Northwest Regional Homeless Advisory Board
Telephone Conference Meeting Minutes
7/9/15
Members Present: Kim Stucke, Linda Thompson, Madra Clay, Lisa Kovalick, Bob Raible, Lynn McUmber, Debbie Hennon, Dusti Dennis and Juanita Gangemi (recorder).
Approval of the June 11, 2015 meeting minutes: The committee reviewed the meeting minutes from the June 11, 2015 meeting. There were two changes. Lisa noted that the half way house discussed in the minutes is in Warrenville, not Warren. Also, Madra had a change for the June, 2015 meeting minutes. It is as follows:
Madra gave the committee an update on changes that are being made at DCED on the state level since Ed Geiger retired on June 5, 2015. During the restructuring, it was decided that they were not able to find anybody to take Ed’s place so there are now 3 managers dividing up Ed’s job duties. Madra is the homeless contact person for the state. Other updates include:
· Harry Krot – Director, Community Development Operations – This is Madra, Mike Carpenter, Melissa Williams, and Donna Enrico’s supervisor
· Kathy Possinger – Director, Community Affairs, Compliance – This is M.J. Smith’s supervisor (MJ is no longer in Homelessness Dept).
· Mandy – Director, Community Enhancement – This is Mark Conte’s supervisor.
It was decided that all the Northwest Regional Homeless Advisory Board meeting minutes (once approved) will be sent to Dave Weathington to be put on the COC website for others to review.
Review Bylaws Regarding RHAB Membership: Kim went over the bylaws for the Northwest Regional Homeless Advisory Board Policy and Procedures with the committee. The committee decided that the maximum amount of members for this board will be 15. There are currently 13 voting members, which does not include Diana Ames
( Board Member Emeritis). This committee agreed that a board member must be participating in their local homeless coalition and a member of the Western PA CoC before they can get involved at the RHAB level. It made sense to this committee that a person needs to be knowledgeable about this subject before getting on the RHAB.
Kim will send out the changes to the bylaws as discussed so the committee can review them and can be voted on.
It was discussed that not all members of this board are on a Western COC sub-committee. Tom Scott, Ernie Scutella and Mark Alexa have not signed up for a subcommittee yet.
Update on Chronic Priority Policy: HUD has given order of priority for the homeless population. They are as follows:
1. First Priority – Chronic homeless individuals and families with the longest history of homelessness and with the most severe service needs.
2. Second Priority – Chronic homeless individuals and families with the longest history of homelessness.
3. Third Priority – Chronically homeless individuals and families with the most severe service needs.
4. Forth Priority – All other chronically homeless individuals and families.
Update on Mercer CAP: Fran Billen was not able to attend this meeting. Kim will send her an e-mail to give us an update on this. The last we heard was that they were able to sell property in a bad neighborhood and buy another one in a better neighborhood.
Update on DV data: HHS has been involved and are making forward progress. We should receive notice in about a week to ten days to let us know how this system will work. It was mentioned that DV providers need more education regarding the homeless continuum of care and HUD regulatory requirements.
Update on Integration of Veteran Homeless Data: Madra will be having a follow-up conversation with Mike Wehrer. She will have an update after the next meeting.
Rating and Ranking Committee – Who and when?: Renewals have been submitted and are on the website to review. The NOFA should be out by July 24, 2015. The committee discussed the timeframe to finalize all rating and ranking activity by July 27, 2015. Kim and Linda will work on developing a rating and ranking spreadsheet to be reviewed by all raters. The people who are conflict free raters are Kim Stucke, Mike Weher, Mark Alexa, Linda Thompson, Lisa Kovalick, Ernie Scutella, Madra Clay and Dusti Dennis.
It was mentioned that then the NW and SW will have to combine the 2 ranking sheets into one document for the HUD application.
Other Business: In 2014, there was $24,424 left over to spend down from the planning grant. These funds must be expended by October, 2015. This committee was assigned to give some thought as to what to do with this money. Also, in 2013, there was $28,300 in planning funds leftover to be spent. If anybody has any ideas regarding what to do with the excess money, please contact Kim Stucke, Madra Clay, or Linda Thompson. They will take your suggestion into consideration.
The committee adjourned approximately 11:10 a.m. The following are the meetings tentatively scheduled for the rest of the year:
Thursday, August 13, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. – Telephone Meeting
Thursday, September 16, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. – Face-to-face meeting – Stairways Behavioral Health
Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. – Telephone Meeting
Thursday, November 13, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. – Face-to-face meeting – Stairways Behavioral Health
No meeting in December, 2015