: : TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED REGULAR MEETING : : PROCEEDINGS :

Transcription

1 CITY OF UNION CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY : : TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDED REGULAR MEETING : : PROCEEDINGS : Kennedy Boulevard Union City, New Jersey Thursday, September, Commencing at :0 p.m. M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: DIANE R. CAPIZZI, COMMISSIONER DOROTHY JETTER, COMMISSIONER JOSE PEDRAZA, COMMISSIONER MARTIN T. MARTINETTI, CHAIRPERSON M E M B E R S A B S E N T: ELISE DiNARDO, COMMISSIONER DEBRA MUNDORF, COMMISSIONER MARGARITA GUTIERREZ, VICE CHAIRPERSON, A L S O P R E S E N T: STANLEY M. SANGER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR GERARD D. PIZZILLO, ESQ., COUNSEL WALDO MORIN, Deputy Director of Operations JORGE RODRIGUEZ, COMPTROLLER-HR MANAGER

2 I N D E X PAGE CALL TO ORDER SALUTE TO FLAG ROLL CALL EXECUTIVE SESSION CONSENT AGENDA APPROVAL OF MINUTES APPROVAL OF BIDS APPROVAL OF VARIOUS RESOLUTIONS RESOLUTION NO. -11 RESOLUTION NO. -1 RESOLUTION NO. -1 RESOLUTION NO. -1 RESOLUTION NO. -1 RESOLUTION NO. -1 RESOLUTION NO. -1 RESOLUTION NO. - RESOLUTION NO. -1 RESOLUTION NO. -0 RESOLUTION NO. -1 RESOLUTION NO. - RESOLUTION NO. - RESOLUTION NO. - RESOLUTION NO. - RESOLUTION NO. - RESOLUTION NO. - RESOLUTION NO. - RESOLUTION NO. - RESOLUTION NO. -10 RESOLUTION NO. -11 APPROVAL OF PAYMENT OF BILLS DIRECTOR S REPORT/UCHA ACHIEVEMENTS ADJOURNMENT 1

3 MR. SANGER: Flag salute. (Whereupon, the Pledge of Allegiance was said by all.) MR. SANGER: Well, good evening everyone And welcome to the September meeting of the -- the Board of the Union City Board of Commissioner -- the Union City Housing Authority. And I m just hoping and trusting that everyone did have a good summer. We didn t have a July and August meeting. But at the same time we were able to continue with our -- our business here and being in contact with many of you via phone and telecommunications in various ways. So bottom line is the Union City Housing Authority still moved forward. We didn t skip a beat and it was business as usual. But of course this evening we re getting back to our first meeting and I m just trusting that you had a good summer, you and your families. And we did do a lot of work over the summer as a -- you know, as an Authority, which we will

4 show you a little later and be able to give you some visuals towards that and a lot did happen. ROLL CALL: MR. SANGER: But before we get into all that I just want to take a moment to do our Roll Call. And I will do that at this moment and we ll have Roll Call. Mr. Martinetti? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Here. MR. SANGER: Miss Gutierrez? Absent. Miss Jetter? COMMISSIONER JETTER: Here. MR. SANGER: Miss DiNardo? Absent. Miss Capizzi? COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Here. MR. SANGER: Miss Mundorf? Absent. Mr. Pedraza? COMMISSIONER PEDRAZA: Here. MR. SANGER: Here. Okay, we have four present; three absent.

5 We do have a quorum. At this time I d like to say this is a Regular Meeting and in accordance of the Union City Housing Authority, in accordance and pursuant to Chapter of the Open Public Meeting Act. And adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as follows: An annual schedule of Board Meetings set forth the time, date and location of such meetings and the notice and the agenda, to extent known, of this meeting has been prominently posted on our bulletin board, along with our -- with our website, and also have been filed with the Office Of the City Clerk for the Union City. And at this time what I d like to do is have a motion to go into Closed Session. Do I have a motion? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Motion. MR. SANGER: Motion; Mr. Martinetti. Second; Miss Jetter. Roll call. Mr. Martinetti? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Yes. MR. SANGER: Miss Jetter?

6 1 1 COMMISSIONER JETTER: Yes. MR. SANGER: Miss Capizzi? COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Yes. MR. SANGER: Mr. Pedraza? COMMISSIONER PEDRAZA: Yes. MR. SANGER: Okay. Thank you very much. (Whereupon, the Board moved to Executive Session at : p.m.) (Whereupon, the Board returned to Open Session at : p.m.) MR. SANGER: We will now go into our Open Session and we ll see if there are any members of the public here. And before we go into that we ll ask for a motion to go into Open Session? MR. PIZZILLO: Mr. Martinetti. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Motion. MS. SANGER: Mr. Martinetti; motion. Second by Miss Jetter. And we ll have our roll call for Open Session.

