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May 15, 2025 Board Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR BOARD MEETING
Elkhart Housing Authority
May 15, 2025

The Board of Commissioners for the Housing Authority, City of Elkhart, met in regular attendance at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, 2025.

Board Members Present: Willie Brown, Kristen Smole, Loria Mayes, and Helenia Robinson

Board Members Present Via Dial-In: None.

Staff Members Present: Amy Gonzalez, Erik Mathavan, Todd Fielder, Julie Stebbins, Alicia Kimble, Nekisha Roberson, Tiphany Travet, Olesia Melnyk, Danielle Gilbert, Redginald Norris, Teri Ivory, and Morgan Gibson-Day.

Harris Law Firm Attorney Present: Jewell Harris

Audience Members Present: None.

  • Audience Concerns:
    None.

  • Approval of Minutes

    • Exhibit A - Approval of Meeting Minutes - April 24, 2025, Regular Meeting
      All commissioners present voted to approve the April 24, 2025, meeting minutes.

  • Approval of Vouchers

    • Exhibit B - Approval of Vouchers - April 24, 2025
      All commissioners present voted to approve the April 24, 2025, vouchers.

  • Department Directors' Reports:

    • Exhibit С - Ехеcutive Director's Report

      • Human Resources:
        Teri reported two new hires, Redginald Norris, Asset Property Manager, and Kendall McGee, FSS Coordinator, and two ends of employment, Davan Newton and Gabriela Vazquez. Teri stated that for the month of May, we have hired two new groundskeepers, and we have a new asset property manager starting on Monday. She said that we still have three general maintenance technician positions and a custodian position that needs filling. She said that she would be conducting interviews all next week. Marsha informed the commissioners that Teri will list the number of vacant positions in each department so that you will see the work that Teri is doing to get those positions filled. Commissioner Brown asked Amy to give a brief description of the FSS coordinator's job. Amy said that the FSS coordinator's job is to work with public housing and HCV participants to help them become self-sufficient and they work with them to accomplish their goals over a five-year period. Teri said that we have a Homeownership Coordinator position to connect the participant to homeownership that is not in the FSS program. Teri said that this would be a part-time  position. Marsha added that these positions are grant-funded and if the grant goes away, the positions will also go away. She said that the benefit for the agency is that we do move families into self-sufficiency during their term which opens up additional vouchers for other families.

      • Comprehensive Improvements:

        • Scattered Sites:
          No work during this time.

      • Public Housing:
        Marsha stated that she had no issues taking calls from the media. She said that she typically does not give them any information because it could make it difficult for Alicia and her team to do what needs to be done. She said that we are fighting the media and their perception of the housing authority. She also said that a lot of times residents feel like reporting to the media will cause the housing authority to move faster but that is not the case. She further stated that if it is something personnel related, the board will be who she contacts first. She said that the board should not be concerned about any significant issues going on with this agency because there are none.

      • Maintenance:
        Todd reported that ten move-outs were received and six were completed, five emergency requests were received and completed, 656 tenant requests were received, and 646 were completed; and there were 32 annual inspections received and completed, totaling 689 completed work orders.

      • Financials and Write-Offs:
        No Financial Report this Month.

  • Old Business:

    • Resident Concerns Update
      Commissioner Brown said that he had an upcoming meeting with the police chief and wanted to discuss patrolling at different times of the day and switching things up a bit.

  • New Business:

    • Annual Board Elections - All commissioners present voted to table Annual Board Elections.

    • Resolution 25:07 - A Resolution Approving the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year End March 31, 2026
      Julie stated that COCC has a net position increase of $73,500. She said that the AMPs had a significant decrease in net position of a little over $21,000 which is AMP 261(Rosedale). She said that Washington Garden's decrease was $12,000 in net position, Waterfall had about a $2000 decrease, Scattered Sites had a $21,000 decrease in net position and Riverside had a 21,000 decrease in net position. She said overall the LIPH anticipated budget for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, is expected to have a net position increase of $14,500. She said that HCV did not have much of a change since the previous ledger that was drafted, there was a decrease in net position of $57,600, and overall, as an agency, we had a $43,000 decrease in net position. She said that they did consider the non-routine expenditures and those will be recategorized into the capital funds budget so that we are using these proceeds for anything that is a high dollar like shower upgrades. She said that it should be used accordingly. She further stated that non-routine expenditure used to be around $40,000-$50,000 and now they will be down to $5,000-$10,000 by utilizing that program. She said that they would also be looking at fees for a service to see if the hourly rates can go down. She said that the fee for service is a non-cash transaction, and it is just allocating the maintenance wages accordingly to the AMPS.

      Marsha added that the other thing that is built into this budget is a change to our operating software. She said that right now, we are using Ten Mast, and it is not working in the matter that it should be for the health of the agency or the departments. She said that Julie did her homework, and she found out the cost to change to a more suitable system (Yardi) would be a comparable expense. She said that there will be an initial fee that we have to pay upfront, but that amount has been built into this budget. She said that this software upgrade can potentially minimize the work that the fee accountants do because all of that work would be done within the operating system. She said that this would provide more integrity to the data because it is the board to approve the resolution so that we can adopt all of the changes to bring us up to date with our lease agreement. Commissioner Smole asked if there was anything significant. Attorney Harris said no, just regulatory updates. He advised the board if there was ever a time, they wanted to have a public workshop for residents to go over the changes, he could do that. He said normally he would recommend incorporating other issues along with it like safety or maintenance. Commissioner Smole said that she would be interested in doing something like that this summer. All commissioners present voted to approve resolution 25:13.

    • SEMAP Certification
      Marsha said that normally we would present a resolution for the SEMAP certification, but this does not require a resolution. She said that moving forward, we will not present a resolution for things that we do not need a resolution for, but we will still report it to the board. She said that she will no longer have attorney Harris prepare resolutions that are normal operating processes for the agency.

  • Handouts:
    None

  • Adjournment
    Commissioner Willie Brown, without any objections, declared May 15, 2025, Board of Commissioners' meeting adjourned at 5:05 P.M.

Signed June 27, 2025
Kristen Smole, Commissioner
Marsha Parham-Green, Transition Consultant