Longmont Housing Authority September 1st, 2020

https://otter.ai/s/TmewpcILTymeph-3PUm1mg

0:00
I got eight o’clock on my

0:03
computer here. So let’s, let’s get started. Welcome to a special meeting of the Longwood Housing Authority. Appreciate you all making arrangements to be here on fairly short notice. So I’ll start by calling the meeting to order and then asking Olivia to do a roll call.

0:25
Right?

0:29
everyone hear me?

0:32
Okay. Just making sure. I see Chairman Cameron grant. Vice Chairman Tim waters, commissioners Tom to be gene Christopher. Arlene zortman Harold Domingo says and I also see Kathy feather.

0:49
Oh and Polly Christiansen

0:52
and we are going to

0:55
item number two is public invited to be heard Olivia. Do we have any email from from members of the public that would like to speak today,

1:02
we do not chairman.

1:04
Okay, so we will move on to item number three, which is the only discussion item on the agenda. And just for everyone’s clarification, this is of an informational discussion, the the relationship between the Housing Authority and the city is moving. Moving well, but it’s there a lot of moving parts. And, you know, given some of the activity that’s happening a month between board discussions and board, guidance to the people that are out in the world doing things feels like a long time. Specifically, tonight, the City Council has a study session, where they will be discussing the Housing Authority, how how things are working, the reports that we reviewed at our last meeting, And so there are people talking about the Housing Authority. And then in addition, next Tuesday, they will be discussed at the Council will be discussing the Housing Authority again. And I received via Dr. Waters, an email from the mayor, asking Lh a board to present the council next Tuesday, specifically on the issue of the value that the city staff is providing to the LGA, currently, and that I think that’ll be in the context of councils. Probably their general evaluation of the relationship but the specific question is whether or not and how the council might compensate those city city staff people that are working on this. So because some information is being asked of us. I wanted to be comfortable that everybody on the board had the opportunity to weigh in on this discussion. And that we kind of presented a count of an Lj communication on this rather than a Cameron or Tim or Harold communication on this when we when we talked to people. In that regard, I asked yesterday Kathy, some questions about what the city staff is doing and how it compares to the value of the cost of what la staff had been doing in the past, didn’t it? It was very short notice email, so I didn’t expect a whole lot of information. But in typical typical Kathy fashion, I got an extremely thorough response that I’ve just emailed to all of you apologize for not getting it out to you sooner, but it does give a good picture in an abbreviated form of just what is going on behind the scenes and So I don’t have a specific question for you other than wanting to have a discussion so that we can get more globally or holistically present this to the council probably tonight and next Tuesday. So maybe the first thing to do would be to go around the table to see if there are any initial comments. And then second, I want to dig into the email that Kathy sent just so we have a feel for what’s happening behind the scenes.

4:32
Tom, actually have an overall question. Are we talking about more of a temporary reimbursement to the city? Or is this going to be an ongoing basis

4:44
for say, the positions that, you know, we might not be filling at the housing authority that the city will be? I guess, assuming? I mean, what was the overall discussion here?

4:56
I’ll give you my quick answer. And then maybe Harold can give us some more nuanced response. But Mike my quick responses we don’t know. I think right now the city’s just working. We’ve all everyone’s jumped in with both feet. I think they might have thought they were jumping in to the deep end, not the abyss. But they’re kicking like crazy trying to figure out when when they stopped thinking. We do not have anything specific to consider right now. We don’t have a proposed IGA. We don’t have any changes to the Lh a budget. We’re kind of this is just the the initial discussion to get us to what it might look like. I don’t know the answer.

5:42
Potentially both. So when you if you remember the conversation when we talked about bullying, some of the back office functions over on a more permanent basis. That will be more of an continuing ongoing cost. Really where you probably see it in that or marinas in the IT department. Some of the other departments were not expecting a lot of volume. And really, it’s going to be more to take advantage of the global contracts that we have in place for concrete, things like that via the purchasing department. Part of the need for the IGA is, so we know that we’re probably going to have between 100 and $150,000 of expenses in order to just stabilize the IT system so it can work and, and ensure that we have the appropriate security pieces in there. One of the things I’m evaluating right now is the ability to use cares funding that we have, in order to cover that and in order to get that funding in. We have to have an IGA pretty quickly because it all has to be spent by the end of the year. And so there may be an IT piece to this in terms of what’s what’s the position called a Support position to really help with devices. But I’m still working through that this leak. Some of it may be very interim in terms of positions that are working now. And that then may not be working on this and a month, two months, whatever it is. So it’s probably it’s going to be a combination of both.

7:30
Any other general comments or questions?

7:35
Yeah, please.

