I qualify. Now I'm getting ready to move in. Can you respond to that financially? I got a voucher. Say the rent is a thousand bucks or whatever. How does that go from there?

So if you had a voucher, you would search for a unit that is affordable for you based on your income. Usually, housing authorities will help the tenants with a range that may be good for them based on utilities and things like that. And then you would pay a portion of 30% of your income in general towards that rent. The housing authority would pay the other portion on your behalf. So it depends on the the rent that the landlord is asking for, any utilities that are included, as well as your income and household composition would determine what percentage of, the rent that the owner is asking for that the tenant would be responsible for versus the housing authority paying on the tenant's behalf.

So we have a lot of people involved in the city of Milwaukee Housing Authority, you know, housing units. What percentage qualify for the choice voucher versus the normal? I consider myself normal. You may not know this, but I'm a resident of Arlington Court, so I pay what I consider normal. I'm not in a voucher program. I'm just trying to gather more information. If I'm vehicle commissioner, there's certain things that come up. I have to ask question no matter, you know, what others may think. Well, he should know that, but I don't. So I'm asking.

No problem. Could you state your question again, ma'am? Sorry.

I think I can try and and do it.

I'll this is a continuation of, what we started out with. So what I'm saying is you got the regular payments 30% that has nothing to do with the voucher choice program. So I'm saying, can you break down how many people like, say, there's a 100 people in the house in city Milwaukee. How could you break that down to what I call I'm I'm making this up because I'm using different words than what you professionally may use. So I'm saying, a regular 30% of your income resident versus a choice voucher program person.

I Are there more people on vouchers

I will than

regular payment?

Yeah. I will I will try and attempt a a response. So both the voucher program and public housing, you would pay 30% of your adjusted income. There is a minimum, rent of $50 in both programs.

Mhmm.

There's also something called hardship, which is a little different where it could be lower than 50, but, typically, there's a minimum, rent of $50 that a person would pay. That income is based on 30% of their income. So if you have a high income, it could and and let's say the rent was a thousand dollars, you could be paying $980 and the the subsidy could only pay 20, perhaps. Okay. I'm just making that throwing that out there.

It all depends on the utility allowances too. But if you instead have a low income, you could be paying $50, and the subsidy would be paying $950. So, again, it is it is all dependent upon the income, and those rules are with the exception of a few things on students, it's pretty similar between the two programs, public housing and voucher. Thank

you very much. I think it's a great program. Anytime you can avoid an astronomical crisis of WeEnergy, 30% is a good deal.

So thank you. Any other questions?

I think we might lose Commissioner Yippez Klassen soon.

We may wanna We have one minute. So before she's gotta go. So okay. Do we have a motion to approve this resolution of approving the, section eight we don't call it that here. The housing choice voucher information for 2026?

No.

Is there a second?

Second.

Roll call, please, Patty.

Vice chair Gottsler.

Aye.

Commissioner Epez Classen. Aye. Commissioner Nelson. Aye. Commissioner Moore. Aye. Commissioner Snyder? Aye. Motion passes.

Thank you so much, Tracy.

Okay. The next item for today's meeting is a general public listening session. This listening session is agenda item number b nine, part of the 4PM Wednesday, 11/12/2025 meeting of the HACCUM board of commissioners at City Hall Room 301 A. The purpose of the session is to give interested persons a reasonable opportunity to present their views to HACM's board of commissioners. Each speaker will have two minutes to speak.

This listening session does not have a specific topic. Persons wishing to speak, if they have not already done so, should sign up at the sign in sheet located on the side table on your right. For those who have prepared written comments, those comments will be shared with the board. Any e comments received by 11AM today have been distributed to the commissioners. Per open meetings, lot of listening session, the commissioners do not engage in a dialogue with 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 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 thirty seconds left and then people know when their two minutes are up. Please, everyone, mute your phones.

All comments should be addressed to the commissioners. Any member of the public is welcome to share their input. If you are a HACM tenant, voucher program participant, landlord, or staff and are willing to share that information, the board will 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 instructions in order to ensure that all of us in the room can hear. Unruly or disruptive behavior from either speakers or the audience is prohibited. Mister Sawyer.

