HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary 14, 2008
HOUSING & REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES OF JANUARY 14, 2008
Call to Order - The Special Meeting of the Columbia Heights Housing &
Redevelopment Authority (HRA) was called to order by Chair, Tammera Diehm at
6:02 p.m., January 14, 2008, City Hall, Conference Room 1, 590 40th Avenue NE,
Columbia Heights, Minnesota.
Roll Call- Tammera Diehm, Bruce Nawrocki, Dennis Ecklund Jr., and Bruce
Kelzenberg
Absent- Bobby Williams
Guest- Mayor, Gary L. Peterson
Pledge of Allegiance
BUSINESS ITEM
Presentation of Common bond Staff
Richard Hutsell, Vice President of Commonbond introduced Lucia Clausen, Director of
Public Housing and Laura Sheak who will be the new Manager for Parkview Villa
starting on February 1st
Hutsell stated Laura Sheak has been the a property manager for 20 years, for the past
12 years was manager at Heights Manor, has managed two of their senior and
handicap housing facilities in Little Canada called Garden Terrace and Terrace
commons. They chose her for the position as she has a lot of experience with this type
of housing unit. The other positions necessary for Parkview villa are being advertised in
the newspaper.
Laura Sheak stated she received her degree at the University of Minnesota in Parks
and Recreation Administration with a therapeutic therapist emphasis, which she then
worked in nursing homes, from there she moved into rehab and got into housing.
Ecklund asked what are the office hours going to be? Lucia Clausen stated they would
be the same as all of the Commonbond facilities, 8:00 am to 4:40 pm.
Clausen also stated they would be hiring two part time caretakers, which would allow
for the additional coverage needed on the weekends, a full time maintenance person,
and a full time office assistant for Laura. Fehst asked if they would be hiring any of the
current staff.
Nawrocki stated he did get a copy of the proposed contract and had the following
issues: 1) it was his understanding that the board would be included in the interviewing
process; 2) he could not see a financial control area in the document; 3) he felt the local
bank should be used and 4) the contract identifies Commonbond as the agent in a
couple of areas and then there is once or twice they are listed as consultants.
Clark said Mr. Nawrocki, you may recall that when I gave you the contract copy that I
told you staff and the City attorney haven't looked at the document yet. It was just a
preliminary draft at that time. We are now close to having everything finalized for board
approval at next weeks meeting. I found out this week the attorney would be inserting
Housing & Redevelopment Authority Minutes
January 14,2008 Special Meeting
Page 2 of3
the HUD requirements to the draft, which we should have to Hutsell by tomorrow.
Diehm asked Hutsell what legal services they plan on using, as when Walker started
they were surprised they were using their own legal service for an issue that came up.
We would prefer you use the City attorney from Kennedy & Graven for anything that
would come up. Hutsell stated he didn't see a problem with that.
Sheak asked if we include management at the Resident Council meetings. Ecklund
stated yes, she would give the residents a report of any issues that have come up in the
building like carpet installation, parking problems, landscaping replacement, etc.
Clark asked Common bond staff how the transition is going for them; are they getting
the information they need from Walker staff. Hutsell stated due to Mr. Lindig being out
of the office for personal reasons in December, the didn't get the process started as
early as they would have liked to, but in the last week things are moving along. Clausen
stated she has been in contact with Nick bye-mail and has a meeting set up for
Wednesday with him and her Compliance Director to go over the files, the 50058's and
then on Friday would be doing a physical tour with her maintenance team.
Clark asked if she was aware that there are a lot of reports that are late for 2007.
Clausen stated that Lindig assured her that he would be getting those done for
September through December of 2007 by tomorrow.
Hutsell stated they talked to Walker about the audit, which would be preformed by
them. The one thing the board should be aware of is that when Walker closes the
books in mid-February, their financials may be a few days late.
Nawrocki asked if we shouldn't have the contract end at the end of the year rather than
a month into the new year. Joe Kloiber, assistant finance director stated he would
prefer that it would have started somewhere after January 31st, because certain year
end closing work can't be completed in January, and that the HRA may need to have
some kind of agreement outside of their current one with Walker to continue working on
the financials until they are complete.
Diehm stated Mr. Nawrocki prefers the way our financial reports are laid out and asked
if this is something staff could possibly work out ahead of time. Clausen stated Cher
Bakken has already talked to her about this and provided a copy of the current financial
report for review.
Clark stated HUD said we are capitalizing the end of three years of Capital Funds, and
wondered if this was common. Clausen stated that it was. You are usually working
with three years of Capital Funds, just depending on the projects that the money has
been allotted for.
Hutsell stated the banking relationship Commonbond has with Western Bank is very
Housing & Redevelopment Authority Minutes
January 14,2008 Special Meeting
Page 3 of3
convenient for their staff, with the ability to scan in checks, on-line banking, and that
they use them for approximately 90 facilities they manage and wanted to know if the
board would consider using them. Fehst stated Northeast Bank has been used by the
City for many years and that the City prefers to use a local company as often as
possible. Bill Elrite, Finance Director stated we do not have a cost for checks as we
have all of our accounts there. Clausen stated her accounting department is going to
check with Northeast Bank to see if they have any of the conveniences that they are
currently using. Hutsell suggested they possibly separating the operating and reserve
accounts into two banks.
Diehm stated the next HRA meeting would be on Wednesday, January 23rd at Parkview
Villa.
Hutsell thanked the board for the opportunity to work with them and that his staff was
looking forward to working with the City.
Adiournment
Chair, Diehm adjourned the meeting at 6:42 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
~-/~
Cheryl Efakken
Recording Secretary
H:\HRAMinutes 2008\1-14-2008 Special