7:38
Well, I think people should be compensated for work they have done I guess my concern is sort of like Tom said, Is this going to be ongoing? And if it is, how is that going to be worked into the budget and again, I know that those are questions that probably can’t be answered now. But from what I can see staff have really been working hard on this and I they deserve some kind of comfort. consideration. So I’m definitely behind that part of it. I kind of looked at the numbers, which I’m sure you’re going to get into a little bit later and kind of wonder about where we’re at as far as that goes.

8:19
So I think Kathy and I can jump in on that one if you all want that information.

8:26
Let me throw one little bit of background just in terms of our current structure. In our bylaws, we did you know, a revision this spring create the position of executive board member, which was Arlene to bring you up to speed that, you know, that was part of the IGA with the city that we wanted to establish a way for Harold to be on the board but also essentially fill the void while we don’t have an executive director. So he He has all of the the authority and burdens of an executive director. However, we’re not allowed to compensate a board member. So he gets all the work and none of the benefit. So that’s relevant to think about in terms of what we do and how we communicate that to the city. So for for now, to accept there’s anything going that direction it’s it’s probably has to be from us to the city and then the city figures it out unless we make some change to our setup. Okay. And then gene

9:34
it’s just to put my two cents worth. I it’s hard for me to imagine where we would be as an agency had the city turned away from Lj as opposed to toward Lj no CEO, no CFO, seven vacancies in virtually no chance, no prospects for for recruiting a CEO or CFO I just I can’t Imagine, honestly, the conversations we would be in. And then who’s who’s whose housing would be at risk because of where we found ourselves. So with that said, I think we have an obligation, both up with my Li j have a board member hat on. I think we have an obligation to say to the city into the city council. This is the value that we believe the city brought to Elijah. This is this is now I do we appreciate it. But this is this is how we estimate the impact both the US in in in the city, so whatever conversations occur around compensation, that’s going to be a city council decision, as far as Harold’s concerned and then parents decision regarding his staff. But I think we have a clear obligation to make a clear statement to the community and to the council. Here’s the value we place on what the city Done. And, frankly, we don’t have enough money, I think in our budget to adequately reimburse the city for what the city’s brought. So we’re going to have to come up with something that we think that respects and honors that as a general proposal or recommendation or or feedback to the city council, in my opinion.

11:20
You may think you have something

11:22
I’m going to support just what Tim said. I am a little disturbed that the city staff has been working without compensation from us. I think we have a huge obligation to take care of that problem. I and if I’m hearing Tim, right, we probably could put a total amount that we can afford by the end of the year, from now to the end of the year. To cover city staff expenses, it’s going to take a while. Take Get us up and running with with an LA che staff as such. I am looking over the information. I just got it in my email this morning about the vacant positions and kind of readjusting that. I think that would would. That’s part of this discussion is to look at that. That definitely we need to put some money forward that covers city expenses city staff.

12:36
You’re still on mute.

12:44
Oh, wait, sorry. I thought it was on muted.

12:47
Thank you. I really appreciate what you said. Cameron about the city jumped in with both feet. And I think maybe they thought they were jumping into the deep end, not the Abyss I tried to tell Harold this but um, you know, I personally wish that we were not being forced by the mayor to bring this all this up publicly right now when it is in such a state of flux because until city staff does more Herald and city staff to more analysis of how to restructure this in a feasible way and a workable way. Then it will getting involved with the newspapers and everything else in the public does not help because it is a complex situation. We know all of us exactly how difficult a situation this is, as Councilman waters said. If the city had not stepped in, we would be in a dire dire situation. And 400 residents plus would be in a dire situation so I would like this to be cast not as compensating staff for this but as taking because people are already very, very worked up about giving Harold another giving Harold more money. It isn’t it is to we already have in the budget compensation for the executive director that we don’t have any more the CFO that we don’t have any more. So this is not like this is we are going to have to come up with the money. The money already has been budgeted to pay people are no longer here. And this will help the city. Perhaps hire some extra people for the interim or compensate staff for what they’re already doing and we certainly do need to use that. money to compensate staff whoever they are. And, and I’m glad you pointed out Cameron that we are not as a board allowed to compensate any board member. And because Harold is a board member, but because he’s also the city manager, if we turn over some money, that compensation that is already in our budget to the city to parcel out as it needs to be to compensate staff. That’s a better way to publicly present this. Because you know, these very difficult times as we have, and people are very riled up about anybody who gets $5 more than they get that sort of thing. So yeah, I do think as Councilman water says we need to make us make a strong stand that this is to compensate. Staff, city staff for work that they are doing. They’re doing, essentially two jobs. And you know, you can only do that for so long. So then it doesn’t matter how much money you have, you can only do that for so long. So anyway, thank you that’s my opinion is that just as a board take a strong stand that this is money that is already in the budget of La che? We’re just redistributing it to people who are now doing the work and

16:30
leave it at that. Thanks, Jim.

