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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-11-28 TranscriptionNovember 28,1995 Council Work Session 7:10 PM Council: Horow, Baker, Kubby, Lehman, Nov, Pigott, Throg. Staff: Atkins, Helling, Woito, Karr, Randall, Boothroy, Schutt. Council Elect: Vanderhoef, Thornberry, Norton. Tape: 95-138, all. Atkins/ Doug and I have listed a number of issues that are either .... Kubby/ Excuse me, before Bob leaves, one last thing. I just asked Linda if we had wanted to reconsider and open this back up, the only way to do it to not need an extraordinary majority would be to set the p.h. again because we can't reopen a p.h. once it .has been closed. So the only way we could have reopened it to have the CZA with the conditions that is signed would be to reset the p.h. I wanted to say that before you left. Baker/ And two of us are going to be out of town as of Thursday. Nov/ Charlie doesn't want to sign it. Horow/ Okay, let's move on. Thank you. Atkins/ I would like to spend a couple of minutes just setting the stage for you with respect to our program of Assisted Housing. Doug is here to answer specific questions ..... One of the things that we have had to do to respond to and prepare for changes in federal housing policy .... changes will occur with respect to the federal budget and federal government's commitment in providing housing assistance .... keep in mind your goals as established in City STEPS Program because they guide us in making our decisions with respect to our participation in Assisted Housing Program. There could be a variety of changes .... ACC, Annual Contribution Contracts, which is a contract between the city and federal government, normally 3-5 years ..... changes in federal policy... possible reduction in administration fees ..... financing .... level of assistance. In doing so it creates a number of financial and organizational challenges for us. There are important things to know from you .... The overall mission of that division of Department HIS has been for us to secure housing assistance from the federal government, that is maximize the amount of money that we can draw from the federal government to provide housing assistance to our citizens .... We are, in this case, Thlsrepresentsonlyareasonablyaccuratetranscrlptlen ofthelowa Ci~ council meeting of November28, 1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 2 are the agent of the federal government ..... The city council is the Public Housing Authority ...... We have assumed that you wish us to continue that aggressive posture. We are doing our best to seek out those moneys... There are two basic elements in the Assisted Housing Program. 1-Rental Assistance Program ...certificates and vouchers, about 900 families. That has certain eligibility requirements and we provide subsidies directly from the government to these families. 2-Our landlord role. We are the mangers of about 100 units of public housing we own in our community purchased with federal aid. Last year Doug... construction manager for some 33 new units of public housing .... We hope to be showing those unit off to you before too long because they are approaching completion. There are a number of policy issues. I am going to try to encapsulate them for you ..... 1-You wish us to continue to pursue... maximize the amount of federal money that we can bring into the community for Housing Assistance. Simultaneously minimizing local moneys that might be directed to that program. 2-Make sure our financial house remains in order ...... making sure we have an adequate foundation is critical to our success. 3-Assure that our organizational, from a structural standpoint, is prepared to meet and deal with these issues in the future. We experienced over the last year or so a number of financial and organizational difficulties within the division. We believe that we have addressed those .... Two specific programs, Comprehensive Improvement Assessment Program where we actually seek aid from the federal government in order for us .... get new moneys to maintain our public housing stock. And the other is the Performance Funding and that is .... we have performed at a level that the federal government recognizes and provides us additional moneys. We have a list of 16 some issues. I will proceed to go through those step by step... answer specific questions ..... Throg/ Steve .... Whether the HCD Commission had a chance to look at these.. recommendations and advise us on what to do? Atkins/ No, they did not. They were aware. We have advised them .... I did not send these to the commission. Boothroy/ Traditionally the commission has not dealt with administrative matters, only policy and program .... Thlsrepresents on]y areasonablyaccuratetranscriptlonofthelowe Cltycouncilmeetin9ofNovember28,1995. WS112895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 3 Throg/ Because there are some questions of policy embedded in this set of recommendations and I know there are some commission members who felt there are particular ways in which they should be allowed .... to advise..