HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO Minutes of Commission Meeting Thursday, February 26, 2009
440 Turk Street San Francisco, California
A Regular meeting of the Housing Authority Commission of the City and County of San Francisco met at 440 Turk Street, San Francisco, California, on Thursday, February 26, 2009, at 4:00 p.m. President A.Brown called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL PRESENT:
Rev. Amos Brown, President Neola Gans, Vice President Matthew Schwartz, Commissioner George R. Brown, Commissioner Dwayne Jones, Commissioner Millard Larkin, Commissioner
NOT PRESENT:
Jane Hsu, Commissioner
A quorum was present. ALSO PRESENT: 2.
Mr. Henry A. Alvarez III, Executive Director Mr. Roger Crawford, Assistant General Counsel
APPROVAL OF AGENDA Henry Alvarez, Executive Director requested to move items B2 to B1 in order to accommodate Trent Rhorer’s scheduling conflicts. Mr. Alvarez also made note to the amendment to the agenda adding item B7. Commissioner Schwartz moved to approve the agenda as amended. Commissioner Jones seconded the motion. This request was passed unanimously.
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GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS Henry Alvarez, Executive Director, reported on several letters from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) including an award of the Stimulus monies, the stop loss issues, conversion to asset management, funding renewals in the SRO/MOD program and the hold on the US Century Bank released.
Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2009 Page 2 4.
REPORT OF SECRETARY Mr. Alvarez informed the Commissioners that they could find the monthly variance report and the Hope SF Newsletter in their packages. This concluded the Secretaries Report. Commissioner Brown requested a Vacancy Report be provided to the Commissioners and Mr. Alvarez took note of that request.
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COMMITTEE REPORTS There were no Committee Reports.
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REPORT OF GENERAL COUNSEL Roger Crawford informed the Commission that there was a Closed Session to discuss personnel issues, pending litigation and labor negotiations.
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TENANT REPRESENTATIVE REPORT Mr. William Vitale reported everything was going fine and that the new administration was a breathe of fresh air. Kimberly Hill-Brown, President of the Tenants Association, informed the Commissioners of several items including PHTA luncheon, on-site security, Resident Council Meetings with SFHA staff and financial matters.
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PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS There were no public Comments by the following:
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was no unfinished business.
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NEW BUSINESS
A) CONSENT AGENDA NOTE: All matters listed hereunder constitute a Consent Agenda, are considered to be routine by the San Francisco Housing Authority Board and will be acted upon by a single vote of the Authority Board. There will be no separate discussion these items unless a member of the Authority Board so request, in which event the matter shall be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered as separate item. 1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES FOR MEETING OF JANUARY 22, 2009
Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2009 Page 3 Commissioner Jones motioned to approve the Consent Agenda. Vice President Gans seconded the motion. This request was approved unanimously. B) ACTION ITEMS 2) INFORMATION PRESENTATION- STRATEGY TO CONNECT HUNTERS VIEW RESIDENTS WITH THE EXISTING CITY SERVICES Kyle Pedersen, Director of Governmental Affairs & Communications as well as Trent Rhorer of the San Francisco Human Services Agency presented this Item. The City and County of San Francisco is committed to leveraging existing resources and increasing oversight to ensure that residents of Hunters View are connected to necessary City services in preparation for redevelopment through HOPE SF. Human Services Agency (HSA) has been the lead agency in obtaining dedicated slots and commitments from City agencies that will be directly connected to Hunters View residents to meet basic needs and to stabilize households prior to and throughout redevelopment. In addition to HSA, numerous City partners including; Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Mayor’s Office of Housing, Communities of Opportunity, and Department of Children, Youth, and their Families, have each leveraged resources that will be made available and directly connected to Hunters View residents. 1) INFORMATIONAL PRESENTATIONCGI HANDHELD TECHNOLOGY FOR HQS INSPECTIONS, ROUTE OPTIMIZATION, AUTOMATED OUTBOUND CALLIG AND WAITLIST MAITENANCE Tony C. Gorris Director, Consulting Services from the CGI Company presented several items to the Commission in the form of hand-outs and brochures. These items outlined the services available to the San Francisco Housing Authority including handheld technology for HQS inspections, waitlist maintenance and automated outbound calling. Mr. Gorris provided the Commissioners with an estimate and insured the Commission that before any purchases were made, this would come back to the Commission for approval. Mr. Alvarez informed the Commissioners that staff was considering a test run of the technology. 3) INFORMATIONAL PRESENTATION- SECTION 8 DEPARTMENTAL REORGANIZATION PLAN Tony Ucciferri, Administrator of Section 8 presented this Resolution to the Commission. The presentation included an in-depth PowerPoint presentation. The San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) Section 8 Department is endeavoring to reorganize its operations to improve delivery of customer service products and establish work segmentation within the operations to better serve the public.
Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2009 Page 4 The Re-Organization is expected to introduce definable work segmentation for staff and facilitate accountability for duties and responsibilities. Customers will no longer have difficulty learning who their worker is as caseloads will be assigned alphabetically and maintained in this manner. All customer concerns will be directed to the Eligibility Workers who will facilitate responses for them in a timely manner. Smaller caseloads will enable greater availability of staff for addressing these concerns. Any problems in the delivery of customer service will now be identifiable and can be properly documented for appropriate response. It is expected that this model will greatly improve accountability and, in turn, the delivery of good customer service. Supervision and monitoring will also be of greater benefit since the source of problems arising in the delivery of customer service will be better pinpointed and responded to sooner. Supervisors will have greater time to spend supervising staff and implementing quality programming for staff rather than spend enormous amounts of time on resolving customer complaints. 4) INFORMATIONAL PRESENTATION: DISCUSSION ON IMPROVEMENTS TO TENANTS ACCOUNTS RECIEVABLES (Presented by Herb Lum, Project Manager, Finance Department) The rising balance in TARs creates an issue in improving the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) score for the SFHA. The PHAS score is HUD’s assessment of the overall performance of an Authority’s management of its Public Housing operations. This score also determines whether an Authority is considered as a high performer, standard performer or a troubled agency. One component of the PHAS score is the “Financial Indicator.” The Financial Indicator accounts for 30% of the PHAS score. A component part of the Financial Indicator score is the measure of TARs Outstanding with a maximum attainable score of 4.5. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2008, we received a score of 2.4 out of 4.5. Our score as of September 30, 2001 was 4.0 (see Chart #3). Maximizing our score in the context of our TARs balance improves our overall PHAS score, which improves our overall agency management performance. Staff presented this presentation for the Board to consider granting a period of “Amnesty” for residents that have balances in arrears as of January 31, 2009 by not enforcing the eviction process and allowing the Authority to ensure that rent calculations are correct and to inform residents of their correct rent due. Staff recommends the Amnesty period to be from your Board’s action until September 30, 2009. However, beginning October 1, 2009, residents who do not pay their calculated rent according to their lease provision, the Authority will move to end their program participation from our Public Housing Program.
Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2009 Page 5 5) RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE SAN FRANCISCO HOUSING AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS TO ADOPT THE RESIDENT RIGHT TO RETURN POLICY FOR HOPE SF REVITALIZATION SITES Dominica Henderson, Management Analyst for Housing Development presented this Item to the Commissioners. Under HOPE SF Principle 1, Ensure No Loss of Public Housing, the Authority commits to minimizing displacement of existing residents by emphasizing on-site relocation, where possible and to providing residents with opportunities to live in the new housing. When creating the Hunters View Relocation Plan, the Authority consulted with Hunters View residents, legal aid organizations, the Developer, and the City in order to appropriately incorporate HOPE SF Principles into the Plan. The collaborative developed a comprehensive Relocation Plan that includes guiding principals that address resident rights to occupy revitalized units upon completion. Based on policies developed for the Authority’s first HOPE SF site, Hunters View, the following policy regarding right to return is recommended for all other HOPE SF sites: All residents that are determined to be eligible for relocation benefits at HOPE SF sites will have the right to move into the revitalized units provided that they have not been evicted or served by the Authority with a summons and complaint for eviction. After clarification was given about specifics of the Resolution, Commissioner Schwartz motioned to approve this Resolution. Commissioner Jones seconded the motion. This item was approved unanimously.
6) RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH PRIMETECH CONSTRUCTION COMPANY FOR A NEW ENVIRONMENTAL RECYCLING SERVICES CENTER AT THE CAL 1-3 SUNNYDALE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $200,000 James Mark, HD & MOD Senior Project Manager presented this Resolution. Sunset Scavenger has a sole source contract for picking up the trash in San Francisco. Trash service is presently not working well at the Sunnydale Housing Development for these reasons: Trash service is expensive, SFHA is supplementing trash service with off hours pickup, no recycling is presently being provided, residents bring out bins late, hazardous material trash i.e. batteries and computers, and (6) seagulls are very active in the area. In order to address this situation and develop alternative ways of collecting trash, Sunset Scavenger, Department Public Works (DPW) and SFHA have been meeting weekly. This working group determined that providing onsite collection to a new compacting facility that would separately compact recycling and trash would reduce trash pickup costs, increase recycling and reduce litter on the site.
Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2009 Page 6 Several potential sites were investigated prior to establishing a new central location at the Mayor Willie Brown building’s service yard. Environmental clearances and resident approvals did not reveal any negative impacts. In addition, the Authority received a grant from the California DOC in the amount of $301,080 to help cover the costs of the facility and equipment. The Authority issued Solicitation No. 09620-IFB-004 on January 22, 2009, following review and approval of the solicitation by the Finance Departments budget and procurement staff. The procurement process for the action covered by this resolution meets the procurement standards of 24 CFR 85.36 “Procurement”, HUD Handbook 7460.8 REV 1, “Procurement Handbook for Public Housing Agencies and Indian Housing Authorities”, the San Francisco Housing Authority Procurement Policy Manual, and the State of California, and local laws. Per HUD-5369 Instructions to Bidders, the contract award is based on the lowest, responsive, and responsible bidder. The lowest, responsive and responsible bidder is Primetech. The Primetech bid of $200,000 was evaluated and considered fair and reasonable. Upon request, Primetech reviewed their bid and informed HD&Mod that they stood by their bid. Primetech is committed to exceeding the 25 percent resident hiring requirement on this job. Primetech is pursuing one (1) position for resident hiring contract requirement including (1) local resident. In the past, Primetech has met the 25% resident hiring and successfully employed past residents on their other sewer and site repair projects. Primetech has prepared job descriptions and submitted them to the Authority’s resident employment specialist. Commissioner Jones motioned to approve this item. Vice President Gans seconded the motion. This Resolution was approved unanimously. 7) RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO: (1) EXECUTE THE HUD CAPITAL FUND AMENDMENT FOR FY 2009 AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT FORMULA GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF $17,876,716; (2) SUBMIT THE ANNUAL STATEMENT; AND (3) CERTIFY THAT THE AUTHORITY WILL COMPLY WITH ALL APPLICABLE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
Barbara Smith, Administrator of Housing Development and Modernization presented this Resolution. On February 25, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) notified public housing agencies of the amount of capital funds they will receive by formula through the ARRA. The San Francisco Housing Authority (Authority) has been allocated $17,876,716. In order to receive this funding, the Authority must submit an Annual Statement summarizing proposed expenditures, a Board of Commissioners Resolution authorizing the Executive Director to execute the 2009 Capital Fund Program Amendment to the Consolidated Annual Contributions Contract, and certification of compliance with program requirements. These documents, attached to this memorandum, must be submitted to HUD no later than March 18, 2009.
Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2009 Page 7 Twenty-seven percent, or $4.8 million is planned for rehabilitation of 300 vacant units. Thirty-five percent, or over $6.2 million is budgeted for energy conservation measures that will reduce water and gas consumption through boiler replacement, underground water line replacement, ventilation system upgrades, weatherization and replacement of deteriorating windows with double pane glass. Twenty-five percent of the funds will be used for Lead Based Paint stabilization, building weatherization and site improvements at seven sites. Work in this category includes dry-rot repair, bird proofing, caulking, painting, retaining wall repair, exterior light replacement, and chain link fence repair. The remaining funds will be used for fire alarm system replacement at three senior sites. Commissioner Jones motioned to approve this item. Commissioner Schwartz seconded this motion. This request was approved unanimously. 11.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA Public Comments were heard from the following: Kimberly Brown Sulagai Palega Sharon Hewitt Jasmine Khabary Richard MaBrey Ganiel Harris Tania Walker Laura Gi
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COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS AND REPORTS President Brown informed the Commission that we should consider looking at the caricature in the New York Times in reference to President Obama.
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CLOSED SESSION A Closed Session was scheduled with the Executive Director and Agency Counsel under Government Code Section 54957(b)(1), 54956.9, 54957.6 to update the Commission on personnel issues, pending litigation and labor negotiations. The Commission went into Closed Session at 7:30 p.m.
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RECONVENING OF COMMISSION MEETING The Commission reconvened from Closed Session at 8:05 pm. Mr. Crawford stated that President A. Brown, Vice President Gans, Commissioner Brown, Commissioner Larkin, and Commissioner Schwartz and Commissioner Jones were present. No decisions were made.
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ADJOURNMENT
Commission Meeting Minutes February 26, 2009 Page 8 There being no further business to come before the Commission, Commissioner Brown moved to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Larkin seconded the motion. President Brown adjourned the Commission Meeting of February 26, 2009, at 8:06 p.m. Henry A. Alvarez III, Secretary/ Executive Director
Rev. Amos Brown, President