16:35
Just to build on that, just to clarify a bit. From my perspective, I don’t I think it’s as Polly suggests, it’s going to be the Herald’s job and the council’s job, once money arrives at the city to decide what to do with it. So I don’t I don’t feel an obligation to come to a number in terms of how money should be allocated within the city. My point is If I think it will be irresponsible on our part, if we don’t make a very clear statement about the our estimate of the value that the city brought to LA, and the consequences to the city if they didn’t, right, whatever the politics or the play out in the counter side of this, whatever the public discourse is, if we give Herald 50 cents more than he’s paid, somebody’s going to be pissed at him at the end of the day. Not that I don’t care, but that will not determine how I vote on this board or on that Council. Right. For me. There’s there’s there’s no question where we would be without the city. And I have all the people who are making sacrifices in this. Our residents aren’t sacrificing. I hope they’re not doing you could confirm that. I hope our residents aren’t sacrificing because of the turmoil within the agency. Ah, I don’t know about Lhh staff and The degree to which there are sacrifices being made, the only sacrifice we’re making as board members as we drop an extra meeting in here. But I can tell you there’s a list of people that we got, who are given up time from their families, who have just added to the burden haven’t dropped anything. There’s nothing that the city isn’t doing that they were doing before this under a pandemic. The CD can’t afford to not do what they were doing. All that all Harold and his team have done is continue to add to their load. and their families have said, See you later. Right. Because they just keep saying yes. So, you know, yeah, I’m fired up about it, because I think I think it will be like I said, well shirk our responsibility if we let someone else not on this board, decide what statement we make about value, and how much we appreciate what the city’s done on behalf of our entire affordable housing initiative in this town.

18:56
Tim, how do you intend to get this message out to The public

19:02
arleen if I had the answers,

19:06
I’d be doing something else.

19:07
Well, I, you know, you do know, early knows I have I’ve written something. And I wrote it, maybe it was as much therapeutic as anything else. I wrote it in response or non response to after seeing a letter to the editor in the time school last Friday. I it’s like, I just couldn’t not do something. I haven’t done anything with it. And I and I won’t do anything with it. If depending on how the I don’t want to give more oxygen to, to whatever subset of our population brings a scarcity mentality to everything has a fundamental trustless distrust in government, and everybody who works for the government and sees anything that happens to Harold is somehow a loss to them, right? I am not, you know, I’m not going to change that. Mind. But I did draft something not on behalf of the Lj organ, not on behalf of the council simply on behalf of Tim waters, the only person in town that gets to vote on both of these boards. So I do bring that perspective to this. I’m to make a statement of where I stand. I’m not like I said, I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. And I don’t I don’t pretend that that’s going to influence anybody’s opinion. But But my message is at the end of the day, for those folks who want to slap around the city and the city staff, rather than objecting to compensation, just to say thank you. That’s that’s my message.

20:42
You know, I was I was kind of thinking through this. From the LBJ perspective, I don’t want to conflate what counsel has to deal with tonight and next week with what we have to deal with.

20:55
But I’m also sensitive to wanting to make a strong statement.

21:01
Is it to water down from Lj side if we take the people out of it and and talk about city you know as I look at it, we we have money in the budget. As as Polly pointed out, we’ve got Julian’s money can take money, plus the some open positions. It’s not that we’re we’re raking in the cash, but we have budgeted money set aside that we’re currently not using is I look at Kathy’s email with a quick summary of what the city has been putting in since we started this process back in March. I haven’t done the math, I’ll leave that the math to Tom. But I can tell you the money we have to spend is a drop in the bucket compared to the effort that’s coming in. We we couldn’t afford the services that we’re getting on our budget

21:59
but we’re still doing My Services right now we’re getting them for free.

22:03
So on a very basic level,

22:07
we take 100% of what we have budgeted and available and say, Thank you city, we know this is not enough. But this is what we have to give you, what you do with it as your business and how our business, this is money we were going to spend, we’re still going to spend it for this. You take it from here. And then maybe Tim to address your point in terms of the value that we’ve received. You know, that dollar amount doesn’t even begin to talk about the value. I mean, that’s that’s nice that we’ve replaced staff people that that this board had assembled over time and that our staff has assembled over time with with kind of the varsity team coming in to show us how it’s really done. But on a on a on a bigger picture level. We’ve rescued the Aspen Meadows rehabilitation which was you know, on a ventilator being ready to be shut off. That’s now viable on $5 million rehab project, which is is pretty significant is hard to put $1 amount on it, but it’s pretty significant benefit, particularly for those people living there. And for the organiser place

23:16
to start with that.

