North Adams Dry Cleaner Tests Still to Be Held in March
Executive Director Jennifer Hohn updates the Housing Authority commissioners on Monday.
Executive Director Jennifer Hohn told the authority board members on Monday that the final 111 River St. testings are scheduled and that the organization is preparing to make the final transfer of assets to the city of North Adams.
"We are still waiting for the last digging. I actually had a meeting with the mayor today and I brought it up and it is still on track," she said. "Once that is over with we will be able to transfer everything to the city."
The Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, which also serves as Housing Opportunities Inc. board, plans to transfer all the HOI assets to the city and dissolve the 30-year-old program created to help first-time homeowners.
The Sun Cleaners property is the last asset HOI needs to transfer to the city. However, the transfer has been pending for almost two years because the city first wanted to test for contamination at the former dry cleaners.
As of January, the Housing Authority was told more testing would be needed.
Hohn reiterated that these March testings should be the last and so for test results have come back clean.
"To date, they haven't found anything significant so we are hoping to just be done with it and dissolve HOI once and for all," she said.
In other business, Hohn had more pending news and said the Housing Authority is still on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program waiting list.
"We still haven't got any word and we are still waiting," she said. "Now that the government has a budget they are trying to catch up. They have a backlog from being shut down and I expect it will take longer than usual."
The RAD program allows housing authorities to move their units to the Section 8 platform that in turn allows them to leverage debt and equity for re-investment without affecting tenant rights and rents, or housing authority control.
Hohn did ask for some action from the commission and requested that they approve an amended five-year plan and annual plan. The only amendments were the addition of RAD.
"That is the only change," she said. "It has to be included with our approved plan with HUD or we can't do it."
The commission also voted to award a contract to Dominion to conduct a physical needs assessment of the Housing Authority which is also a requirement of RAD.
"Because of the RAD we are required to undergo a physical needs assessment and there are very few contractors who specialize in these," Hohn said.
Three bids came in: Dominion bid $27,200, EMG bid $30,000, and 2RW with $26,525.
Hohn said the Housing Authority's consultant recommended going with Dominion because it is the most experienced with these assessments.
"They do a majority of the assessments and you know the RAD is very specific," she said. "You need the expertise and experience to handle this projects effectively and accurately."
Hohn said she was surprised Dominion did not come in higher.
Tags: contamination, environment, Housing Authority,
