Good morning. Welcome to the special meeting conference of the Newark Municipal Council on Tuesday, December 9th, 2025. In accordance with New Jersey, >> I'm sorry. In accordance with New Jersey law, adequate notice of this meeting has
been provided to the Star Ledger, the Jersey Journal, and the public at large, establishing the date, time, and location of this meeting. In addition, the agenda for this meeting was disseminated on December 5th at the time of preparation and posted on the city's
website. Roll call, please. >> Present. >> Present. Present. Here. Here. present. >> Council [snorts] President, council members, we are on page four of the
agenda. Resolutions. 7R1 and BS are purchasing contracts. A is a co-op agreement for various department vehicles and B is a bid contract for additional snow and ice removal and sand
and salt spreading. Council and hold to adopt A and B. >> Roll call. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> You skip. [laughter] >> Yes. [snorts]
>> Kelly. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yeah, Mr. President. >> Council Ramos. >> Yeah, I know. I had asked um I think a few times for the comprehensive list of all the vendors that we're using for for
snow and ice removal. I know we've been getting them peace meal. So, another reminder through your chair and the clerk and then um also breaking them down as far as who's assigned to what ward and
and whether or not we have contact points of contacts. >> Yes. >> For these um organizations or companies so we know who to call. >> So, Councilman Ramos has asked for this several times. Can we just make sure that we get this information to
engineer, not engineering, to the administration so that we can get the information requested, >> Mr. Chair, >> Councilman Council, >> to to Councilman Ramos's point, I think some of that information can be flushed out. We supposed to have our annually uh
snow meeting. So, I don't know when that's going to happen. If it's going to happen in the new year in January, I know we're kind of thin in December. Uh but we do need a request from DPW. There's snow plan uh for this year. >> Yes, councilman.
>> Duly noted. >> C and D are applications acceptance of grant funds from the department of the business administrator. C is capital equipment 2026 grant and D is community policing 2026 grant.
Council as a whole to adopt C and D. >> Roll call to adopt. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. [clears throat] >> Yes. And before I'm sorry, before you
continue, uh, ma, uh, Madame Clerk, I just wanted to say for the record, Councilwoman Scott Roundtree is not here because she's trying to find a place to park because somebody's parked in her spot this morning. >> Let's continue. >> Okay.
>> Never happened to me last >> or me. It's a continuing issue that we need to address. >> Tough crowd. 7R3AS is a change order for the Newark Ironbound Roundabout Safety Improvements
Federal Project. Council as a whole to adopt. >> Roll call to adopt. >> Member. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Uh Councilwoman has just come in. I realize that that No, we still have Go ahead.
Keep going. We still have the other added starter. >> Uh, council president, council members, we have one added starter. It is 7R1E SAS, which is an RFP competitive contracting
to provide a career service provider for Newark residents at Newark Works. Council as a whole to adopt. Ro. Well, Mr. Chair, be pri prior to roll call up on last question. >> Uh who who will be the new service
provider? >> Uh I uh Miss Gaylord, if you can come up, Mr. Chair, I could provide a little background on this. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. I can't >> I said I could provide a little background on this if you >> Yeah, I I apologize. Let's let's let's do that.
>> Yeah. No, I said I could provide the background. Oh, >> you could provide. Oh, >> yeah. If I can, Mr. Chair. I I think what what's happening here is that the the federal government, the state now requires all the local areas to enter into a competitive process in order to
manage um you know, the operations of the onetop. I I believe the city of Newark engaged in that process. Um the the respondent uh thankfully that that was selected was the city uh through North Work. Some some other local areas
around the state have gone through this process and has led them to private providers uh managing their local uh workforce development system. Uh but in the case of the city of Norc, I believe the process did lead to um NORC works being the operator that was selected to
to operate the onetop system. And you could correct me if I'm wrong. I had to go through this process on the county side as well. So >> I can't improve upon that description. Um that was uh exactly where we are. It's competitive now. Um and the awarded
>> I'm sorry Miss Gay. Just state your name again for >> Karen Gableward, executive director, New York Workforce Development Board. >> Um the we've been through the competitive bid process. Um and uh the recommendation is to award to uh Newark
Works. Thank you. Any other questions from the council hearing? None. Roll call. >> Council member, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Kelly,
>> yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. I'm sorry, Councilwoman uh Scott Roundtree. >> So, excuse me for my targeting. Someone was in my spot. I intended to be on
time, but I do want to um make sure that my vote is counted for for the agenda for the resolutions. >> Can you speak up into the mic? It's hard to hear. >> I want to make sure that my votes are counted for the resolutions that were on the agenda that I was absent absent. Um,
and I explained why I was absent. >> Yes. I I explained before you got in here why, too. >> So, can I please go on record as voting, madame clerk? >> Yeah. >> So, on 7R1 A, yes.
7R1 B. Yes. 7R1 C. Yes. 7 R1D. Yes. And 7R3 A. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you, council.
>> Thank you. >> Public comment. >> We are in the 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have >> Before we do that, >> I'm sorry. Is there anything from the council? >> Yes. >> All right. I mean, >> Councilman Gonzalez,
>> taking advantage that the VA is here. Somebody called me the other day that provides services to the city. Uh, small business. Uh, the city owes them like $8,000. This is the one that provides
fumigating services, extermination services to the city. So again let's say we I believe that we if we want to uh small businesses to participate we have to pay them on time because otherwise they cannot continue doing business. erh
some I received an email also from uh erh the S SOA I believe it is regarding a payment of uh the insurance coverage to the people that lost uh their
loved ones uh in in action. They say police officers that die in the line of duty, they are supposed to receive I believe based on the email $25,000. there are three of them and they are claiming that they haven't received the
the payment of the $25,000. I would ask if we can expedite that payment so that these people are made at least whole financially and uh because we are not going to make them whole emotionally.
>> Thank you, Councilman. All right, we're going to >> Yes, sir. We are in the 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak. Please state your name for the record. Is there anyone wishing to
address the council? >> Yes. Good day, Nor. Deborah Salters. Um, why are we voting for an almost $7 million contract for to assist um supplement leasing vendors uh for snow removal? And the councilman just said
you all need to have a meeting about snow removal, but you all voted yes on this before you even had the meeting on the snow removal. So, how are we saying yes to almost $7 million and you have not had the necessary meeting? That's a problem.