23:18
Yeah. And for the organization as a whole, because it’s an asset that we we now have that has a useful life that extends well beyond where it would have Fall River, you know, and I lose track of the timeline sometimes, but Fall River opened up and was ready for occupancy, about the time that the whole world shut down. And have we been on our own. I’m pretty confident we would have floundered in trying to figure out how the heck to even get people to come look at a place like this when they’re afraid to leave their houses. The city staff that have figured it out. But a whole new way of, of filling up our waitlist and filling up our project and the thing got leased up and now 30 days, something like that. So we don’t even know the value of that because the value is avoiding the catastrophe. And then on the biggest picture level, I think it’s what Councilman waters just alert alluded to, is our residents, hopefully are not feeling the negative impact of this. There’s a lot of, of burden being shouldered. But what what I think is happening is it’s happening behind the scenes and the people that we are here to serve. Still have, what I would not get adequate housing, they’ve got some pretty spectacular housing and a lot of cases and we’re trying to make some of the good housing even better. We’re maintaining the services that we’re we’re all charged with maintaining In terms of, you know, the mayor’s request of communicate the council the value. Yeah, I mean, I can’t put $1 amount on it, but you know, it’s like that old commercial, you know, an executive directors on a $50,000 you know, keeping housing available for our residents priceless. So, it’s not about we couldn’t do it with definitely without Harold or Kathy or anybody on the team. But I don’t want to get stuck in that individual discussion because it’s a bigger picture discussion from my perspective.

25:38
Jean and then Polly

25:40
Okay, I am going to address since both you and Tim mentioned the resonance, the resonance are getting they’re starting to feel it. And have particularly an AMA because I don’t know exactly what’s going On, so I can’t assure them. And there hasn’t been any communication about what the plans are or how they’re going to take place. And I know they’re still shaping up.

26:14
But when

26:17
a letter like the one that appeared in, the times call shows up, they start getting really antsy. And I don’t have the answers for them. I don’t need answers for them. I just need to be able to reassure them, things are moving forward. In respect to something else you said about let’s give, you know, a lump sum to the city. I’m, I’m more inclined to I’d like to keep track of where our money is, and what we’ve got. So I’m sure that having looked at that email, Kathy has got a good handle. On the hours that people are involved, that staff are involved, and what does that cost? And I’d like to see that tracked simply because it’s lhsaa money, and we’re not dumping into the general fund. You see where I’m coming from. I just like to keep track of it. I want to give it as much as we can, but I think we also need an accounting of it. Polly

27:38
now I’ve done both Oh, well, but

27:42
Cameron, I like your approach because this is also a unique opportunity to explain to the city what Longmont housing authority does and provides to the city and has for since the 70s I believe so Yes, the city is providing a lot of services right now and a lot of backup, and the city has an absolute commitment to continuing that to continuing to

28:16
help and perhaps

28:19
take over the services of Longmont Housing Authority. That has to be worked out because it’s very complex, but Longmont Housing Authority continues to have an absolute commitment to helping the citizens of this city who are low income having housing. And I don’t think other than this board, I think very few people in the city understand what one one housing authority does do. It’s really incredible. And if people understood that there are 400 households that are housed by Longman Housing Authority, that’s, that’s a lot. And both organizations I really like your your positive approach to this. Both organizations have an absolute commitment to continuing that. And if you would tell people what service I mean, how many different facilities we have, that this has been going on since the 70s, that we’re going to continue to do this, to reassure the both people who live there and also the city that this is this is you could call it a glitch, but it’s a little bit bigger than a glitch. But this is a temporary situation that needs to be straightened out in terms of organizational structure, and various other processes. So I like your approach of not just avoiding a catastrophe, but making two organizations come together and be more efficient, be more cost effective. That’s it People are looking for from their government in their organizations, that they’re cost effective, and that they are efficient, and that they also genuinely care about the people that they’re serving. So I like your approach there. Thanks.

30:20
Harold and Kathy been awfully quiet during this discussion. Even

30:24
Yeah, getting in this one.

30:29
Not surprised, Tim. He’s,

30:33
what I know is that the mayor asked that you be part of the city council agenda for that early item, special presentations or recognition, that kind of thing. That’s on the 15th that morning. We have a board meeting. I’d like No, will we be prepared? I think I think this is your intent. I just want to reinforce or clarify that the intent would be on that morning of September 15. That we would we would Polish or sign off on a statement from the board that you will present to the council that evening. Is that, is that fair?

