[Losa Julie Genevieve]: We're call meeting at 4.32. Roll call, please.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Commissioner Genvilla. Here. Commissioner Foley. Here. Commissioner O'Leary. Here. Commissioner Lister. Here. Commissioner Luongo.
[MCM00001408_SPEAKER_03]: Present. Pledges, please. Here.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Thank you.
[MCM00001419_SPEAKER_00]: A couple of minutes.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: A regular meeting held on August 17, 2022.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: I'll make a motion. Second.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: All in favor? Thank you. Executive session held on August 17, 2022. I'll make a motion.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Second.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: All in favor?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Aye.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Thank you. Move on to financial.
[MCM00001419_SPEAKER_00]: So you should have the July financial statements, agency-wide statements in front of you. So this covers us up to 10 months of our fiscal year. And currently all the programs are running on budget. AMP3 is running a little bit over budget, but that's because of the REAC inspection. But we're not too concerned about that because they do have healthy reserves. So, so far up to this point, we'd be adding 2.7 million dollars to our reserves. 2.3 million, I'm sorry.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: I'll make a motion to accept the financials as presented. Can I have a second, please?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Second.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: All in favor?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Aye.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Thank you. It looks a little different that way, doesn't it?
[MCM00001408_SPEAKER_03]: Move on to
[SPEAKER_03]: Can I get a motion to go into executive session?
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Yes, I'm just reading that. Can I get a motion to go into executive session and we'll be back.
[MCM00001408_SPEAKER_03]: I'll make a motion that we go into executive session. This would be for the purpose of discussing. I'm going to ask people to speak up please. I have one ear blocked up and the other one is hardly working.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: This is for the purpose of discussing pending litigation and for the purpose of discussing new negotiations to which it would be detrimental to the authority to do so in an open session.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: And we'll come back to continue. Yes.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: I need a second on the motion. I'll second.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Roll call vote, please.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Yeah, roll call vote. I'm sorry. Commissioner Genvilla. Yes. Commissioner Foley. Yes. Commissioner Holeen. Yes. Commissioner Lister. Yes. Commissioner Luongo. Yes. Michael, can you do me a favor? Sure.
[MCM00001408_SPEAKER_03]: I wouldn't even try.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: I wouldn't drive one. I wouldn't be able to get out.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: If I got in, I wouldn't be able to get out. We're ready to proceed. Six is public input. There's no one here. Can I get a motion to close public input, please? So moved.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Second.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Executive session. Executive director report. I'm sorry.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Am I good?
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Yeah.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: After the last meeting, almost immediately after the last meeting, I sat down and I thought about the meeting and how it had progressed. And so I want to make a statement. And I want the board to recognize that I wrote this over concern that this board and the authority continue to move forward. So I'm going to read that. I am disturbed at the general tenor of certain discussions at recent board meetings. Due to this, it is necessary for me to clarify my position concerning my participation at these meetings. It is my responsibility to provide information to the Board of Commissioners that publicly posted open meetings of the board for the board to make decisions necessary for the authority to affirmatively move forward. It is not, and I repeat, it is not my intention nor desire to address issues that go beyond that which are within the purview of my responsibilities. The effective administration of this housing authority or beyond that which is allowed within state or federal statute or regulation. As executive director, and in particular as legal counsel to the authority, I will advise the board to the best of my abilities as to the proper, legal, and ordinary, orderly, excuse me. conduct necessary for effective MHA board meetings. I am deeply concerned with board meeting discussions that I feel are counterproductive to moving the authority forward when considering all that we have accomplished since my appointment as executive director in 2017. Working together as a cohesive and effective team, both board of commissioners and administration, has always been and will always be what I strive for and intend to do. I will not, though, participate in nor be a party to discussions that lead to denigrate and unfairly criticize the authority's efforts and the significant success that this authority is currently experiencing. Both myself and the hardworking staff of the Medford Housing Authority deserve the respect, acknowledgement, and appreciation for the achievements that have been realized. Otherwise, the efforts of the MHA staff, myself included, will be overshadowed by an environment created at MHA board meetings and by the MHA board that descends into contentious discussions that are reminiscent of board meetings that I witnessed in the years past and dating back to my first involvement with the authority in 2009. Nothing positive results from this. Be cognizant. Be cognizant that the actions of the board directly impact MHA employees. These same employees have raised concerns to me and encouraged me to work to ensure that we all, including the board, work as a team to move forward, not backward, during this time when the MHA is undertaking unprecedented efforts to expand services to address the needs of our residents in particular, and generally to address the improvement, expansion, and repositioning of affordable housing in the city of Medford. I endeavor to work with, and at the direction of the board in a respectful manner in which we will effectively communicate that which will maximize our efforts to provide services to the Medford Housing Authority residents and to the citizens of Medford. Thank you.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Thank you.