And then you have on here um to purchase vehicles out of the 25 and 26 budget. We don't have a 26 budget. And what do we need more vehicles for? Especially when we have people using the city of Newark water vehicles as their
own personal vehicles. I have videos and pictures. Why do we need to buy MORE VEHICLES? WHO ARE THESE VEHICLES for and what are why are they necessary? Then you're talking about these I don't want to hear and I said this before about THESE PARKING SPACES. WE ARE
PAYING $249,000 a year for five spaces per each council person in that lot down there that we GAVE AWAY FOR A dollar and you have aids that can drive your vehicles there and park them. This is not personally to you, but I've been hearing about these
parking spaces. You have spaces that we're paying for and they're not being used. Now, let's get to these elevators that we've been talking about for the last year or more that I spoke with Wooten about, then I spoke with Tariq about
because they, oh, it's not us. It's the uh Department of uh uh DPW and it's back and forth. POINT BEING, THE ELEVATORS DON'T WORK. WE SPENT TOO much money over and over for things that don't work. It's wasteful spending and
misappropriation. the elevator on Franklin where people have to go to THE FOURTH FLOOR, TWO SETS OF STAIRS about 12 to 15 each to go handle business and the elevators are not working. Our disabled people are at a disadvantage
and no one seems to care. I've been talking about this. There are email chains. Tariq is no longer here. Who is handling this elevated situation? Because the disabilities act people going to be on y'all's butts in a minute. Cuz I'm tired of having the same
conversations and nothing's getting done about them. The morale in these departments are just trash because of what's going on in these doors. There's low morale. The people not doing their jobs. THE ONE THAT'S DOING THEIR
JOBS are getting reported like everything's upside down and the people do not benefit. And you say yes. Yes. Yes to things that you have not even had a meeting about and you're okay with it.
We the people are not okay with this. We need resolve and we need it now. You live well. >> Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. >> Hello. >> Good morning. Louis Shockley. Yeah. I
just want to reiterate everything my sister said. I I was here Friday to sign up and I saw on Friday this was released for this special today. Um and I hope you guys didn't warp this
meeting. I don't see Mr. Spicer. Oh, okay. Okay, cool. because I really want to hear what these folks have to say. Because in my opinion, this special was really called for you guys to get to this, which is end of the
year giveaways. More cars again. It's just crazy. Mayor James bought a fleet of cars before he left out of here, before he got swept out of here. They're still down there somewhere in the port sitting in a lot. And then
Mr. Booker came here. We went SUV after that. gas guzzlers wasting gas, [clears throat] but you know, all these car dealers are getting paid and you know, some of you guys are
benefiting from getting those uh campaign contributions from as well. Uh go over there on Elizabeth Avenue. H how long we going to post a a a car out there and and look at your officers.
[snorts] Those little lights on the top, they cost big money and they abuse them. They on all the time. You guys got 24 hours in a day. You got three shifts. That's a lot of people burning vehicles
and really not doing nothing with them. I see jokers in the car and they phone sleeping all kinds of stuff. Don't need them sitting in cars in front of buildings. Need to start enforcing some stuff. Why are these young men out
in front of these buildings? Cuz y'all ain't giving them nothing to do. You rather give away $7 million instead of taking the $7 million and putting investing in a program. Construction.
I was in that field. Most of the guys I used were Latino. My electrician was African-American. My plumbers were African-American. My duck work guys were African-American. We need welders in this country. Welders. I think there's close to like a
half a million welders that are needed. I used to do spot welding. The the other welding, I ain't going to lie, I didn't like it. Hurt my eyes with that shield down and smelling that stuff all day. But it it's good money.
But here we go with the tax tax given. This should all just be shoved until next year. Like she said, you don't have a 26 budget. This can wait. All the stuff the snow removal. Where where those Volvo trucks at? Thank you
for your comments. Next speaker. Seeing no one else, public speaking is closed. Anything from the council? >> Councilman Kelly. >> Uh, thank you, Council Press. This is not um really concerning the speakers.
Something that's been across my desk probably for the last month, and I just think it's getting really outrageous. Um, GKV has been in and out of heat. Georgia King Village has been in and out of heat um in the town houses
for it feels like three weeks or even more. It's freezing outside, you know. Um there's one, you know, I have family members that live in these buildings. It's one day they don't have water, one day they don't have heat. Heat is I mean
it's essential, right? It's a necessity at this time. And water as well. Um, I've been dealing with um, code enforcement. They have been going over there. They have been writing the tickets and waiting the 10 days to put them in court. They've been putting them in court. But putting them in court and
waiting for something to happen with the court system is not helping the tenants there um, get relieved of having the necessity of heat and water. Um the clusters over there, we've been dealing with cluster six and cluster three over
there for probably two years since I've been counseling. L&M lied to us so many times saying that the boiler system of cluster six or excuse me, cluster three was fixed. But really, you know, like the tenants
have said that those were band-aids, it's broke again. So they have they they had to be band-aids. Cluster six has never been fixed. And this is these are the reports that I'm getting back. So if you've never fixed a boiler, but you said you fixed it, and then you want to
sell the sell the property to get pilots and you want to build other buildings in this city and you're not doing right by the people in this this um property as well as your other properties, how can we even trust a developer like them?
They lie to our face, say that it's sold, and then we believe them, and we put them through the court systems. We do all that we can do, and then those families and those people in the town houses are still suffering. And then they they come down here and
complain and it makes like looks like the council is not doing anything. And we're doing we're legislators, but we're doing everything that we can. But I tell you one thing, I won't be doing any longer. I will not be trusting L&M at all.
So if anything comes across this desk, I'm letting my colleagues know that I will not be voting on anything L&M in this city if they're not doing right by our residents, not just in GKV, but throughout all their properties. I will
not be I will not help them in any kind of way. I just wanted to put that out there because for three weeks I've been dealing with these people with no heat. I don't even know how you survive with no heat during this weather. >> That's right.