31:22
That’s fair. I’d what I’d like to have, if that’s what the board is comfortable with is is a letter from the Lh a board to city council. I don’t want it to be from me, to the mayor or anything, I want us to have a statement. And that’s, and I wasn’t comfortable waiting until the 15th or had to hit that. So I wanted to start the discussion today. So I appreciate that we’re intruding on everyone’s daily lives here a little bit unexpectedly, but that’s the discussion I wanted to start so that we’re in a really good position, two weeks from now to polish it off. It can be signed from the board. I’m happy to be the voice that presents it but I don’t want this to be my statement. I want it to be the board statement. Jean

32:15
you’re on the team.

32:20
Um, what do you see as the content of that letter D as as saying this is this is an amount that that Li j is going to give the city to support the staff. Do you see it as I addressing the vacancy needs kind of the ideas that you had in this email?

32:45
Do you see it as

32:49
looking forward to the development of the full IGA What have you how do you see that letter coming together?

32:59
The short answer Yes, I’ll give you the longer answer though. And I would defer a lot to our to city council people for guidance on what would be most meaningful to their body. But when I look at it, I think you know, who’s our audience for this? The request came from the mayor, the letter will go to Council, but it will be part of the public presentation. So man, I think we have to think about the larger audience that’s going to see this. So without being going too overboard with it, I kind of like it to be a little bit of a background on what the heck the Lh j is. What What do we do? Most of the people watching or reading this in the newspaper, if they remember what the Lh is, they equate it with, with dogs doing searches. You know, which is not what it is and not where we want to go. I think we tell a little bit of a story of who we are what, you know, what we’re about the people that we serve.

34:08
The evolution of what happened

34:12
over the past couple of years as Julian came in and helped us, I think uncover some systemic challenges that we have in the way that that our organization has been structured. roll into a little bit of our discussions with the city but hey, we could use your help exploring this, which then very quickly accelerated into pandemics and Julian leaving and all sorts of issues that brought us to where we are today. So a little bit of that background.

34:43
And then maybe an assessment of

34:50
what’s coming in from the city in terms of value and then the concluding piece would be we we can’t afford the surgery. Va says that we’re getting, but we have budgeted funds set aside for the kind of things that we could afford. And our proposal or our our charge to the city is let us let us use this money for services. And by the way, we’re very grateful that that we’re getting a lot more than we’re paying for something like that will be a start. Yeah. Okay. Subject to everybody’s input and tweaking.

35:35
Before goes out the door.

35:39
If that sounds okay, I mean, I’ll I’ll take a stab at an initial draft. And then we can circulate that, you know, between now and next Tuesday with the hope that when we’re when we turn on the cameras on Tuesday, it’s final, or close to final and then we can all say yes, this is our statement. Go ahead and deliver this

36:00
In terms of timing,

36:04
Kathy Harold, if this is going to the city, when would we need to get it to them to make sure it’s actually in a packet? I don’t want to wait until Tuesday after our board meeting when they’ve gotten to Tuesday night.

36:18
I mean, he would have to even have to be in today.

36:22
Today. Oh,

36:23
yeah. So what I would do is

36:28
I don’t think there’s any way other than when you all finish it in the morning. We will get it to dawn and agenda is an agenda and so you all could see it so the council could see it ahead of time. Okay, that’s all I wait, I think really do it.

36:44
Which is not unusual. We get material every week, handed to us. Not every week, but frequently. Yeah, at the beginning of the meeting.

36:56
Alright, so well, we’ll we’ll have it ready in advance of next Tuesday. morning’s meeting as with the goal that will prove the final version of it at that meeting and get it out the door. The

37:12
point of this is sorry,

37:15
isn’t it to two weeks from now?

37:18
Oh, shoot. Your I’m losing track. All

37:21
right. It’s the 15th. Right.

37:25
Um, unless y’all wanted to have another special meeting within the meeting for ljs on the 15th, right? Yes. Yeah. Unless you wanted to have a special meeting next week to do the letter, then we can get it more. We could put it at least put it in the prep packet no later than the 11th.

37:48
So defer to you again on this. What’s the value of having it in the packet versus having it

37:57
the day of with the presentation

38:01
think that

38:03
it’s out. I mean, people see it. Yeah. I mean, that’s that’s the big value people see. Me will put stuff. It’s not uncommon for us to adjust an item up until a Friday. We also provide stuff the day up, but it’s typically things that Yeah, clarification so

38:26
you could hit it by the 11th

38:31
or unless you wanted to have another special meeting earlier in the week.

