Minutes, January 19, 2021
Minutes from the January 19, 2021 Clarksville CDC Monthly Meeting
In support of citywide efforts to reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the meeting was held via Zoom.
Board members attending: Aly Byatt, Aubrey Carter, BJ Friedman, Malcom Greenstein, Paula Hern, Kim O’Brien, and Chris Thomas
Others attending: Rose Gabriel, Director of Property and Finance
1. On a motion by Aly, seconded by Aubrey, the minutes from the November 17, 2020 monthly board meeting were approved.
2. BJ reviewed the November and December financial statements s of the end of December, our checking balance was $12,111, our savings $168,769 (the savings balance includes approximately $136,931in funds dedicated to specific projects—construction of 1611 W. 10th, Haskell House repairs, OWANA-donated funds.) Items of note include a donation in the amount of $225 made to the CCDC in honor of Brooke Bailey. This donation will be equally matched by the Gates Foundation.
BJ also presented the quarterly financial reports and reviewed expenditures and discussed trends with the board.
Minutes from the Finance and Operations Committee meeting of January 14, 2021 appear at the end of these minutes.
3. Rose presented her monthly report. There are no current vacancies. One tenant is in the process of moving in. One tenant is behind on rent but are making payments. Meetings are taking place to address egress/ingress issues at 1011 Charlotte, 1708 W. 10th, and 1721 B Waterston.
4. The Finance and Operations Committee has been discussing the need for a more systematic property inspections. There are some things that Rose can and has been handling, but there’s a need to hire someone with more specific expertise for a more thorough inspections. At the FOC’s recommendation, the board’s agreed to contract with someone who will conduct an inspection of each property. Rose will develop a schedule, with inspections expected to begin in the spring. Following this initial inspection, each property will be inspected annually, likely to coincide with lease renewals.
On a motion by Aly, seconded by Aubrey, the board voted to amend the budget to included costs outlined on the agenda backup, $1020 ($60/unit.)
5. Rose reported that reworked plans for the house at 1611 W. 10th Street will be resubmitted to the City in the next day or two.
6. Rose reported that there’s been little progress on the Haskell House repairs. The bid from Phoenix One, the Dallas contractor recommended by the City, was double the amount of grant money we received. She will meet again with Kim McKnight, Austin Parks & Recreation, to discuss options. The deadline to finish the project is September, but Kim thinks we will have no problem getting an extension. BJ has reached out to a local restoration architect to see if we can find someone local to do the work.
On a motion by Kim O’Brien, seconded by Chris, the board approved a motion expressing our preference for finding a local contractor to do the job.
7. No Other Business was discussed.
8. The board did not meet in Executive Session.
Actions taken via Electronic Vote:
1/10/21: The board approved to accept the bid from Jaime and Samuel Romero, in the amount of $4,000 for interior painting at 1729 A W. 11th. This matter was time-sensitive and could not wait until the January meeting.
Minutes from Finance & Operations Committee Meeting on January 14, 2021
Attending: BJ Friedman, CCDC Treasurer, Paula Hern, Mary Reed, CCDC President, Chris Thomas, CCDC Vice President, and Rose Gabriel, CCDC Director Property and Finance.
BJ compared the CCDC’s November and December bank statements against deposit slips, debit transactions and receipts for that month.
The financials for November and December were reviewed and some clarifications were requested.
Committee members established a regular day and time for their meetings – 4PM on the Thursday before the CCDC’s monthly board meeting.
Rose provided updates on: 1611 West 10th Street, the stairs rebuild/second egress project at 1011 Charlotte, and the Haskell House project.
The committee discussed CCDC property inspections. Right now, inspections occur once/year. (Rose provided a checklist of all of the things that she believes should be inspected at each CCDC property.) However, Rose said that she believes some things should be inspected every quarter and that other things could be inspected annually. Her arguments for quarterly inspections were that problems are more likely to be detected sooner, when they will be less expensive to fix. She also noted that too often tenants don’t bring problems to her attention because they don’t want to “bother her” about them.
Mary and Chris objected to quarterly inspections of things inside a tenant’s home because they believed that having someone visit their homes every three months would feel invasive to tenants.
Rose also noted that she does not have time to do regular inspections and recommended that the CCDC hire someone to do them. She also provided the committee with a list of what things should be inspected every quarter versus annually together with an estimate of how much she believed someone would charge to do each kind of inspection. There was some discussion about whether the CCDC could afford to outsource inspections, and who the CCDC might hire to do them. Mary noted that Felicia Farnes could perform some of the tasks – tasks that did not require her to enter the homes of other tenants and tasks that would not put her in the position of “tattling” on other tenants.
After some debate, BJ said that she felt that in light of the amount the CCDC spends on property repairs paying for more frequent inspections would be money well spent and hopefully reduce our overall costs. The Committee members concurred. Also, Rose agreed to revise her inspection plan to reflect committee members’ feedback.