MINUTES SAN FRANCISCO HOUSING AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING March 22, 2012
SCHEDULED: 4:00 p.m. at 440 Turk Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Rev. Amos C. Brown, Chair Mirian Saez, Vice Chair Matthew Schwartz, Commissioner arr: 4:11 Ahsha Safai, Commissioner arr: 4:09 Dorothy Smith, Commissioner Micah Allen, Commissioner Dr. Veronica Hunnicutt, Commissioner Item 1:
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Rev. Amos C. Brown, Chair
Meeting called to order President Rev. Amos Brown called meeting to order at 4:03pm
Item 2:
Approval of Agenda
Motion:
Commissioner Hunnicut: Commissioner Allen: Vote:
Item 3:
Public Comments on items not on the agenda
Motioned to approve agenda Seconded motion All approved
Commenter, Carol Flowra, President of the Tenant Association board at 491 31st Avenue requested that Dorothy Ramey continue working with their complex because Ms. Raimey established a good relationship with her development while acting as President of CCSD. Commenter, Paul Currier, resident at JFK stated that there have been many complaints made regarding the tenants association including why the tenants are not being noticed for elections, lack of proper communication, and questioned why the tenant association pays anything to CCSD. Commenter, Helani Ting, resident at Park Merced stated that progress is being made with the Park Merced issues.
Commenter, Lynn, stated that the Park Merced is in violation of her rights as a disabled person. Further, commenter stated that Park Merced has stopped accepting rent. Commenter mentioned that she needs help getting all of the documentation requested for trial regarding utilities. Commenter, Michael Lyons, member of the San Francisco Grey Panthers stated that his organization is very upset with what is happening to the tenants of Park Merced. Mr. Lyons stated that he submitted a PRA last year that he has not received a response to. Item 4:
Secretary’s Report Henry A. Alvarez III, Secretary, stated that he was in Washington D.C. discussing options for Hope SF and the transformation of the properties involved with Hope SF with the Assistant Secretary Sandra Henriquez. The Secretary added that he will be returning to Washington D.C. for the legislative conference. The Secretary announced that the Authority received a security grant for $250,000 and that there is currently a request for proposal out for security.
Item 5:
Tenant Representative Report 1. Citywide Council Senior Disabled (CCSD) Beverly Saba, President of CCSD commended Tim Larsen, James Ferry and Bill Ford for addressing the security concerns Ms. Saba also thanked Barbara Smith, Anthony Ihejeto and Twima Early for their assistance. Ms. Saba thanked Rufus Davis for assistance with the ROSS grant to attempt to get service coordinators at sites that don’t have one. Ms. Saba also thanked Anthony Ihejeto and Twima Early for attending a tenant meeting at 430 Turk and responding to various concerns. 2. Public Housing Tenants Association (PHTA) Joyce Armstrong, President of PHTA stated that the Annual Plan is being handled differently than in previous years. Ms. Armstrong requested that PHTA and CCSD stay informed with any progress made to the annual plan process. Ms. Armstrong also stated that the PHTA has not received any information regarding the 2012 Summer Lunch Program. PHTA believes that they are being forced into censorship by the SFHA. Ms. Armstrong stated that she believes that the minutes should not be summarized but should report exactly what has been stated verbatim. Ms. Armstrong further reported that the PHTA is working closely with their attorney on bylaws and will begin the election process shortly.
. Item 6:
Regular Business A. Consent Items Minutes o Minutes of regular Board meeting held on March 8, 2012
Motion:
Commissioner Schwartz: Commissioner Allen: Vote:
Moved to accept minutes of March 8, 2012 Seconded the motion All approved
B. Action Items 1. [Informational Presentation: Public Housing Annual Plan Process.] Presented by: Linda Martin-Mason, Ombudsman, Office of the Ombudsman and Communication
Linda Martin-Mason presented a Power Point Presentation explaining the annual plan process. Commissioner Saez asked Ms. Martin-Mason to list the stakeholders that would be included under community advocates as well as the City departments and how does that differ from the community based organization. Ms. Martin-Mason provided examples of organizations that have been contacted in addition to the differences between the various partners. Commissioner Safai asked what was done differently with the City-Wide Council for the tenants from previous years. Mrs. Martin-Mason responded that in the past for both the Public Housing and Section 8 whoever wanted to attend RAB meetings were the RAB. However, HUD recommends that if the PHA has a jurisdiction-wide council, the council should be the RAB, which is what was done for the 2012 RAB. Commissioner Safai asked why weren’t any of the RAB locations in the South-East side of San Francisco where the majority of the Housing Authority residents reside. Mrs. Martin-Mason replied that it was not intentional and that will be considered in the future. Commissioner Safai asked if there were any complaints received regarding locations of meetings. Mrs. Martin-Mason responded that they have not received any complaints regarding location. President Rev. Amos Brown asked why the various locations weren’t considered.