[MCM00001408_SPEAKER_03]: Madam Chairman, if I may, could I have a copy of that, please? I'll give you a copy, yes. I'm sorry? I'll be glad to. Thank you. Put my name on that, will you? I'm not going to put your name on it. I'll give you a copy. Okay. Thank you very much, Jeff. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Just think of some of the good things I've done.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: The next item. Let's continue.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: On your report, please. If you could just pass that. I wanted to give you a copy of the Open Meeting Law Guide. This was published by the Attorney General, and this is the newest one. There isn't one that has been provided. I just wanted you to make sure that you all had a copy of that. As far as the management reports are concerned, if you have any questions relative to those, I'd be more than happy to answer that. There is one sheet here that I think some of you may have seen in the past. It's this one. You can see the drawings that are provided there for you to take a look at. We're moving forward with that. It's good to be, and we're in the process of looking for investors, equity investors in this, and we hope to have those on board fairly soon. We're moving forward also with Baughlin Court. We have meetings tomorrow with the residents, two meetings with the residents tomorrow afternoon, where we bring in half of the residents at one time and half at a second meeting. And then tomorrow evening, Gabe and I, along with the manager Jeanette and architect that's under contract or negotiating contract who's been approved by DHCD, Deet's associates will be at all three meetings and in the evening that meeting will be with the immediate abutters. The immediate abutters will bring them in. Can I ask a question? Yes.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: Sorry, back to that picture. Are you showing us the renovations, or are you showing us the open land for possible development?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Well, let me point it out. That's a good question. I'm actually showing you the redevelopment.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: That is a rendering of what the new building's gonna look like, though.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: That's the new building. Okay, got it. Yes, this is what the new building will look like. But you can see the open land here, and you can see that now the parking is not on this side, but the parking is on this side. And it comes straight through. The majority of the parking is going to be over here. The bocce courts that are here are going to be moved over here. There is open land that Kayleen noticed, and that is an area right here that may be a space where we can put 88 units in a four or five-story building.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Yes? Can I just make one correction to your statement? Sure. I said the same thing. I think we worded it wrong. We call that the new building. That's the existing building that's being renovated. Yes.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Yes.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: That's not a new building. All right. That's the existing building that we're kind of re-renovating.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Exactly. The new building that I think Kayleen mentioned would have been right there. Right there. Right there. The problem with the house we have, and I was on the phone this afternoon reaching out to the Department of Transportation, and Michael, I think you're the one that clarified this for us. We don't own this land, this piece right here. And we had a lease for this. I think that was going to be an off ramp?