Good evening, everybody. Is my timer going yet? Alright. First, I'd like to thank Ken. I like to make sure people understand in the city.

I do speak a lot because I am very well educated in a lot of the programs. Because, Ken, if I need the documents or anything to learn about something, he does make sure that I get the education on what I need. I try to inspire more of my resident leaders to get more educated, and I have some new ones that are doing very well, especially the ones that show up for the URP meetings. Ken will be meeting with us tomorrow. We will be resolving some issues, I hope, and we will be making sure to try to do a submission for you guys next month on what's resolved.

I'm not sure which commissioners will be there tomorrow. That will be between you guys discussing that and listening to the CVR thing. The thing that we're trying to do right now is expand on where people can stay and have better housing. Now we initially talked in the past when I was on the rap we we were doing the rap board thing that a resident that has a voucher, they're under this illusion you gotta go find this house. You gotta be by yourself.

You gotta be butcher your family, and that's not how it's supposed to be working. At least as far as we agree, you can have a roommate and get rent assistance. You're just paying your portion of the rent. And I've talked to a number of landlords, and they're completely unaware that they could be doing that, which would expand on the where people could stay. Because I think people are under the delusion if somebody has a family member that has a good job or something like that, that they should be paying all of this, and then you're worried about what that person makes.

I don't care what the person the person lives with makes. If they're paying for the rooms that they use, then stop asking about who they stay with if that person is on the lease with the landlord and pay their rent, and make sure you're resolving things to let landlords know that they can let people live in these houses with roommates. Thank you guys very much.

Thank you, mister Soyer.

I lost my little script. That concludes the listening session for today. If no one else is interested in speaking, going once, going twice, no written comments nor e comments were received by the 11AM deadline. And the commissioners thank all of those who wish to speak. Item number. No. There's my script. I have too many peep too many pieces of paper. Item number 10 is the rest is the presentation of the October Treveau board meeting minutes.

So I've included the Travaux board meeting minutes in there. Travaux had, done a number of things during their, October 30 meeting, including you had previously approved the bylaws of, Treveau. Tom Gartner and Michael Best recommended that Treveau, after your approval, also just kind of reinstate their approval of it. And so that did happen at that meeting. In addition, there were a number of, audit draft audit reports that were presented.

Those included two developments, Holton Terrace LLC and Merrill Park LLC. Those are included in the packet for your for your reading pleasure. They're very similar to some of the other LLC audits that you have seen already in the past. These are the twenty twenty four audits, that we are finishing. In addition, Allison gave an update on development and modernization work and construction work, and so she, did a presentation on that.

There's not a whole lot that that is new. Things are mostly very similar to what you saw last month. With that, I'll take any questions you have on the Travaux minutes and attachments.

Madam chair?

Commissioner Moore?

Thank you. And this can go for you either, madam chair, or Ken. So, you know, there was a lot of cleanup that we have to do. Can you talk a little bit about the process of where we are, in that? I know, you know, a big part of it was amending the bylaws and making sure that we had enough board members, etcetera, etcetera. Can you sort of, either of you, both of you, give sort of, a recap of or just an update of, you know, what things are progressing really well or we still have x, y, and z to go. I would love to I would love for this body to hear a little bit of where things are with Travaux.

So, I can give you I I can give that, summary, chair, vice chair.

Go ahead.

So, we are we have completed a number of the LLC audits. There's a few that are still being worked on. We are in fact, I was over working with Dave Schultz of Travaux today to answer a couple questions of the auditors on two remaining audits that we have, for Highland Gardens, and for townhomes at Carver Park. Again, Highland Gardens is the new Highland Gardens, and so that, that doesn't have a huge amount of history, but we're auditing the 2024 there. There was one question that the auditor had, so we were trying to work out the answer to that and get it to her.

And then, townhomes at Carver Park, I think there were two questions that they they had asked for, clarification on. So those two should hopefully be completed by next week. In addition, we also have the, the Travoloa audit for 2024, because that has a nine ninety that has to be, filed as well. And so there, there's a number of there were the typical auditor questions of this balance changed from last year by so much. Why why is that changed?

