Title
Executive Director Report August 19, 2015
Memorandum
I. FEDERAL
A. FY 16 Budget: Has not yet been ratified by Congress yet.
B. FY 15 HUD HCV Administrative Fee: HUD is retroactively increasing the Admin fee for April to June 2015 to 79% from 74% which is an increase of $37,842 to the AAHC.
C. HUD published the PHAS scores for public housing for the past three years. The AAHC had a score of 76 in FY12, 84 in FY13 and 86 in FY14. We have not received our scores for FY15 yet. We have a REAC inspection scheduled for October 2015 which is a physical inspection of a random sampling of units that are still public housing.
II. RAD REDEVELOPMENT
A. River Run & Maple Tower Renovations: The 1st through 5th floor of Baker and the 2nd through 7th floor of Miller are completely renovated and tenants have moved in. The common area of Baker and the 1st floor of Miller are currently being renovated. Due to numerous sewer back-ups at Miller during construction, the entire first floor sewer stacks will be replaced during renovations of the first floor. The Solar Panels have been installed on Miller’s roof - see attached photo. The solar electric panels should reduce the AAHC’s energy costs at Miller between 5% - 10%. Redstone, our LIHTC investor, is also purchasing the Energy Tax Credits for the solar panels. The Green-Baxter fire building is complete and tenants are moving in. The AAHC held an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony last week which was attended by our local partners, staff, and council members. The Ann Arbor News wrote an article and took photos. Norstar continues renovations at Hikone, Green-Baxter, and Maple Meadows.
B. N. Maple (West Arbor): A meeting was held on July 28th with North Maple Estate Residents to discuss relocation questions and to receive input on design decisions for the new construction project. The meeting was well-attended with 75% of families represented. The resident voted to rename North Maple Estates to North Maple Village. The residents were very excited about providing input into the design. The kids created collages of the playground equipment they wanted to have on the site. The adults chose the color palate for the flooring, walls, countertop and trim work inside the apartments. And everyone provided input on where and what type of outdoor amenities they would like to see. The Shoshana Hurand and Allison Buck from the Arts Alliance, Terri Wadsworth from MAP, and Reggie Dalton and Alissa Ellis from the AAHC facilitated the meeting.
The project is scheduled to close with HUD, our investors, and the City of Ann Arbor on August 28, 2015.
C. White/State/Henry: The site plan was approved at the July 21st Planning Commission meeting and will be on the August 17th City Council meeting.
D. Colonial Oaks (Main, Penn, Seventh, Colonial Platt): Staff are continuing to work with tenants on relocation. Lance is developing a scope of work to be bid out to a general contractor.
III. CITY/COUNTY/OTHER RELATIONS
A. City Council: The Joint AAHC/City policy committee met in July. Ron Woods, Tim Colenbeck and Jennifer Hall attended from the AAHC. The group discussed the Commission’s current financial situation and current budget. The agenda for the next meeting in August is to look at the Commission’s future projected budget challenges and options.
B. Colonial Square Cooperative: As a part of the RAD conversion for Colonial Platt, the Commission conducted standard due diligence including a survey. The survey showed that Colonial Square had an access easement to drive across the AAHC rear property but many years ago they had actually built a maintenance garage, fence and maintenance vehicle storage area on the AAHC’s property, which was not allowed under the easement. Please see the attached survey. When the City saw the survey, they had to file a lawsuit to prevent Colonial Square from taking adverse possession of the property, but they did not serve it on Colonial Square because they were about to transfer ownership to the AAHC. This was a standard practice by the city and they notified Colonial Square staff why they had to do it.
I met with Colonial Square board members along with Julie Grand and Steven Kunselman after the City transferred ownership of the property to the AAHC. I requested that they swap the land they had built on for the adjacent vacant land next to our property. They declined to make a land swap but requested an expansion of the easement to include the structures. When NEF, our investor for North Maple, did a search for lawsuits against the AAHC and AAHDC the search turned up a lawsuit filed but not served on the AAHC and AAHDC by Colonial Square Cooperative. Please see attached. Because Colonial Square had not served the AAHC or AAHDC, we were not aware of it. I talked to the Manager at Colonial Square and he agreed that they would not serve the lawsuit, which means it would be automatically dismissed 90 days after it was filed.
The Commission needs to decide what to do with the easement encroachment by Colonial Square Cooperative.
C. Duet Development for Library Lane RFP: The City is reviewing the proposals and continues to ask questions of the developments. The City has not given a timeline for when they will be making a recommendation to City Council.
D. Ecology Center: Jason Bing of the Ecology Center is leading an effort to demonstrate how much material can be salvaged and reused from the North Maple demolition rather than sending the materials to the landfill. Levi Clark, Maintenance Technician, is taking the lead on doing pre-demolition salvaging of materials at North Maple. He creating a safety plan and taking CPR course to prepare himself to supervise volunteers.
IV. FINANCIAL REPORT AND UPDATE
See attached Financial Statement
V. PROCUREMENT ACTIVITIES BEYOND SMALL PURCHASES ($25,000+)
Rencor $84,319 to renovate W. Washington (fire)
VI. PERSONNEL
A. Training: Alissa Myers received a certificate for passing a specialized HCV training. Brookanne Maitland received a certificate for passing her HCV Occupancy training. Melissa D’Angelo, LaTonya Brown and Brookanne Maitland took a 4-day LIHTC course.
Michelle Walthall, Program Assistant has resigned. I have requested that HR and the Union upgrade the Program Assistant positions to Occupancy Specialist positions to include LIHTC and PBV experience. If this is approved, LaTonya Brown is currently a Program Assistant and her position will be upgraded as well.
VII. OPERATIONS
A. Housing: Staff are working hard to get annual recertifications done at all sites. Staff are meeting with tenants from N. Maple Estates and Colonial Oaks sites to counsel tenants on their relocation options and to administer their relocation.
B. Maintenance: All of the maintenance repairs have been completed that were identified by HAIG, our insurance company, on their site visit in June 2015.
C. Voucher: The SEMAP is complete!
D. Yardi: the Commission has hired a Yardi consultant to complete a full analysis of AAHC staff processes to conduct a workflow analysis, train staff on all Yardi modules and processes, and to ensure that the databases and security measures are optimized. All staff will be going to an on-site training on the aspects of Yardi that they utilize, including our outside HQS vendor.
VIII. FOLLOW UP TO JULY 2015 BOARD MEETING. Nothing to report
Staff
Prepared and Approved by Jennifer Hall, Executive Director