>> Yeah. Let me let me just add I and and you know we I'm on an email chain with and regarding that and you know the the our inspectors code enforcement can only do so much. >> That's right. >> And and it's incumbent upon the owners of the building to to deal with the
matter at hand. And if they can't, then they should move on and not be not be allowed to I shouldn't say allowed to, but not be able to no, I'll say it, not be allowed to be an owner of a building. It it it's it's it's incumbent upon us
and the administration to really really just lay down the law and really come down hard on those our residents are suffering with the fact that they don't have heat and it's a continuous basis and and I know most of us get uh text
messages and emails about it on a consistent basis and we reach out to code enforcement reach out to those that can help but you know putting people in putting these uh landlords in court, giving them plenty of time before
anything actually happens, if something happens, is not the solution. We really need to come down hard on on those that aren't providing the the basic necessities for our residents. And I think that's something that we really, really, really need to look at at a much
harder and stronger uh level. Now, um, Councilman, uh, Kentana, >> you know, this morning about 3:30 this morning, I was my phone was off. >> My My phone was off this morning from 3
on uh, and last night. Uh, Via Victoria, Councilman Kelly, I I I concur with you. you know, they fix the boiler and they put a patch on it or whatever and then it breaks down and then seniors are in
this condition. So they they are calling and you know we we're limited to what how much we can do. Can't force uh the inspectors to go because that's not our function. We're a legislative body and and it's troubling because they they're
concerned and there's a concern and and they're they're very I mean last I mean I have 3:30 this morning I was up and making some calls and it's and who do you call 3:30 in the morning and you going to wake up but
it's a concern and the UN cry of of our seniors are at risk uh because landlords years ago, we used to tell the folks, "Hold up their rent and see how quick they'd start doing things >> and do some rent strikes on conditions
because that's what's going on here. They get away with it." But I know that most of them are owners of these buildings. They live in nice cushion, nice >> houses with our lawns and etc. And and they only come to Newark to to make a
buck. And that's how that's the that's their hall of fame. >> North, New Jersey. >> Thank you, Councilman. Anything else from the council? >> All right. Anything from the administration?
>> Good morning, Eric Pennington, business administrator. Just uh to Councilman Gonzalez, if you can give me the name of the fumigation company so I can check for their payments. >> I I know the name of the owner. I don't know the name of the company, but I will get that for you. >> Okay. Give me some info. And with
respect to the line of duty deaths, I actually sent a an email to Captain John Crystal yesterday to get more information about that. The line of duty death that I'm absolutely aware of is Sergeant Es Kona, which happened on Broadway, but there are two other individuals I wasn't familiar with. I
have an insurance uh fund meeting tomorrow and intend to bring it up. So, I hope he responds to me by then. I I heard anecdotally that they were related to COVID line of duty deaths. So, I want to just find out what the information is and and confirm that. If that's the case, we'll get that addressed. As Conan
that should have been done, but I'll I'll take care of that one for sure. Um, I think that was it. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Ba. Anything else for anyone? >> All right, madame clerk. Um,
[clears throat and cough] >> I'll be ready for executive session. So, motion to uh adjourn. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Is your mic on? >> I can't hear. Yeah. Okay. There you go. >> My apologies. >> We are now in the special conference portion of this meeting. where the first speaker will be Director Spicer of the
Newark Housing Authority. >> All right, Director Spicer. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. >> I don't want to interrupt the it. I just want to grab the clicker. First want to apologize for my tardiness
this morning. Uh life got the best of me unfortunately and a broad street can be a monster to uh navigate sometimes. >> We all understand. >> Right. Right. Uh nevertheless, uh always happy to be here to give you all an update on what's going on at the Newark Housing Authority. Uh in front of you,
you have a hard copy of the PowerPoint presentation uh that I'm going to go through with you this morning. I don't quite know where it's being. >> Give us Give us one second. I think they're >> working on it right now. Okay. >> All right. There we go.
>> There we go. So we're primarily going to talk as as your requested about our senior properties. What I want to note is we have four we have 24 amps or 24 different properties with encompass a housing authority. Uh of those 24 properties only four are designated
senior housing. What that means is there's a a designation with the US department of housing urban development that says you can only house individuals that are 62 and older at those properties. any other properties are open for seniors 62 and older as the
federal government uh defines the term and or individuals that have disability. When we say disability that means you are collecting SSI. As we all are aware those collecting SSI can be as young as 18, you could be as old as however old you are, right? Uh so that means there
are a number of our properties that we colloally call senior housing that are really a mixed population. So you can have people who are in their 20s and 30s living their best life that's living next door to Miss Jones collocally speaking again who's in her 70s and that
does cause some some tension as you can imagine with those two different age demographics living in the same complex. So I'm going to move on to the next slide. So, we're going to run through a couple of them for you to give you a breakdown some of the properties that you all have
have questions about, right? Uh, so what you'll see on there is uh we see we're talking about Steven Crane elderly. For us is called AMP 216. Uh, that property has 188 units. Right now, the population is 49% seniors and 34% disabled.
Therefore, 34% of the population at that building are less than 62 years of age receive SSI. Right. Um, as you can see at the very bottom, we give a little bit budget snapshot. Uh, year to date, that property is actually above water. So, it's making close to so far this year,
it's made close to $700,000. All right. And then on the middle, right there in the middle, you see there is a uh org chart. Gives you an idea of what the the staff structure is at that property. What you'll see throughout this presentation is there'll be a few boxes that are yellow. If it's yellow,
it means that the individual that sits in that that role is either on FMLA or workers comp, which means they are on our payroll, but they're not physically working, right? Um, so I want to go through that with you so you're able to see some of the differences. Uh,
again, that means this property, Steven Crane, elderly, uh, is at about 83% occupancy. Our major improvements there have been uh or are scheduled to be the modernization of the elevator elevators, our roofing replacement this coming summer, cyclical painting, which is
painting the inside of uh occupied units. Uh that should be ongoing this year. As you see, we have a total of four maintenance personnel there. The maintenance supervisor uh is actually on workers comp, which leaves three maintenance personnel at that building.
Moving to Stephen Crane, elderly for us, we have a lot of the same names as as you all are aware. So, we call it AMP 218. Uh there are 375 units there. This is 900 Franklin, which is the kind of flagship building. Um as you can see from the financials right now, that
property uh is actually taking a loss year to date is a $12,000 loss. We projected that it would be close to $200,000 loss. Our our improvements there uh we anticipate uh modernization of the elevators. Uh the poo room renovations are currently in progress.