So the accountant and I are looking at those to see why those changes occurred and what makes it up. In addition, there is a number of of the LLCs where the investor has already been exited after the fifteen years, and the housing authority or, you know, as general partner has taken over. And so those are kind of the last ones because we don't have an investor breathing down our neck. So those there are, I believe, three of those that need to be completed. One is the old Highland Gardens, one is Cherry Court, and one is Convent Hill, the regular Convent Hill, not the 202.

And so, those are still, in process. We all, and and those were those are my that's my update on the LLCs. Now for 2025, those books have to be closed fairly quickly after the end of the year. And then we have to start on that closeout process fairly quickly because those audits need to be done, I believe, by the the second month, I believe, the end of the second month in in in the year.

Okay.

Well, typically, I think, Ken, it depends on what the what the requirements are for each of the l l the LLCs with the investor and, you know, with the state. So That

that is true. Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. So it so they're not all due the February. Some of them are well, I'm not a 100% sure because I don't have them in front of me, but some of them are March, some of them are April. But I would say that, you know, considering what's happened over the past year, I think it's a miracle that we are where we are right now and that we should be really grateful for the staff that has worked very hard to get us to get us to this place.

And, that, generally, I would say to your question, commissioner Moore, on, you know, are we caught up? Have we made the changes we need to make? I'd say legally, Treval is in great shape. We do have and I and we did talk about this at the last commission meeting. We do have one board member who, would like to exit at the end of the year.

So we we will have a vacancy that we can fill, that was held by Dan McCarthy. So if you know of anybody any of you have any suggestions for that position, that would be great. But, right now, we're, we're do we're doing really well. And I think the fact that Allison is, giving a regular report and we're, you know, we're reviewing financials and the rest of the audit should be completed by the end of the year, I think that will be, that'll be wonderful.

Thank you so much. Madam chair, can I make a data request? So with that, can we get a list of, board members and their terms? And then and then their area of expertise, whether they're an attorney, they're to finance, HR, whatnot, just so that I I I wanna make sure that we're, you know, sharing or recruiting the right people. Right? So it would be great to you know, not just anybody that you know, but Right. Getting the right people on the board.

Be strategic.

Yes. Absolutely.

Right. So if we

can just get get that information, that would be that would be super helpful because then we're we're we stay ahead of the curve.

Yep. Thank you. Great suggestion. And, of course, you all are welcome to come to any Travaux board meetings you'd like to.

Thank you.

Yeah. Since this come this body appointed all the Travaux board members. So so I was appointed to the Treveau board at this meeting in 2024, at the this commission meeting in 2024. Any other questions for Mr. Barbeau related to Trebeau? I know that was a lot of information. So okay. Thank you very much. Go ahead, Patty.

Item number 11 is a presentation of the October agendas and documents of the HackenBoard Executive Search Committee meeting. I will speak on this item, and vice chair may also want to chime in as she is also on that committee. In the attachments you have in your agenda, you can see that we had two stakeholder meetings, and these provided input from targeted groups of the public about what they're looking for in a candidate and about the process. And, the first of those stakeholder meetings was Wednesday, October 15. That was, public officials.

It was more likely attended than I think the committee would have liked to have seen, but it was also budget season, and then we were very aware of that. The second stakeholder meeting was Friday the seventeenth, and that was our residents, partners, and the general public. We did have 10 speakers, about 15 attendees for that, mostly residents, couple of staff people too.

And a couple of commissioners.

And a couple of commissioners who attended as well. So that was good to see and That was great. Comment. Yep. And there'll be, some more activity next oh, then there'll be more documents next month as we'll have the minutes of all of these meetings and the attachments that were included with those.

And we just had a committee meeting yesterday. I so I think the progress is continuing. The job is open, and we have been receiving some, applications. The committee is gonna be looking over at rating and ranking criteria, an ideal candidate profile, giving feedback to the search term a search firm on that. And, of course, the search firm is saying, if you know anyone who you think would be a good fit or would should consider the position, please let us know, probably Amy, and we can, direct you to where, the posting is. I think that's all I have. Vice chair, do you have anything?