Mrs. Martin-Mason responded that in considering past complaints and suggestions, the primary complaint was noise, never location. Thus, this year, the meetings were scheduled to be in the same vicinity with different location that may be quieter. Further, Mrs. Martin-Mason offered to update the schedule to include another site. Commissioner Schwartz recommended that potential strategies for Hope SF sites be included in the Annual Plan Process with sufficient time to provide for public comment. Mr. Alvarez explained how everything is accessible through the Housing Authority’s new and improved website @ www.sfha.org. Mr. Alvarez also commended the Ombudsman staff for the improvements made to the website. Commissioner Allen asked if the RAB meetings have been well attended. Mrs. Martin-Mason responded that they have been well attended Commissioner Allen complimented the website and asked if there is heavy traffic. Mrs. Martin-Mason responded that she was only aware of the facebook traffic, which is linked to the website and that the facebook page had 611 hits in the past 7 days. Commissioner Hunnicutt stated that the website looks beautiful and asked about Housing Choice Voucher Program RAB application process in the past versus this year. Mrs. Martin-Mason responded that in previous years, only the RAB from the year prior was invited to attend. In 2012 an invitation to apply for the RAB was sent to all Housing Choice Voucher Participants. The SFHA received 300 responses and randomly selected 30 of the 300. Commissioner Safai requested that the recommendations pertaining to preferences be brought to the board before being finalized. Public comment: Commenter, Uzuri Green secretary of the PHTA, stated that she is learning a lot from the RAB meetings. Ms. Green suggested the following for different locations of the RAB meetings: Bayview: The Opera House, Potreo Hill: Neighborhood House, Sunnydale: Boys & Girls Club. Ms. Green asked if there were any local stakeholders such as the family Resource Center, The Neighborhood House, Salvation Army, and Shiloh involved in the process. Commenter, Lynn, resident at Park Merced asked when will the public be able to review the proposals before they become final and how will that be disseminated in terms to their response. Lynn also invited Mrs. Martin-Mason to visit Park Merced.
2. [Resolution Authorizing the Executive Director to enter into a Construction Contract with Nicole’s Work Inc. for Fire Damage Restoration Services Phase II at 350 Ellis Housing Development in an mount not to exceed $408,899 to be reimbursed with property insurance proceeds.] Presented by: James Mark, Senior Project Manager Housing Development & Modernization Department
Commissioner Saez asked who completed the first Phase of this work Mr. Mark responded Ideal Restoration Services Inc. provided $25,000 worth of dehumidifying abatement and cutting out the mold. Commissioner Saez asked what was looked at differently between Transworld and Nicole’s Work Inc. Mr. Mark responded that it isn’t unusual to get scattered bids and construction companies factors this in if the company really needs the work when their bids are lower and want to keep workers busy in this economy. Commissioner Safai asked what controls are in place in the bid to insure that the Board will not be asked to approve a range of change orders to meet the true value of what the project is to this contractor. Mr. Mark responded that the bid amount is the construction amount which is usually enforced and not changed because change orders delay projects. Barbara Smith added that the SFHA conducts an independent cost estimate before the projects are put out to bid and this bid is consistent with the independent cost estimate of $450,000. Commissioner Schwartz asked if this was a Lump Sum contract? Mr. Mark replied that it is a Lump Sum contract. Commissioner Allen asked if this will allow resident hiring. Mr. Mark replied yes. Motion:
Item 7:
Commissioner Schwartz: Commissioner Allen: Vote:
Moved to adopt the resolution Seconded the motion All approved
Commissioners Comments Commissioner Allen suggested the Alex Pitcher room in the South East City College Campus for RAB meetings. Commissioner Saez asked if there would be any time to review the process for summer programs.
Mrs. Martin-Mason responded that the SFHA is submitting applications to DCYF for all summer lunch programs allowing DCYF to select which sites will host summer lunch. The Secretary explained that during the budget cuts summer programming was excluded from the budget except for Park and Rec Summer Youth Activities Mrs. Martin-Mason responded that she and Kyle Peterson have been working with Park &Rec to figure out the best outreach to residents and in the next 30 days should have further enrollment information. The Secretary introduced Kyle Peterson as the returning Government liaison. Commissioner Safai asked for report on recycling efforts at all of the developments and whether there are any recycling programs with tenant involvement. Commissioner Safai commented that he attended the Good Jobs Green Jobs Conference in L.A. there were many job opportunities as well as opportunities to build social equity, career path development and energy conservation. Commissioner Safai requested that staff provide him with the number of evictions in Park Merced to date. Commissioner Safai asked the Secretary to invite Olsen lee from the Mayor’s Office of Housing to discuss which nonprofits are proposing CDBG grants that intend to serve directly or indirectly Public Housing residents. Residents want to hear directly from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and the Mayor’s Office of Redevelopment on what nonprofits are being funded to provide employment opportunities to residents. Commissioner Schwartz commended staff for the website and asked if there will be a waitlist shown on the site and will people be able to apply for Housing online. Secretary Alvarez responded that all responses to commissioner Schwartz’ questions will be reported the second week of April
Item 8:
Closed Session Present: President Dr. Rev. Amos Brown, Commissioner Micah Allen, Commissioner Veronica Hunnicutt, Commissioner Ahsha Safai, Commissioner Matthew Schwartz, Commissioner Dorothy Smith
Decision was made to give council settlement authority Item 9:
Adjournment by consensus 5:46