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HomeMy WebLinkAboutKit Housing - 2009-03-25KITCHENER HOUSING INC MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS HELD: Schmalz Room, City Hall, 200 King Street West, Kitchener DATE: March 25, 2009 TIME: 4:00 p.m. PRESENT: Denny Cybalski, Andrew Head, Mike Seiling, Carl Zehr, Paul Holowaty, Corrine Cash, John Gazzola RESOURCE STAFF: Karen Kwiatkowski, Ann Eckert, Christine Wilson, Susan Campbell- Emans, Camelia Suciu ABSENT: Christina Weylie, Jamie Hill 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. Councillor Christina Weylie has replaced Councillor Kelly Galloway. 2. Conflict of Interest -nil 3. Approval of Agenda On a motion by P. Holowaty, seconded by A. Head and CARRIED, the agenda be approved. 4. Approval of the Board Minutes -February 25, 2009 The minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting of Febniary 25, 2009 had been circulated with the agenda. On a motion by P. Holowaty, seconded by A. Head and CARRIED, it was resolved that the nunutes of the Board Meeting of February 25, 2009 be accepted as a true and correct record of the meeting. 4.1 Strategic Planning Minutes- February 20, 2009 The minutes of the Strategic Planning Meeting of Febn~ary 20, 2009 had been circulated with the agenda. On a motion by C. Cash, seconded by A. Head and CARRIED, it was resolved that the minutes of the Strategic Planning Meeting of Febniary 20, 2009 be accepted as a tn~e 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 had been circulated with the agenda. Overview of uucomin~ rentals For the period of February 1/09 to April 1/09, we have 5 RGI units and 3 Market unts available. KHI Web Site Anyone looking on the web can find us easier now. www.lcitchener.ca/housing will get an applicant directly to our site. Those interested can still access our site through the link on the City of Kitchener's site and by googleing Kitchener Housing Inc. Our business cards have been updated to include the new website. We are now loolang at changing our site to be more attractive to applicants and some day more useful to tenants. As it turns out, we have a great deal of potential to do this and stay within the site we already have. Christine will be working with City staff, Steve Langdon to this end. Our plan is to start reviewing changes we want by the first week in April and any ideas are welcomed. Request for Reviews No Request for Review at this time. Leal Actions We had 3 applications to evict for non-payment of rent, 1 Order to Sheriff for eviction and 1 reopened application to evict for reasons of safety which was resolved when the tenant agreed to a move out date. 5.2 Property Maintenance Report The Property Maintenance Report for March had been circulated with the agenda. Susan Campbell-Emans gave an overview of the report. Cedar View Inspection Cedar View unit inspections have been completed. The most common problems noted were noisy exhaust fans and leaky kitchen taps. Uiuts in general are in very good condition. Overview of Site Marketability Property and tenant staff have been collaborating on how to enhance and improve the aesthetics of some of our tired and well-worn properties to attract market renters. Based on refusals, Gage Green is our first priority. Changes to original landscaping and the replacement of grass with hard surfaces are being reviewed. Some suggestions for Gage would be to create a community gathering area which would include surfaces to enhance natural play area. There is a City park across the street, but it is not being used by the children at Gage Green. They use the courtyard as their playing area. Christine's idea is that depending on what we decide to do, it has to be appropriate for play. One of the biggest issues with Gage is the parking. There is only one spot per household. Andrew advised that the parlang space size is now 2.6 meters per spot as opposed to 3 meters. If we can reduce the space size, the only cost would be repainting the lineage. Staff will investigate the parl~ing details in the Development Examples of the Agreement. Proposed courtyard upgrades will be presented in May. 5.3 Roof Tender - Gaye Green and Waldau Woods. A summary of the Roof Replacement Tender had been circulated with the agenda. Submissions were received from Can Am Roofing, Roofinan, McIntosh, J.G. Carson and Nedlaw Roofing. The recommendation is that Can Am be awarded the contract. On a motion by A. Head, seconded by P. Holowaty and CARRIED, it was resolved that Can Ain be awarded the Roof Replacement contract for Gage Green at their tendered price of $63,790 and Waldau Woods at their tendered price of $ 150,520 (plus applicable taxes) 5.4 Follow-up -nil 6. Finance & Administration Business 6.1 Financial Statements -February 2009 The Financial Statements for February had been circulated with the agenda. Aml Eckert gave an overview. It was requested that the statement format be changed to show encumbrances and YTD variances. Staff will work on changes for the April Board Meeting. On a motion by A. Head, seconded by M Seiling and CARRIED, the February statements be approved. 