January 15, 2026 Board Meeting Minutes

REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Elkhart Housing Authority
January 15, 2026

The Board of Commissioners for the Housing Authority, City of Elkhart, met in regular attendance at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 15, 2026.

Board Members Present: Willie Brown, Dan Boecher, Synthia Billings, Loria Mayes, Kristen Smole, Helenia Robinson, and Sandi Schreiber

Board Members Present Via Dial-In: All (Teams)

Staff members Present: Erik Mathavan, Alicia Kimble, Todd Fielder, Jessica Brittain, Chrissy Krieger, Teri Ivory, and Morgan Gibson-Day.

Harris Law Firm Attorney Present: Nick Snow

Audience Members Present: None

Audience Concerns:
None
Approval of Minutes
- Exhibit A - Approval of Meeting Minutes - December 11, 2025, Regular Meeting
  All commissioners present voted to approve the December 11, 2025, meeting minutes.
- December Financial Report
  - AMP 261 - Rosedale
    Revenue $569,714.00
    Expenses $592,299.00
    YTD End of December - Decline $(22,585.00)
    YTD Prior Month - November - Improvement $(20,355.00)
    YTD Prior Month - October $(26,191.00)
  - AMP 262 - Washington Gardens
    Revenue $1,153,158.00
    Expenses $1,178,091.00
    YTD End of December - Decline $(24,933.00)
    YTD Prior Month - November - Improvement $(5,690.00)
    YTD Prior Month - October $(17,094.00)
  - AMP 263 - Waterfall
    Revenue $707,939.00
    Expenses $705,592.00
    YTD End of December - Decline $2,347.00
    YTD Prior Month - November - Improvement $10,713.00
    YTD Prior Month - October $9,322.00
  - AMP 264 - Scattered Sites
    Revenue $542,51.00
    Expenses $473,818.00
    YTD End of December - Improvement $68,693.00
    YTD Prior Month - November - Improvement $49,912.00
    YTD Prior Month - October $34,332.00
  - AMP 267 - Riverside
    Revenue $689,519.00
    Expenses $679,920.00
    YTD End of December - Decline
    YTD Prior Month - November - Decline $13,247.00
    YTD Prior Month - October $15,264.00
  - FUND 110 - СОСС
    Revenue $1,779,221.00
    Expenses $1,178,091.00
    YTD End of December - Improvement $(35,383.00)
    YTD Prior Month - November - Decline $(39,223.00)
    YTD Prior Month - October $(11,935.00)
  - FUND 800 - HCV
    Revenue $647,242.00
    Expenses $684,534.00
    YTD End of December - Improvement $(37,292.00)
    YTD Prior Month - November - Improvement $(51,426.00)
    YTD. Prior Month- October $(57,583.00)
- Exhibit C - Department Directors' Reports
  - Human Resources:
    Teri stated that for December, the EHA had 38 total employees, 38 full-time, 0 part-time, five vacancies, five new hires, and no retirements. Vacancy Comments: 3 General Maintenance Technician, A/R Clerk, Home Ownership Coordinator. Retirement Comments: 0. Recruitment and Retention Challenges: no call, no shows, no driver's license or suspended license, voluntary quit following beginning employment, acceptance of position rescinded. Training and Development: Deputy Director - NAHRO's Emerging "L.E.A.D." ership Program in January. Finance - NAHRO's Emerging "L.E.A.D." ership Program, classes will be ongoing. HCV - HCV SEMAP Training, HCV Financial Management, FSS Coordinator Training December 16-18 (FSS Coordinators). HR - Initial training to begin transition from ADP to I-Solved payroll system, NAHRO's Emerging "L.E.A.D." ership Program. Community Outreach and Partnership: None
  - Comprehensive Improvements:
    - Scattered Sites:
      Kitchen Modernization - Exhaust Fan & Kitchen Cabinetry replacement, New Range Hood Installation - Bid complete, work to commence Spring 2026.
      