[MCM00001408_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: That was going to be an off ramp from the highway at one point in time. So that there was a lease that the authority had, a 40-year lease of $1 a year. Unfortunately, it expired in 2006. So I've been working with the Department of Transportation, not only to try to get them to lease this to us back, We have our dumpsters here. There's a fenced-in area here. But if we want to put something here, we're going to need this... Footage? Footage, yeah. I was going to say frontage. Yeah, frontage, but it is the same thing. We're going to need that. One of the problems we have, too, is that this here, we have to have a right of way. And so that's a zoning issue that we're trying to address with the city. There are maybe four other boards that are up. In the lobby, if you want to take a look at those before you leave, you can certainly do that.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: I didn't want to pull them down, but... If we can't get the footage, if we can't get that area, we can go to zoning to ask for a ruling on the footage, correct? To still be able to build?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Is that footage just a buy right or is that... The footage is going to afford us the opportunity to build what we want there.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: without going in front of zoning or still having to go in front of zoning?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: We still need to go in front of zoning. And we have Hannah Kilson, who is an exceptional attorney from a law firm in Boston that just deals with zoning issues. That's who we're working with at this point. And she's exceptional. But some of the things we have to take into consideration is this roadway has to be of sufficient size for fire engines to be able to come in. Right now, they don't come in here, they come in this way. Anything that we put here, we also have to have the ability to go around it, again, for purposes of fire safety.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: So who's working on trying to get us a deal for that land? Is it our state representatives, our state representation, or is it you dealing with somebody in the state level?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: I'm dealing with... I dealt with one of the state representatives, and I didn't get anywhere. It wasn't because of the state rep. DOT is extraordinarily difficult to deal with. They have different levels of bureaucracy. It was actually the attorney, Hannah Kilson, who knew two of the attorneys at DOT and she placed a call and they immediately responded to me. So yeah, they've been very helpful. One of the issues that we face with that though is that This is a land lease. We're going to have a 99-year lease where we own the land. And the LLC, the self-installed LLC, will own the building and go into a management agreement with the authority to run that. So nothing will be different, except that when we negotiate this, it was only a 40-year lease. The investors are going to be involved for a certain period of time. I want to try to get a 99-year lease from the state to auto match. I have to get at least a 40, if not a 60-year lease from them. So, we're still working on that. That's what the building will look like. There might be some modifications to that. Right now, the cost of it is just over $100 million and we brought that down from about $117 million. We're still looking to try to expand on what it is that we're doing here. One of the good things is, Kayleen, you know this because I know you've experienced it in Lexington, but the fair market rents just went up. So the fair market rents that we were calculating the income on were at this level, now they're at this level. So that's a significant improvement for us which will allow us a little bit more flexibility. In addition, right now, there are 200 units here, and we're looking to put 222. The way we're gonna do that is we're gonna take some of the common areas on some of the floors, not all of the floors, on some of the floors, and be able to expand our units into those areas. But greater use is gonna be that we're going to have less two bedrooms and more one bedrooms, more of a demand for the one bedrooms than the twos. And so that by doing that, then, we will be able to increase by 22 units, the number of units that we have. One of the concerns I had was that I don't want to have a 900 foot unit on one floor and a 450 unit foot units, excuse me, on another floor. So I wanted the units to be very comparable. There are different sizes, but very comparable. And some of the units, some of the smaller units, we're going to put new new individuals off a wait list to go into that, and all the folks who are relocating back will go into some of the bigger units. I've seen units over in Cambridge. They're certainly of sufficient size. Even the smallest units we'll have, they'll be of sufficient size for our residents. So we're in the middle of relocation. If you look at Gabe's comments in your packet, you'll see that the 11th floor, if not entirely, Vacated is almost entirely vacated the 10th floor. We're on our way to doing that I think the middle of October will have the 10th floor vacated and those folks have relocated to either units in Units here or units at at other sites the residents have been very cooperative. I'll get you that page Yeah, the residents have been very cooperative With the relocation efforts and I have to tell you a number of the residents who have moved to other sites are enjoying the new sites and they may end up staying there for all we know. But Barbara can tell you though, we've run into situations where people have requested a site and they've not gotten the unit they wanted and so they say, well I'm not going. We haven't threatened anyone with eviction yet, but we have knocked people down to the bottom of the list when they refuse to take a unit. For example, at Bradley Road. I don't want the unit on the first floor, I want the unit on the third floor. Well no, somebody else is going there. You can't have that. And so that individual will end up staying here during construction because we may not have another unit at a building and they may not come up. So we're getting that. Other people have said, well, I can't move because my furniture is too big. Well, we don't make exceptions for people because of their furniture. That's not our problem. So they all signed an agreement with us.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: You're paying for moving costs, right?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Right, but the units may be of different size.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: Oh, the couch won't fit.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Yeah. Units may be of different size. So as much as we try to accommodate the residents, we have to be consistent in how we deal with them. And you know, Barbara has had discussions with staff. because she's our reasonable accommodations coordinator as far as granting people reasonable accommodations. And I think you said to me this week, Barbara, you don't grant somebody a reasonable accommodation because of the size of their furniture. No. Right? No.