° Strikes me as it would be appropriate for them to advise us on this. Atkins/ Clearly your call ..... what citizen bodies you choose to advise you is very much up to you .... Horow/ Can you give examples, Jim? Throg/ How to deal with the waiting list. Boothroy/ That decision was explained to the commission. There was not a formal vote but it was discussed. Throg/ Beyond that ..... I would like for them to look at the recommendations and advise us about what they think should be done. Kubby/ A lot of these already say... action taken .... Horow/ .... question as to whether they fall under administrative realm or under policy realm. Throg / Horow/ Arkins/ It is administrative if you want me to do it and its your if you want- . .... Please keeping mind that this list of issues in some cases we did take action. Because of some financial concerns we had, we felt we had to move very aggressively on those. If you choose to undo those that is certainly your call... calculate... cost for doing that because we have to maintain the general policy. Our Assisted Housing Program is 100% federal money ..... Kubby/ Three areas... rent and maintenance money; interest moneys and the inspector... already has been done .... There are already two things done administratively that has changed the policy and it happened administratively before it came here for us to change policy .... Atkins/ Let's deal with the Housing Inspector. That position required us to begin minimizing the cash bleeding that we were experiencing within the division. Doug recommended it, I ThlsrepresentsonlyareasonablyaccuratetranscrtptlonofthelowaCi~ councilmeefingofNovember28,1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 council Work Session Page 4 concurred with it. We felt that we could accommodate it. Do you wish to return to and have that inspector's position? Kubby/ .... There was one inspector that was in HIS that was kind of a Public Housing Authority inspector... now that person is still doing that work but is being paid by fees from inspections of other properties? Boothroy/ A year ago we increased our fees to add a housing inspector .... for regular rental inspection. The inspector that was doing HQS Inspections preferred to move over and take that position, Housing Quality Inspections for Assisted Housing. That left the HQS position open .... we were at $240,000 in debt and were having difficulties. So I thought it prudent not to fill that position until we got a handle on the financial condition of the Housing Authority. The position still exists. It has just never been filled. Kubby/ Who is doing the inspections then? Boothroy/ We had 1 3/4 Housing Quality Inspector assigned. We now only have a 3/4 time inspector and the work that would have been for the full time HQS Inspector is distributed among the other 3-4 housing inspectors that are on the General Fund ..... difficult situation with regard to workload .... Necessary to address the problem we had with funding .... Nov/ Are we still inspecting those federal funded- Boothroy/ Absolutely, we are mandated ..... Nov/ So we have increased the workload in the ordinary HIS Department? Boothroy/ Correct. Kubby/ Are people doing overtime for that? Boothroy/ I can't answer that .... Senior Housing Inspector is directly involved. I don't have that information .... Kubby/ Boothroy/ ...provide some coordination... we don't have to duplicate that inspection .... We have hired a new maintenance person within the last year and a half... had hire level of Thisrepresontsonlyareasonably accuratetranscription ofthelowa City council meeting of November28,1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 5 skill .... quality control basis. Kubby/ Position is still there- Boothroy/ It is not filled. Kubby/ .... practical sense... save money ..... I am talking about the timing of the decision. That is a policy decision that we should have talked about months ago .... Horow/ That is why we hire a city manager. Atkins/ The projections we made .... judgements that had to be made .... This was also an easily recoverable position. You can get back on track very easily by simply authorizing us to proceed to fill the position. Horow/ Atkins/ Your policy position had been to add additional inspector .... We chose to do it this way in a short term in order for us to recover. Kubby/ We chose through the budget process of the General Fund money to add another inspector for the regular rental market in Housing. That policy decision is not being lived out because of this administrative decision and that we didn't get a chance to say yea or nay to that decision even though I may agree 100% ..... Lehman/ ...If the job is getting done, then we would be foolish to have extra inspectors .... Kubby/ I am not hearing that all the jobs are still getting done Atkins/ In that Housing Inspection position you clearly indicated to us it was your desire to see that the workload begin being spread around. Are we doing as good a job? I think we are ...... Sooner or later to fulfill that policy direction we will have to fill that position. Horow/ Atkins/ This position, this investment .... We took process as we could. 