7 Mr. Martinetti? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Yes. MR. SANGER: Miss Jetter? COMMISSIONER JETTER: Yes. MR. SANGER: Miss Capizzi? COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Yes. MR. SANGER: Mr. Pedraza? COMMISSIONER PEDRAZA: Yes. 1 1 MR. SANGER: We are now in Open Session and we ll see if there are members from the public that would like to join us. MR. MORIN: Nope. MR. SANGER: At this time there are no members of the public here. So we will go right into our Open Session (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took action on the following items: CONSENT AGENDA: A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF JUNE, AND THE EXECUTIVE SESSION MEETING OF JUNE, ; B. APPROVAL OF RFP/BIDS; C. APPROVAL OF VARIOUS RESOLUTIONS; RESOLUTION NO TO RENEW

8 MEMBERSHIP IN THE NEW JERSEY PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITY JOINT INSURANCE FUND; RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE HOUSING AUTHORITY TO RE-BID THE EXTERMINATION MAINTENANCE SERVICES FOR THE PHA; RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE PHA TO ADVERTISE FOR RFPs FOR LEGAL SERVICES FOR THE PHA; RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION APPROVING RATIFICATION OF UNION CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS APPROVAL VIA TELEPHONICALLY APPROVING SILVA MECHANICAL BID FOR BOILER AND HOT WATER HEATER CLEANING SERVICES; RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION APPROVING RATIFICATION OF UNION CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS APPROVAL VIA TELEPHONICALLY APPROVING QUOTE BY SILVA MECHANICAL FOR THE INSTALLATION OF BOILER WATER FEED TANK AT 1 RD STREET; RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION APPROVING RATIFICATION OF UNION CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS APPROVAL VIA TELEPHONICALLY PERMITTING THE AUTHORITY TO PUBLISH BID FOR THE PURCHASE, DELIVERY, AND INSTALLATION OF KITCHEN STOVES AT AMP II & III;

9 RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION APPROVING RATIFICATION OF UNION CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS APPROVAL VIA TELEPHONICALLY APPROVING GL GROUP BID FOR THE INSTALLATION OF NEW DOORS, FRAMES AND HARDWARE AT AMP II & III; RESOLUTION NO. - - RESOLUTION APPROVING RATIFICATION OF UNION CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS APPROVAL VIA TELEPHONICALLY SELECTING ICON ARCHITECTS FOR ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES FOR CAPITAL FUND PROGRAM; RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION APPROVING THE UNION CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY TO CONVERT TO AND IMPLEMENT THE RENTAL ASSISTANCE DEMONSTRATION (RAD) PROGRAM OFFERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD); RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION APPROVING THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE EVALUATION SELECTION COMMITTEE TO SELECT MANAGEMENT RESOURCE GROUP, LLC TO PROVIDE A ENERGY AUDIT FOR THE PHA; RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION APPROVING THE APPOINTMENT OF JORGE RODRIGUEZ, HOUSING AUTHORITY COMPTROLLER AS A PERSONAL SIGNER TO THE WELLS FARGO ESCROW ACCOUNTS NUMBER

10 -0 AND -; RESOLUTION NO. - - RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR FIRE ALARM, SECURITY ALARM AND INTERCOM SYSTEMS MAINTENANCE SERVICES; RESOLUTION NO. - - RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR FUEL OIL DELIVERY SERVICES; RESOLUTION NO. - - RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR FIRE SPRINKLER SYSTEM REPAIR SERVICES; RESOLUTION NO. - - RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR HVAC UNIT MAINTENANCE SERVICES; RESOLUTION NO. - - RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR EMERGENCY ELECTRICAL REPAIR SERVICES; RESOLUTION NO. - - RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF KITCHEN STOVES AT AMPS & ; RESOLUTION NO. - - RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR BOILER WATER TREATMENT SERVICES; RESOLUTION NO. - - RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR ELEVATOR MAINTENANCE SERVICES;

11 RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR COMPACTOR MACHINE REPAIR SERVICES; RESOLUTION NO RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT FOR EMERGENCY GENERATOR PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE SERVICES; and D. APPROVAL OF PAYMENT OF BILLS.) MR. SANGER: What I d like to do is just remind all the Board members we will now do a Consent Agenda, as we have done in the past And when we do have our Consent Agenda you will be voting on -- in the areas of Approval of the Minutes; Approval of the Bids; Approval of the Various Resolutions; and Approval of the Payment of Bills. That will all go into be part of our Consent Agenda. So we will take that Consent Agenda after we go through all our Resolutions and any other businesses that we may have. With that we want to have Mr. Pizzillo make a -- a statement if you d like with Mr. Martinetti s vote, -- MR. PIZZILLO: Sure.

12 MR. SANGER: -- please. MR. PIZZILLO: Sure. And just -- just for the record I -- MS. DILLON: Move forward, Mr. -- MR. PIZZILLO: Oh, sure. Sorry Just for the record, on the Consent Agenda items, Chairman Martinetti is -- will be and -- or potentially abstaining from any and all voting on Resolutions, payment of bills and any other items on the Consent -- on the Consent Agenda dealing with Miguel Hector and any other contractor or vendor who is in or governed by the Uniform Commercial Code. This is going to be -- CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Uniform Construction. MR. PIZZILLO: Excuse me. Uniform Construction Code. This is going to be a blanket statement for this meeting and for all meetings going forward. I will continue to make this statement at each subsequent meeting but at least for the September th meeting that s how we will be going forward.

