July 9, 2026 Meeting Minutes
MINUTES OF A MEETING
DRAFT- NOT YET APPROVED
These minutes are subject to approval by the Board at a future meeting and may be revised.
The Regular Meeting of the Norwalk Housing Authority Board of Commissioners was convened at 5:36pm July 9th.
Location: Zoom Video Conference
Present:
Brenda Penn-Williams, Chair
Isaac Walcott, Treasurer
John Church, Commissioner (joined 5:42pm)
Teneshia Jacobs, Commissioner
Absent:
Liza Bermudez-Montgomery, Vice Chair
Staff Attending:
Adam Bovilsky, Executive Director
Kras Carlucci, Deputy Director
Charmaine Davis-Ford, Director of Finance
Leroy Fender, Director of Maintenance
Lisa Endo, Director of Development
Wendy Gerbier, Director Learning Centers
Anna Keegan, Director of Policy & MTW
Gregory Lickwola, Director of Modernization
Jeff Oduro, Director of IT
Nicole Ruffin, HR Generalist
Donna Lattarulo, Outside General Council, Lattarulo Law Firm, LLC
Public Attending:
Johanna Valencia
Roll Call:
At 5:36 pm, Chair Penn-Williams opened the meeting. Chair Penn-Williams recognized Treasurer Walcott and Commissioner Jacobs as present and acknowledged the presence of a quorum. Commissioner Church joined the meeting at 5:42pm.
Report of the Secretary:
1. Mr. Bovilsky thanked all of the commissioners for their participation at the Curtis Law Learning Center ribbon cutting at Oak Grove and shared some photographs and key highlights from the event.
2. Mr. Bovilsky shared that the Norwalk Housing Authority held a successful job fair with 30 employers and approximately 150 job seekers. This event was held in partnership with CT Department of Labor.
3. Mr. Bovilsky reminded commissioners that the strategic planning process has been officially started. The first visit from the CVR Associates consulting team will be on July 28th & 29th. Listening sessions will be scheduled for staff, leadership and board members. Commissioners will be scheduled in pairs or as individuals.
4. Mr. Bovilsky updated the board on the status of voucher issuance. He reminded the board that the Norwalk Housing Authority was in Shortfall status for over 1 year, including 4 and a half months of 2026. Therefore, even though new funding was allocated, NHA was unable to issue new vouchers and spend it. With the Authority now out of Shortfall status, there are 6 months to spend the funds. Many other authorities are absorbing port-ins to spend funding quickly. The Norwalk Housing Authority is MTW (Moving to Work) and therefore has the ability to spend the funding in other ways. These include capital projects for public housing, capital projects for Mutual housing and pre-development or development projects. Leadership is proposing to immediately begin issuing 25 vouchers per month up to a total of 90 vouchers. This will not utilize all open funding, and leadership will come back in a future board meeting with a proposal on suggested additional uses.
Treasurer Walcott asked for additional clarity on the voucher issuing process. Mr. Bovilsky shared that issuance follows the priorities stated in the Administrative Plan. He went on to detail the processes for communication, paperwork collection, eligibility verification, housing selection, housing approval and HAP contract creation.
Treasurer Walcott asked if there is possibility to issue more vouchers faster. Kras Carlucci stated 25 vouchers per month is a reasonable target, as the process takes multiple months for each family and there are also only so many units available in Norwalk that meet the payment standard. NHA's mobility counselor will assist the families in finding apartments that will accept the vouchers.
5. Mr. Bovilsky shared the following upcoming events:
a. July 15, 2026 @5:30pm FSS Graduation Event at EnVision Center
b. July 16, 2026 @5:30pm Scholarship Reception
c. July 28 & 29, 2026 Potential Board sessions with Strategic Plan Consultants
d. August 13, 2026 @5:30pm Regular Board Meeting
e. September 10, 2026 @5:30pm Regular Board Meeting
Public Hearing:
At 6:06pm, Chair Penn-Williams opened the public hearing for the Amendment to Admissions and Continued Occupancy Plan preferences and the Amendment to Administrative Plan preferences.
No public comments were received during the public hearing.
Anna Keegan confirmed that no public comments were received in writing.
Hearing no comments, Chair Penn-Williams closed the public hearing at 6:08pm.
New Business:
A. Tenant Presentation: Breaking the Garbage Cycle at Colonial Village
One of Norwalk Housing Authority's tenants took the floor to present her plan on how to create a long-term solution to the garbage and litter issues at Colonial Village.
The commissioners expressed their gratitude for the thoughtful presentation and re-affirmed their commitment to addressing the issue.
Leroy Fender took the floor and confirmed that the maintenance team has already taken some actions presented based on his previous meetings with the tenant. Garbage agreements were sent out to all tenants and new signs have been ordered for all of the garbage bins to build awareness. Mr. Fender also confirmed that the frequency of garbage pickup has already been increased at Colonial Village.
The team debated what actions can be taken as consequences for ignoring the garbage agreement.
Kras Carlucci also confirmed that the Norwalk Housing Authority is working on re-instating the Resident Cleaner program at Roodner Court and further rollout can be explored.
No vote was taken on this agenda item.
22-72 Commissioner Church moved to table:
B. Legal Services Contract
Treasurer Walcott seconded the motion.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Isaac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Not Available at Time of Vote
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
Motion carried.
22-73 Commissioner Church moved to select:
C. Stanley Construction as the Contractor for the Roodner Court Bathroom Renovations
Commissioner Walcott seconded the motion.
Greg Lickwola took the floor and explained that in addition to being the lower bidder, Stanley was selected by the architect due to their strong references and their track record of quality work completed for the Norwalk Housing Authority.
Chair Penn-Williams asked for further clarification of the scope of the work related to the tubs. Mr. Lickwola confirmed that ADA units will get new walk-in showers, and all other units will get new tubs with showers as part of this renovation.
