WHA Board Reorganizes, Lauds Ruggier-Milton For Service
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
It was out with the old and in with the new at Monday's Warsaw Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting.
Sherri Ruggier-Milton was presented with a plaque in honor of her years of service to the board. Ruggier-Milton served from 1994 through 2001.
"I've enjoyed it," she said. "It's with mixed emotions that I leave the board."
WHA board president Bob Kline passed along thanks on behalf of the entire board for Ruggier-Milton's service. "We really appreciate what she's done," he said.
Also leaving the board is Axa Troncoso, who did not attend the meeting.
New to the board are Pat Ellis and Jennifer Mitchell. The other members of the board are Kline, Dennis Cultice, Tom Lemon, Joel Curry and Brian Grantz. Bill Rhoades is the Warsaw City Council representative to the board and does not have voting rights.
A resident of Warsaw since 1973, Ellis was formerly employed by Grace Village Retirement Community and has done various volunteer jobs in the area. She is married and has two grown children.
Mitchell is the tenant representative to the board. She has lived in Warsaw most of her life and is a paralegal for attorney Tyler Haines. She has one son, Zachary.
One of the first orders of business for the new board was to secure a new office for the agency. The board voted to sign a three-year lease effective March 1 for office space at the Medical Arts Building on Union Street. The new location is 1,300 square feet, which is about twice the space of the current offices on Buffalo Street, and rents for $750 per month ($20 less per month than the current space). The lease expires at the current site at the end of April.
In return for the property manager, Bruce Woodward, locking in the monthly rent for three years, the housing authority agreed to bear the cost of remodeling the bathroom there to make it Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.
Kline said he thinks the location is "an ideal setup for the agency" and doesn't think moving out of downtown Warsaw will be a detriment.
Two other locations under consideration were out of the agency's price range, at $1,700 per month for one and $1,150 per month for the other.
In other matters, WHA executive director Laura Kaufman reported there are about 225 families on the waiting list for housing and she doesn't foresee bringing any new clients into the program before April.
Currently, the program is at 105 percent utilization, with 184 families receiving rental assistance in 175 available slots. The agency over-filled its voucher allowance for a short time to make up for previous under-utilization of the program.
When clients come to the agency seeking housing assistance, the process from application until actually coming onto the Section 8 program currently is taking eight months to a year, Kaufman said.
Also during the meeting, the board conducted its annual election of officers with Kline continuing as president, Curry elected vice president and Ellis filling the post of secretary.
The WHA board meets at 5:15 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month in the law offices of Lemon, Armey, Hearn & Leininger, Buffalo Street, Warsaw. [[In-content Ad]]
It was out with the old and in with the new at Monday's Warsaw Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting.
Sherri Ruggier-Milton was presented with a plaque in honor of her years of service to the board. Ruggier-Milton served from 1994 through 2001.
"I've enjoyed it," she said. "It's with mixed emotions that I leave the board."
WHA board president Bob Kline passed along thanks on behalf of the entire board for Ruggier-Milton's service. "We really appreciate what she's done," he said.
Also leaving the board is Axa Troncoso, who did not attend the meeting.
New to the board are Pat Ellis and Jennifer Mitchell. The other members of the board are Kline, Dennis Cultice, Tom Lemon, Joel Curry and Brian Grantz. Bill Rhoades is the Warsaw City Council representative to the board and does not have voting rights.
A resident of Warsaw since 1973, Ellis was formerly employed by Grace Village Retirement Community and has done various volunteer jobs in the area. She is married and has two grown children.
Mitchell is the tenant representative to the board. She has lived in Warsaw most of her life and is a paralegal for attorney Tyler Haines. She has one son, Zachary.
One of the first orders of business for the new board was to secure a new office for the agency. The board voted to sign a three-year lease effective March 1 for office space at the Medical Arts Building on Union Street. The new location is 1,300 square feet, which is about twice the space of the current offices on Buffalo Street, and rents for $750 per month ($20 less per month than the current space). The lease expires at the current site at the end of April.
In return for the property manager, Bruce Woodward, locking in the monthly rent for three years, the housing authority agreed to bear the cost of remodeling the bathroom there to make it Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.
Kline said he thinks the location is "an ideal setup for the agency" and doesn't think moving out of downtown Warsaw will be a detriment.
Two other locations under consideration were out of the agency's price range, at $1,700 per month for one and $1,150 per month for the other.
In other matters, WHA executive director Laura Kaufman reported there are about 225 families on the waiting list for housing and she doesn't foresee bringing any new clients into the program before April.
Currently, the program is at 105 percent utilization, with 184 families receiving rental assistance in 175 available slots. The agency over-filled its voucher allowance for a short time to make up for previous under-utilization of the program.
When clients come to the agency seeking housing assistance, the process from application until actually coming onto the Section 8 program currently is taking eight months to a year, Kaufman said.
Also during the meeting, the board conducted its annual election of officers with Kline continuing as president, Curry elected vice president and Ellis filling the post of secretary.
The WHA board meets at 5:15 p.m. the fourth Monday of each month in the law offices of Lemon, Armey, Hearn & Leininger, Buffalo Street, Warsaw. [[In-content Ad]]