[MCM00001408_SPEAKER_03]: Madam Chair, you would evict someone if they refuse to move?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: If they refuse to move, that would be the last resort. If someone were on the 11th floor now and they said, I'm not moving, yes. Yes, we give them every option to go to another unit. But if they're on the 11th floor, and that 11th floor is where we're starting construction, they'd have to be evicted if they were not going to move. Because what happens is every day that we delay this costs us that much more money in the end. So do I anticipate doing that, Michael? Not at all. I hope not. Not at all. I hope not, too. I hope not, too. But folks have to recognize the fact that we need to be able to get this done. I think my two construction guys here would understand what I'm saying. It's a 30 to a 32-month construction period. And so if we can make that less, that's great, but we're anticipating a 30 to a 32-month.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: So you're providing them multiple choices, correct, right, to move?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: But the issue there though, Sue, is sometimes those multiple choices run into conflict with other people's multiple choices. So if I don't want to go to Weldon in this situation, then my next choice is to stay here. I may not be able to stay here because there may be other people who have a higher lottery number, a higher priority than I do, and their first choice is to stay here. We're not in the business to evict people. We're in the business to house people. We're going to do everything we possibly can.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: I have one question with that as well. Is the relocation coordinator helping those folks that have sectioned vouchers?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Oh, yes. We actually have a company that we're using that is, I forget the name of it. Again, it's in the materials you have. But we have a company that we use to help people locate a unit.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: And also provide translation if need be, right?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Oh yeah, definitely. I have not been told that, but I would be shocked if that were not the case. This is a private firm.
[SPEAKER_03]: Simple Solutions is the name of the Section 8 company that's helping out with the Section 8 solution.
[Unidentified]: Thank you.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Is there any comments? Anything else? No? Can I have a motion to close executive director's report, please?
[MCM00001408_SPEAKER_03]: Motion to close.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Second. Second. I'll second it. All right. Colleen?
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: I'll make the motion. Paul seconds. Paul seconds. Oh, we're switching it?
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Yeah. Oh, whatever you want.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: I think that's originally how it played out, and then we both jumped on each other's.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Yeah. All right, new business.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: We're following HUD's recommendation, and you'll see that this is an effort on my part that Gabe not have to continue to write freehand memos to the board. The information, though, that he would otherwise write is enclosed in the resolution. And this is actually the way it should be, and this is what HUD, in their HUD procurement handbook, strongly encourages us to do, so you'll see the resolution itself that Barbara's put in here, Resolution Number 53 of 22. I would think that you could waive the reading of this resolution and just approve Resolution Number 53 of 2022 as provided. I'm sorry, can you say that again?
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: Who recommended we do it like this?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: HUD. HUD Procurement Handbook. Gabe was spending an inordinate amount of time writing out these sometimes two or three page memos to me for you folks and those were written to me but they were for the purpose of providing it to the board. This is the same information that would otherwise have been provided and it's in a format that's consistent from vote to vote or resolution to resolution.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: So going forward this is what we'll see?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Yes.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: And not a memo?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Yes.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: Okay.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: I have a quick question, and I know I've asked this question before and I think I've gotten an answer before, but I'm going to ask it again. When it comes to these contractors being picked, there's three prices that we're given for this job. We're shown one. I don't know what the other two prices are. I don't know if they were drastically higher or what, but no matter what, we have to go with the lowest price. Is there file sub bids and we have to go with the lowest price?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: We have to go with the lowest responsible bidder. It's not only the entity that is the low bid, but it's the lowest responsible. They have to be responsive and responsible. Responsive meaning that they're bidding apples for apples. Responsible meaning that they can do the job that they've bid on.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: And there must be some type of list of credentials or licenses or insurances or something that they have to go to to get approved to be able to bid on work through the housing authority.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: And that's where Gabe comes in. And it's based on Gabe's recommendation that they are responsible. And in addition to that, just so you know, I don't sign a contract unless they're a legal entity. And so that every contract that we enter into, regardless of who it is, whether someone we've vented into six other contracts with, we get a Secretary of State certification that they are a legal entity. So if we have to go back after them, we can sue them.