Adam Bovilsky took the floor to discuss the future plans to redevelop Roodner Court. The current target date for redevelopment is 2032.
Mr. Bovilsky shared that the staff strongly recommend going forward with the renovations as they feel that the bathrooms are not fit to continue to be used for that length of time.
Lisa Endo shared that the redevelopment of Roodner Court would require applying to HUD for a 90/10 Section 18/ RAD blend. If the scope of work remains, Roodner would not meet the obsolescence standard for Section 18, but may not have met that standard anyway. Even with the bathroom renovations, the Roodner Court project would still meet and exceed the hard cost threshold to be eligible for a 90/10 Blend. Therefore, proceeding with the renovation will not impact the current re-development plans.
Mr. Bovilsky reminded the board that the scope of the project is large and will utilize more than one year of capital funding for the entire agency.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs (re-joined at 6:50pm)
All in favor. Motion carried.
22-74 Treasurer Walcott moved to accept:
D. Amendment to Public Housing Admissions and Continued Occupancy Plan preferences
Commissioner Church seconded the motion.
Anna Keegan took the floor to add a preference to the ACOP that will allow people who are displaced to have a preference on the waitlist. Displaced categorization includes households who are asked to move out by the Norwalk Housing Authority due to redevelopment, as well as households that have been told to leave their current property by any government agency in the last six months. This is in additional to the option to provide vouchers that has already been made in the Admin Plan. This is to create an additional option for families who do not want or cannot use a voucher.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
All in favor. Motion carried.
22-75 Treasurer Walcott moved to accept:
E. Amendment to Section 8 Administrative Plan preferences
Commissioner Church seconded the motion.
Anna Keegan took the floor to recommend adding two new categories for preference points on the Section 8 waitlist. The first category is Displaced Category 3, which addresses any tenants that are removed from Section 8 due to government funding cuts. The recommendation is that those tenants would receive priority once the funding is restored. Considering recent government shutdowns, the Norwalk Housing Authority feels it is important to have a plan in place for this scenario.
The second category is Direct Rental Assistance program participants. The Norwalk Housing Authority is about to start a DRA pilot, taking families off of our current Section 8 waitlist, but at the end of the pilot, we want to be able to move participants in good-standing to the top of the list for Section 8. For both categories, Ms. Keegan recommends including up to 80% AMI in order to incentivize tenants to increase their wages.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
All in favor. Motion carried.
22-76 Treasurer Walcott moved to grant:
F. Tuition Assistance for FSS Coordinator
Commissioner Church seconded the motion.
The staff member has been with the Norwalk Housing Authority for one year and has been an integral part of the EnVision Center team. She is pursuing her doctorate degree in Leadership and is requesting a total amount of $5,234.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
All in favor. Motion carried.
22-77 Commissioner Church moved to adopt:
G. Minutes- June 18, 2026 Annual Meeting
Treasurer Walcott seconded the motion.
There were no edits to the minutes.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
All in favor. Motion carried.
22-78 Commissioner Church moved to accept:
H. Department Reports
Treasurer Walcott seconded the motion.
Charmaine Davis-Ford took the floor and presented the April 2026 finance reports.
Leroy Fender took the floor and presented the Maintenance report. Mr. Fender highlighted preparations for upcoming fire inspections, preventative work orders and emergency work orders.
Chair Penn-Williams asked for further clarification on the team structure.
Mr. Fender confirmed the Norwalk Housing Authority currently has 24.5 maintenance employees. The staff is split into a Work Order team, Vacancy Turnover Team, and Cleaning & Grounds teams.
Commissioner Church and Chair Penn-Williams asked for further clarification between Emergency, Routine and Preventative Work Orders. Mr. Fender explained that preventative work orders are put in by the Norwalk Housing Authority inspectors and routine work orders are reported by the tenants. Emergency work orders can be a variety of issues ranging from lockouts to clogs and leaks to larger scale issues.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Not Available at Time of Vote
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
Motion carried.
22-79 Chair Penn-Williams moved to approve:
I. 25 Leonard Pre-Development Loan Approval
Commissioner Church seconded the motion.
In the June board meeting, Sound Communities requested a $300K loan to fund predevelopment costs for 25 Leonard. The agenda item was tabled at that time. The new update is that the $300K loan from the Norwalk Housing Authority can come from the additional HAP funds that need to be spent by end of year.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
All in favor. Motion carried.
22-80 Commissioner Church moved to table:
J. Voucher Distribution
Chair Penn-Williams seconded the motion.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
All in favor. Motion carried.
At 7:30pm, Commissioner Church Moved to enter Executive Session to discuss a personnel matter. The Commissioners invited Adam Bovilsky, Kras Carlucci, Charmaine Davis-Ford, Lisa Endo, Nicole Ruffin, Wendy Gerbier and general counsel Donnal Lattarulo to join the Executive Session.
Motion seconded by Treasurer Walcott.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
All in favor. Motion carried.
At 8:07pm, Commissioner Church made a Motion to exit the Executive Session.
Treasurer Walcott seconded the motion.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
Not Available at Time of Vote
Commissioner John Church
Motion carried.
22-81 Treasurer Walcott moved to allow:
I. Hiring of the Portability Specialist, Reading Coach and making the Part-Time Property Manager Full-Time despite the hiring freeze in place.
Commissioner Jacobs seconded the motion.
Ayes
Chair Brenda Penn-Williams
Treasurer Issac Walcott
Commissioner John Church
Commissioner Teneshia Jacobs
All in favor. Motion carried.
22-82 Chair Penn-Williams moved to adjourn the meeting.
All in favor. Motion carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10pm.
Respectfully submitted,
_______________________
Adam Bovilsky, Executive Director