13 MR. SANGER: Thank you, Mr. Pizzillo. And what about to do and please bear with me and just to remind everyone we did not have a July or August meeting but we were able to go forward with a lot of our business. And I just want to thank everyone at this table for being cooperative and helpful with me, as Director, making telephone contact with you, having some telephone vote during the course of the summer, so we re able to keep our operations moving forward and -- and to allow us to continue to be successful here at the -- the Authority. But at this time now I have about somewhere -- about or Resolutions that I m about to read. So if you bear with me, we ll go through this. And there are various -- various areas, some with -- through vendors and some through just some general things that we must take care of. So, I ll try to be as succinct as possible and as short as possible to make this palatable for everyone and so everyone has a good general understanding of our Resolutions. The first is Resolution number

14 And it s just allowing the -- the Union City Housing Authority to be part of New Jersey Public Housing Authority Joint Insurance Fund And we ve been part of this for many, many years here. And it s just another yearly item that comes before us. So, again, to renew membership with the New Jersey Public Housing Authority in their what they call JIF, Joint Insurance Fund; number one. Second is -- you ll see a second here is also the -- what you ll see the agreement with them. And you ll see that here it starts from January -- you know, from December right through January the following year. So, you ll see that. That s also connected to that Resolution. The second Resolution. The -1, is a Resolution Authorizing the Housing Authority to Rebid the Extermination Maintenance Services for the PHA. We did put out bid for the extermination services, which of course is extremely important for our Housing. We were not happy with the -- the selections or the people who have basically

15 submitted. And there weren t many. So we d we d like to have a better selection so we could truly try to service the -- our tenants, you know, more appropriately and best -- as best we can. So we re asking to go out to rebid for that. And we will be asking for your consent with that as well. The third. -1, is Resolution Authorizing the PHA to Advertise for Legal Services. We do this each year. And those legal services, for those who might be going out -- professional contract towards that. And we will putting -- be putting that out. And, of course, being sure that our current firm, represented by Mr. Pizzillo, will be sure -- get a copy of this as well. Number -1 is Resolution Approving Ratification of Union City Housing Authority Commissioners, via Telephone, which we had done this summer -- for Mechani-- Silva Mechanical for Bid for Boiler and Hot Water Cleanings. And this was not to exceed $, The next Resolution, which -- which would

16 be Resolution Approving Ratification of Union City Housing Authority Board of Commissioners Approval via Telephonically Approving Quote from Silva Mechanical for Installation of a Boiler Feed Tank that was necessary in downtown AMP 1 and -- which is connected to heating and hot -- hot water heating. So this is one where we ll be asking for as well. And they will not exceed the amount of $,.00. Moving on -1. Resolution Approving Ratification of Union City Board of Commissioners via the Telephonically Permitting the Authority to Publish Bid for Purchase, Delivery, and Installation of Kitchen Stoves at AMPs II and III. And we were able to do that and go out to bid for that -- bid for these services. And we re very happy to say this evening that we did get a -- a group that will be working with us. And with that -- that company would --

17 is called Corporation -- MR. PIZZILLO: Appliance Connection MR. SANGER: -- yeah, Appliance Connection, from Brooklyn New York. And they ll be providing for us some new stoves and installation of these stoves for all of the residents and all of the units here in -- in our PHA. So we re very happy with that as we always look forward to improving upon that. The other is the -1. Resolution Approving Ratification of the G and L Group Bid for Installation of New Doors, Frames and Hardware at AMPs II and III. If you recall with spoke with you at our last meeting back in June about our plan that we had put together to address some of the issues with REAC, which is the -- the inspection that we do get -- annual inspection from HUD. So we did put together our plan. And we re utilizing funding for that. So capital funding towards that. And in our plan that we shared with you in June. And that will not exceed $, Number is Resolution Selecting ICON

18 Architects for Architectural Services for our Capital Fund Program. And, again, the -- the amount will not exceed,00. And, again, it s those services -- architectural services connected to that capital fund program making improvements for our residents. Next would be -1. And this is a Resolution Approving the Union City Housing Authority to Convert to and Implement the -- the Rental Assistance Demonstration, otherwise known as RAD Program Offered by the Department of Housing Urban Development, HUD. And what this is is we are -- we have rethought and realize the importance now that -- of what we have to do as an Authority to make improvements, capital improvements here, and for conditions and making the quality of life better for all of our residents and all of our units. We realize that -- and if -- to say it very bluntly, the -- the Union City Housing Authority does not have one unit that is under 0 years old. Okay?

19 So with that -- older buildings and older units we have to do something now to do in a -- in a collective way and to -- to improve the -- all our facilities and by doing that. So we will be working -- we ll -- we ll have a lot more information for you about this. We are going to ask that -- give you -- asking you for permission that we can go out and start doing the -- you know, providing -- we re executing any and all of the documents and applications towards this and to give the Executive Director, myself, the discretion to retain individuals and people to help us move this along. All right? So bottom line, we are looking to improve everything here in the PHA -- in our -- in our building. We re talking about new bathrooms, new kitchens, new electrical service, new plumbing services, elevators, roofing, many of the health and safety issues and the exterior as well. So this is going to be something that may take two or three year period but it s something that s vitally needed to make the improvements for everyone here at our -- in our Author-- you

20 know, living here within the Authority. MR. RODRIGUEZ: If I may? MR. SANGER: So, we ll be asking you for -- towards that. MR. RODRIGUEZ: And if I may? I may just add it also stabilizes the funding that, you know, is a predictive -- it s a more predictive funding source knowing that we re going to get a specific amount every month from HUD, as opposed to, you know, based on our operating expenses where it could fluctuate. So with RAD it provides at least a more -- MR. SANGER: Um-hum. MR. RODRIGUEZ: -- it s a more, I guess, stable financing for the -- for the -- for our buildings. MR. SANGER: Stable and also is much stronger with administrative fees. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Exactly. MR. SANGER: Administrative fees, which allows you to help with operations and, of course, to manage all of these things. So, we re happy with that. And eventually would allow us to do is to become, in -- in a sense, a voucher -- a voucher Authority here.