16 items are, as cautious other than the capital and risk free thought Th]srepresentsonlyareasoneblyaccuratetranscrlptionofthelowa Ci~ council meetingofNovember28,1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 6 Kubby/ .... huge policy issue. It is my understanding that what Housing Specialists do are not just the bare bones mission of qualifying people for vouchers and certificates. We spend time with people ..... understand their situations... referrals... connect people to services. My understanding of what is being suggested here is that we go back to the bare bones ..... Atkins/ That is right. Kubby/ That, to me, is a huge change in service to our customers. Throg/ That is item #1. Boothroy/ I think the memo indicates that we are leading in that direction. I don't see anywhere on this 16 list that is even addressed. I am a little confused as to how you came to that conclusion. I understand- Pigott/ #1- Boothroy/ That has nothing to do with what she just said. Atkins/ It was clear that our efforts had been more than just simply qualifying people. One of the criticisms that came through from our consultant was that it was an effort on our part to provide additional services beyond the qualification process. Kubby/ Comments in another memo- Atkins/ Practically speaking our obligation is to qualify people for housing assistance ..... We were providing services above and beyond what the responsibilities are .... Horow/ Steve, are there any issues here that you see are policies that are of concern to you and the Department that you would care for council to address? Atkins/ The most important thing is that we will continue to maximize the federal money made available to us. If you wish to authorize additional latitude with respect to the use of local moneys, we need to be thinking about that. We are going to have to make that investment... the computer is shot. We have got to get our employees better technology ..... I need for you to understand that this is one of those circumstances where we need to make, we are recovering, and we may have to spend some money to recover sufficiently ..... Thlsrepr~ents onlyareasonebly accuratetranscription ofthelowa City council meetingof November28,1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 7 Horow/ If one assumes that federal funding... may change... are one of the 16 issues enough of a concern to you to drop, decrease all of them, would one drop out? Atkins/ Some of the things that are in here ...... we will seek certificates and vouchers without increases in staff. The workload is going to have to be redistributed accordingly .... going to change the level of service ..... they are going to be drawing down the administrative fees over the long haul. I think we can continue a high level of service to our citizens .... To do that is going to change the workload and the work environment of our employees. Nov/ Is it going to require a supplement from the General Fund? Atkins/ My goal has been that it will not unless you authorize differently .... General Fund... state is forever dinking around with it .... You are forever having demands on your General Fund. I try, as a matter of strategy, to avoid placing any further demands upon the General Fund .... I am just cautious about it Pigott/ Computer purchase, where does that- Atkins/ ...If you maintain the policy of Assisted Housing will be to the maximum amount possible, funded by federal moneys. We would grant an internal loan to purchase it. The Assisted Housing Program must pay the General Fund back. Otherwise it is a $50,000 out of pocket expense. Kubby/ Rent, maintenance and interest costs... no money amount- Atkins/ Another opportunity we have to improve the cash position is in the sale of HACAP. We will be generating ultimately $750,000 of additional moneys. Those moneys must be spent on replacement housing but not immediately. I can assure you we will do our best to make sure that $750,000 is invested to the point where it generates income which is ours .... But you don't get the replacement housing back in the market immediately ..... Also suggesting under the Tenant to Owner, that we have got to reconsider that decision and that will generate cash for us back into our reserves ultimately to be spent back out again in the form of replacement housing. All we are doing is moving money around. Kubb¥/ We were waiting completion of 32 units .... Th~srepresents~n~yareas~nab~yaccuratetra~scr~pt~~n~fthe~~waCityc~unc~~meet~ng~fN~vember28~1995~ WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 8 Atkins/ It is in front of you right now that we believe the time has come ..... financial conditions and other issues have pressed the matter as a timing standpoint .... Kubby/ I thought those units are almost on line. Atkins/ It is not quite there, it is just a matter of timing. Nov/ Atkins/ Boothroy/ I am expecting the latest would be January 31 so we are looking at maybe sometime in February .... by the time you got people .... could be some February March type time frame on that ...... Horow/ Where do you see the location of this program... office space? Atkins/ The office itself is across the street and it is physically not well designed. We