38:38
So, so we’re capable of doing it. I don’t want to intrude on everybody more than necessary. But if, if it’s the board’s pleasure, we could get this drafted in the next day or so circulate it and, and reconvene in a week and we’ll give it a rubber stamp

38:59
any objections to doing that.

39:01
We do have to be careful how you circulate it based on open meetings. So Hey, leave me out of that. That the will work with you on the Open Meetings piece. Okay.

39:19
Well, if unless I hear any objections to it, I think we’ll put together a draft figure out how best to get that in front of you all to review and provide some comments appropriately. And then the eight o’clock next Tuesday work for everyone or do we want to pick a different time?

39:39
That’s good.

39:40
And presumably, that can be a fairly targeted discussion. Doesn’t have to, to drag on unless there’s other business we need to discuss as well. Okay, so let’s plan that. And then the second thing that ties into that Is the overall IGA. I don’t think we have anything specific to discuss today. But just be prepared that at some point, we’re going to be amending that IGA that we have with the city. And I think it’s the expectation that we’ll probably be amending it fairly routinely as this whole situation evolves. Yes, I do. Try to do throughout a lot of extra meetings, but just to be prepared for it.

40:29
Yeah, the first thing we’ve got to figure out timelines is the

40:34
it component,

40:37
and then some of the back office functions and then after that will then be probably facilities maintenance, if you all have a couple of minutes and wanted to answer some of the questions that were asked. Yeah, okay. So it looks right. Right now and I am pushing some different questions in Except there’s about an annual savings of 196,000. At this point. I saw a different spreadsheet that Kendra’s been working on. Kathy, I don’t know what you had the email that you sent him.

41:15
She didn’t have a specific number I we just had Julian’s calm can taste comp and then a listing of a bunch of hours that staffs putting in.

41:22
Yeah, the The other thing that we’re trying to figure out is we also got the three p loan, which is forgivable. So we’ve got to figure out how that comes into the number it could theoretically be over 300,000 available in that. I also wanted to show you all I’m going to share my screen. I’ve added two slides to the presentation that you all saw. And this will probably answer some of the questions from Tom and Arlene. I can do that real quick. So Can you all see my PowerPoint? Yes.

42:06
So the first one is, I misspelled it.

42:12
I wanted to put this slide in after the vision, because I think that’s really something that you all have talked about today, something that we need to reinforce, as we’re continuing to go forward. The other slide that I’ve added is really kind of a sense of what we’re doing. In that we’re rebuilding the foundation. You can see it finance, organizational culture, everything that we’ve talked about, are in critical vacant position, community managers, maintenance techs, accountants, defining the roles, responsibilities, procedures, structure, and then evaluate evaluating leadership thinking vacancies and long term structure. I think that kind of gave a sense as to how we were moving through this. And in what we were trying to look at. We’re getting ready to head into the budget. So we’ll be talking to you all about this. I was just having to balance the financials here in the budget here with the budget that we’re doing city. we’re presenting that but I’m presenting that budget tonight. So Cathy’s already started getting pinged by me, I think starting like for this morning, oh, and on this budget and what we have to do, but I, you know, again, I want to reinforce that what we’re talking about is 1218 months. And I think the epiphany that I’ve had this that is starting to clear up in my mind a little bit is, you know, and I made this comment yesterday what we had is what we have is an organization that is not it’s not a small house. It’s The middle of the road Housing Authority. So it gets put in a really awkward position because small Housing Authority doesn’t necessarily need all of the back office functions and everything that you have to have in place. It’s not a large Housing Authority where they have the capacity to do it. And so what you really end up with his we’re in this odd position. And and when you look at the amount of money and whether we’re sustainable over time, you know, what we need to focus on is really those positions that where the rubber meets the road? And then how do we, we cover those other components in different ways. And, and that’s something that we’re going to be working on. So what you’re probably going to see is an evolution of the budget. And some of this is dependent on the very conversation you had today in terms of how we budget and what we look at in the future.

44:53
And so we’ll see.

44:55
You know, I told Tim asked me a question yesterday and he goes, well, where are you? Do you really see this? And I said, hey, we’ve got to keep all options open, because you can’t eliminate any option. But honestly, the more I get into this, the more that I think unless we can’t I mean, you have two choices, you increase expenses or you raise revenue. I mean, that’s what you have to do. But you want to be mindful and raising revenue, because that really is in the rent structure. And so as we look at this, it really is going to be filling those core positions within the organization so that we can adequately serve the people who live in our facilities and that utilize the Housing Choice vouchers. And then we’re going to have to back up into what that long term structure looks like.