The only comment I'll make is that the community members who are part of the search committee have made huge contributions, and I'm so grateful for their participation. And that is, Betty Newton, Michelle Bryant, and, pastor Davis. I'm not sure what his first name is,

though. Willie.

Will Willie Davis. Not the not the football player Willie Davis, though. So, but, anyway, they they've really been outstanding. They've attended every meeting, and they always have a great input and great great input and great insight, I will say. So I'm appreciating them.

Okay. Then I guess go ahead.

Next item is item number 12, a report from the secretary executive director.

That's you, Ken.

Yes. Thank you. So I will I will call on chief Marlon Davis, to come up and give a report on public safety for the month. Good

evening, commissioners. I'm Marlon Davis, the, the director chief of public safety for the housing authority in City Of Milwaukee. You guys have been forwarded the, public safety analytics and initiatives report from 09/29/2025 to 11/06/2025. Of note on page two, our officer and resident, calls for service are delineated in which during the time period, 08/2008 08/2009, officer initiated events and 525, calls for service. The data reflects a 74% plus 344 increase in officer initiated events and a 19% plus 85 in numbers increase in cost of service from the previous reporting period.

And then we normally close it out on the October or the initiatives for the month. We did retool one of our documents, which was normally initially called a field contact report where my public safety specialists and supervisors will be in the field and come into contact with some deficiencies either in the property itself or on the outside or inside and report that out in what was called a field contact report. But that was also a report that was initially originally generated to, to make notice of minor, run ins with residents. So that's why it was initially, reduced after some feedback from my public specialists, public safety specialists, more of the newer ones. They wanted some clarification, so we retooled that document to now make it a, community contact and observation report.

So it covers both the observations of the team and the developments, things that need to be forwarded to maintenance and management, but also to document minor contacts with residents, visitors, or staff in the same in the same light. We'll make the management or or whomever aware that that community contact had occurred. So that was one of the initiatives we did. We also partnered with construction development and maintenance and property management in some downed elevator time at our college court development. We had learned that two elevator entrapments had happened in in in real time during the day, one during the first shift, the second one shortly thereafter caused a lot of bells to ring because that that development is a high rise.

And there are medical and other elderly or challenged residents. So we partnered with the property management, Allison and her team, well as maintenance to figure out a plan as to how to address that. So now we have a blueprint because we have a couple of more developments that are gonna be installing or replacing elevators. But now we, the public safety department, well as Hakim and the, stakeholders and partners, have a a response to something like that, to an emergency and how to respond properly and to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of our residents, visitors, and staff.

Commissioners, I I wanna before you go into questions, I do wanna add, I wanna commend public safety. They took the initiative on that. We had a situation where we're starting construction on the two on the two elevators at College Court, one in each tower. So one elevator is down at this point. We have one working elevator on both sides.

In this case, that second elevator was the one that had the entrapment and then could not be brought back into service. They actually had to go get a part, I believe, and so that there was a period of hours there where public safety assisted residents who were had to walk up, to their, floor, in terms of making sure that they were safe. They actually went out and bought some water to so they could take a water break during the time because it it depending on which floor they were on, it can take a little bit. So, we did I do also wanna commend our, our construction team under Alison Woznikki, vice president of construction, who worked with the elevator consultant and the elevator company, Otis Otis Elevators, to determine the cause. And they actually, this last weekend, shut it down for a period of a couple hours starting at 7AM, and we gave notice to residents beforehand because they wanted to troubleshoot and make sure that this that we had corrected everything, that this was not going to happen anytime in the near future.

So there was a lot of coordination there. So I wanna thank all the departments, for working together in terms of terms of trying to problem solve this, for our residents. So, hopefully, once the elevator work is done sometime midyear next year, college court will be set. So

That's great. Anybody have any questions for the chief?

Madam chair?

Commissioner Moore.

Thank you so much. Chief, I just had a just because I'm trying to see, the correlation of the the 74% increase, was that attributed to, like, calls for the elevator, or what what, allowed the spike Mhmm. For that increase?