may have to make some investment in re- working that .... We don't have any intention of moving out .... Nov/ ...not actually moving. Pigott/ Telephone system .... $15,000 .... given the financial constraints, is that something that maybe you should wait on? Boothroy/ Everything comes into a funnel, then she has to distribute all the calls .... Extremely inefficient in terms of utilization of staff time ..... We need to be able to use those people more productively and working with clients as opposed to just working with the telephone. When I call over there ... I have to wait minutes... frustrating .... Pigott/ ...how would their responsibilities change? Boothroy/ Support staff. More support things for the specialist .... Cut down on some of their clerical type activities .... Types of things we need to do to increase our efficiency. Kubby/ Boothroy/ ...There would be somebody assigned ..... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of November 28, 1995. WS112895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 9 Horow/ Explain to me... level of intern? Boothroy/ This is just suggested with the FSS Program which has already been approved by HUD .... a lot of types of processing of forms and meeting with people that can be done by an intern .... This particular mandate is just layered over the top of their other duties... Kubby/ Looking at what the organizational chart is .... The person who was the Housing Management Specialist who oversees the other three presently. They are doing some administrative things that the administrator would do. What did they previously do with that time before there was a Housing Management Specialist? ..... Boothroy/ It is a temporary position, too. The history on that is there was a need during the time last spring when we were going through some of these decisions. We did not find somebody for the job of Housing Administrator and when I was involved with .... Whispering Meadows and the Performance Funding, I didn't feel it was appropriate at that time to try to bring somebody in so I looked to the staff to create two middle management type positions to help out in doing day to day management and supervision over there with regard to the program and that is how these positions came about. Sandi is here .... If you look at #9... looked at responsibilities... reassignments of tasks ..... Able to get some day to day decision making over there. Kubby/ Housing Administrator... shouldn't their job be supervising the Housing Specialists? So when we get a Housing Administrator, this person will not be supervising the Housing Specialists? Or is this interim still? Boothroy/ I don't know if we would change how the Specialists 1, 2, 3 and 4 are working. But as far as management responsibilities, that would change. This is very cryptic. Horow/ ...I have been administrator deals agency decisions .... in the same situation... evolve .... more with policy and other department Kubby/ When we get back to Housing Administrator, of supervision where we would like to be with the I don't want to see this middle level Boothroy/ With a Housing Administrator in there, you would not see This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of November 28, 1995. WS112895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page l0 that middle level. Kubby/ #9 says Housing Specialist 4 will be assigned supervisory and Family Self Sufficiency responsibilities. So what are they going to be supervising if the administrator is there supervising the housing specialists? Boothroy/ Some of this would be revised again based on- this is interim and some of this is permanent ..... very difficult to discuss. Some of This is Kubby/ How many families will be in the Family Self Sufficiency Program? What is our target number? Boothroy/ 82. Kubby/ For some reason I was thinking it was a smaller number .... Boothroy/ It would be a big job. Kubby/ Keeping on #9, what I am concerned about is if a household is getting a Section 8 certificate, when I first get into the program I talk to Housing Specialist 1. Then next year... I see another person... I see a third person .... I may see four people from this one agency ..... I would like to see a same face or this person knows my story ..... [Baker left 7:50 PM] Sandi Schutt/ You are asking how that becomes more efficient and what we find is that with 877 families we don't have time to see each one and know their life story and see them all the time and do that. That is some of the stuff we would like to do .... But it is not going to be able to happen. If we want to continue to stay full and get people in units. Kubby/ ..... But have to interact with you .... just with the bare bones with this change I am going to see at least three different people. Schutt/ Probably just see two at the bare bones and then you would see that same renewal person every year .... And you will see that same person .... Kubby/ Schutt/ Other thing is that we found it more efficient to have one Thlsrepresents only ereasonably accuratetranScription oftheloweCl~ council meeting of November28,1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 11 worker that landlords