21 And within our PHA here we would actually go with voucher, such as we do already with Section. So we will be managing all our facilities. Once you get to that point, you will get additional funding from HUD and you will also get higher management fees that will help us in overall operations and money. So, -- so it helps very much. Once we get into it a little more, of course, something as big as this, something as important to this, we ll have special -- we ll have maybe just a meeting that we ll just concentrate on explaining all of this to you. This is the early stage of just going out and letting -- you know, basically, we re going to go out and have two meetings with the public here. It requires two meetings with the people who live in our -- in our facilities. Once we have those two meetings and that we take -- you know, document all of -- everything that was said at our meetings, we re -- we -- and we re allowed to put in an application to HUD. Once we put that application into HUD and then it s approved, then we will move on into

22 something they call CHAP, which was -- CHAP is something -- it s the acronym for something with Housing Authority program. It s basically -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Contract for -- MR. SANGER: Yeah. Contract for payment of that. Which basically allows us now to sit with consultants and allow us to make the next steps and actively looking at what banks we re going to use. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Exactly. MR. SANGER: This is going to require a loan everyone. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Right. MR. SANGER: This is like a big mortgage. It will be somewhere in the area of to $1 million. And this is not immediate but in that area. And they ll go through a whole financial -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Plan. MR. SANGER: -- assessment and plan with you. HUD will come in and do a whole plan with us to be sure that the Union City Housing Authority is fiscally sound to make the payments

23 in the future to do this program So they check with you very thoroughly and they -- to be sure that we could this and move forward and stay solvent and still run everything through operations and et cetera. So as we go through these steps and move along with these steps, I will be briefing you, will be informing you, asking you for your support. And, of course, we want everyone to be onboard with this. It s something I think the City fathers realize is extremely important, speaking with Chairman Martinetti, knowing that many of our affordable housing units in the City of Union City are in great need of repair and improvement. So we will be moving towards that. We will also be moving towards -- which I ll announce -- speak a little bit about later about -- about what we re doing with COAH funding, what we re doing with the veterans apartments in Union City. So, all in all this is all good steps in the right direction. The next is number 0. Resolution approving the recommendation to

24 the evaluation to select Management Group to provide an audit. You re required by HUD to do an energy audit each and every year. These people have doing -- doing this for a number of years. Our select team -- selection team committee met yesterday. Thank you to Miss Capizzi, Miss -- Miss Gutierrez who s not here, and of course, Miss Jetter. They met as a selective -- as a select committee yesterday and were able to, as the low bidder, the -- the low bidder and most responsible bidder, we were able to award this to energy -- the energy audit to Select Management Resource Group for the cost of $, Resolution 1, is active -- is just very basic, Appointing Jorge Rodriguez, our Comptroller, as a Personal Signer of our Wells Fargo Escrow Accounts. And, of course, as financial -- as -- as our financial leader he s the person most equipped to sign this -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: And, just quickly, those two -- MR. SANGER: -- each and every month.

25 1 1 MR. RODRIGUEZ: And just, may -- if I may, those two -- those two accounts are just reserve accounts that we keep with a -- an investment bank that earns a specific -- a very conservative interest rate of return to -- so that we can earn some funds -- interest on some funds that we have on reserve. So that s all that is. MR. SANGER: - is Resolution Approving Contract for Fire Alarm, Security Alarm, Intercom Systems. And that not -- that will not -- of course the importance of this for safety with fire alarms and security alarms -- not to exceed $, CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Could I -- could 1 1 I go back to the reserve account? MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. MR. SANGER: Yes, sir. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: What kind of -- what s the balance more or less? Let s -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Well, we have -- we have about approximately $00, in those two accounts. They are sitting on veteran s

26 financials. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: How about -- you ever consider going to maybe an online account during the -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: For -- CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: -- better interest rate? MR. RODRIGUEZ: -- investment purposes? That s a very good -- that s a very good question. It all -- CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Some are paying -- Sorry. Some are paying almost two percent now. I see in my advertisements all the time. American Express Savings. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Sure. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Goldman Sachs Savings, -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Sure. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: -- which is now -- I forget what they call it. MR. RODRIGUEZ: We -- we could -- CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: They changed it. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I could explore that. There s definitely -- there s no question --

27 CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: I mean $00, at two percent is a lot better than getting almost, -- zero return. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Right. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: -- you know, a MR. RODRIGUEZ: Correct. Correct. They ve been -- and they ve been -- we ve been basically earning about -- yeah, about the -- the conservative amount of two to three percent. The funds are really there for emergency purposes. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: But you could always transfer right in. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Sure. Sure. The only thing is I -- I would have to like explore that and sit down and just weigh the -- the risks and returns and just -- just to make sure that, you know, we have that -- that in a very safe -- FDIC -- CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Well they re all MR. RODRIGUEZ: -- investment. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: -- insured. MR. RODRIGUEZ: I m sorry? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: They re -- they re

28 all FDIC insured MR. RODRIGUEZ: Well, yeah, I would have to explore that. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Yeah, they re all -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: I would have to see -- Yeah. I would have to explore -- CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Chartered banks. MR. RODRIGUEZ: But, yeah, I ll consider it. I ll definitely considered that. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: You re talking grand a year at two percent on a $00,000.00, you know, -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Um-hum. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: -- times X amount of accounts. Multiply that ten years -- MR. SANGER: We are meeting tomorrow with our financial consultant. MR. MORIN: Um-hum. MR. SANGER: Tomorrow morning. So it would be a good time to discuss this. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. MR. SANGER: Mr. -- Mr. Balu of the -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, our -- MR. SANGER: Since Mr. Balu will be --

29 MR. RODRIGUEZ: -- our fee accountant. MR. SANGER: -- here tomorrow. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, he ll be here. MR. SANGER: Our fee accountant will be here -- CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Yeah, what MR. SANGER: -- tomorrow morning. It will be a good time to bring that up to him. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I -- MR. SANGER: So very timely. Very timely. MR. RODRIGUEZ: There s always -- MR. SANGER: Okay. MR. RODRIGUEZ: -- they ll always -- always -- MR. SANGER: Jorge, make note of that so we can -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, absolutely. MR. SANGER: -- bring that up. MR. RODRIGUEZ: I will. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: They re the same banks. It s just, you know, one s online so the expenses are less, so they re able to pay you a better interest. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Right. Okay.

