HA discusses collections of tenants’ charge-offs

By: MICHAEL BORDELON
News Editor

During its meeting Tuesday, July 1, the Ville Platte Housing Authority board discussed its charge-offs for the past 18 months and questioned office staff about retrieving these charge-offs, which is money owed to the housing authority for rent and damages when a tenant is evicted.

When reviewing a report of the past 18 months, board member James Berthelot asked if all money owed is being retrieved. Office staff member Alice Jones answered, stating some charge-offs are received by placing judgements on past tenants and garnishing their pay checks. However, if she does not have an address for these tenants, she cannot have them served with papers to take them to court.

Berthelot said whenever he has asked Executive Director Emily Woodall, who was not present for the meeting, if all charge-offs are retrieved, she’s told him yes. Jones said most are retrieved but there are some that take a long time and have to be tracked down. Jones also said she has just recently begun going back to court for these charge-offs.

The board also learned the terms of eviction were changed. A policy under a former executive director stated a resident could be evicted if delinquent on $150 or more of rent. Jones said Woodall changed that amount to $300. However, since some residents pay as low as $18 per month rent, and others pay $200 per month, the board said it was not fair to continue using that system. Board member David Ortego said some residents could decide not to pay rent for a year or more and they would still not be beyond the $300 threshold.

Maintenance Supervisor Grant Soileau said he believed the current policy stated if a resident is late in paying rent for three months, that resident can be evicted. The board approved a motion to use that policy and requested that each board member receive a copy of the policy to verify it says exactly what Soileau stated.

In other business, the board:

•Approved the past 18 months charge-off with the exception of a charge-off against Sherry Von Randle. Soileau said the charge-off on Randle was kept as a record of her fault for a fire in her apartment. The board voted to remove the charge-off and make a record that Randle may not be allowed back into the housing authority because of negligence in regards to her apartment.

•Asked office staff if any progress was made on compensating employees for mileage when using their personal vehicles for housing authority business. Three staff members said the issue was not discussed after the board approved a measure to provide that compensation at a meeting earlier this year. Berthelot said he wanted to meet and get the mileage issue settled so employees can receive their money. Staff members said when the issue was raised with Woodall, she would tell them it would be discussed at a later time.

•Requested a report on vacant apartments for the board’s next meeting. Ortego said he wanted to see a report on which apartments are vacant, why they are vacant and how long they have been vacant.