Crical painting which is painting of occupied units are currently in progress. 74% of that population are seniors. 18% of the population are are disabled which means the property is sitting at 92% occupancy. Uh which you can see [clears throat] excuse me from
the org chart uh is we have a total of eight maintenance positions there. And of those eight maintenance positions, four of those positions are vacant and or the the staff are on FMLA or workers comp, which means half the st half half the maintenance staff are not there. So
when we start having conversations, which I'm sure we will, uh, about how fast we respond to work orders, how thing how timely things are getting done, sometimes it really is just a factor of how many bodies are physically there, right? Um, and specifically at
this site, I know I have conversations with others and they say, "Well, just hire more people." And my response is, "As I look at the budget, well, I'm already running a negative there, which means I have to take money from properties that are profitable and sweep to this property to cover the debt at the end of the year because I can't run
a deficit." So just saying to hire more people, it sounds great, but realistically it it becomes a challenge when you have to balance your budget, which you all deal with here on a a much bigger scale than we do at the housing authority. Moving on to uh Steven Crane
elderly, which is 2020, we have 357 units there. Uh the population are 72% seniors, 19% disabled, which gives us a occupancy of 91%. Um as you can see, we're we're running a deficit there of $118,000 so
far this year. Uh 2017 is, excuse me, 2027 are when the elevators will be modernized there. Roofing roofing repairing is being done uh this coming spring and summer. Uh crical painting again painting occupied units. Uh the stairwells were recently painted. uh as
well as we have a number of uh path home units there and equally so you'll take a look at the org chart [clears throat] there and you'll see uh a third of the maintenance unit maintenance positions there isn't a physical body right uh equally so with the assistant manager
we're down one there uh backterly elderly which we just called 2221 uh again as you can see uh there's 235 units there uh the the property is running a deficit of $140,000. Uh again, sounds bad for us. We were
projecting it was going to run a deficit of 235. So, it's actually not performing as as bad as we thought it was going to. Um we do have uh 87% occupancy there. Um elevators are being modernized in 2028. Cyclical painting is ongoing. Uh and
again, as you can see, we're down one maintenance personnel there, uh and one assistant manager. and uh Stephen Crane, elderly AMP 2022. Uh we're sitting at 83% occup occupancy at that property. It has 288 units. Uh
again, we're running a deficit there of close to $100,000 year to date. Um modernization of elevators is going to happen there in 2026. We did renovate the community room in late summer of of this year. Uh roofing
repairs are happening this spring/s summer. Um community areas were paint something we're doing at every property. Uh and we did some more uh beautifification specifically at all our properties, but some of the senior properties uh heavily this summer since
they seem to be the ones that um kind of like to hang out enjoy the the warm days when they're there. Uh so we definitely put some um beautifification in there which I know we've had some conversations uh but with our partners about helping us maintain that beautifification.
Seth Boyd and elderly 2023 uh population is 79% seniors 13% disabled gives us a occupancy of 92%. There's 190 units at that property. As you can see, the property is running a deficit close to
half a million dollars. Uh, elevator repairs are scheduled for, excuse [clears throat] me, elevator modernization is scheduled for 2027. Cyclical painting is ongoing. Uh, this is one of the the few sites that is is fully staffed. No one is out. There's enough people to kind of get the work
done there. [clears throat] Okay. uh Cretchmer elderly in 2017. Uh we have 87% occupancy there. It's 198 units. Uh we're running a profit there. So we're we're in the black with that
one by 136,000. Uh elevator modernization is expected in 2026. Uh community rooms were remodeled uh at the end of the summer. Cyclical painting is is ongoing. Uh and we tried to update the the mail rooms where we could. Uh we have one position there um in which we
don't have a a body in maintenance was cute >> uh 2021 uh >> director. Yes sir. >> Sorry before you move on for auto uh for Cretchmer elderly did you say the uh occupancy I I don't know if I heard that >> 87%. Okay.
>> I'm sorry. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> uh Crutchmer elderly 2021. Uh we're at 88%. With 352 units. Uh year to date, we're we're in the black, $53,000. Uh modernization of elevators is scheduled
for 2029. We're continuing to do uh cyclical painting as well as there was money allocated for upgrading of the community rooms. Uh we anticipate that get done in the coming months. Uh, as you can see, there's uh at least one, if not two maintenance positions that are are are vacant or soon to be vacant. Um,
our maintenance mechanic, BMW, which is a a basic maintenance worker. We use a lot of acronyms. I apologize. Uh, and last not not least in our senior portfolio, um, James C. White, we call
it 2020 AMP 2025. uh 96% occupancy. Um has 206 units. Um currently the the property is running at uh $21,000 in the positive. Uh we installed new cameras there this year. Uh we are
currently and have been uh updating and renovating the community room there. The stairwells and hallways have been painted. Um we're replacing the community room floors and currently working on the the balconies. Uh there's one or two balconies that have to be addressed which is a a bigger capital
need uh but that's actually ongoing. Uh again this is another one of those properties that we have that all the bodies that we need are there. Um again one of the problems that we see often that you all also hear it's about Leechinella in that building. Uh so we
have done all the remediation necessary in accordance with the state. We do we are tracking it on a monthly and quarterly basis in accordance with with the state. We haven't had any uh flare-ups in the last couple of months. So, it's making progress. What I would like to and that's
concludes the last property within our senior portfolio. What I like to point out is the average age of our buildings is 85 years old. Whether it's family properties, whether it's a town home, whether it's a senior building, 85 years old is the average
age of one of our properties. Right. Um I have no problem saying and I have always said when I I speak with you all I try to be open and transparent as possible. Our requirement from our regulator their desire is for our unit our properties to
be at 96% occupancy. As you heard there was only one property which is JC White that's at 96% occupancy equally. So, as you can see, most of our properties are running in a deficit, which then begins the conversation about
other things that you all have heard, other things that are going on at the housing authority about how are we trying to transition the agency to be sustainable because like any business, you can't continue to run um you can't continue to spend more money than you're
making. As you all are aware, this administration, federal government administration is moving rapidly in changing things at a a rapid pace that none of us were expecting and none of us could brace for. Therefore, is requiring
us to try to adjust as much as possible to ensure that a we're able to continue to meet the services of our residents. we have money in the bank in case there's another government shutdown, in which cases we don't get paid, but also that we're able to meet payroll, right?