30 CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: They re -- they re all secured by the government. Same -- same insurance, -- same FDIC. MR. PIZZILLO: Same FDIC. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: -- have to be the MR. PIZZILLO: Same FDIC controls. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Correct. MR. SANGER: We ll put that on the agenda for tomorrow morning, Mr. Chairman. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Okay. MR. SANGER: Right? No problem. Next is -. Approving Contract for Fuel Oil Delivery. Of course the importance of that and the submission of this was -- would not point -- you know,.1 per gross gallon towards this. And so that would go to United Metro Energy Corporation. So -- to provide the fuel for our -- for our units here. Also,. Resolution Approving Contract for Fire Sprinkler System. And that will not exceed the $.00 per

31 hour for labor and /hour for emergency repairs. And at,10 for yearly inspections that go on in -- And that would be awarded to Fire Prevention Contractors. The -- Resolution Resolution Approving Contract for HVAC Unit Maintenance Services. We do have this each and every year and just to maintain our heating and our air conditioning. And that is a fee of $,.00. Resolution Approving Contract for Emergency Electrical Repair. And happy to say we haven t been -- we -- there hasn t been such a great need in this -- this last year or so for that electrical repair. But you know how that is, you must always be ready for anything that might come down in that area. Because, once again, it is a safety and a health issue with electricity. And it will not exceed that $.00 per hour and 1 per hour on -- on weekends. So, -- And that will be awarded to TSUJ Corporation.

32 Approve -- Next Resolution is -. Approving Contract for Purchase and Installation of Kitchen Stoves, which I spoke about before And you will see here, as a -- as a followup to that Resolution that the amount of $,.00 for stoves that will be installed and put in. And we think it s going to be a great improvement for all our residents here. So for about approximately $0,000.00, we have stoves -- stoves installed. And just a great step and -- for the people -- the improvements for all the people within our units here. Resolution number. Resolution Approving Contract for Boiler Water Treatment Services. And, again, this goes to the Metro Group. And it s for $,0.00. Number. Resolution Approving Contract for Elevator Maintenance Services. And this is a very big item for here at the -- at our Housing Authority. And, unfortunately, we do have issues with

33 elevators breaking down and sometimes you have vandalism and things of that nature. This is being awarded to G and S Elevators. And that s not to exceed the bid submission rate of $,00.00 for a month. The next is number Resolution Approving Contract for Compactor Machine Repair Services. And our compactor machines are used on a regular basis. And, you know, and used very, you know, most often. Very important for us as we do -- we work towards trash and things of that nature. And not to exceed $1.00 for first hour and $.00 for additional hours for that. And this is going to Premier Compact Systems. Number 11. Resolution Approving Contract for Emergency Generator Preventive Maintenance Services. Goes to Annual (sic) Switch and Generator LLC and not to exceed the amount of $1,.0. That -- that is all of the Resolutions. MR. PIZZILLO: Just for the record, Atlantic Switch and Generator.

34 MR. SANGER: Um-hum. Atlantic Switch -- MR. PIZZILLO: Sorry. Just so we re -- MR. SANGER: Thank you. MR. PIZZILLO: Sorry MR. SANGER: Thank you for the correction. So, that is with the -- with the Resolutions. I do want to say as a -- as a general statement, we are sticking to what we -- the -- all of the bid caps on all of these items. Recall two years ago, as we started the new administration here, we had cut all the caps by 1 percent. We continue along with that philosophy and we continue along with the philosophy which has always been, you know, hearing the voice of our -- all our Commissioners that we be sure that these people are the lowest bidders and the most responsible. So we ve kept with that philosophy as lowest bidder and most responsible and everyone to stay with under the bid cap. At times you may have to go above the bid cap, some emergencies and things of that nature when it s a necessity.

35 And, of course, when we do do that or have to do that we will come to the Board for approval to do that. So we will not spend a dime at the Union City Housing Authority without your approval when it comes to the things -- awards of this nature. So, with that being said, with the Open Session, I believe at this time we can have a Consent Agenda vote. Agenda? And can I have a -- can I have Consent CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Motion. MR. SANGER: Mr. Martinetti; motion. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Yes. MR. SANGER: Mr. Martinetti. Second by Miss Jetter. And we -- we will have our motion. Mr. Martinetti? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Yes. MR. SANGER: Miss Capizzi? COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Yes. MR. SANGER: Miss Jetter? COMMISSIONER JETTER: Yes. MR. SANGER: Okay. MR. PIZZILLO: Mr. Pedraza.