can come to ..... more efficient .... Landlord can develop a relationship also with that person and that has worked out very well .... To have one person talk to other housing authorities... more consistency ..... We have started this... more of a specialized Housing Specialist. Kubby/ How does it affect the person we are serving? .... Schutt/ With many, it won't make any difference because they won't know that they use to have one assigned to them ..... When we talked about going to this, I talked to a lot of other Housing Authorities ..... increased numbers, this seemed to be a way the Housing Specialist could become specialized ... more efficient in that area .... for many people there won't be on any difference .... Kubby/ Schutt/ We are pretty flexible. Horow/ I am also concerned about the employees .... Schutt/ It is real new ..... it has been a big change and we have only been doing it for less than two months. Pigott/ Have you gotten any feedback from clients? Schutt/ Not yet .... Most of the employees are sort of getting into their routine .... Nov/ .... #l-Waiting list, how many are usually on the waiting list? Atkins/ (Can't hear) 400. Nov/ 400 on a waiting list and 877 are currently being served? Atkins/ I assume the 877 refers to the number of certificates and vouchers we have outstanding. We use the number 900 .... Nov/ #4 you talk about interest charges. Are you talking about a loan for other funds? Atkins/ Interest charges are when we advance cash from our General Operating Reserves in the city to run this program ..... an opportunity cost .... We get the principle back. I am saying we will recover the principle and not charge them interest. Thlsrepresentsonlyareasonablyeccuratetranscrlptlon ofthelowa Ci~ council meetingofNovember28,1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 12 Kubby/ Which is a change in policy .... Throg/ What is the monthly turnover? Atkins/ 25%, seems awfully high. Boothroy/ (Can't hear-in audience). Atkins/ We have a high turnover. Boothroy/ (Can't hear-in audience). Kubby/ Seasonal ups and downs. Atkins/ If you have 900, you can expect 220-250 to turnover in the course of a year .... Kubby/ What are those interest costs? ..... Atkins/ I have to go back and reconstruct it historically which I prefer not doing because of the work to do that .... Remember the investment policy. We try to maintain our interest income at better than the 90 day Treasury. Whatever that number is at the time the cash transfer is made, that is the interest rate that we would be charging .... That is just an internal policy. Kubby/ How much are we talking about that we have fronted or will front? Atkins/ We will front principle. We will not charge interest ..... Kubby/ How much lost opportunity money will we lose? Atkins/ I can give you an estimate on that. I just don't know now. I will do that for you. I do not know that. Nov/ If we transfer money from the reserves to a different city department, do we charge interest? Atkins/ Yes, we do ..... we would make an exception for our Assisted Housing Program. Nov/ We can change that exception next year or the year after .... Arkins/ If they become flush and everything goes well, go back to charging .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the iowa City council meeting of November 28, 1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 13 CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 95-138 SIDE 2 Atkins/ Paying out about $300,000 a month in the form of certificates and vouchers .... Kubby/ Atkins/ I doubt whether we are going to get back to that for several years ..... Performance Funding was the biggest single item of $130,000 to help recover that. The other was a capital grant .... You really can't count that .... Kubby/ .... We have to know what kind of money we are talking about. Nov/ I have a question on computers and telephones. If we make the assumption that we are going to pay $50,000 for computers plus $15,000 for telephone... $65,000... and we are not going to achieve interest .... get principle back. Can we also put in a capital project line in the budget so that five years from now or ten years for now there will be a fund to replace those? Atkins/ What we are going to do in the upcoming budget... creating computer replacement account anyway ..... we can do that ..... This year's budget we have computer requests up the ying yang .... Kubb¥/ .... It will affect who we serve more .... We were talking about how that will make things more efficient. I don't have that much faith that technology always saves time ..... Arkins/ For example, our Personnel Office... all personnel files are interconnected .... that means that everybody has available to them ..... Kubb¥/ Boothroy/ We would just like to have machines that are operational. If they were working we would be more efficient ...... Throg/ #2. You refer to having implemented a more aggressively recruitment policy. I guess I want to know what more aggressive means. Boothroy/ The financial stability of Public Housing is jeopardized by people that damage it. Public Housing has to stand on its own for the revenue it produces... In Iowa City our