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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-18-05 TSHA Min TF�XASIW STUDENT ',,�, HouSING MINUTES AND CERTIFICATION On January 18, 2005, the Board of Directors (the "Board") of the Texas Student Housing Authority ("TSH") convened in a public meeting at the designated meeting place in Westlake, Texas. The roll of the duly constituted officers and members of the Board was called,which are as follows: Name Title James P. Carter President Vacant Vice President Dr. Larry Darlage Member Jac Irvine Member Jill McKean Member Becky Rogers Member Gary Fickes Member all of whom were present except Mr. Carter, and Ms. Rogers. Also present were: Mr. Scott Bradley, Mr. Hank Smyth, Mr. Allen Moon, Mr. Pete Ehrenberg and Ms. Ginger Crosswy. Mr. Irvine called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. Mr. Fickes was in attendance as a new Board member and introduced himself to the group. Everyone introduced themselves to Mr. Fickes and welcomed him to the Board. Mr. Fickes is taking the seat of Mr. Worth Blake,who has served on this Board since its creation in 1995. There was a motion by Dr. Darlage, seconded by Ms. McKean,to approve the minutes of the meetings of the Texas Student Housing Authority and the Texas Student Housing—Denton Project held on October 26, 2004 as presented. There was no discussion and the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Smyth briefly covered the highlights in the 2004 annual report that had been sent to the Board earlier this month. There are 205 students on scholarship at this time with the goal of 300 for the 2005-06 school year. Mr. Smyth predicted that this fall of the 205 students currently on scholarship approximately 150 will be renewed allowing 150 new scholarships to be awarded. TownLake is the only property still being managed by JPI and staff is in the process of replacing them with Asset Campus Housing as soon as possible. Mr. Smyth briefly went through the budget figures that had been sent out with the annual report. Mr. Smyth stated that this is the first time since he assumed this position in March of 2003 that he feels staff has a handle on the various properties operation and finances and he credits moving three of the four properties to Asset Campus Housing for management as helping to accomplish this. Mr. Fickes asked several questions regarding all of the funds being placed in a checking account instead of being invested somewhere and was told that the dollars do not stay in the bank long enough to invest. Mr. Smyth asked for the Board's guidance regarding the issue of allowing Mayor Dave Wallace of Sugar Land to promote scholarships as he was allowed to do last year. After a lengthy discussion,the consensus of the Board was to tell Mayor Wallace the Board will be grateful for his help in finding deserving students to apply for the scholarships, but the Board feels that adding his name to the scholarship would involve this organization in the local politics of that region and the Board is not comfortable with that situation. Mr. Ehrenberg told the Board that the C bonds at both the Denton property and the San Marcos property are in default. He stated that in Denton there are approximately $125,000.00 in outstanding invoices that haven't been paid. There was a short discussion regarding these invoices and Mr. Ehrenberg told the Board that there were no local vendors involved and that Eaton Vance is appropriating monies every month to bring this balance down. Mr. Ehrenberg stated that Mr. Smyth, Mr. