May Housing Meeting Minutes

TOWN OF CLINCHCO

HOUSING MEETING

MINUTES OF MEETING ON 5/18/2017 

MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Jarvis Deel, Don Hill, Trevor Counts, Randy Moore

MEMBERS ABSENT 5/18/2017:  Frankie Gulley, Edna Gulley, and Virginia White

Town Attorney: Susan Woods

Town Clerk: Tina Bartley

On 5/18/2017 the meeting was called to order by Chairman Jarvis Deel.

Welcoming and moment of silence:

Chairman Jarvis Deel, welcomed everyone to the meeting and called the meeting to order, and asked for a moment of silence. 

Approval of Minutes:

Chairman Deel stated at this time we will need to approve the March minutes, because we didn’t have an April meeting.  Has everybody had time to go through their March minutes; Tina stated ok Jarvis, right here it says that Chairman Deel stated that the contractor which was Carl and he would be putting an escape route for Willard Skeens out the back and for Marsha has so many electrical problems and we let him go through the applications to see which ones were the most serious and needed to be dealt with first.  Don asked if we had a file on Mr. Turner and Chairman Deel stated yes we sure do and a contract signed and Tina notarized it.  That was said.  Don Hill asked Tina to reread it to him one more time and Tina repeated the portion of old minutes to Don.  Don asked what was voted on and Tina stated that was the only thing you all discussed.  Don stated so we didn’t say anything about the electrical at all; Tina stated no, the only electrical work that was talked about was Marsha’s.  This is what you all discussed having done and this is when you were getting a quote on having what done and then that was February minutes and you all have March minutes.  Susan stated since we have sort of took a break, I am just going to say this; probably the proper way to make your motion to freeze the treasures report would be when asked about additions to the agenda cause that technically is not on the agenda.  I know that I am being very picky but….Don stated no listen look at me that is what I want you to do, I have no argument with that, go ahead and be picky.  Don stated so we need to go back and do this.  Susan stated well when he goes through and asks for additions to the agenda and then you would.  Don asked Susan are you ok with the way it is now, I won’t to go…..Susan in the future if you want to add something to the agenda to vote on it needs to be on the agenda.  Chairman Deel stated what I need right now is an approval for the March minutes; Don made the motion to approve the March minutes; Trevor Counts seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor. 

Approval of the Treasurers Report:

Chairman Deel stated at this time, we didn’t have no April meeting so we will be approving the Treasurers report for the month of March or April and May.  So at this time I will ask if anyone has any questions over the treasurer’s report.  Don Hill stated that he didn’t have a question, but a statement.  The balance is down to $2,430.50 so we really don’t have a lot of money to spend on houses anymore.  Chairman Jarvis Deel stated it needs to be more so emergency back up here.  Don Hill agreed.  Trevor Counts asked if they ever finished Skeen’s house; Chairman Deel stated yeah, I was going to give you an update on Carl here in just a little bit.  Don Hill stated he would like to make a motion here, the treasurer’s balance, that we suspend it, expenditures except for whatever might happen here in the town hall regarding Tina’s salary.  Chairman Deel stated ok, we will put a freeze on it except for Tina’s payroll.  We have a motion here for….Tina asked Chairman Deel before you vote on the treasurer’s report, I may have to reprint that real quick if you look at March the balance is $2,430.50 right here it is the same on the other report.  I guess I didn’t carry the balance on down, let me correct that real fast so you all can vote on it.  Tina corrected the total on the May treasurers report and handed it out to the housing members.  Trevor Counts stated Tammy Skeens stopped down there and she said the only thing that they done to the house was put a back porch on they did not do any electrical work at all on the house so that is the reason I asked.  She stopped me out there and she is helping her mommy and daddy now and Fred is back in town.  Chairman Deel stated I know and basically the porch is the only thing that was voted on to be put on that house and that is what we put on there and Lee Skeens is tickled to death.   Trevor stated do you remember one time that you said that his house was real bad with the electricity and stuff.  Chairman Deel stated no, that was Marsha’s.  Trevor stated I thought we had two, his and Marsha’s.  Chairman Deel stated no, more so he only had one exit out and it was out the front door unless he threw his wife out the back door.  Don Hill asked what did she say that should have been done; Trevor stated the electrical to and my understanding was that there was two houses they was going to do the electricity on, and you said that Skeens needed it worse and then Marsha came down here and said that the sparks coming out of her extension cords and this and that and you said that Skeens would be done first and then Marsha’s would be done second.  Now if you go back, and I can look on my reports.  Chairman Deel stated I can have Tina pull the contracts.  Trevor Counts stated but she said that the electricity should have been done and it was still bad now that is what she said and she said if I could ask again tonight about it and I said I would.  Don Hill stated the Chairman Deel to check and see what they voted on.  Chairman Deel stated he couldn’t remember what month they voted on that.  Tina entered room and apologized and explained where the error was, Tina collected the wrong report and replaced it with the correct report.  I even made the statement to Jarvis that we were really going to have to watch these funds.  Trevor Counts stated well we don’t have the money to do it, but I do remember us voting on it to do his first and then do Marsha’s because Marsha didn’t come down here to do hers until later.  Chairman Deel stated on Lee Skeens house, all we voted on was the porch.  Tina agreed and said she could look through old minutes and see what she could find.  Chairman Deel stated ok, I had a motion on the treasurer’s report right now on the table.  Don Hill stated yes, the balance is $1,790.50 so I will amend my motion to say the balance of $1,790.50.  I guess that is the right way to do it isn’t madam council.  Susan Wood stated you should probably approve the treasurer’s report before you do that.  Don stated no, well that’s important.  I will make the motion to approve the treasurer’s report as presented; Trevor Counts seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.  Don Hill made a motion that we freeze the balance of $1,790.50 until such time that we can accumulate some more payments to increase the balance.  Tina asked what about my payroll; Don replied this is why we are freezing it; I should say with one exception that we continue to pay her.  Trevor Counts seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor to freeze the housing checking account with the exception of payroll.