That 74% increase is the proactive work that my team is doing, which shows a lot. We have some new teammates who are people on our team who are in a professional realm and looking to do other things, and and my public safety department is is now being looked at as a springboard into getting into higher levels of law enforcement and things of that nature. So they're motivated by doing the work. So we have good people in good places. They have bought into what our code of conduct is and our ethics and our rules and regulations and SOPs, and this is a result, a a 74% increase in proactive work.

So they're going out, and, we have to change the field contact because they saw that there was a there was a opportunity for growth for us as a team. So that looks really good to me. And and I if you guys remember two years ago, that was what I talked about is increasing the proactivity work and decreasing the cost for service. We did have a increase in cost of service, but, again, our cost for service for 2025 compared to the cost for service 2024 are substantially down as well. So I think again, with the partnerships we have internally and externally, we're doing exactly what we said we're gonna do as far as it relates to public safety and housing authority.

Thank you for that. And please, you know, give our best to your staff, because I know it's not easy work Right. Especially when you're working with a variety of people, across the city. So, please give them our gratitude. Absolutely. Yes. Thank you. Alright.

Any other questions for the chief?

Madam chair, I got a comment.

Please go ahead, commissioner Nelson.

Okay. Thank you very much, Steve Davis. Once again, I remind everyone, I stay at Arlington Court. Mhmm. I have been a resident for five years.

I also served in a capacity of president of the Our Residence Organization as well as vice president. So I've, seen firsthand the great challenge that you have with, helping to do your job in your role as commissioner and your staff and so forth. So I appreciate how you've kept us kept us, meaning the residents, reasonably safe. Mhmm. Because, you know, we're a older population now.

Right. And sometimes some people are got walkers, pains. And to be honest, getting down to the nitty gritty, some people can't defend theyself Mhmm. You know, well enough to go get help. They may not make it to hell. So you guys have cleaned up a lot in the five years. How long have you been part of, the program that you're in now?

I joined, Hackum, 09/11/2023.

Okay.

So two years. Okay. Two two years and some shady.

So I've seen once again, I'm a conclude to see I'm not gonna strain this out. But I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly at Arlington Court.

Absolutely.

And it was not anything nice. Now I'm a stand up guy. I said, they threatening me too?

Mhmm.

I felt personally insulted. People were talking about beating me up if I didn't open the door. Just crazy stuff. I said, how am I caught up in this mess? Yeah. Yeah. You know, why me? It was like the twilight zone. Yeah. But I watch you week after week. You would come to all of our meetings. I give Ken credit too. Ken, he would, attend our meetings. I didn't know who in the heck he was. He said, well, I'm Ken Bobboss. I said, well, who in the heck who are you, sir? So in essence, what I'm talking about is teamwork.

That's right.

It's so easy to be critical, chop a person up, tell them they're no good, you're not doing your job. I mean, this is everybody in the room that's part of the staff. We have to be more resourceful and more supportive Mhmm. Of, each other. Right. You know? And, you've done a good job. And so what more can we as a board, I'm speaking for the board, do for you and your team to make you perform and get better results to also maintain a high level of safety for our residents? What do you need?

Absolutely. Arlington Court was one of the public housing developments that we did strategic reinstallation of the camera systems, we worked with property management, IT, and maintenance to make sure we're putting the right tools in the right places for us to, do exactly what you spoke of. I think board has thus far been supportive of my initiatives or and and the work of of my team. Of course, we are all working to overcome some of the pro perception. My department was one of the departments that had a perception of not being effective.

So I I I hope for the continued support of the board, for my public safety department, as well as other departments of HACM, and let us keep moving in the in the right manner to erase the perception and to be a high performer, going forward in in my efforts to keep safe and secure environments for our residents, visitors, and staff.

Thank you, chief Davis. Thank you very much.

Thanks.

Thank you, chief Davis.

Thank you.

So next, we have the, CVR, report on the housing choice voucher program. And I'd like to call, Michael Tonovitz, who's the co president, and Tracy Sheffield. I don't know who and that's the oh, And Tina Royalty from CVR.

