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HomeMy WebLinkAboutKit Housing - 2009-02-25KITCHENER HOUSING INC MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS HELD: Schmalz Room, City Hall, 200 King Street West, Kitchener DATE: February 25, 2009 TIME: 4:00 p.m. PRESENT: Denny Cybalslci, Andrew Head, Mike Selling, Carl Zehr, Jamie Hill, Paul Holowaty, Corrine Cash, John Gazzola RESOURCE STAFF: Karen Kwiatkowski, Anne Eckert, Christine Wilson, Cathy Shafe, Camelia SUC1U ABSENT: Kelly Galloway 1. Opening Remarks Denny Cybalslci, Chair called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. The notice of the meeting was submitted with the information that the notice had been mailed to the Directors in terms of the By-laws. 2. Conflict of Interest -nil 3. Approval of Agenda On a motion by P. Holowaty, seconded by J. Hill and CARRIED, the agenda be approved. 4. Approval of the Board Minutes -January 28, 2009 The minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting of January 28, 2009 had been circulated with the agenda. On a motion by P. Holowaty, seconded by J. Hill and CARRIED, it was resolved that the minutes of the Board Meeting of January 28, 2009 be accepted as a true and correct record of the meeting. Prouerty Business 5.1 Tenant Placement Reuort The Tenant Placement Report had been circulated with the agenda. Christine gave an overview of the report Tenant Turnover Unit Turnover Activity Report was a hand out. Each month Christine will highlight the vacancy loss and money spent on the turnover of a unit. The vacancy loss and the bad debt amounts should be the same as in the Arrears Report. Questions were asked about the Waldau Woods uiut that was destroyed. This was a tenancy that ended in eviction, and the unit was totally destroyed. We will proceed to Small Claims with this tenant. Overview of uucomin~ rentals For the period of Febn~ary 1/09 to April 1/09 we have 4 RGI units available and 3 Market units available. Promotional Efforts Viewit.ca for market applicants and Community Housing Access Centre (CHAC) for applicants needing rental subsidy. Market Rents Sometimes it is difficult to rent market units due to the fact that the rents for towi~llouses do not include gas, heat and hydro; several townhouse developments have very limited parking, rents for apartments include hydro but do not include gas heat and have limited parking available. Victoria School Village is the only site that includes both hydro and heat. Request for Reviews 4 Negative decisions were made; of these, two requests for Review are currently being addressed internally. Leal Actions We had 6 applications to evict for non-payment of rent and 1 Order to Sheriff for eviction. How is economy affecting KHI tenants? We are seeing an increase in tenants being laid off. We are able to assist RGI tenants immediately by adjusting their rent. However, if those tenants were already in rental arrears, their repayment arrangements are almost impossible to make and if those tenants pay market rent as is the case with 2 new tenants, their situation is very dire. We have one tenant who moved in on January 15ti' lost lus job and now he is asking for a subsidy We help market rent tenants with the CHAC application for subsidy, but there must be subsidy available for them in order to lower their rent. If after approval from CHAC, a rental subsidy is applied from the market target overage, then the available units must be rented at market. Market rent applicants are experiencing the same financial instabilities. We are hearing from applicants that they are losing their homes or being evicted for non- payment of rent that is unaffordable to them. 5.2 Property Maintenance Report The Property Maintenance Report for Febniary had been circulated with the agenda. Cathy Shafe gave an overview of the report. Victoria School Delta Air Systems expect to have specifications for new boilers ready for the begimung of March. The boilers have not required any servicing for the past month. Gage Green & Waldau Woods The prebid for roof replacements took place on Febn~ary 20ti' The tender closes on Febn~ary 27th. The Charles Aiulual Unit lilspections were completed on February Sti' Most of the unts are in good shape. The repairs have been scheduled and are expected to take the remainder of Febn~ary to complete. The most common complaints heard from tenants were the windows are cold and drafty. A lot of windows have ice build up and condensation. Snow removal The Landscape/ Snow Removal Tender was handed out at the meeting. Submissions were received from Lawrence Lawn Care, T.E.D. S, Dundee Nursery and APM Property Maintenance. The recommendation is that Lawrence Lawn Care be awarded the contract. On a motion by P. Holowaty, seconded by M Seiling and CARRIED, it was resolved that Lawrence Lawn Care be awarded the 2009-2010 Landsacape and Snow Removal Contract at their tendered price of $136,927 for the first year and $140,083 for the second year. 5.3 Follow-up -nil 6. Finance & Administration Business 6.1 Financial Statements -January 2009 The Financial Statements for January had been circulated with the agenda. Ann Eckert gave an overview. There may be a couple of adjustments coming to the market rent category. Every year we are in the same compliance problem with a couple of tenants, and we usually have a couple of adjustments in Febn~ary/March for this category. City switched its financial software to SAP. It is a huge change, but once we la7ow all the capabilities it will be a great tool. On a motion by A. Head, seconded by J. Gazzola and CARRIED, the January statements be approved. 