average This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of November 28, 1995. WS112895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Pa~e 14 rent for all of units is about $200 month, that is what we are bringing in. That is woefully short of what we should be at. So when you have situations where somebody moved into a home, they were there for a year, and we have to replace all of the carpet, all the vinyl and repaint the entire structure at the cost of several thousand dollars, if we don't try to recoup that... suffer a loss... problem as far as our overhead .... Wasn't any effort to follow through. The policy was is you are delinquent in rents or if you are causing these kinds of problems we are going to follow through... you have an obligation to pay your rents. You have an obligation to pay your debts. That is simply what I mean by being more aggressive. Previously those were being negotiated away frequently or just forgotten. Throg/ Roughly 220 units turned over each year. Of that 220 units, how many of them- Boothroy/ That is in the Section 8 program. Throg/ So the 100 Public Housing units. How often do they turn over? Boothroy/ I don't know the answer to that. It is less than the Section 8 Program .... typically we have more stability at Shamrock and s.f. detached than we have in the Section 8 Program .... Throg/ How frequently does this problem occur? Significant damages that end to be aggressively recruited? Boothroy/ It has been a tough fall. We have had half dozen... where it has caused us a lot of expense this fall. We had a lot more turnover this year ..... major costs. Throg/ ..... If it is two units out of ten that are significantly damages .... Is it out of the ordinarily expectable range for people who would be living in any homes or is there something unusual here? .... Boothroy/ I think this fall has been a little bit unusual in terms of the damages. We try to select clients based on the interview process that we feel are going to respect our property and respect our neighbors and we are fooled and when that happens we have to suffer through it ..... I would say it is a small percentage that causes significant damages .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of November 28, 1995. WSI 12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 15 Kubby/ If we take this more aggressive stance...orientation... you are expected to be responsible for your behavior. Boothroy/ And we have documents that we provide for... what their responsibilities are, checklists .... collectively agree that this is the condition the unit is in ..... Horow/ When an inspector is going through this check off list with the probably tenant .... Boothroy/ They are told who to call .... to respond to things ..... Horow/ Boothroy/ I think it is because they don't want to call us in the case where they have knocked holes in the doors ..... One left without leaving a forwarding address ..... Kubby/ I guess I want to go back to that policy question. There is the bare bones thing where all we do is qualify. Then there is what we do now .... Then we were requested... Jim Harris... Life Skills .... He was feeling.. for some of the people that we deal with, that they need more support services .... and it makes sense to do it with the Housing Specialists. Some people are encouraging us to do more of that either internally of having Life Skills contract with us to do that sort of thing. What we are talking about is kind of going backwards to the bare bones. To me this is a huge change in policy that I really want us to talk about ...... I want those services available for people who need it .... Horow/ I want to make sure though that the funding we receive from the feds would even include other than the bare bones because what you are getting into is a social service support system... If that is allowable from federal funds then I would be willing to negotiate this whole thing. Kubby/ ... I am talking about what we do now and we are talking about not doing that anymore ...... Horow/ Pigott/ ...there was an attempt to strike a balance between meeting needs of placing people and spending individual time ..... strain on workload .... Atkins/ ...caseworker approach which does take up a great deal of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the iowa City council meeting of November 28, 1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 16 ~ime. That time commitment then diminishes your ability to possibly seek out expanded program ..... Do we continue to seek more certificates and vouchers ..... Also provides moneys in .... in the form of housing assistance. Sooner or later you are going to reach a point where the Housing Specialist something has to give ..... efficiency, technology circumstances in their work environment ..... Kubby/ What happens when people need other services? Boothroy/ Maybe we ought to walk through the waiting list .... it appears the less is being done but actually what we are doing is we are not duplicating and wasting time .... Have Sandi talk briefly about it and then I think I will put in perspective with regard to this issue. Also talk ...about