And so are you gonna is this gonna be a trio, a song?

It's a

song and dance. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Tracy Sheffield, CVR Associates. With me, I have Michael Tonovitz, with CVR, and Tina Ramothi, our current deputy director, for the wrap department. So thank you, my close my hair. Thank you again for allowing us to be here and to speak. Just some highlights from this. This is our September report.

I did want to follow-up. This was one of the items that we discussed last last board meeting. We were able to successfully get out the extended payments to the residents who, big due to their recertifications being late. We were able to get all of those extended payments out prior to November 1, of this month other than a few select cases where the tenant was either not in compliance with the program or was in the process of moving out of the unit into a new unit. So I did wanna report that back to the board that that was a successful operation and that we were able to get those funds out to, the landlords on the residents behalf successfully.

We have since then also extended that analysis three additional months to give us some more cushion, as we work through the recertification backlog so that those payments will continue to, go out the door as expected while we work on the recertification backlog. So did wanna report that first since that was one of the major items that we discussed last, last board meeting. Another update that I wanted to provide, which I think, commissioner Moore, you were inquiring about last is we have, we have installed a kiosk at the lobby. We installed it on September 29. So this report, which is our September report, it only has two days worth of data in it, but your report next month for October will be much more robust.

But we were able to get some initial data points for the visitors that came to the lobby. On average, we had about ninety ninety persons 90 visitors a day. Seventy two percent of those were participants, twenty nine percent were applicants, and 3% were owners and property managers, and 5% were other visitors, other interested persons. And so I've listed in our board report, the reasons that they came, and what they were seeking. So we'll have more data to provide to the board next month as we have a full month to report to you. But that has been an exciting, development for us.

What page is that information?

That is

page four.

Yeah. Three and four, I think.

Okay. Perfect. Thank you.

You're welcome.

And so like I'm like I stated, we will have a full month for your October report next month, but we were able to start collecting some data on that. And next month, we'll have a a full month to report back. So that was an exciting, development for us. October 1, we also amended the the lobby hours to make sure that there was a security guard present at all times during the open during the period where the the lobby was open. So we worked with chief Davis, the third party security company, and Hackham.

We worked with Amy Hall to put notices up on the website, put signage up on the doors in advance so that people would know that that change was coming so that we can make sure that there was security coverage at all times during the off the open office hours. Let's see. Other, this the September was the first month that we had a decrease in the late reexam, so I'm happy to report that as well. We were we are seeing some success in bringing the late recertifications down and are continuing on that process. We've established and I can ask, Tina to elaborate on this a bit more, but we've established, we're establishing plans to, prioritize, fixed income families that are usually easier cases.

They may have Social Security, where we don't have to go back and forth regarding pay stubs or, child support, things like that that are much more easier to, get from the documentation we get from HUD. And so we are using that to prioritize those cases to move those cases through more quickly. We also had an update to our quarterly CMAP scores. So CMAP is a section eight, management assessment program. HUD does an official assessment of this, of the, housing authority scores every year, but we like to do a quarterly update just to see how things are coming along.

As of now, we should be in good, good status to get a standard performer for this year. There are two indicators that we would like to continue to prioritize. That's indicator two for rent reasonableness, which is, what we studied or what we discussed earlier in the session, as well as, the getting the, late re exams down. Currently, the late re exams are at 16%. We would like to get that number down to 10% at least, by February 28.

Yeah. If we 2026.

Make 10%, we won't see that. Yes.

So that those are two big points that we're continuing to focus on throughout the rest of the year.

If I may, I'm right. So Tracy mentioned, we are pretty certain the staff are doing the work, but not properly filing the paperwork. So we think if we backtrack, we're gonna find the missing documents that we are in compliance. But we don't wanna certify it till we know it.

So Yep. Sense?

So those are kind of the big big points, but I'll definitely open it up for anyone in case they have any other questions for us.

Any commissioners? Do you have questions for CVR?

Madam chair?

Commissioner Moore.