Equally so, we we always look at, hey, the average age of one of our properties is 85 years old. And as you all are aware, even with a house, as it gets older, it requires more maintenance and more upkeep, which automatically equates to it requires more money,
>> right? So, we're always trying to walk that that that delicate balance of how do we do that? What does that look like? How do we continue to provide the services for our residents that are necessary to keep these properties operational? Um, but equally so, how do
we start to look towards the future of creating more housing and building new units? Because the reality is all of us are going to continue to hear what's happening at the properties um what people think is happening at the properties um until the properties
[clears throat] excuse me get repositioned. When I mean repositioned is they get knocked down and we rebuild them. And I want to focus on the rebuilding part. Uh the housing authority historically um had 12,000 units. And most of you that are from
Newark can think of the the various developments that we had that have come down over the years and have not come back. So we understand that some of those properties needed to go because of the age of those properties. But the reality is the the units have to come
back. A we need to house and continue to provide uh affordable housing for residents in the city of Newark. And for the last 88 years, we have been your largest landlord. We have been your your largest provider of affordable housing
in the city of Newark. And as you all spoke about some other development companies, we haven't left. We don't cut tail and run. We can't do that. So what we ask uh as we try to reposition, as we try to find ways to continue to maintain
our properties is that we work collaboratively. Right? I hear very often uh times that we talk about things that are being provided to developers that are coming before you because they want a piece of the pie. I ask you to keep the housing authority in mind when you're making those decisions because
again we are your largest landlord and unlike them we have been here for 88 years and we're not going anywhere. So we need the the help of the city which we have a good working relationship with the administration to kind of navigate some of these tumultuous times with this
administration allow us to uh do the things that are necessary to set the ship correct and continue to improve housing but also develop more housing and that has to be at a significant number of units that we need to bring back online which as you all are aware
isn't something that happens at the snap of a finger but it's something we have to have the conversations about and I really hope to have your partnership uh in making those things a reality because we can't do this alone and the reality is is you all get the calls. Um, and oftentimes you get the calls before we get the calls. When the heat doesn't
work, they call you. As I say, please call maintenance, right? Uh, because you they call you, you call me, I call maintenance, maintenance. It it becomes a very long process as opposed to calling the 24 hours numbers and and then we have someone come out, right? Again, we are not perfect and we can
always do things better, but I hope that by giving you an idea of what our senior portfolio looks like, uh, and again, we can have some of those conversations when you all are ready about what our development plans are for a number of these properties to reposition the asset. um we can then have a better understanding a holistic understanding
of what's going on at the housing authority and why we are kind of doing some of the things we are doing to ensure that we are solvent but more importantly to ensure that we are providing safe sanitary and decent housing for each of our residents which are residents of the city of New York.
Now yield in case there's any questions. >> Thank thank you director. Appreciate your presentation. Um first I'm going to go to Councilman uh Ramos. >> Uh thank you Mr. president and and and thank you director. Uh I I had requested for you to appear uh before us and I
just want to state that you know our office appreciates the fact that when we do reach out um regarding different inquiries on behalf of residents you know your office is is responsive. Um you know I asked for this because for me the um seniors are priority population
our most vulnerable population. And we we do um organize a number of events at our senior uh complexes in the ward. I probably have more senior buildings >> than any other ward uh including not just housing authority owned properties
but mostly privately owned properties. And uh we were most recently there right before Thanksgiving. Um, and and I I have to tell you and and I mentioned it on the record that I was um kind of disappointed to see uh the lack of
cleanliness, especially at 801 North 6th Street and um 900 Franklin. You know, the the community space is is one thing. I went to the restroom at I think it was 801 North 6th Street and it looked like that restroom had not been cleaned in
months. Um, you know, we we did a a walkth through some months ago in that particular building and it looked like they were using the little common areas on each floor to store furniture from tenants who were who were evicted. And and some of the residents were concerned
about possible uh presence of bed bugs because some of these were mattresses that weren't even wrapped that were being stored um on the floors. uh tons of garbage bags in both complexes in the parking lot. Uh some of these bags were
open. Uh I'm not sure if it was transition between garbage days. Um but you know, understanding the and I'm glad you shared some uh data as it relates to finances and and just so I better understand the two columns here. one represents a budget that you guys
projected, which I would imagine is the one on the right, and the year-to- date actuals are are actual uh revenue numbers that you've you've seen so far this year and expenses. And, you know, I I I can't imagine how challenging it is
to operate the housing authority, right? Because you you you came in, you've you inherited certain challenges. Um you have to prioritize where you invest dollars, right? whether it's in the buildings or central office, whatever it is. Uh but but to me, this the seniors
don't necessarily care about any of that, right? They're paying their rent. Uh they deserve whether they live in a north publicly h uh own bu public housingly owned building or private building uh to live in decent conditions in clean conditions
just like any of us up here. uh if we were paying rent to the housing authority or private uh apartment building owner uh we would you know we would expect certain conditions as part of that rental agreement and whether the owner of the complex if it's Mr. Smith
or the North Housing Authority they got to figure out how they balance their budget in order to pay for maintenance for security um you know and all the other things that um that are necessary. Um, one thing I'd like you to touch on, and I'm glad you opened up with this, is
the kind of like co-mingling of populations, and you and I have talked about this, and and I've been told by previous directors of the housing authority that legally we can't do anything about having young disabled mixed with seniors. And we know in the
three complexes in my ward that a lot of this is the root of conflicts when it comes to seniors. You know, a lot of complaints about drug dealing activity. um you know it's inherent conflicts when you mix the populations you know what are your thoughts moving forward on how
we could better >> um handle that situation and protect you know our seniors >> so I completely agree with you from a a management standpoint it it creates a a lot of challenges that you are unique
and very complicated for us to to work through and it at the end of the day no one walks away happy, >> right? Uh the answer to that is which we're we're working on is our regulator calls it a designated housing plan. Uh so we are working administratively to to
develop a designated housing plan which allows us to designate more of our buildings as seniors only 62 and older. Right? Again unfortunately that's an administrative process. Anything with the federal government takes time, >> right? So realistically that's a six to
ninemonth process that will then allow us to designate again more buildings as senior only 62 and older uh and then allow for us to have conversations with those families uh about if we're able to find family units for them uh what is
the best transition for them. Again I understand the concern. I agree with the certain the concern completely as someone that was a property manager that managed senior properties and a mixed income excuse me mixed families properties. It creates a mess for us. Um at this point we don't have the
regulatory capacity to say no you can't live here. We have to abide by until we are approved from our regulator to change that which we are working to do. >> Just a few followups uh council president and then I'm done on my end. Um you mentioned that you do have a number of staff that are on leaves of
apps that we all deal with, you know, the headaches of that. Um vacancies. Are you able to pull in like private maintenance contractors and cases like what we saw in those two buildings where you could tell that um you know they haven't been cleaned in a long time?
Like what what kind of tools do you have available to deal with that situation? Understanding that you got a full-time equivalent that's technically still on the books. you can't replace that person like what can you do in that instance? >> So, we can do it. We can't affectuate contracts. So, we can bring uh maintenance companies, cleaning
companies in to clean those buildings. Uh again, we we've attempted to hire part-time maintenance or PDM as some people would call them. Um it's kind of hit or miss with that because we're not necessarily screening them. We're getting them from another company. Uh
so, it has to be multiple approaches to address that one. seems like a small issue but that one larger issue there. Uh but we are working to have in the immediate uh we are working to have
companies come in to address some of those properties and with the intent being hey we'll pay the money upfront to make the property get the property up the board make sure it's clean make sure it's running and then it's our staff's responsibility to maintain that right uh
so that that is happening as we speak um again I I wish we would have known some of these things or I would known some of these things sooner so we could have made sure that uh some things didn't happen. But again, this is why we need to make sure our our property managers, our regional managers, our maintenance supervisors are walking the properties
every day. As I say to everyone, and we've all heard since 911, if you see something, say something, right? Uh coming back to me or coming back to my office and saying, "Well, we didn't know or we didn't understand." Doesn't work for me because it's you're our eyes and
ears. if you see something elevated and then we'll figure out a way to get it done. Now that we are aware of some of these things since they come to my desk uh we're making sure that they are being effectuated so that everyone has a good place to live, they're comfortable in the hallway, stairwells, etc.
