Approved 082621 Somerset Housing Authority 75 John F. Kennedy Terrace Somerset, MA 02726 508-672-3348 Thomas E. Potter Chairman Matthew Aspden, Esq. Vice Chairman Barry Sullivan Treasurer Antone Soares, Jr. Asst. Treasurer Christopher Migneault Commissioner Lucia M. Casey Executive Director Mr. Potter called the June 17, 2021 meeting of the Somerset Housing Authority to order at 7:00 pm. Roll Call Present Thomas Potter Matthew Aspden Christopher Migneault Antone Soares Absent Barry Sullivan Guests Brenda Beaulieu Shirley Costa Lucia Casey (by telephone) Minutes A motion to accept the Minutes from the May meeting as presented was made by Mr. Soares and seconded by Mr. Migneault. The Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. Financial Statements A motion to accept the Financial Statement from the month of May as presented was made by Mr. Migneault and seconded by Mr. Aspden. The Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. Communications Department of Housing and Community Development- Juneteenth Independence Day Guidance Juneteenth Independence Day (June 19 th) is now an official Massachusetts state holiday that was signed into law by Governor Baker on June 24, 2020. A motion to amend the personnel policy and add Juneteenth to the list of approved holidays was made by Mr. Migneault and seconded by Mr. Soares. The board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. Executive Director’s Report Maintenance- In between work orders, Mark and Chris have been dealing with apartment turnovers. I am waiting to hear from the 504 revisions for 2 apartments so that I know what to do with the apartment in the A building and the J building. As of this writing, vacancies at EMV, in addition to the ones in Buildings A and J, are located in buildings B, two in the I building, one in the L building and one in the M building. At JFK, there are two apartments in building 92 that are vacant. I had made offers for the two apartments in building 108 and both were accepted. One apartment is already occupied and the other will be occupied by July 1 st. Last month there were two requests for transfers, both have been pulled by the requested tenants. Administrative-The 504 Plan to convert units for handicapped accessibility in the bathrooms in the two units selected is on hold until the survey is complete and to my knowledge it has not begun yet. The Housing Authority is responsible for moving the existing residents so the vacant apartments in buildings J and A will be held open until it is time to move the residents prior to the work being started. We are still having monthly inspections for bed bugs in building N at EMV. This has proven to be effective so hopefully we will not have an issue in the future. I continue to work with the auditor sporadically as he requests things. This process has been extremely slow due to Covid. Walsh’s Pharmacy in Fall River was on site on Saturday, May 22, 2021 to administer the second Moderna Vaccine to the 5 residents who were unable to leave their apartments to receive the vaccine. Everyone who received the vaccine has done so. As always, there are some residents who will not be vaccinated for whatever reason. The storm doors at EMV are complete. The Board has the Certificates of Substantial and Final Completion to approve under New Business. There were two pre construction meetings since the Board last met. One was for new roofs on buildings A and C and the other is for the personal deck project at EMV. Both projects are slow in starting due to the availability of materials. The roofing contractor had asked if the specification of “Premium” shingles was necessary. After discussion as to where we are located (salt water) and other environmental concerns, the response from the team was the shingles needed to be “Premium.” For the decks, there is a lag time of 10-12 weeks for materials. There was an incident with our neighbors at 1919 Brayton Point Road on June 8th. Trees were cut from our property using a bucket truck without notifying the Housing Authority. In addition, their workers were parked in the housing authority parking lot near building “J” preventing residents from pulling in or going out. In a heated voice, I exchanged words with the home owners stating that they could clearly cut any branches hanging in their yard but not the trees along the fence. I was told that I had said at a Board Meeting that they could cut the trees but I wasn’t paying. Apparently they interpreted that to mea