36 MR. SANGER: Yeah, of course, Mr. Pedraza? COMMISSIONER PEDRAZA: Yes. MR. SANGER: Just sharing with Dottie there. Mr. Pedraza. Thank you. Okay. COMMISSIONER JETTER: Oh God. MR. SANGER: So that s -- the vote -- the Consent Agenda is all finished. DIRECTOR S REPORT/UCHA ACHIEVEMENTS: MR. SANGER: At this time I d like to have a -- spend a little time just sharing with you our report from the -- the Executive Director s Report and what we ve done. And what I like to do, if you could all just maybe spin around, and we d like to show you a little visual -- a little overhead visual of a lot of the improvements we ve made at the Housing Authority this summer. I would like to say at this time, before we do get into this -- and with this visual. And if you recall we spoke with you back in June about

37 our scores -- with the REAC scores, with -- with HUD and the federal government. And since then we ve had a number of REAC assessments here and evaluations. And I m very happy to say recently, at the Senior Citizens Building, we -- our score was ; just recently it went to. So there was a plus nine in that area. Recently we had at Columbian Courts, which are our downtown public housing units down on rd and th Street, we were at 0 and we just -- and our last -- over the summer we had our -- our REAC inspection there and it went to. So we re plus there. And then this week we re very happy to say in our -- what we call our AMP -- AMP -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: II. MR. SANGER: -- II, -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Right. MR. SANGER: -- down -- which are two of our buildings on -- three of our buildings down the hill here, we started at, which was an issue for us. And I m very happy to say that our -- just two -- just ten days ago we had a REAC inspection and we came in at --

38 COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: That s -- MR. SANGER: -- from. Which shows that we had a 1 point improvement COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Yeah, that s great. MR. SANGER: And it goes to show the plan that we shared with you for capital funds and for improvements back in June, we followed that plan; we did a lot of these improvements over the summer and I think it s showing in our REAC inspection. So we re very happy with that. And it just goes to show that we are moving forward; we are making improvements. And, most certainly, a lot has to do with the support we get from all of our Board members here. Many of the projects we choose to enter into, you ve been totally supportive and helpful towards. And it shows that we re -- all of us working together. We are doing -- we are doing the right things for all -- for the people of affordable housing in Union City. So I did want to mention that. I want to thank Waldo and Jorge. And, of course, the guys in our maintenance

39 staff who went around doing a lot of these -- you know, going into buildings and fixing doors and fixing lights and fixing emergency exits and signs and all things that we had to improve upon. And they all did an excellent job and it shows. Now we re -- we re getting some of the best scores we ve had here at the Housing Authority in many, many, many years. So, thank you for that and thank you for your support. But if you look above now at our visual you ll see these are -- this is our parking lot that we did have paved last summer. We were able to get some speed bumps in our parking lot now. We will be using our facility in the back there towards -- Our pavilion will be used by the Union City Board of Education come about November 1 st or so for special needs classes. So we wanted to be sure that was all set up with proper speed bumps. There will be buses coming into our -- our parking lot and dropping off kids -- drop off and pick up and things and so we wanted to be sure everything was safe there. We have our yellow lines. We have our

40 speed bumps. And we tried to make it an area as safe as possible. If you look along -- at this picture along the fence here, if you recall -- and I don t know how many could look back at it, three, four months ago there were dozens of trees hanging over that fence onto our property, onto the pavilion in the back. Those -- those branches from the trees, were now going into our -- to our vents and going into our -- our, you know, our water, you know, systems there and everything from that. And we no longer have that problem. And you could see that we were able to work with the people next door and had to ask them to cut the trees and help us with that. And the people of the adjacent property next door, so we were allowed to work that out with them. So it s made a much safer -- Some of our windstorms and, you know, heavy thunderstorms in recent months had come down on the fences there. We had gone next door and asked them to cooperate with us and they were -- people from the mausoleum there were very, you know, cooperative and help us to cut all those trees, all the excessive vegetation, everything

41 there to make it more of a safer environment for everyone and, of course, the parking. You see back along the pavilion here, we had a problem with water drainage. The water drainage was actually coming under our building for erosion and things of -- under those stairs there. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Right. MR. SANGER: There are stairs that go down. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Right. MR. SANGER: There was all erosion. And of course with the children coming from the Board of Education and, of course, just all of our people, you know, that use those stairs, that we wanted to be sure they were in good condition. So that -- working with Adamo and Sons, for a fee of about $,000.00, we were able to fix that whole area, put new drains in, and hopefully it s going to be -- all be well protected. And now will be, you know, much more safer for everyone who uses those stairs and uses that area. The next item is the -- If we could get that, Jorge?

42 MR. RODRIGUEZ: Sure. MR. SANGER: The -- you ll see we re working -- with the pavilion; how we painted the pavilion, working with the Union City Board of Education. All of these are the facilities, the downstairs facility that the -- at the pavilion that they ll be used by the special needs classes from the Union City Board of Education, which we re renting out to them for this -- for a fee of $,00.00 a month. And allowing us to get a much needed income and at the same time help the people of Union City in services to our special needs students and be in a cooperative partnership with the Union City Board of Education. You see the facilities are all clean -- very clean, have been painted, and really ready to go. Working with the special needs class. You might say, well what will special needs kids do here? If you would look at those two, the doors on the left there, right in there are two -- actually two setups of two bedrooms, a living

43 room and a bedroom. And what it does is -- And what it does is allow the -- the special needs students to be able to learn what you d call daily life skills. MR. MORIN: Yeah MR. SANGER: How to go into their bedroom. How to keep their bedroom. Make beds. How to clean. How to fold towels. How to fold their clothing. How to work at living rooms. How to clean. How to things like that. So many of these students do need a training and help and assistance -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: That s great. MR. SANGER: -- towards working toward -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: That s great. MR. SANGER: -- daily life skills. So a lot of that is going to be done here at the Housing Authority, so we re happy with that. Just a picture of our drainage system there that -- that Max Adamo -- Now you see we have a clean drain going right into a drainage system; won t be coming off the side and ruining and deteriorating -- deteriorating stairs and things of that nature.