      Jetting and Camera Work of Toilet Plumbing - Work completed.
    - Riverside Terrace:
      ElectriCorpe completed 8 of the 11 resident unit electrical panel upgrades, as well as completed 82 of the 103 resident unit LED lighting upgrades scheduled for the fiscal year.
      
      New USPS mailboxes, which will include large parcel storage - Bid complete, work commence in the next 45 to 60 days.
      
      Backup Generator Replacement - R Yoder construction is undergoing work to replace the generator set to be delivered on December 5, 2025.
      
      Riverside Kitchen Upgrade Phase III (Final phase to complete floors 6 and 7) Bid Complete, resolution pending.
    - Washington Gardens:
      No work during this time.
    - Waterfall High-Rise:
      Shambaugh & Son continues to work on the retrofit of the fire sprinkler system throughout the building. Currently, they are working on the 6th-floor interior of each unit.
      
      Stairwell Heating units (one for each stairwell) - Work in progress with an ETA of the end of January for completion.
      Waterfall Offices Security Upgrade - Work complete, minus the installation of two pending electric door strikes.
      Backup Generator Replacement - Work scheduled to commence in January 2026.
    - Rosedale High-Rise:
      Basement Piping Replacement - Work complete.
    - COCC:
      COCC Modernization - Material is on order, with a tentative start date of the end of January.
      
      Erik informed the board that the Washington Gardens community building has been vacant for about a year now, and it was formally occupied by Head Start. He said that since it has been vacant, we have had several inquiries from daycare facilities requesting to use the space. He asked the board if this was something that they would be willing to consider for the next year. Commissioner Mayes asked if this person would pay rent, and Erik said yes, Commissioner Brown said that he does not see a problem with it; he would just like to have the names of those individuals just to make sure they are someone we should be associating with. Marsha asked if the board would like us to do our due diligence on those requests before presenting them to the board. Commissioner Smole stated that it would be great and she appreciates being asked. She said that she would also like to see recommendations from staff and the due diligence of the first preliminary conversations, and if there is something that the board can do to help with the oversight after selections have been chosen or if opinions are needed, please loop them in. Marsha added that it would be a very short-term lease due to pending conversations about redevelopment at Washington Gardens.
  - Housing Choice Voucher Program:
    Chrissy reported for December, 55 Annual Certifications were completed, 42 Interim Certifications were completed, 8 Unit transfers, 0 New Admissions and Absorbed Incoming Portabilities, 4 End of Participations, 0 Applications Remaining in Process, 620 Lease Ups on the last day of December, and 84% Lease-Up Percentage. The previous month's lease-up percentage: 85%. The waitlist is closed.
  - Family Self Sufficiency Programs:
    Chrissy reported that the Family Self Sufficiency program is currently serving 69 participants, of which 44 participants are currently employed, 11 participants are attending college, 4 participants are disabled or unable to work, 25 participants are currently earning escrow, $8,716 earned in escrow funds in December, and $138,613.53 total current escrow balance.
    