services. Kubby/ In the memo... support work for our clientele that went beyond the qualification process ..... Maybe I am just deducing that we are not going to do that additional support that we are currently doing and that we will go to the bare bones of just verification qualification for the program. I don't want to see us do that ..... Am I understanding the proposal correctly? Boothroy/ Well, I think there are two things .... As we tighten up because of limited resources either the city kicks because there won't be any federal dollars. So if we hire more people that means we run a greater deficit and so while we might be providing those services currently... as .... there will be less administrative fees to run the Section 8 Program... that is going to trickle down at some point... we have to be more efficient. If we are more efficient we may be able to continue some of those services° But there is going to come a time when the money is not going to be there ..... Kubby/ ..... Do we want to just have the bare bones and have it cost the same ..... Horow/ Or we deliberately cut down on the number of vouchers or people that are taking care of. Boothroy/ Another thing that happened in the interim .... in order to deal with this deficit is that in the past we were running at 95% utilization rate ..... losing 5% a month in terms of revenue. So I upped that to 100% utilization .... that means that each specialist has to do more work in order to get Thisrepresentsonly areasonablyaccuratetrans~iptlon ofthelowa Citycouncil meetingof November28,1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 17 there .... less time to talk and do referrals .... they are ... having housing .... We also... have a reserve in the Section 8 Program, we need to draw that down before the feds take it away .... So we over issued even more .... added some 20 some vouchers...serving another 20 families on top of that .... The more .... Kubby/ Boothroy/ We are also serving maybe 50 more families. They have houses, they have places to live... What is the service? Do you serve 50 less families and yet give them better referrals or do you have 50 more families in place getting housing... They want to know where they are going to live .... Kubby/ If that family...don,t get referrals are going to end up getting evicted or not paying their rent or something goes wrong in their housing situation .... Boothroy/ We are not focusing away from that ..... In order for the program to be successful .... What is happening is people are not making good matches .... got to work with the landlord. You got to work with the tenant. You got to make sure those situations can come about .... So I don't know that we are talking two different things. In order to keep that ...100% utilization you have got to have some intervention. However it might mean you spend less time listening to family problems .... You may be much more active in terms of ...trying to deal with the issue .... Pigott/ So as each worker... works on these issues...more workload · .. person bogged down with huge case load .... Are we talking about a difference between theory and reality...? Boothroy/ Bruno, when I have over 100% utilization ... we are serving maybe 50 more families than we did a year ago .... We have got some people in place .... Pigott/ I think the fact of the matter is ... day to day reality... m~ybe they don't have the time even today to give the kind of sit down time they like to do. Schutt/ The question is whether our (can't hear) is to provide assisted housing or to add to it and get services. If we are expected to do services... you can't expect one worker to have 250 cases apiece and provide adequate services. You can't do it... Thisrepresents only areasonably accuratetranscription ofthslowa Citycouncil maetlngofNovember28.1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 18 Kubby/ ...that is not what I am talking about. I am not talking about the city becoming Life Skills. I am talking about spending some time to figure out where to refer people that need to be referred .... maybe evolve back to where we are currently .... Schutt/ I think ...w~ like to be able to do some of the referral... services... Kubby/ What is being proposed is that we don't conscientiously do referrals do anymore. That we do bare bones verification. Am I correct? Boothroy/ ...what we were saying was that the future reality without additional funds from the local level in terms of support is that it is going to evolve in that direction. HUD is going to evolve in that direction whether you like it or not .... And Public Housing is going to change .... Those are the dynamics that are changing and they are going to be changing over the next year .... Kubby/ So without an influx of money that is how we are going to evolve. Boothroy/ It is how we will have to evolve. Kubby/ It is still a policy decision. If we want to stay where we are at, we need an influx of money. If we want to increase services... we need an influx of money. Boothroy/ Exactly .... Horow/ Karen, where are you going with this right now? Kubby/ I guess I want to ask people, do you want us to be headed towards... a bare