>> My last question um Mr. President deals with the the scattered sites and and I see that at Oriental Village um you have contractors in rehabbing some of those um >> uh units. Uh, is that the plan there to
to renovate and rent >> to >> to the extent that's possible? Yes. >> Okay. Because we've been dealing with a lot of complaints about squatters, especially on the um uh on the back end of Mount Pleasant and and some of those areas along uh Oriental Village and some
of those units have been abandoned for >> 10 12 years. So, the previous director I know had talked about possibly converting that site into a mixeduse. Right. >> So, at some point we'll meet offline about that. And and speaking of scatter sites, like a Stephen Crane Village when
we had that explosion, I don't know, six, seven years ago. What's happening there? Like, you know, I was just there again a few weeks ago around Thanksgiving time and and it's an eyesore in the middle of that complex. And you know, you you I don't know what's going to happen there. I know
there were some issues because the the the buildings may have been demolished prematurely. there was some litigation potentially with the insurance company. Like where are we at with that and what do you see happening >> with those buildings that were affected by the explosion?
>> Yeah. So, hey, um, Mount Pleasant, what we want to do first and foremost is house families. And the reality is it takes us less time to rehabilitate a unit than it does to build a new unit. Mhm. >> So, Oriental Village, um, a number of
the scattered sites, the plan is, as much as money will allow us, rehab the unit and get a family in there. It'll take us 3 months to rehab a unit. It's going to take us 26, 28 months to build a new unit, if not longer. Right? So, we're going to actively try to rehab
those units as much as possible. And if we cannot, then we'll definitely and we're already looking at uh repositioning some of those assets uh to kind of knock it down and build something different. Stephen Crane Village, you are correct. There is a a number of pending litigations that are
going on that hamper us from doing much at this juncture. Um unfortunately um I have a noon with the lawyers today actually. So we'll talk through it more. >> Good luck. >> Right. >> Thank you Councilman Councilwoman Bay.
>> Thank you Council President. Uh Director Spicer first of all again thank you for coming here and uh providing us with this information. I just wanted to follow up actually on some of the things some of the um the questions that Councilman Ramos had. I had uh I just need a little clarity and I don't know
if I missed it and I apologize if I did but I wanted to know you mentioned about partnership and assistance from the city. Is that part of the plan to help um fill in the gaps where we're missing with the maintenance because that is a
huge huge issue and I mean not just with housing authority but you know all of our our buildings we have to make sure that we take care of our seniors. I have 19 senior buildings in the central ward alone but the fact is one specifically Baxter elderly um has been having some
very serious problems. I've been on this job for two weeks and I've gotten more calls than I can count regarding uh this particular site and I've been in there and it is not it is not a good situation and we have to make sure that we do
better by our people. So, I wanted to know if there's a plan in place or if you need assistance from the city and if if so, what would that look like in order to make sure that we address these issues? Because I'm I'm looking and I'm listening to you and we definitely
understand budgetary issues. Uh definitely understand that. But when we talking about cleanliness and maintenance and making sure that our most vulnerable population, our pioneers that you know that that withtood so many
things over the decades and now to be in a space where they feel helpless and they're not feeling safe, we have to safeguard against that. So I just wanted to know what is it that you need to help put a plan together for us to address this? Um that's that's the first question.
>> Okay. So [clears throat] again, the administration and I talk on a regular basis. Uh so the business administration as well as where my ask always are. Um so we'll continue to have those conversations and see what we can we can collectively do. Um it just so happens I
was at Baxterly Elderly yesterday. So it's not uncommon for me to just pop up at a site and walk it. So I I walked from uh the eighth floor to the first floor of both of those buildings yesterday and end up in a couple people's house because they wanted to show me some things. So, I took some pictures and so I completely aware of what you're talking about. Uh, the
conditions there are not acceptable. Uh, we're having conversations today to ensure that that gets addressed. Again, my concern is there are 200, as I I say at our board meetings, there are 282 people that work for me. It should not take me to decide to walk a property, to
pop up at a property to say there's a problem here. That's what those people are there for. They're empowered as being there every day to see something, say something, and not figure it out. Again, we're aware of it. We are taking the measures necessary. You should see it before the end of this calendar year,
which is the end of the month. Uh that that property will be clean from top to bottom. And then again, the expectation is the staff will maintain it from there. >> Thank you for that. I just had one other question. Sure. Um, and again, if I if I missed it in the presentation, I
apologize, but I know that we are constantly being told that there are a long waiting list for apartments and all of these buildings. So, why are they not occupied to capacity? Um, if there's a waiting list,
>> right? Great question. Um, I'm going to try to make something complicated simple. We have about 25 weight list. What that means is uh if you are a senior and you are 62 years of age or older, we have units ready for you
today. You can come downtown to 500 Broad Street, put an application in. You can go online and put an application in. In two weeks, you're going to have a unit offer. If you are a uh a family, if you are less than 62 years of age, you
need a 2, three, fourbedroom unit. We do not have those available at this time. Right. So it it really depends on what your demographic is and then it's going to depend on where you want to live. Often times we're at a 5:1 ratio which means for every one family, every one
unit we have, we have to go through five families before someone accepts. It is not uncommon for us to get emergency transfers where someone's saying I need to go immediately because of whatever conditions. So, we'll offer them the the unit we have available. Uh, and they decline it because they don't like the
area. They don't like the unit. The bedrooms are smaller than they're used to. Things of that nature, which are the human aspect, what makes it a little bit more complicated for us with occupying some of those units. And equally so, um, again, we have $88 million of capital
needs and a significant portion of that is is units, right? So we are investing somewhere between 9 to 11 million a year in just bringing units back online. But when you have an $88 million capital needs, that takes time. What that really means is yes, we have have a wait list.
We do have units that are available, but it's only for specific populations. What you are often hearing is families. The the family that has one or two kids that have a working uh mom and dad and they just need affordable housing. We
don't have a lot of those units available and that's where the challenge becomes. As you kind of mentioned with Oriental Village and the town houses, we're trying to get some of those back online. Again, the average cost to rehab a townhouse from our portfolio is $189,000.