Additions to the agenda:

Mayor Deel asked if anyone had anything to add to the agenda; Don Hill stated he would like to add the discussion of the housing board treasurer’s report. Chairman Deel stated ok, we will put that on number 3 under new business, no let’s change that to number 2 under new business and closed session will be number 3.  With that addition of discussion of the housing treasurer’s report do I have any more additions; if not I will ask for a motion to approve the agenda as is with adding in the discussion of the housing treasurer’s report.  Trevor Counts made the motion to approve the agenda; Don Hill seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor. 

Old Business:

Update on Carl Turner:

Chairman Deel stated as an update on Carl he got done with the work.  I talked with Lee Skeens and he is tickled to death with his porch up there and when I was up there Trevor he never said anything to me he was just tickled with his porch.  And then Marsha, she was tickled with her wiring to.  His work passed, he is paid and we are broke. 

New Business:

Amending Bylaws:

Chairman Deel stated that we have talked about amending the bylaws.  Don Hill stated before we go ahead, is this the part where we need to redo the motion on the housing accounts.  Susan stated no, he added that to number 2 under new business.  Don stated ok, I don’t have notes so ok go ahead.  Chairman Deel stated we had talked about amending our housing bylaws and Tina made you all some copies for you all.  Actually, one question I noticed was brought up in the March minutes was about the secretary if they had to live in town or not; ok, basically the bylaw’s doesn’t say anything about a secretary.  It says the officers may consist of Chairman, Vice chairman and secretary and the secretary shall serve as request of the board and will be program manager.  If you look all through your bylaws there is nothing that states that the secretary has to be in the town limits or anything. This also calls for 8 members and we had talked about reducing it down to 5 so we could.  I mean we are going to still keep taking members, but have a minimal of 5 that we can have meeting if we need to.  Is that something anybody would want to amend down to 5 members; Don Hill made a motion to amend the bylaws to change the present bylaws to 8 members to 5 members.  Randy Moore stated you want to only have 5 housing members; Chairman Deel stated only as a minimum that way it gives us leeway just in case somebody is absent that way we can still have our housing meetings and keep going.  If we have a minimum of 5, 3 would be enough to have a quorum.  At this time I have a motion to amend the housing bylaw members from 8 to 5 do I have a second motion; Trevor Counts seconded the motion; a vote was taken and Chairman Deel voted aye, Don Hill voted aye, Trevor Counts voted aye, Randy Moore voted no.   Chairman Deel stated this still has to go in front of Council and DHCD to get the bylaws amended.  What we do here tonight will be presented before council and then council agrees to it and then it will go on to the DHCD.  Is there anything else in there that anyone sees that they would like to have amended;  Don Hill stated the only thing that I see that is kind of confusing to me is under purpose, it says the purpose of the board is to provide fair, equitable application of the town of Clinchco housing programs to LMI  beneficiaries, to review staff or consult board progress and performance, approve contractors qualified as eligible to bid on work, approve applicants for assistance and insure that benefits are being applied and in compliance with the program guidelines.  Approve bids and contracts for work performed and resolve complaints or disputes which may develop.  My problem with that is it is a pretty broad scope and a humongous responsibility. And yet it doesn’t require town council approval for any of that, and I am, madam council really confused why we have this scope of work, you know where I am going; Susan replied no, I don’t.  Don stated I am confused with that because we can’t even go; we can’t even foreclose on a piece of property.  Chairman Deel stated if we have a problem with anything like the complaints the housing board cannot resolve it themselves then it goes on to the council according to your program design to council to take care of it.  Don stated I am just really kindly at odds with this the scope of responsibility.  And some of this is probably more important that foreclosure on a piece of property and we are given that responsibility for all of this and yet we can’t do anything with a foreclosure what I am saying is I don’t know what to do about that, but I am confused about this level of responsibility, but yet seems to me to be something we should be able to do without some other approval.  Chairman Deel stated ok, you are wondering why we can’t foreclose but the council can.  Don stated that is correct, but I will say again these things to me and it’s just my opinion are far more important than a foreclosure.  Simply because if these things are done right I won’t say there won’t be any foreclosures but they should be minimized if we do these things correctly, that is just a comment.  Susan Wood stated that these bylaws were written far before I became a part of this you all adopted these bylaws, I don’t know how long ago.  