Claremont Housing Authority commission tables treasurer’s report

By GLYNIS HART
[email protected]
CLAREMONT – The Claremont Housing Authority Commission met Monday at Marion Phillips Senior Apartments. Residents continued to push Executive Director Michelle Aiken for more transparency with the bookkeeping. 

Resident Virginia Stowell, speaking during the public comment period, requested that a letter purportedly attached to the May 21, 2018 minutes on the city website be attached in fact. Stowell was the only commenter. Having made her request, she sat down.

During the review of minutes from January and February, Resident Commissioner Kathleen O’Brien drew attention to Aiken’s wording of the minutes. O’Brien, since she joined the commission a year ago, has asked a number of questions about the CHA’s finances. During the January meeting Aiken objected to this, calling it a “waste of time” and demanding that O’Brien submit questions in writing in advance of the meeting. This, she said, would give her time to look up the answers. 

O’Brien said she couldn’t know in advance what Aiken does and doesn’t know, or what questions would require research. “I wish you would quit using that language, ‘waste of time’, directed at me,” she said. “It’s a two-way street.” 

Chair of the commission, Wendy Hodgdon, said, “Michelle, you can say, ‘I don’t have that answer.’ I don’t think anybody should be embarrassed to say, ‘I don’t know.’” 

“If you have questions and it goes in the minutes and we want the minutes approved I need time to research the answers,” said Aiken. 

“I think we should all know what’s going on, between all of us,” said O’Brien. 

Without an audible vote on the minutes, the commission moved on to the treasurer’s report. Aiken, as the secretary and treasurer, is the author of both. 

O’Brien asked if the commission got the comparative budget she requested at a previous meeting. Aiken said, “No,” and explained that the auditors weren’t finished with the Section 8 (housing voucher program) part of the budget. 

“We’re going to have an accountants meeting, and I have a couple questions on the treasurer’s report,” said O’Brien. “We could hold off until the accountant meets with us.” 

“I don’t think you should stop from approving it because it’s not going to change,” said Aiken. “It’s stuff that’s already happened.” 

O’Brien then asked if everyone had seen the bank statements she had requested. However, only O’Brien got them because she was the one who requested them. 

“We don’t generally give that out; we give the reconciliation statement, which shows everything,” said Aiken. 

O’Brien referred to a training program for HUD housing authority members, Lead the Way. “Lead the Way suggests we ask for those bank statements,” she said. 

Aiken said the reconciliation statements are more detailed and the commission should decide whether they wanted reconciliation or bank statements. “As a board you have to tell me what you want,” she said. 

“We didn’t have any kind of reconciliation until a few months ago,” said O’Brien. “We only started getting any kind of numbers in October.”

“In all the 10 years I’ve been here we’ve never gone into that much detail,” said Aiken. “The board depended on the accountant.” 

“It’s my understanding, from the research I’ve done, it’s our job to do the oversight,” said O’Brien. “It’s all of our jobs.” 

Rising from her chair, O’Brien brought copies of the bank statements to Aiken and Hodgdon. “I thought it might be helpful to have these and do a reconciliation for the time in between.” 

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Aiken. 

After some back-and-forth Hodgdon explained that the bank statements, which are issued monthly, could be presented at the meeting in addition to a more recent statement from the bank that would be up to date. 

“You can’t get more up to date than this,” said Aiken, indicating the documents in front of her (not the bank statements). O’Brien said the bank statements are easier to read and make it more of an “apples to apples” comparison. 

“To me, the point of oversight is we’re human beings. We make errors,” said O’Brien. “That’s why it’s good to have several sets of eyes on something. The accountant has made errors in the past — I’m not blaming anyone. It’s just that the sooner we correct errors, the less ripple effect they have.

“On the November statement there were three large checks,” she continued. “I didn’t see it in the comparative budget.” 

“Those are for insurance,” said Aiken. 

“But we have insurance in our comparative budget,” said O’Brien. “I’m suggesting we postpone approval of the treasurer’s report.” 

“I’m totally in agreement with not wanting to sign off on something you’re not in agreement with,” said Hodgdon. “I always look for guidance from an accountant.” 

The commission voted 2-1 to table the report until the next meeting. Doreen Needham voted in favor; Judith Austin and Robin Butterfield were absent. 

The rest of the meeting dealt with some changes to the wording of the ACOP (Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy) which Aiken is in the process of updating. Although the commission had agreed to change a policy to state tenants would be notified in writing when their application gets to the top of the waiting list, Aiken said she hadn’t changed it. The CHA’s general policy is to call people first if they get close to the top of the list.

“If we don’t reach them we send a letter,” said Aiken. “Didn’t we already agree on this at the last meeting?” 

In the end the commission agreed to remove “or by phone” from the entry to make the policy clearer. 

O’Brien returned to the question of tenants being able to pay by cash. “I told you all I applied to be a commissioner because there seemed to be an attitude of the commission versus the tenants, and I wanted to change that,” she said. Sometimes getting to the post office or bank for a money order can be challenging, she explained. “I suggest this language: ‘We will accept it under extenuating circumstances’.” 

However, the rest of the commission disagreed. The ACOP could be altered at a later date, they decided.