You start doing the math that that's that's a lot. >> All right. Thank you, uh, Councilwoman Scott Roundry. >> Yes. Thank you, Council President. Uh, two things. The first thing is I um as my colleagues have mentioned regarding the improvements and the budgetary
issues um we get a lot of complaints about health issues. Uh they did speak about the cleanliness. Um we have people and I want to speak specifically to James C. White um where I see that we're putting in cameras and I see that we're um taking care of community rooms but
there have been many complaints. Um, I even made a visit last year, myself and a couple of uh other council people to a couple of the senior sites. Um, and we discovered mold, we discovered things. I've had to communicate with uh the director of of the health department.
The state has been involved and we're still getting those complaints. So, I have not been over lately, but I want to know what is the plan for reviewing these apartments and assessing uh these type of complaints. That's just the first question because um just last week
and I I'm not a health official so when you don't know something you shouldn't be speaking about it but I knew Caitlyn is and I know that the state has come in and when they come to this meeting they say some pretty horrific things. Um so addressing you um director to ask how do
we assess um some of these older buildings uh that we paint uh we cover up uh do we actually abate? Um I think I went to one building where they did paint and I went back six months later
and the mold was actually coming back through. um painting tubs is not and I know that it takes money to replace all of these things, but to paint a tub as opposed to replacing a tub and as council woman Bay and all of my colleagues um I know really know that
this population is very all populations but our elders especially but all the whole city. um the quality of life is something that is very very very important to us because uh we will get those calls. So I just want to know how
we're addressing that and specifically today I'm speaking to James C. White, but there are other buildings um that are not in the senior population that we also get those calls and they're documented. >> So hey, I appreciate you for for
elevating that one. uh what we've done specifically at at Jamesc White um anything that the state has said we needed to do as it relates to uh Legionella we've we've are ensuring that we are in compliance with right um so up
until today uh there haven't been any any new breakout out outbreaks there haven't been any new incidents that have been reported uh so we're we're we're compliant on that end um in in maintenance uh there's a specific paint called one two three kills.
>> Um that paint has a a substance in it, an additive in it that addresses mildew. >> Okay? >> Right? So what I often tell people is there's a difference between mold and mildew. Right? >> They may look the same, but they are not the same. Right? So the the paint people say, we just come in here and they just
paint over it and they don't do anything. Well, we're using we're using kills one 123 kills which is a a paint that is that the additive addresses mildew. It kills the mildew, right? So, it's not just a we're painting uh the chemicals in compound in that are
supposed to address that realistically high level. The problem is those buildings the back it for moisture. So, it's going to continue to reoccur. >> So, can can I ask you a question? So, if
we know that there's [clears throat] no exit in the process of renovation, is there something in the plan so that we're not just constantly covering up an issue that's creating a problem? >> So, yes, and we're doing that in two
different ways. One, in some senior properties, again, the building has life outlived its life expectancy. So, the plan is to reposition the asset, >> right? Um, >> can you explain that? Sure. Reposition asset is the plan is to knock the building down and build a new one. It is
very costly to excuse me. It is very costly to knock through a concrete wall, create an electrical outlet, vent the room to vent that bathroom and then then connect
electrical to a conduit to allow that to happen because the circuit breakers weren't made for something of that nature in that area. Again, something small gets big when you start diving into how do we just fix this? Because that was my original question as well of punch a hole in the wall, make a fan,
vent it. Um, and then the architects and the engineers came back with me and gave me a reality check. Uh, so where we can, we are trying to vent them. Uh, where we can't, uh, we are looking to reposition. We're looking to to do something with that property to bring it up to today's
code because what was expected 80 years ago is not what we have today. Uh our climate has changed drastically. We've had uh two earthquakes since I've been here and we would have never anticipated having earthquakes in New Jersey. So, a lot of things have changed and we have
to change with them. So before the quality of life in these particular apartments that we have these reoccurring issues can take place um we would have to knock the building down and and rebuild. Is that what you're saying? >> No, what I'm saying is what we're doing in a short term is making sure that
anytime it's reported, >> right, >> uh that we address it. >> Okay. >> Where it is possible, we are looking to vent it. So, if there is a place to vent, which I can't tell you which property off the top of my head, >> uh where it is possible, we are looking to vent specifically the bathrooms. Uh
and when that's not possible, we have to look at a longer term fix, which is kind of build a new building. Now, the the the benefit that we have, as you all are, we're we're also your largest land owner in the city. So, we have a number of vacant parcels. So, it's not a matter
of going to find some empty land to buy something to then build something. We have vacant parcels that we can build on and we're actively working to do exactly that. >> Thank you. So, unless you have a followup, I know we have an executive.
>> This isn't that meeting. We're dealing with the senior population, but there's a whole list and I'll probably put that in writing for another meeting >> and I think we can uh we need to follow up on this and have a consistent followup with this. I know we have an executive session with the mayor. Um,
and so if there are any additional is council uh quick questions that maybe we can address and then follow up with uh the director at another time. Councilman uh Kelly, >> great day. How you doing? Uh director,
um the housing um properties that are not in the senior portfolio, do we know the number of senior residents that live in those those places? >> We do. I don't have that number with me, but I can get that number for you. >> Yeah. Can you please uh email that to the entire council? U especially myself.
>> Um my concern is for the the seniors that are currently residing at Bradley Court. Whatever number of those seniors are at that site, are we assisting them with the transitioning that's happening there? >> Yes. So, uh two minute so everyone understands
what's happening. Uh [clears throat] >> and that's what I was going to say. Can you reiterate what the plan is for Bradley Court? >> Yeah. >> Uh big picture, Bradley Court is one of those properties that that is outlived its life expectancy. Uh property was a a postw World War II construction. Uh so
as you can imagine, bedrooms are significantly smaller. Everything is concrete. Uh if you have a closet, then you're doing good, right? Uh it is one of those properties that you you don't have uh adequate um ventilation. Uh so we kind of deal with some of the issues that you all have been talking about
holistically. What we have uh come to the realization is the asset is is there is no way to give people the quality of life that they need in the current conditions of Bradley and there's no money that you can spend that is going
to improve that building because you can't you can't increase the square footage of a unit. So what we have done is is three things. One, Bradley consists of 10 10 buildings that make up Bradley Courts. We're talking about the highrises, not the town houses, right?