Don Hill stated no, we did…and you are exactly right, but you see where I….this is vague to me why this is our responsibility, but yet foreclosure is not and I guess we have to, I guess you will have to, and no you really don’t have to comment on it all I am doing is making a comment about my confusion really.  Chairman Deel stated it will go on to council if we can’t resolve it.  Don stated I understand that, but it looks like to me it is our responsibility to resolve it, it’s the whole purpose of which the housing board was formed, that’s our purpose to do these things.  Chairman Deel stated actually it is broken down in the program guide it breaks everything down into separate sections, but anyway it all it goes back to your program guide to your bylaws and like I say it can fall under the council of course we are going to have if we get this other grant we are going to need other boards appointed anyway.  We are going to have….I forget how may boards we will have to appoint, but we will have to make three other boards at least.  One of them will be rehab oversite board which will have the final approval of the expenditure of all program income as outlined above and will insure proper use of the funds.  Don Hill asked who will the rehab oversite board answer to; Chairman Deel stated it don’t say who they answer to.  Susan stated, I don’t know I went all through this and looked at the minutes for March because I feel like I talked it to death in March, so…… Don stated as far as I am concerned I have made my thoughts known so we can move on Mr. Chairman if you won’t to.  Chairman Deel stated ok, are you making a motion; Don stated no; Chairman Deel stated I don’t know how you would amend something like that anyway.  Don stated you can’t, I don’t guess, I mean you can.  Chairman Deel stated this will be a 30 notice on the amendment anyway so if something changes before next meeting we can always amend it different then and accept it at that time.  Don stated it has always been unclear to me where any documentation for this housing board where certain things are approved by the town council, I just don’t remember seeing anything that says that nowhere.  Chairman Deel stated I think it is in this program design book here somewhere or in the black book too.  Don Hill stated ok, we can go over it another time.  Susan asked do you have this information.  Don stated I’ve read through that whole program manual sometime back two or three times and my relocation is not that there is anything there about foreclosure being approved by town council.  Susan stated, well I will let you all go on and I will find it.  Don stated ok.  Chairman Deel stated as far as amending the bylaws we will go ahead and table that and bring that back up next meeting, well we could go ahead….well no we have to vote on it next meeting if we don’t table it.  My opinion we just go with the bylaws the way it stands where we amended it to 5 instead of 8.  Don seconded the motion; a vote was taken and Trevor Counts vote aye, Randy Moore stated he thought we already voted on that.  Don stated not that we can’t amend the bylaws until next meeting so have to put it on hold until next time.  Randy stated I will vote aye to put it on hold next time. 

Housing Treasurer Report:

Chairman Deel stated at this time we will have discussion over the housing treasurer report; Don Hill made the motion to freeze the housing board balance of $1,790.50 with the exception that we continue to pay the secretary out of that balance.  Randy Moore seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.

Closed Session:

Chairman Deel stated at this time I will ask for a motion to into executive session under code 2.2-3711 and reason being to discuss public and legal.  Don Hill made the motion to go into executive session; Randy Moore seconded the motion; a vote was taken all members were favor.

Chairman Deel stated at this time I will call this meeting back to order and to go back into open session under code section 2.2-3712 and I would like a motion that only legal matters was discussed.  Randy Moore made the motion; Trevor Counts seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.

Public Comments:

Mayor Deel asked for any public comments; Ralph Sutherland stated were the bylaws call for 8 members is this legal where you don’t have enough for a quorum, is this a legal meeting.  Chairman Deel stated we don’t have but 5 members right now so we have a quorum.  Ralph stated out of 8.  Susan stated there are not 8 members currently on the board there are 7.  Don agreed.  Chairman Deel stated 5 right; Virginia is the only one missing.  Tina spoke up and said you have Edna and Frankie.  Ralph stated what I am saying the bylaws call for 8.  Susan stated there has never been 8 to my understanding.  Don stated we have been in violation for a number of years on that particular bylaw.  Ralph stated surly not.  Don stated yes, ask the counselor.  Chairman Deel stated actually it don’t say, it says a majority and we have 4 here and that is the majority.  Susan agreed yes it was ok.

Housing Member Comments:

Chairman Deel asked at this time does any housing members have any comments; no comments were made.

Adjournment:

Randy Moore made the motion to adjourn; Don Hill seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.