44 So, moving towards that. All these projects for the summer, you ll see at 00 Palisade Avenue, our senior citizens building, we have a little park on the side there, which we call International Park. The Mayor and the City fathers and people of Union City use this site now for raising of flags. And they might have days such as Cuban- American Day, Dominican-American Day, Irish- American Day, Italian-American Day. Whatever it might be. International Day. But that park -- we actually had one citizen trip there back about four, five months ago, an -- an elderly citizen hurt herself there, and we had decided that it wasn t as safe as it should be. And we decided -- now we put new pavers in, new sidewalk, new plants. And we re happy to say it s really a -- a special site now. You ll see here how we painted up 00. You ll see the front here. With your approval and your help. If you look at it, it s much -- much more -- it s much cleaner, it s much more attractive, and it s much -- it s safer. So the 00 we put in a lot of time this

45 summer, as you could see, painting that. Mr. Martinetti helped us and assisted us in -- in giving some good ideas on how to make improvements there with his -- with his experience working with the Building Department. And we were able to make some good improvements there. And a reason why we got a -- points higher this time in our inspection -- COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Right. MR. SANGER: -- due to these things that we had completed. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Right. MR. SANGER: So we re happy with that. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Right. MR. SANGER: And next we have -- Jorge? Do you have anything else next? Yeah. There it is there. Is a nice -- like a nice view of how we -- COMMISSIONER PEDRAZA: Right. MR. SANGER: -- cleaned all that up now. You ll see there s no -- you ll see there s no stains on the walls. COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Yeah. MR. SANGER: There used to be -- used to be

46 heavy stains there coming down, -- COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Right. MR. SANGER: -- water and -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: And the lighting. MR. MORIN: The lighting. MR. SANGER: -- and whatever. And underneath -- COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Pretty glass, isn t it? MR. SANGER: -- underneath we fixed all of our lighting. COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Right. MR. SANGER: If you go by there in the evening now, the whole area s so -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Lighting up here. MR. SANGER: -- well lit up and safe for all the senior citizens. And all the lights have been fixed there and we put a lot of, you know, you know, resources into that. Fiscal resources and our staff. MR. RODRIGUEZ: There s something I may add. I mean when you walk -- when you drive into Union City, I mean -- one of the impressions at

47 least I get is how nice and well lit some of our streets are, -- COMMISSIONER JETTER: Um-hum. MR. RODRIGUEZ: -- thanks to the Administration, you know, Mr. -- Brian Stack s -- Mayor Brian Stack and his administration. And I -- I think lighting just does so much for appearance of our buildings, for -- just for the safety and for the -- you know, for the quality of life overall. So, I m very proud of what -- what we ve done here. I mean I -- I think that we have a lot to do but -- MR. SANGER: So that is an area we made improvement there as well for 00. You see that -- that was all stains. They were all stains at one time. MR. RODRIGUEZ: And here s the lighting. MR. SANGER: Here s the inside. Here s the lighting on the inside. Those lights were not working three or four months ago and -- LEDs also. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: And -- and all MR. SANGER: Yes. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

48 MR. SANGER: LEDs. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Exactly. MR. SANGER: LEDs -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Exactly. MR. SANGER: -- most -- yes. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Impressive. LEDs that really make a big difference. MR. SANGER: As you know the Union City Housing Authority is a smoke-free -- everywhere is smoke-free It s a HUD regulation now in the United -- COMMISSIONER JETTER: Now? MR. SANGER: Every HUD -- every HUD facility in the United States of America, starting -- ha, ha, I should say starting -- August 1 st. Starting August 1 st now is smoke-free. You re not allowed to have any smoking; even in apartments, whatever it be, common areas or apartments, whatever it might be. But you do have -- must -- and you must -- must have though designated smoking areas. And we ll show you that in a moment. You ll see our whole emergency systems -- MR. MORIN: Brand new system.

49 MR. SANGER: -- and our alarm system. Brand new system that we put in about -- MR. MORIN: Senior citizen MR. SANGER: -- seven, eight months ago at the senior citizen building. So there s a whole new alarm system there. And -- and, of course, a major safety issue for our senior citizens there. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely. Absolutely. MR. SANGER: Go ahead, the entry. Go ahead. And you ll see an air conditioner. Say what -- what picture is this. You see there s an air conditioner there that we bought there. MR. MORIN: For TV room -- MR. SANGER: Yeah. MR. MORIN: -- for seniors. MR. SANGER: In -- in a -- in the room here, which is our community room where we hold many of, you know, community things and parties and things of that nature. And you ll see the -- what s happening there is that there s an air conditioner. We bought four new air conditioners for that area there. MR. RODRIGUEZ: Right.

50 MR. SANGER: And it s well -- it s well cooled and it s real -- actually a nice, you know, clean, comfortable place now for our seniors MR. RODRIGUEZ: And they re always calling me, you know, make sure I got those Yankees on the cable TV -- MR. SANGER: Yeah. MR. RODRIGUEZ: -- programming. And I m like don t worry about, I ll take care of it. MR. SANGER: We have the televisions for the seniors that are in some sitting rooms and -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. MR. SANGER: -- turned out well -- worked out well. Here s a sign for designating smoking area that we have. At each one of our sites we must have a designated smoking area. COMMISSIONER JETTER: What about the housing -- the Veterans Housing? Where are they supposed to go to smoke? MR. SANGER: Well, act-- to be -- what we have to do we have to do a little better job with the Veterans Housing.