    Commissioner Smole asked Chrissy if she had any updates on whether or not we would be moving forward with additional vouchers. Chrissy said that she did not have a real update because she has not been able to meet with HUD to do the two year tool. She said that they are supposed to be starting Project-based Vouchers in the next month or two with an organization. She said that she still needs to meet with Marsha to see where they are with that. Commissioner Smole asked if it was Advantix or Real America. Chrissy said that it was Advantix. Marsha stated that they received guidance from HUD in the first week of January regarding forecasting, and they asked us to forecast for a shortfall. She said that it would signal to her that they are going to cut back on the HAP funds in some way, and they want us to be ready, but we are not near a shortfall, so we would be good, but we just have to be mindful of that issuance. Commissioner Smole suggested reaching out to the City of Elkhart as it relates to project-based vouchers before having conversations with Advantix. She said to find out where the City stands with the development of that project, the anticipated start date and completion date, and whether or not that is still anticipated. Commissioner Schreiber suggested that the EHA reach out to Mike Hubert. Marsha stated that once they commit to a developer that we're going to offer those project-based vouchers, we have to put them into the forecasting tool because they're committed but we are not actually spending money on it so that we don't forget that we made that commitment but it doesn't preclude us from issuing vouchers, we just have to watch it to make sure that we will have those vouchers available for them since we committed them. She said in the two-year forecasting tool that HUD uses and meets with us about, there is a space for us to put those in there, just to anticipate the expense, knowing that we don't have the expense right now. Commissioner Boecher asked how long the commitment was for the PBVs (project-based vouchers). Marsha said that she was not sure, but it's either 15 or 20 years, depending on what the agreement was. Commissioner Boecher asked Marsha if she had a problem committing these to our own development and if it would limit what we can do when we develop things. Marsha said no because we would look to our own attrition by analyzing what our normal attrition is. She further stated that if we know we want 20 of those units to be PBVs, we can pull those from attrition. So, as people are coming off the program, we can just bank them for that purpose, versus forecasting and not issuing based on our allocation.
  - Public Housing:
    Alicia reported that Rosedale's Occupancy rate for the month of December is 99%, Washington Gardens' Occupancy rate for the month of December is 97%, Waterfall Occupancy rate for the month of December is 98%, Scattered-Sites Occupancy rate for the month of December is 100% and Riverside's Occupancy rate for the month of December is 99%. Alicia went on to say that Public Housing's overall Occupancy rate for the month of December is 98%. She also stated that public housing received zero applications, mailed 70 orientation letters, processed zero applications, approved 0 applications, denied 0 applications, and no applications were withdrawn. The waitlist is closed. We received no homeless applications, and no application(s) were approved and waiting for an available unit. Alicia reported that there were 11 new admissions and 10 move-outs in December.
    - Housekeeping Program
      Alicia stated that she is still actively doing the housekeeping program with our Resident Service Coordinator, Tonnes Lovelady, and it is going really well. She said that they are seeing progress with holding tenants accountable for their housekeeping issues, and residents are coming off the program successfully. She said that the residents are provided with tools and ways to keep their units up to par.
    - Public Housing Exterminations
      Alicia said that she and Erik met last month regarding new providers for extermination. She said that they are using Griffen for Rosedale. She said that she hasn't heard any major concerns with Griffen, but there continues to be some concern with residents not understanding that there will need to be multiple treatments done to rectify the situation. She said that they will be moving forward with Orkin on some of the other properties, such as Waterfall and Riverside. She said that Orkin will start services in February for those high rises. Erik added that they are taking two of the high rises away from Griffen to allow them to focus on Rosedale. He said that he hopes the exterminations will be a little more targeted by doing that, but they have been looking at alternative providers for when their contract ends in June. He said that they were interested in a smaller company, so if Griffen is unable to get it together at Rosedale, this smaller company can step in.
      
      Commissioner Brown stated that there was an email that went out last week to all staff about security concerns at Rosedale. He asked Marsha to provide some more information about this threat. Marsha stated that there was a resident at Rosedale that they were trying to serve an eviction, and that resident stated that if they evicted them, they would shoot (kill) the property manager and kill everyone at the main office. Marsha said that she decided that they would rather be safe than sorry, so she removed the staff from Rosedale. She said that she contacted Attorney Harris and the police department. She said that they were prepared to get protective orders for every employee to cover all bases, Alicia said that she spoke with Officer Ware, along with the property manager, to go over the statements that were made to them, and he was going to follow up with the prosecutor's office to determine if they were going to do an arrest, so they wanted them to hold off on the eviction, so that the staff would not be jeopardized. Alicia said that right now it is just a waiting game until they see what the prosecutor's office will do. Commissioner Brown stated that the board would need some follow-up because they did not want this resident to still reside at Rosedale after making those types of threats. Marsha said that since they have not gone through with the eviction, the resident has been quiet. She said that Attorney Harris has been helping them, and they will be sure to follow up. Commissioners Brown and Smole thanked Marsha for keeping the staff safe.
    - Maintenance:
      Todd reported that 10 move-outs were received and 5 were completed, 7 emergency requests were received and completed, 390 tenant requests were received, and 380 were completed and there were 48 annual inspections received, and 35 were completed, totaling 427 completed work orders.
  - Comments from Interim Executive Director Marsha Parham-Green
    Marsha stated that the EHA has received its new logo, and she thanked the commissioners for helping us through that process. She said that we will be getting updated business cards and working with the vendor to update the website, and she will preview the website with the board before it goes live. She informed the board that they would be able to give their input. She said that we will have new letterhead and other things that come with rebranding the agency. She said that our IT Specialist, Chris Truex, has been working with Erik to make sure that they get all of the innovative technology since our current equipment is very outdated. She said that this was included in the budget that the commissioners passed, and everything should be happening in February and March.
    