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: And when did they bid on this job? Like, when was this job bid on? On August 17th.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: August 17th.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Invitation to bid.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, bids were due September 8th. They received three bids.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Okay, so one of my concerns, Can I speak? Are we good? So one of my concerns is that with this contract, as I know they're considered by the housing authority, a responsible contractor, but on June 3rd of 2022 of this year, they lost a lawsuit for back wages for $283,020. 141,000 of it was back wages. 15,000 was a civil penalty for willful nature of violation. So they had to pay almost $300,000 because they weren't paying overtime or the correct wages to their employees. But somehow, they're a reputable contractor that we're going to pay $121,000, $122,000 almost $1,000 to when they just legally had to pay money back for not paying. So they don't seem very reputable or a very good employee. I wouldn't like to see as high as somebody like this who's not paying their employees overtime and not paying them the proper money they should be getting. I just don't know how they fall through the cracks or not say fall through the cracks but how something like this is overlooked. I just don't think we should be hiring a contractor like this. I think that's a very bad case.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: What I would ask you to do, then, is let's table this, and I'll give you some more information, but I will tell you this, that anyone who does work for us in particular on the federal side, we actually interview the people on the job. They submit certified payrolls to us on a weekly basis, and we look at that very closely. Yeah, I just and then I can't tell you that that's a reason for us to be able to deny them. Yeah And I know you're saying that they paid a penalty I don't know that we can deny them if they're the low bidder and they have the capacity to do the work It's up to us to make sure that they pay their their workers overtime. Yeah, if they don't I not only are they going to get penalized by us, and we won't use them again, but they may end up being disbarred from doing any federal work. I've seen that. No, I don't.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: It's just there's a bunch of contractors that operate like this and they'll make $400,000, $500,000 on not paying the proper pay to their employees and then it's easy to pay $280,000 because you still made a couple hundred grand because you screwed the the people that work for you out of that money or whatever they were entitled to. It's just, it's unfortunate that companies can operate like this, just pay their penalty and just fall right back into where, it should be off a list. But if you pull something like this, you should be not eligible to be on a list to be able to work in a place like this for X amount of time. You should be disbarred.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: I don't disagree with you. I don't know that, quite frankly, I don't know that that happens. If it was on a federal job, more than likely they would be. But the federal government may say, well, you did it once, don't do it again.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: I don't know that part. I obviously would not feel comfortable voting in favor of this. If we can get some more information on it, find out what the deal was. maybe there's an explanation to it, I don't know, but I personally don't feel comfortable.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Can you send me anything that you have on that?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, I can send you an article that I read on it.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: I was just going to ask, would you just do a quick Google search?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Anytime we have contracts on this, I do a quick Google search, just to check to see if anything comes up, and it was right there, and I was like, is it old, is it new? It's the same thing with the electrical contract that I pulled up that time. check the date on to make sure it wasn't something from six, seven years ago. It could be same owner, same, and then you always, there could be a bunch of, you know, Bellco, you don't know, right? But they were, I checked it, I looked it up, they were, it was a New Hampshire court that they went through and they said that they were from, you know, and then I looked up this company and I found their address in Salem, and then it said they were a Salem-based company, so I imagine it's that company. I would think it is.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: We'll look at that. I'll make the motion to table this, but I would just maybe make a suggestion, and this is up to you and Gabe, but maybe every time we get a board vote similar to this, if we could see the bid tab sheet just for our own reference, and also the architect, like CBA Landscape was tasked with doing reference checks and making sure that these people are legit, and they should have, and I'm sure they wrote and gave a letter with the reference checks, and maybe that would just be good. knowledge for us to see that letter of reference.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Like this is what I found, you know, this is the article I found. There's a news, there's a news, like a video news article, like clipping on it as well. I didn't watch that, but I read the, just the documentation below on it.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: It was a U.S. Department of Labor?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Okay.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: I have a motion to table. Can I get a second? Second. All right. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: she's summoning our special guest yeah Sandra the lady behind the curtain
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: My name is Sandra Reiniger.