6.2 Rental Arrears Report -January 2009 The Rental Arrears Report for January had been circulated with the agenda. Camelia Suciu gave the report. The arrears for January were 3 %, with 4 vacancies and we were over the market target by 12. The year to date vacancy percentage is 0.71. 6.3 Follow-up -nil 7. General Manager's Report The General Manager's report for February had been circulated with the agenda. 1. Victoria School Update & Planning Schedule • The contract between Triumph Aluminum and Sheet Metal hic and Kitchener Housing has been signed • Triumph has indicated that they will continence the work by March 15, 2009 and attain Substantial Performance of the work by July 17, 2009 (weather pernutting) • A meeting to discuss the project particulars is scheduled for the week of Febn~ary 23`d, 2009 and once the particulars have been determined, Karen will schedule a tenant meeting in early March to pass on this information and address any tenant concerns. David Street Staff continues to be very concerned with the quad building lalown as 43 David Street. Water infiltration during the winter freeze and thaw is quite alarming. Two of the families have been offered transfers to other KHI projects as a result of our concerns; however both families have decided to stay in their units and are calling frequently to have their water issues addressed. KHI staff can make no headway in stopping the water infiltration and staff has exhausted the hiring of contractors to place temporary band aids on the issues. Choices: remove all the tenants from this four-plex, leaving it unoccupied until constriction can be scheduled for 2010 or move this building ahead of schedule and work the remedial repairs into the 2009 calendar year. Karen had some discussion with RJC and the first step will be to ask Triumph for a quote to do 43 David. RJC is not sure Triumph has room and forces to do 43 David or what their conul7itment is after the contract is done. The contract is scheduled to start middle of March and is supposed to end about the middle of July. As well, we do not know how Triumph will perform as this will be the first contract with Triumph who are best lalown as roofers. RJC has all the drawings ready for the quads, so there will be no delay for the tender. They will also address the issue with Triumph. The Board directed Karen to obtain a cost from Triumph to add 43 David Street to this contract. If the cost received from Triumph is too high than RJC will be asked to take the remedial work for 43 David out for tender. Results of the cost received from Triumph will be shared by email with the Board as soon as received. Karen will ask RJC for their additional fee structure to add 43 David to the 2009 calendar. 2. Energy Audit The Region of Waterloo has ear marked $300,000 of their $3.27 million in provincial funding to preparing Building Condition Audits (BCA). Included in this exercise is an Energy Retrofit Audit as well. KHI completed project specific BCA's in 2007 so this exercise with the Region is not a requirement; however energy audits were not part of our request for proposal in 2007. Now that the Region has recognized the need to have energy audits added to their guidelines, KHI will work with the Region's engineer in completing energy audits for the KHI portfolio this spring. 3. Financial Statements The first run of the 2008 financial statements are underway. KPMG will begin the audit on March 9ti' 2008 Financial Statements will be presented at the April 29ti' Annual General Meeting for approval. 4. Asbestos Survey Karen has asked the firm of Kleinfeldt Consultant Limited to submit a fee proposal for an Asbestos Survey. The objective of this report is to have all buildings comply with the new Ontario Regulation 278/05, Asbestos on Constriction Projects and in Building and Repair Operation. If there are any materials found to have asbestos in our projects, an Asbestos Management Plan will be put in place which will guide KHI as to our role and responsibilities when requesting tenders or arranging future construction upgrades. 5. 2009 Administration & Technical Budget -revised A revised 2009 Administration & Technical Budget was handed out at the meeting. The addition of a Senior Property Manager for 5 months will cost $ 43,000. On a motion by C. Zehr, seconded by J. Hill and CARRIED, the Revised 2009 Administration & Technical Budget be approved. Open Forum 9. Other 10. Caucus -nil 11. Adjournment On a motion by A. Head, seconded by P. Holowaty and CARRIED, the meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Chairman Secretary