So, we have consolidated uh families from 10 buildings to five buildings. We determined which five buildings based on which five buildings we could get heat to adequately, right? So, a we're trying to make sure you're able to get heat in the winter, right? Uh that then leaves five buildings that
will be vacant. At the same time, we're having conversations with the residents there about repositioning the property, about tearing the property down and building a new Bradley Court. We first offered those families units to transfer to um on the the the inside of the
property, right? We cover the cost of that transfer, moving, etc., we cover the cost of that. Uh if you need to transfer to a different property, uh we will cover the cost of that. So, we are openly engaging with the residents to move them to where they would like to go
in our portfolio um to allow them to be. The second part of that is we are keeping a list, a master list of everyone that currently lives there because they have the right of return. We're actively having conversations with them because we're going through the official process to reposition property
of saying, "Hey, this is what the development plan for Bradley Court is. We plan on knocking these buildings down starting with the the units that are closest to the highway and that's going to be reconstructed with apartments no higher than five stories. The people that are in the first five buildings
will be able to stay until the new buildings come up. So no one is being forcibly reclo relocated or displaced. When the new new units come online, you're going to move over to the new unit again comes out of our pocket. will then tear down the lows those five
units. Those seem those five buildings that are closest to the interior of Bradley and it'll be the projection is row houses from the top to the bottom of that street uh is row houses. Uh so you'll kind of decrease the density to start to um flow with the community
there. And then we'll start to lease more units uh for the town for the town houses that exist in Bradley. In 2026 we've uh started having conversations uh about doing home ownership there. Uh so public housing families that live there as well as public housing families that are open to home ownership, they will
have an option uh at the Bradley Court town houses uh to exercise that route and kind of go through that process. Uh so we're actively having conversations with residents. We've already started that process. We've already started our our process with our regulator to get approval. We've already started our
process with developers to have them qualify them and get their drawings and their specs on what it should look like. We anticipate having that in the next 60 days so we could then go back to the residents because we have to have a number of residents meetings uh to educate them to inform them to get their
feedback on what what they need what we may not be seeing that they know uh to ensure that in the coming years you have a functioning uh Bradley courts that is a community that everyone wants to live in. And what I've tried to tell everyone is what that looks like is a mixed
income community. It is not solely public housing that is market rate that is affordable that is public housing units that sits on that plot of land but that feeds that looks like the community that it surrounds. >> The last quick question before we leave.
I have you said that some of those residents will be able to transfer to other properties in your portfolio. >> Yes. I have two residents who contacted me who would like to transfer to other properties in your portfolio and I guess I can discuss that with you offline or
>> Yeah. And and again we have a manager there and a regional manager. So those are their their point of contacts. Um we give them their information at the resident meetings which I' I've come to several of them. Uh so they don't even have to go through you. they can go through the the person that we're on payroll that's there 40 hours a week uh
to get that and to help them move on to the next place. >> Who is the current just for the record? Who is the current manager of Rally Court? >> Don't get me lying to you so I don't know that person's name off the top of my head. I know the the regional manager is Natalie Sharp. >> Thank you.
>> Any other questions? Councilman Council, >> Mr. Chair, prior to going just two two things. one, but over a year and a half ago, two years, uh the the housing authority went into trouble housing status. And if you can just give this
body and the audience an update on where we are in troubled housing status. I know uh I sit as a commissioner uh down on the housing authority board and know that we've been trying to work hard and diligently about ensuring a safe,
sanitary and decent housing for all of the residents uh in housing authority and always talked about uh the importance of housing authority providing low and moderate housing uh for residents and what their role is to the city. Uh so if we can talk about
where we are in that regards and then the second piece that there's a gentleman that that's behind you that's sitting down with the brown coat on. Please get his information uh follow up with whatever the issues are and then send us an information uh from to the
council about how those matters were updated and uh what what it was that was occurring and going on so that we can be all on the same accord uh moving forward. Thank you. >> No, no problem. I And I appreciate the the the breadth of the questions uh
today. Next time I'll bring my binder and uh make sure I can give you all more more detail and uh study a little bit harder. When I I walked into the agency, we were HUDs gives every housing authority report card. Uh a passing score considered 60 or above. Uh when I
walked in, we were at a 39. So, as you can tell, we we were not uh considered we weren't passing, right? uh within 12 months of me being there again every year you get a report card uh we move from a 39 to a 48. Uh sounds like a a
small increase but it is an increase in the right direction uh given that the number of items we were addressing which we had 49 items in our corrective action plan. We're down to less than 10 items. Uh there were a number of things that had to be addressed that then improve those scores. You look at it from a an
educational perspective. uh in order to improve your grade, you have to make sure those quizzes and those homeworks are done throughout the quarter, right? So, it it for us is those little things that add up to big things. Uh we are awaiting our our new score this year. Unfortunately, because of the government shutdown, everything is delayed. Um but
we anticipate we are hopeful and fully expecting that we will be at a 60 or very close to it. Uh it typically takes a housing authority a large housing authority three to four years to completely recover. Uh so we are far ahead of that. Um, our obligation is to
be 50% uh 50% I'm going to say it backwards. We have to make 50% progress in the first year and 50% progress in the second year which should get you to a 60 or above by the end of the third year. Uh so we are uh on we are ahead of track to do that. But what that means
for us is there's a lot of administrative things that have to be addressed because again with your report card they look at various things that you're doing throughout the year to make sure uh that the scores are trending in the right direction and as the scores trend in the right direction you then start to see the improvement uh in the
asset. Again for us a lot of it is is about liquidity and how do we balance the budget? How do we make sure the money is going to the right places to address the right items? Again, a lot of that is going to be about your physical inspections. Uh so, we're making sure we do the right things to improve those physical conditions, which is a lot
about what you all have talked about today. >> All right. So, I want to thank uh uh you uh director for being here. I think Councilman Council mentioned Mr. Brown. I think for for I invited Mr. Brown to speak to you. I I don't want to ambush you, but I wanted to make sure that
there was a connection between the two. Um but let me say thank you for being here. Thank you for your transparency and providing us information as necessary. Uh we we really appreciate you coming down. It was a short notice too to come and and and have a presentation and [clears throat] and and
take questions from the council and we continue to look forward to having a good relationship with you moving forward. Thank you. >> Appreciate your time. Thank you. >> All right. Need to go executive session. Can we get a roll call for executive session? Mr. Brown, go make sure you go talk to
him. >> Are we engineering? We're going upstairs. >> Isn't there supposed to be a public meeting after these three presentations? >> No, no, no, no. We're We're finished. >> No, we already had that discussion earlier.
>> No, no, Miss Bammani, you know better. No, we are moving forward with Exe. Miss Bammani. Miss Bammani. Miss Bammani, would do you want to be removed from the chambers? Miss Monica.
Motion to adjourn. I motion for executive session. Excuse me. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Oh god.
>> Yes. And just for the record, the other matters are going to be rescheduled. So just so you know.