Well, I've certainly gotten less and less phone calls and emails. So no. No. Seriously. That that says a lot. Whereas in the beginning, it it it it was a lot. So the work that you I just wanna, you know, just commend you all on the work that you continue to do. We're chiseling away. This is not anything that you know, we've said this before. It's not gonna happen overnight, but we're moving in the right direction. I love the idea of the kiosk. So oh my gosh. That's thank you. Because it just, again, gives us a benchmark on why are folks coming in, and are there other things that we need to do. It just it's the data points.

Right? So I appreciate you all, you all doing that. Thank you just so much for the highlights. I don't I don't I don't have anything else because I usually do. But I don't have anything else this meeting, so I'm I'm really pleased that the at the work that's continuing to happen. Thank you. You all so much to please give our gratitude again, to the staff. Thank you.

And, Michael, we made you come all this way, so we should ask you something.

I know. Right?

Yeah. And, Tina, we haven't even heard your voice.

Well, you know, we try. We're trying.

We're trying. Any other questions for CVR?

Well, since you wanted other questions, I'll ask one question. Just a status update on the project based vouchers, and that, whole project of making sure that, we are catching up on that.

We have we have actually completed two three properties at West Lawn where we're getting the documents that we need to move those families in. The only thing that's kinda holding us up is some inspection information that we need. We were able to find a lot of the information in the iDrive. So they were there, but then there are some that we have to get updated information for. But we've built this team with with between CVR and Hackham, and they are working really hard to get those completed and get those done.

Hopefully, we we we said this earlier today, we'll be able to get something done before the end of this month, and then we'll be able to report that back to you all. I think it was 22. 22 move ins within the last week or so.

They had identified? Yeah.

That they they're gonna be able to get those done and get those families under contract and leased up and moved in and everything we see. Yeah. We gotta get those payments out. So we we had that conversation, and we said that we were our our goal is to get it done, and that's what we're gonna do. So

Thank you.

We'll be able to give you a better better information.

Yeah. We've collected, an estimated a 135,000

Yep.

In these kind of moves, through the reconciliation project through over, different properties. We've we we're about a 135,000 in right now.

Good. Keep that moving.

Alright.

Patty.

We ready? Do you have

my presentation.

Okay. Unless

I'm a yeah.

My

So And madam and madam chair, I'm so sorry. Please excuse me. I have to run down the hallway to a youth committee meeting. So Would would

you like to make absence. Would you like to make a motion to adjourn?

Oh, wait. No. Not yet because we have one, of our commissioners that have a question. Okay.

Oh, sorry. Okay. Thank you.

Oh, it's brilliant. Yeah. Okay. Don't see him for him. Right. Because he could. Okay. So we'll adjourn, and then you can speak with the staff about your questions?

No. I wanna talk to, chair.

Okay.

So but I don't wanna it it's formal. It's not informal. I don't need a quorum. I mean, can we not have any conversation without a quorum?

We can, but it's not part of the meeting then.

I'll wait. Okay. That's fine. I'll wait. Go no. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Is that okay? Madam

Chair. Schneider.

Yeah. I was hoping to start a conversation about a finance committee. I know that we emails went out. A couple of us were interested in joining committee, and I was hoping between October and now that we could begin the process. And at the orientation, I asked the city attorney whether he could look into at least who governed issues having to do with the appointment of of us and maybe outsiders who are in public accounting to a finance committee, and I was hoping that we could have a more robust conversation about it and at least get it scheduled for December.

Let that be on the agenda so that as we go into 2026, I don't care when it happens so much, but I've not been on a board that doesn't have finance committee. And we didn't get a report today, and I have a a profit and loss statement from last month. And I wanted to discuss discuss it, it, but not not formally. But I think it's time to get that on the agenda.

Well, and I it it was my understanding that it would be on the agenda today, but I spoke with Ken earlier today about it or yesterday, whenever, when I saw the agenda, and he has assured me that it will be on the on the agenda for the next meeting.

Yep. What happened to the CFO? It's pretty far off. Yep. Yep.

Okay. I my question Yeah. So My question's been answered. Thank you.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

I move. Second.

All in favor, say aye. Aye.

All

opposed, say no. The ayes have it, and we are adjourned. Thank