45:56
Um, in terms of

46:00
As we as we’re talking about

46:05
the picture of the organization.

46:10
And again, I’m going to refer to your email Cameron. There were some adjustments to the vacancies that are open and how they should be filled. Particularly not filling the CFO, but putting comptroller accounting etc. And I’m looking at also what we’ve been calling the executive director. as executive director. There were two functions, operations and development. And now that development is on hiatus. I’m wondering if we can if we’re looking for the head of the organization that we do not call it executive director. We’re looking for a director and we’re looking for somebody They can handle operations as opposed to somebody that also does development. I’m tossing that out now because I’d like to be considered as

47:14
all of this is developing.

47:17
We are obviously not a small lhsaa but we’re also not large and I think the pay scale needs to be brought back a little. I think we needed the help and we needed to throw money at it. Last year big time, but we we need to look at who we really are. And while we want talent, we need it in the right places. And we don’t need to be overpaying for it but we do need to pay enough. But I’m just looking at restructuring that director position from India. Executive to simply director just a thought. Thank you.

48:08
But just go along that line is I understand the the six months, 12 months, 18 months that structure, a decision about

48:20
what to think and how to think about

48:25
a position, whether it’s a director, executive director or deputy director is probably 18 months down the road based on what I saw in those slides. And then in that, in that timeframe, and that’s in Harold Lowe’s, I’m gonna ask him a question tonight about what is it we need to learn? What does he want to learn between now and then to inform whatever decisions we make, right? There are certain things that I think we all need to kind of learn and process in order to make good decisions when the time comes. Um, but in the hybrid model, you when you see that Deputy Director

49:03
in one of those slides

49:07
that’s a reflection of if if the decision were to be a hybrid, then to go out and look for somebody that comes on the city payroll, reporting to Harold, who takes on operations under Carol’s guidance, and gets prepped the room developed to potentially scam up if we if we relaunch Li j as a, as an independent standalone, crazy governmental organization

49:33
or

49:35
not, right if we continue to operate long term, with with Lj being a wholly own, you know, nonprofit subsidiary, for lack of a better way to describe it of the city. Right. Real different staffing implications, but decisions to be made 18 months I don’t think we have any I don’t have any intent of thinking about going casting a net out there too. Try to recruit executives at this point until we until we get down the road and learn a little bit more.

50:08
I think those are both key points. And

50:12
many of you probably saw the times call article today about the lhsaa. We spent a little time on on the phone with john fryer yesterday. And as we were talking through that we thought was coming into my mind about what would we as a board have done without the city’s help, and and what difference has the city’s involvement made? And I think, simplistically, the difference the city’s involvement is made for me is the ability to have these discussions the way that we’re having them. If we didn’t have that rescue from the city. We would have learned that Julian was leaving and we would have scrambled and tried to find somebody to fill an existing role because I think what we would be good at As a board is plugging the holes of a structure that’s that’s already in place. And what this whole process is allowing us to do is step back, and really focus on the core of what we’re trying to accomplish, and rebuild the structure that makes that work more effectively. No way we could have done that without the safety net of the city kind of keeping things afloat while we dismantle this and evaluate it and then slowly piece it back together. So that’s another intangible value to me that we never would have seen without this help. And I think we’ll come out of this much more constructed to do what we’re supposed to do than we would have without this process, but it is, as you said, Tim 1218 months away before, and that’s our guest. Hopefully, it’s not longer than that. But before we

51:55
are going to take

51:56
one I think, you know, I need to throw a couple of comments. I think when we talk about development, it is a short hiatus in development and to until you can re establish the foundation but you can’t not develop or you’re going to perpetuate the financial situation that is currently in as it as it stands and Kathy if you disagree jump in. My thought on the process is if we don’t add units and bring more revenue in is definitely not sustainable over time without significant rent increases. me

52:39
totally.

52:41
And the housing authorities in a good position where you already have some vacant land under your control, man, he gets

52:51
attacked by the dog

52:54
that that we can move fairly quickly into, it’s not like you have to go out and buy Something and, and everything as well as seeing what happens with the sunset property and the element project in February, even though we wouldn’t be developing that necessarily, we’d be partnering and getting some fees and some funding from it without having to have the burden of doing the development. So.

53:27
Yeah, and I think so you have three revenue sources, rent development fees, and the revenue you get from the Housing Choice vouchers mean generally those are the big three. You take any one of those out of the equation and it just spins you again. And I think that’s what we’re trying to figure out.

53:50
Well and even beyond the revenue source, if you if you think about our mission, the city is growing. The demand for affordable housing is growing. So it’s our mission to step up and support that demand and and if if we stop developing units whether we do it or we partner with people to do it we’re not fulfilling our mission. Jean

54:15
Yeah. Yeah.

