HARTFORD — The Selectboard is seeking tenants, social service providers and community members to sit on a committee to make safety and management recommendations for properties managed by a White River Junction-based nonprofit housing developer.
The committee will likely be made up of eight people from Twin Pines Housing — five tenants, two employees and one board member — one member of the Selectboard, one member of Hartford’s Housing and Homelessness committee, three social service providers, one Hartford employee, one community member and one representative from the school district.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Selectboard discussed limiting the scope of the committee to nine Twin Pines-managed properties.
The nonprofit owns 14 properties in Hartford, but some are managed by other entities.
At some properties, such as an 18-unit property called Hollow Drive, Twin Pines has “literally no involvement in the day-to-day or even annual management,” Twin Pines Executive Director Andrew Winter said. Hollow Drive is co-owned and managed by the Vermont Housing Authority.
The Selectboard agreed that it would be reasonable to focus the committee on Twin Pines-managed rental properties, but plans to finalize the exact language of a charge outlining the committee’s makeup, scope and responsibilities at a May 12 meeting.
The committee is expected to be charged with writing or editing safety plans for the nine properties, suggesting edits to Twin Pines’ annual survey of tenants and suggesting ways to improve safety and quality of life at Twin Pines properties as well as ways to expand the work to many or all rental properties in Hartford.
The recommendations will hopefully be a “starting point” to create broader policies in Hartford to ensure resident safety and proper rental management, Selectboard Chairwoman Ida Griesemer said.
The Selectboard is starting with Twin Pines “for good reason because they have a lot of power in terms of the low-income housing market in our community,” Griesemer added.
The formation of the taskforce and the safety and monitoring plan were conditions the Hartford Selectboard included in its approval of a $1 million grant application for Twin Pines. The grant would partially fund construction of a 48-unit income-restricted apartment building off Sykes Mountain Avenue in White River Junction.
If the committee’s work is not underway by mid-June, the town will pull the grant application.
The board imposed the conditions after a wave of tenants and community members lodged complaints about operations at 14 Twin Pines-owned properties in Hartford when Twin Pines sought Selectboard approval to apply for the grant in February.
Residents and neighbors said they were concerned about drug use and public safety issues at the properties and alleged Twin Pines had poorly managed and maintained the buildings.
The nonprofit owns 665 rental units in the Upper Valley, including 274 in Hartford.
After about an hour of discussion at the Tuesday meeting, the Selectboard agreed to address outstanding questions about the committee, including whether tenants should be compensated for participating, and approve the final charge document at a May 12 meeting.
Selectboard members disagreed on whether it would be ethical to pay Twin Pines tenants to serve on the committee and the simplest way to pay them. A draft version of the working group structure suggested that the town pay tenants $50 per meeting.
Selectboard member Miranda Dupre said she added the condition to “support equitable participation” for the low-income individuals who live at Twin Pines properties.
“If you’re participating in this as your role at an organization, hopefully your job will compensate you,” Dupre said at the meeting. “If they don’t, that sucks, but I don’t know ways around that. I’m just trying to think about this as these people are low income and I want to support their participation.”
Dupre, board member Ashley Andreas and Griesemer supported paying tenants per meeting.
“In the name of not wanting all government and powerful bodies to be made up of really well-off white dudes, I 100% support compensating tenants regularly,” Andreas added.
The money might allow someone to pay a babysitter so they could participate in a meeting, for example, Andreas said.
Other board members were concerned about the payment and suggested it might be better to pay tenants using gift cards or in a lump sum at the end of the year, if at all.
Town Manager John Haverstock said that Hartford has used gift cards to compensate participants in a community safety survey in the past, which might be a simpler process.
Board member Erik Krauss said paying tenants per meeting and not paying other members of the committee would be “just a mess.” Board member Mike Eigenbrode said he worried that offering to pay tenants up front could skew interest, and Board member Tim Fariel opposed paying members at all, though it is common practice for Hartford’s many boards and committees.
“I don’t know how we ever got into the business of compensating for any of this work, so I’m against any of it,” Fariel said.
Dupre said she would work with Haverstock to find $3,000 in the town budget to pay tenants and “make a case” for it at the next meeting.
Hartford staff and Selectboard members were finalizing the application for community members Wednesday, Haverstock said. It will be posted on the town website when it is available. The town plans to work with Twin Pines to distribute another application directly to tenants.
The Selectboard plans to interview and select people to serve on the committee during a May 26 meeting. Applications will be open through May 21.