51 1 COMMISSIONER JETTER: Yeah, they throw them out MR. SANGER: First of all -- COMMISSIONER JETTER: -- the window. MR. SANGER: -- we haven t had time -- Yeah, exactly. Unfortunately you do have people who do something like that. Being that Veterans Housing is not part of HUD we weren t required to do that immediately. But it s still important. COMMISSIONER JETTER: Yeah. MR. SANGER: And I think when we do our fixing up -- up at the Veterans the next year or so -- because next year we re going to do our whole, you know, improvements at the -- the sites there, we ll be able to implement our no smoking, our designated areas, once we could -- we fix up most of our housing there. COMMISSIONER JETTER: You two guys have been there. They take the butts and so there s all cigarette butts all -- MR. SANGER: Regularly. COMMISSIONER JETTER: -- over. MR. SANGER: Yes. Yes.

52 MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah. Yeah. COMMISSIONER JETTER: Yeah. MR. SANGER: Yes COMMISSIONER JETTER: And that s not right. MR. SANGER: We know it s a problem. So, we re going to be moving towards that at the Veterans as well. Go ahead, Jorge. MR. RODRIGUEZ: All right, so -- COMMISSIONER JETTER: Not until next year though. MR. SANGER: Okay, just a -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Again, this is more of the -- MR. SANGER: -- quick -- just some quick things now. Just keep moving. This is our -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: Office. MR. SANGER: -- administrative office here. You could see here what we ve done with the floors, what we ve -- COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Nice. MR. SANGER: -- done -- we got some furniture inside. And needless to say how -- the condition it was in a year ago or so.

53 It s all clean now, safe, and we re able to, you know, just improve the whole working environment here for -- for everyone who works here. So, -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: That pretty much concludes MR. SANGER: Everybody helps. So that basically concludes what we ve done. We did -- you know, we ve done a lot with your approval -- MR. RODRIGUEZ: And -- MR. SANGER: -- allowing us to spend the money we ve spent. And we re -- we re just happy to move forward with that. I just want to reiterate and mention to you again, as we move forward with RAD, -- I know tonight I didn t give you a total. I don t think this was the appropriate time with so many things we had to do this evening. But in the very near future at our upcoming meetings I will have a whole presentation that will be -- that will be more thorough, more detailed for you on what we d like to do with RAD funding, the RAD money, and how we re going to move forward in

54 securing funding and hopefully make the improvements we want. So, that being said, -- (Whereupon, there was a pause in the proceedings.) MR. SANGER: Yeah the other two things I want to mention really quickly is the SDA building that we ve been talking around for six or seven months here. But the SDA building that s at Summit Avenue, that was going to allow us to have some -- units there. That will be part of -- become part of affordable housing under our -- under the umbrella of the Union City Housing Authority. We acquired that building from the State of New Jersey SDA. Right now this -- last week it -- it took us months to get in there do -- do an environmental study. Next week we re doing an environmental study to be sure -- and to do the cleanup and what has to be done there to make it livable and -- so people can live there. And we re happy to say with COAH money from

55 the City of Union City, the Coalition of Affordable, you know, Affordable Housing A lot of the money that comes from COAH in Union City where we re taking -- where we re able to get -- obtain about a hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars just to fix up and make the -- the improvements at that particular building. So, COAH -- COAH money s going to be helping us a lot. And, you know, Mayor Stack, Marty was involved with it as well, and through -- You might say again what is COAH money, you know, and Marty s most equipped and most knowledgeable to talk about what COAH money is but in general it s when all the -- all the contracting and all of the new building and constructing that s been going on in Union City, -- Each one of the units was, what,,000, -- CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: It s a -- MR. SANGER: -- Marty? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: No, it s a development fee. MR. SANGER: Development fee. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: It s based on the

56 assessed value and the type of variance they get. one percent. MR. SANGER: Um hum. And is per unit? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: It s usually about MR. SANGER: Is it per unit? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: No, it s usually about one percent of your total equalized assessed value. Wasn t it -- MR. SANGER: Is it per unit though, Marty? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: No. MR. SANGER: -- about -- No? CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: That -- there was discussion of putting a sliding scale on a -- MR. SANGER: Um-hum. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: -- do it as a unit base but right now it s based on equalized assessed value. So it could go up to six percent if you -- depending on the variance. I don t want to get into all -- too complicated. COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Um-hum. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: But usually it s

57 one percent. COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Um-hum. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: But over time it -- it s accumulating. It s based on, you know, new construction. COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Um-hum. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: Additions. New construction. MR. SANGER: So with that being said, somewhere, we re -- we re not sure, and this is not for sure but somewhere in the area of $ million we re going to be able to improve for the Veterans Housing and affordable housing in Union City. So with RAD for the public housing, -- COMMISSIONER CAPIZZI: Right. MR. SANGER: -- with COAH money for the Veterans Housing, I think we re going to be making some great improvements for the people. And lot of people working together with this -- it s going to take time but with everyone working together it does make it much easier. CHAIRPERSON MARTINETTI: It s a lot of work to collect the fees, too. MR. SANGER: Right. Lot of work.