[Unidentified]: Some of you I know, some of you are new to me. I've been
[SPEAKER_05]: I've been here at the Housing Authority for over 20 years. I've been doing the Family Self-Sufficiency Program for more than 25 years. And I'm here to just tell you a little bit more about the FSS program. We have a new action plan that's going to HUD, so it's just a good opportunity to give you an overview. So the FSS program has been around since 1990. Medford Housing Authority got 75 new vouchers and was required to start an FSS program. FSS is Family Self-Sufficiency. The idea is to provide a support person. The funding supplies the support person, an FSS coordinator, to help families overcome barriers and find a way to increase their earned income, ideally. They also realize the value of having a little bit of capital or a little bit of savings. So that was sort of built in to the program. So families that are interested, anyone in public housing or Section 8 is eligible. They can sit with me and think about their goals for the next five years, their employment-based and financial goals. We write up a contract with their ideas. It's very client-centered. Everyone's goals are different. Some people are starting out on welfare or not working at all or working, been at CVS for 30 years. Other people are LPN and hoping, have always planned or wanted to become an RN. Everyone's starting point is different, but we write out their goals. It's a proven way of hopefully being more likely to complete your goals if you write them down. We also give a little target date when they think they would like to complete their goals. And then we work together. My role varies as well. Some families I see or call me every other week with an issue of some kind, trying to overcome something that's been holding them back. Other families sort of know their plan. They're already enrolled in school or know where they want to go. It's just getting through those steps to get them to that next level and complete their goals. So over the five years we worked together, tick off those goals. ideally increasing their earned income over those five years. It is an employment program, so the final goal for everyone is to be employed in suitable employment. And again, suitable varies depending on the person. So, over the five years, there's another incentive built in besides my one-on-one personal attention. There's an opportunity for families to build that savings account, an escrow account. And that money doesn't come from them, it actually comes from the housing authority. So families, when they first sign their contract, we put on the contract what their current earned income is and what their portion of the rent is when they start. And then when they do get an increase, they report everything to their public housing or Section 8 staff like anyone else, as their income goes up, their portion of the rent goes up. But if they have an FSS contract, that increase in their portion of the rent is potentially put into a savings account. So if their rent increases because of earned income goes up $200 a month. housing authority in essence is saving $200 a month and we're going to put that $200 every month into an escrow account. So that really varies too. Some people get $100, $200 a month. Other people if they've joined FSS and they're not working at all and they're able to complete a degree of some kind and go to work full-time, get an increase, you know, get a raise again. Some people are getting $800 or $900 a month into that escrow. So that can build and over the five years, ideally, if they have completed their goals that they set for themselves, pretty much education of some kind, usually increasing their earned income, increasing their credit score. Most people are trying to think about home ownership in the future, but it's not necessary. So at the end of the five years, if they've completed the goals they've set for themselves, they're working in suitable employment, and no one in the household is receiving welfare, then they get that full balance of money written out to them to do whatever they choose with. Ideally, the last year or so, we're sort of exploring options, especially if they have 30, 40, we've had someone with $50,000. So we try to make a real concrete plan. It's all still up to them, but... They don't have to leave. They don't have to leave housing.
[Jim Lister]: I'm curious, because I do, and I know You know, we've had apprentices get into a union program, live in the projects. You know, and every year it's a 10% increase until they make the big money. And then she told me that part of her money was going into a savings program to buy a home. But somewhere along the line, I think she's just kind of waiting for the big money, the money to come to her, and she's not going to go anywhere.
[SPEAKER_05]: Right, right. Yeah, it's a difficult transition to break out of.
[Jim Lister]: It's a great program.
[SPEAKER_05]: Housing, yeah, I did bring a little picture. Just a month or two, no, about a year ago, I guess, January, one of my families had, I think she had over $40,000. But she'd been working on her credit, trying to have some savings of her own. And there is a Section 8 home ownership program that we don't offer here in Medford, but we have an agreement with Somerville. So we were able to transfer her voucher over to Somerville and she purchased this really, really nice home. I do have a little flyer. brochure that was created by our very own Katie Molloy. I think 17. Many, many years ago. Sandy was my first boss 15 years ago. I was going to say, was that 15 years? That's kind of what came to mind. But I did notice a little tempo in it after all these years. I was reading it over. Oh, jeez. Jeff might see this. I better check it over. Does anyone have any questions?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Now do you personally do anything, are you like a resource to them to help them find work?
