FCHA appoints new chair and vice chair seats Grady answers questions about duties expected of Chairman
Ernestine Weaver, the newest member to the Forrest City Housing Authority Board was named chairman last night during a regularly scheduled meeting. Long time board member Emily Holley was named Vice Chairman during the meeting, also.
Former board Chairman Arthur Bean, nominated Weaver to take his place as chairman and the board voted unanimously in favor of the decision. Holley volunteered to take the position of Vice Chairman of the Board.
Grady stated to the members that the position of Chairman came with a lot of responsibilities that needed further explanation.
"I wanted to answer the question about the role of the Chairman," said Grady. "The Chairman of the Board has multiple responsibilities of course. These do include having their name on the company credit card, on the bank notes, checks, hud notes, audit reports and so much more. It does not have anything to do with the chairmans personal credit, but their name must be submitted. By their name being on the bank account, it doesn't mean that the chairperson can go to the bank and take money from the account. The name just has to be on the account."
Members discussed the Laundromat project for the Linden Heights housing are in Grobmyer Circle.
According to FCHA Director Denise Grady, four bids were received in response to looking for a laundry company to provide and service the machines.
"When we discussed the laundromats for the residents, we discussed laundromats that take tokens and those that take debit and credit cards," said Grady. "The main concern was the distance of the first company we received a bid from. We were worried about if we had a break down, would the company be able to come and service the machine. We took bids and called multiple businesses.
(Continued from Page 1) We received a bid from Central Laundromat in Ward. They wanted to do a 60-40 split where they would take the 60%, but they would be covering the cost of the machines. We also received a bid from Advantage Laundry out of Garland, Texas. They told me that we could purchase the tokens, or they could do credit, debit or a mobile app. The final bid came to us from Springfield Laundry Solutions in Springfield, Missouri. They offered a token option and a changer. We got a bid from L&M out of Memphis, in which they offered a debit and credit option."
Board member John Pope stated that a laundromat was a service that the tenants would need.
"We aren't really concerned about making money in this deal," said Pope. "We are more concerned about providing a service to our tenants. If we take the first option, we aren't really out any money and someone else has all the headaches to deal with. Central is down around Pine Bluff. We don't want a coin machine, because that would just give something else for someone to destroy or run off with."
According to Grady, some of the older people who live in the Linden Heights area may not trust the digital payment methods.
"Grobmyer is where our largest group of elderly people live," said Grady. "I am not trying to say the wrong thing, but a lot of older people do not trust the technology. Some don't even like putting money in the bank. I feel that a lot of our older tenants wouldn't like online technology."