54:18
Cuz I want I want to address

54:21
that my concern and I Herald correct me but isn’t there a planning commission a part of the city that deals with locating vacant properties, etc, etc

54:39
um, no they review zoning and review zoning, but they don’t do development.

54:45
So there there isn’t a part of the city that really that does development. No, okay. So um, as long as we’re not replicating and like you said, Our hiatus is going to be short. But I don’t see any need for anything that we’re doing to replicate what the city already does. But as long as they don’t develop, then we’re going to have to. I would rather bring the development process into a more transparent light than what it has been in the past. If that’s possible. I’m going to put that two cents in there to thank thank you for clarifying because I had, I just don’t want us replicating what the city can do.

55:37
I can talk about what Tony does, because Tony what James thinking about

55:41
Yeah, so Tony does redevelopment which is slightly different, where he, he’s more of an ombudsman with private developers who come in and want to redevelop Brown, you know, Brownfield properties, but he doesn’t initiate the development we partner. So for example, calf And I and Tony have been in conversations with older county housing authority on the development that the property they own. We’ve also partnered with the Housing Authority before, I think there is a fundamental question coming to you all, in terms of how do you look at the Housing Development Corporation and the Housing Authority, as the report stated, if we can look at a combination of those two things, and again, the Development Corporation is gonna have to weigh in on this, that also strengthens a balance sheet over time for the Housing Authority. And then as we look at it, it’s how do you build a partnership with the city to take advantage of the CDBG funds and things like that, but in terms of actively creating building projects, it’s not what we do. So that we need to read, you know, there’s going to be a conversation about redefining that partnership and what that looks like. And part of it very well, maybe to your point, that the Housing Authority and the Development Corporation Choose to pull it in as one. That’s an option that will be in play.

57:11
So we talked this to death enough.

57:18
So the next steps will be I’ll put together a draft of a communication to the council that will circulate appropriately. We’ll send out a notice of another special meeting for a week from today at eight o’clock. And Harold Dunn and Kathy will keep on burning the candle at both ends. Harold.

57:42
I wanted to show you those two slides because I didn’t want you all to be surprised about well, I didn’t see those slides when you present it. So I wanted you to know that I also want to say one thing that Tim’s question of what are we going to be watching? We’re going to be watching Africa pulls really close in terms of the Quality the applicants that we get. And that may be a decision point that pushes things faster in one direction or another. One of the things I heard after a meeting with you all that concerned me was comments of if I would have known what the situation was. I’m not sure I would have signed on the dotted line to become part of the organization. And, and that’s real. And, and those are things that we’re going to be evaluating as we open positions to see quality of applicants. We, my gut tells me based on what Olivia’s informed This is, Kathy’s dress,

58:51
is it it looks better and so I think Karen’s

58:53
dog it’s not mine, my dogs much better would be

58:58
so as You know, we’re going to be interested in that. Because if we don’t see the quality that we’re looking for, then we’re going to have to move quickly to find a different way to do it. Because and these are just foundational positions, these are community managers. And those are the most important positions you can have within a structure. And so Livia indicated, hey, they look pretty good, you know, we’ll look through, but we’re gonna be looking at culture fit and other stuff. And if at any point we see we’re, you know, we’re not getting a type of applicant we want it’s highly likely we’re moving back pretty quickly to you all going, we need to look at something else. And so those are all of the variables. I just didn’t want you to be surprised. If you’re tuning in tonight, and you hear me say that because that’s a piece of information that I’ve learned since our last meeting.

59:48
here who have your hearing, if I’d known then what I know now I wouldn’t assign the bottom line is IT staff staff.

59:56
I was the guy in the mirror that you stare at and everyone

1:00:01
You know, I said failure is not an option. Failure is not an option. So but now I mean, that was that was one of those one of those moments when you just, you go, here’s what we have to be mindful of and how do you build a strong organization? I’ll tell you, the folks that are still here. Phenomenal. They’re willing to work with this. And you’ll hear me say that. And we’re challenging and pushing, so I can’t be any more grateful for them. But I also get their trepidation and we’ve got to create stability. In we’ve got to have stability last over time. Or, you know, we’ll be at the bottom of the death spiral. We’re trying to we’re trying to fly out of the death spiral right now. And I think we are but we’ve got to be mindful of all of these issues.

1:00:59
Well, good to see gushin Today we’ll we’ll roll on towards next week and appreciate your time. If there’s nothing else I would, I’ll call this meeting closed.

1:01:14
Alright, thanks, everybody. Tim

Transcribed by https://otter.ai