[SPEAKER_05]: The main priority is to connect them with resources that are already in the community. So we have sort of partnerships in many different ways with Mass Hire, with early childhood programs. Ideally I'm connecting, but for some people, you know, it's setting up the appointment for them to go over there, or going over to Mass Hire with them the first time, or having Mass Hire come here and get them acclimated. So it's ideally connecting them with other agencies but I do do a lot of one-on-one for families you know that can't get there or aren't ready to go somewhere else. I'm not an expert in all areas but I do know a little bit about a lot of things in terms of FSS.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: No it's funny that you bring this up tonight because I've been talking I've been in contact with the mayor and the director of diversity and equity inclusion for the city right Francis right so There's a program in Boston, and Jimmy would be familiar with this because he has many apprentices and journeymen, I'm sure, that have come through this program, but we have a program in Boston called Building Pathways, and I've been recently put on the board of Building Pathways. So what Building Pathways does is we take women and people of color, so men and women of color, any woman and then people of color, and they get put into this program, and it's an introduction to all the union trades.
[SPEAKER_05]: Right. I have two people that are in ... Do you work with Mass Hire, do you think?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: This is its own program through the city, but it was always just for Boston residents. And what happened was it was so successful and it was working so well they decided to expand it to certain neighborhoods outside of Boston, one being Medford. And I only found out about it because I interviewed a young woman from Medford one day and I said, how the hell did she get on the list? And after I grabbed a woman, Mary Vogel, who runs it and says, How did this go from metric analysis? You said, well, we expanded it to metric, but no one ever applies. So I went to the city and I said, we got to share this information with the community because it's great. It gives an opportunity for people of color in the community and women to get into the construction industry. It's an introduction. It gives you all the trades. It brings you to the mall. You do a 12-week program. They do mock interviews and everything, and they help you sign up for the unions, and then they help to push you to get into the locals. And I think it could be a good program for the people in the housing authority. I think there's numerous people that would love to take advantage of it if they knew that the information was out there. And I just took the two business cards for the women that run it that do all the outreach for the program, and I just dropped them off. I had a meeting at City Hall before I came here. And I just dropped them off at Frances's office before I left to make sure she had it and does the outreach. But I think it'd be a good tool for you to be able to, if that's something you do, to utilize to be able to help the residents.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, definitely. I am aware of it. And we do typically get flyers from Mass Hire. They're kind of our training and employment partner. So they do send flyers over. And I do have two families that signed up. to start in September, I think it is. They had tried to get in the former round, but they didn't get in that.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, we just picked a class. And usually it's during the day. The class we just picked was for nights. And so it's a little bit more convenient for some people who have jobs that really couldn't give up their jobs to take that course.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, it does sound like a great opportunity to check out all the different trades.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: It's an awesome program.
[SPEAKER_05]: It really is. It's great. Yeah, it's a good, other than So there were some changes in the latest enacted, let's see, what was it? The Economic Growth and Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act of 2018 also included some FSS regulations. So there were a few changes. We needed to redo our action plan. That action plan gives us the opportunity to set some of our own policies. And that's what I believe is on the agenda. That needs to be reviewed by the board and then sent to HUD. And then we'll be using those new guidelines.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: Is the action plan every five years?
[SPEAKER_05]: It needs to be updated if we make any major changes. So everyone had to do it this year there's actually a freeze no adding any FSS new families until you have your action plan approved by HUD.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: And we're looking once that's approved we're looking to increase from 40 to 60.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, ideally, right.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Over the course of two years.
[SPEAKER_05]: Hope to hire a new FSS part-time person. I'm a part-time resident services supervisor at this point and holding on to part-time FSS, so we'll get someone new in to help out.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: So in answer to your question, I can answer that, that regardless of whether Sandy can incorporate that into FSS, love to be able to have the opportunity to have discussion with someone a relative to apprentices coming in and working at the authority. I know the Boston Housing Authority does that. Yeah. Sandy's other hat.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: So we didn't get a copy of the action plan?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: No, we didn't give that to you. Sandy was here to make the presentation. That's why.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, there were not too many major changes, but a couple of the major changes is it's always been the head of household, only the head of household that could sign the FSS contract, but in some families the head of household is disabled or unable to work or just much older and there's a younger son or daughter or spouse that would want to participate and they never could before. So now we can designate a specific FSS, head of household. And I think one of the other major changes is with the escrow, if a family doesn't complete their goals or if they have a problem with their their lease or they're still on welfare. There's a reason why they don't receive that escrow money at the end. In the past, the FSS escrow went back to... Was forfeited. Right, was forfeited and came back to the Housing Authority. But now that forfeited FSS money is going to be creating a new account that we can use to assist families in ways to help them complete their goals. So those are really the main changes, some of the little things.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: That's good. That's a good program.