6.2 Rental Arrears Report -February 2009 The Rental Arrears Report for February had been circulated with the agenda. Camelia Suciu gave the report. The arrears for February were 2 % with 1 vacancy and we were over the market target by 12. The year to date vacancy percentage is 0.44. 6.3 Conflict of Interest -Repeal of KHI By- Law # 7 I<1 the signing of the Housing Provider Service Agreement between Kitchener Housing hic and the Regional Municipality of Waterloo on January 28, 2002, Kitchener Housing Inc accepted the Social Housing Reform Act, 2000 (SHR.A) and provincial regulations containing rules about Conflict of Interest which all non-profits governed by the Act must follow. Currently the old By -Law # 7 Relating to the Conflict of hterest Policy, is still in existence. By Law # 7 enacted in September 1997 adopted and ratified the policies of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing conflict of interest at that time. Our solicitor Scott Henderson has suggested that as a housekeeping measure, that the Board repeal by-Law # 7 and accept the Conflict of Interest guidelines as set out in the Social Housing Reform Act, 2000. The SHRA does not specify that anon-profit conflict of interest policy must be set down in by-law form. On a motion by C. Zehr, seconded by P. Holowaty and CARRIED, that the By-Law # 7 - a By-law Relating to Conflict and hiterest be repealed. This resolution will be presented to the membership at the April AGM for ratification. The Existing Conflict of Interest Policy will be updated to include the Social Housing Reform Act, 2000. 6.4 Follow-up -nil 7. General Manager's Report The General Manager's report for March had been circulated with the agenda. 1. Victoria School Update & Planning Schedule Update to February 17 Triumph has decided to use scaffolding for their access. Although the scaffolding will cost more, they believe this system will work to their advantage as they can have multiple work stages and complete the work earlier than the July 17th date in the contract. Scaffolding was erected the week of March 16, the doors to the balconies barricaded by contractors and safety fencing erected in the courtyard. The courtyard will also be used to store the constn~ction materials. Cathy is scheduled to accompany the engineers and contractors to complete a thorough exterior and interior site review. Photos ofpre-construction are being assembled for our files. A meeting with the Victoria School residents was held on March 12. Resident instruction sheets have been handed to all and staff has been able to use interpretive services from various sources to insure that everyone understands the information handouts. KHI staff will keep all residents abreast of construction issues via a weekly update letter. In order to keep misinformation to a minimum all residents have been asked to call the office directly with their questions. Triumph is reviewing the specification for 43 David Street and will have their quotes ready for our review by the end of the week. Staff was asked to follow-up on the balcony door hardware with RJC as to the long- term performance of the lever handle. Open Forum - iul 9. Other -Mission Statement Overview by Corrine Cash The current KHI Mission Statement (MS) is: "Kitchener Housing is a municipal non-profit organization committed to developing and managing innovative and affordable housing that fosters personal and community growth". On March 5, 2009, Corrine Cash spent the morning with staff asking staff to reflect on the MS, if the statement was true and correct from their perspective and how could staff measure success of this statement. After many hours of discussion, staff summarized that the word "fosters" implies that they (staff) are expected to get involved into the lives of the tenants, malting significant changes, without having resources and the ability to do so. Staff believes that their role is to provide tenants with the tools to build or rebuild their own lives. Staff is providing a stable shelter with which to start their lives and insuring that this shelter is clean and well maintained. After much discussion, staff agreed that in their opinion the MS should be amended as "Kitchener Housing is a municipal non- profit organization committed to developing and managing innovative and affordable housing in an environment that encourages personal and community growth". After Corrine's presentation to the Board, it was suggested that a subconul7ittee be formed to establish objectives and measurements of the Mission Statement. Paul Holowaty and Susan Campbell-Emans both volunteered to join the subcomnuttee. Corrine will set the meetings and agendas over the course of the next few months. On a motion by M Selling, seconded by P. Holowaty and CARRIED, that the new Mission of Statements "Kitchener Ho7zsing is a municipal rron p~•ofit o~gas~izatioy~ cohmzitted to developing and u~ay~ag~s~g irrf~ovative artd affordable hous~ij~g ij~ ar~z erwiroj~u~ze~rt that ej~co~rrages~ petsot~al acrd comn~uuity gro~~~th ", be approved. 10. Caucus -the meeting went into Caucus at this time. 11. Adjournment On a motion by A. Head, seconded by P. Holowaty and CARRIED, the meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES Chairman Secretary