bones approach or not? It is a policy decision .... Horow/ It means either General Fund or more CDBG Funds. Is that what you see it coming down to? Boothroy/ I have already asked to and ... you can't use it for for capitol improvements .... use CDBG Funds administration. for the program You can use if Kubby/ It has been used for Life Skills .... which would come from public service money .... There is a way to use Block Grant Thisrepresents only areasonably accuratetranscrlptton ofthelowaCl~ councilmeetlngofNovember28,1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 19 moneys .... Horow/ I wonder whether council would consider...more sources for...Life Skills...as well as cut back number of cases that are considered .... Nov/ ...I can't make that kind of decision today. Lehman/ ..... I agree with you...I don't know that we can make a decision right now ..... Kubby/ Throg/ In a period of declining resources that we have to learn how to use those resources more efficiently .... And if we can serve additional clients by using our employees more efficiently, I am all for it even if that means declining...or narrower range of services. Pigott/ I tend to agree. It is important that we work on 100% utilization .... Maybe we can work something out that do both of those things... Horow/ Seems to me... when they finally get computers... connected with other social service agencies .... Aid to Agencies .... all connected and the referral is made in more efficient manner .... Nov/ .... using volunteers... can work with Life Skills. Horow/ Challenges... be more creative in terms of the solutions. Kubby/ We have at least three housing specialists who have been with the city for years .... close to 20 years experience each... understand how the programs work .... One mention of personnel concerns .... difficulties with communication...just want to be insured .... housing administrator... constant follow up .... Low moral and lots of work... Atkins/ We are aware of that. Lehman/ I view this list of 16 things as being very positive for the most part ..... Step in the right direction trying to correct those things... really administrative ... Atkins/ Some of them might seem extreme... different spin on some of these issues. This represents only e reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of Novamber 28, 1995. WS112895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 20 Lehman/ At some point we need to start this little list of what if ..... HUD starts cutting back... some sort of plan that we can deal with... Atkins/ We have a number of contracts at different times. Lehman/ We need to have on the back burner this what if this happens .... Atkins/ Keep in mind...please understand that Congress and state legislature operate under very similar sets of rules and that is change will usually come very quickly... painfully .... Puts us in a very reactive position ..... You are the agent of the federal government .... run effective administration efficiently ..... Threshold instead of 30% will become 32 which means some people will have to pay more .... sneak up on you .... Kubby/ We need leadership... in the Public Housing Authority. Doug has so many responsibilities .... It is a hard task ..... very difficult situation. I would like to see this council direct you to hire a housing administrator... as soon as possible .... We need someone there... Atkins/ ...I concur with everything you are saying. Kubby/ Atkins/ If you think about it...We got loads of grants that came through. I have no trouble with your direction to me. I will strongly tell you qualified is very critical. We do have some options we are reviewing internally .... thinking about are there functions within the division that can be separated and different types of leadership created. I just don't have the answers to that .... Pool of candidates... we weren't satisfied with them .... Throg/ Qualifications that you had been using. Atkins/ Experienced administrator is the thing that we have seen .... Boothroy/ We advertised twice and we got total of six people and I was shocked there was such a lack of interest ..... We need somebody that has experienced in dealing with the personnel .... regulations .... experience is important. Thlsrepresentsonly areasonablyaccuratetranscrlption ofthelowa Citycouncil meetingof November28,1995. WSl12895 November 28, 1995 Council Work Session Page 21 Atkins/ ...They have a full understanding what the financial conditions are .... Kubby/ Do people concur that we need someone there? Nov/ All of us have been saying this for a long time. Throg/ .... This tells me either qualifications and salaries .... ...mismatch between the Atkins/ .... may have to go back and review that ..... 200 applicants for Lorraine's job... That is all I have. Horow/ Council, I would remind you of the meeting on the 4th, 6:30, Fringe Area. You received a letter this evening that I sent back to Charlie in response to his letter to us. Karen, you and I have a 6:00 Rules Committee on the 4th... Marian .... Adjourned 8:35 PM. Thlsrepresentsonly areasonably accuratetranscription ofthelowa City council meetlngofNovember28,1995. WSl12895