[SPEAKER_03]: Any other questions? All set?
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: We're all set.
[SPEAKER_03]: Thanks so much. Good job.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Thank you. It's been a long time.
[Unidentified]: Officially.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Thanks, Andy.
[Unidentified]: Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: You too. Thanks. All right. Consideration of request by the Executive Director to approve the Epithets Action Plan. I need them. Yeah. Can I get a second? I'll second. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Thanks. All right. C, discussion for October meeting on Thursday, October 20th. When was it?
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: It was supposed to be Wednesday?
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Yeah.
[Jim Lister]: I'll be in town the 20th. What's that all about?
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: I have a conflict. I'm out of town.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: All right, that works for me.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: On the 19th.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: Same time, 430? OK.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: I actually have a retreat to go to as far as fodder is concerned, Board of Trustees. And it goes through Thursday. But I'm actually going to fly back earlier because I have on behalf of the Housing Authority court cases on the 20th in the morning. So I'll be back for those. But I can't come back on, I can't come back any earlier than Wednesday evening. Hopefully I'm going to be able to get a flight out.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: That's fine with my schedule.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, I already put it in my calendar. I probably won't be here, but you guys should have a meeting anyways. Don't work around me. I get it. I get it. Hockey. Hockey. Sorry, I hate to say it, but there's four kids and two adults in the house. Someone's going to take one somewhere, and one's going to take, and put my son's going to soccer and hockey at the same time. So I get it. I'll try to be here. I'll put it that way. If I can get somebody to take our practice, I'll try to be here. But if I can't coordinate that, I may not be here. Kayden's husband may be here. He's not. He won't be.
[MCM00001830_SPEAKER_05]: She's on the elite team.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: He won't be busy.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Do you want to go to Tewksbury?
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: it with a friend when I have to be, you know, when she can't I take her kid when I can't.
[SPEAKER_03]: We can always have the meeting at the rink, right?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Yeah, cold rink, breakaway is a cold rink.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Okay, that's settled. And D, I have nothing to report for so... Beautiful.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: Well, so I can tell you though as far as the community preservation And I believe the applications are due the end of this month. And we have submitted a preliminary application on behalf of Walkman Court, I believe it was. And we're hopeful, based upon some discussions we've had with the city, to be able to get a three-year funding package from them. Right, from the last. Yeah. Yeah.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Okay. Anything else? Can I get a...
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: I just, I don't know if it's really relevant to the meeting, but I would just like to mention that I finally got to see a tour of the buildings. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm glad I, I can't tell you I know exactly what building is what building yet, but I'm getting there. But it was, it was very, it was good to see the buildings and get the tour and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That's it for me.
[Jim Lister]: All right. Not to do with that, but finishes in this building when they do it. What are the floor finishes gonna... Oh, I don't know that yet. I'm just curious because, you know, this is what you have everywhere in housing, and I'm just curious as what... Yeah, I haven't delved into it to that depth yet.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: I don't know what... There's still... There's still modifying. It's out to bid at this point, as far as the subs are concerned. I don't know. I can find that out for you. I'm just curious.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: It's probably going to be some type of laminate, like floor, like laminate. The stripped down stuff, yeah. That's usually what you see, yeah.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: All right, can I get a motion to... We'd like to tie up.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: We'd like to tie up. Then you just replace one tie.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Motion to adjourn.
[Jeffrey Driscoll]: I can talk later.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Do we have a second?
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Motion to adjourn.
[Losa Julie Genevieve]: Second. All right.
[cWHRmg4nTSM_SPEAKER_09]: Thank you, folks.
[MCM00001408_SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.