    Marsha said that they've been working with resident services to figure out ways to engage all the sites. She asked Commissioner Billings to be a part of that, but she didn't have to answer now; she just wanted to let her know that she would be coming to her formally at some point about assisting with resident engagement across all AMPs. Commissioner Billings said that it sounded good to her. Commissioner Smole said that she is really looking forward to the update on the overall look of the agency when it comes to logos and technology. Commissioner Brown said he is eager to see the new website because our current website is outdated.
Old Business:
- Washington Gardens Redevelopment RFQ
  Commissioner Smole stated that the Washington Gardens redevelopment RFQ will stay on the table for a moment. She said that they were working with the offices for the national representatives who would like to come and have a conversation with us. She said that there has been a lot happening at the federal level, so she is trying to figure out how to work with them. She said that she hopes to have a more formal update soon. She said that they are going to try to get us some windows of when they will be available instead of just one time and date. She said that she hopes they can give us a couple of different times so we can make sure that the IT works for staff as well as any commissioner who would like to participate. Commissioner Boecher asked Commissioner Smole how long it would take for us to determine if they could offer something meaningful to help us. Commissioner Smole stated that when dealing with the federal government, it could go in any direction, but she thinks that after the meeting, they will have a better sense of what is going on once they've had that conversation. Marsha asked Commissioner Smole if the meeting would have an impact on the RFQ. Commissioner Smole said yes, she spoke with Senator Young's office, and there might be funds to help with some preconstruction costs or even some planning money, which would alter the RFQ a little bit. Commissioner Shreiber asked for clarification on national, Commissioner Smole said she is talking about the national representative, so legislatively, the senator's offices and Rudy's office. She said if they see what they are planning, they might be able to advocate. She said as far as HUD, she was surprised when they wanted to be involved, so it could be something, or it could be nothing. Commissioner Schreiber stated that she wanted to be involved. Commissioner Smole said as soon as she hears back from them, she will let everyone know. She said if she does not hear anything in the next few weeks, she will make an additional request. She said if they hear nothing, at least they tried.
New Business:
Marsha stated that she wanted to make the commissioners aware that when residents come their way, it is a matter of business relating to the housing authority, and they need to be sent back to us because the commissioners are the governing body. She said that if a commissioner is dealing with a complaint before we hear it, it really negates that process moving forward. She said that she would reach out to commissioners, if necessary, but she does not want to set the precedent or continue the practice of residents coming directly to the Board of Commissioners. She said that we will continue the practice of not utilizing the board meeting as a forum for residents to voice individual or specific complaints about their unit or whatever is going on with them. Commissioner Smole added that she learned at the board training that they just went to that as a policy, the board only has one employee, and that is Marsha, our director, and that is who the board communicates with. Commissioner Smole further stated that the policy here is that we direct everything back to Marsha and then ask her to follow up with us on how that turned out. She said that there are legalities behind it, and if we have to be subpoenaed, those one-offs can really make things messier and can be a liability for the housing authority. She said if we all obey the same policy and we know how it's happening; it makes it easier. Commissioner Robinson stated that this has been a problem in the past, and she would like to request that they reach out to the person who has had that problem to have a personal conversation with them as well. Commissioner Smole said that she would have those conversations moving forward.
Handouts:
None
Adjournment
Commissioner Kristen Smole, without any objections, declared January 15, 2025, Board of Commissioners' meeting adjourned at 5:22 P.M.

Signed February 19, 2026:
Kristen Smole, Commissioner
Marsha Parham-Green, Interim Executive Director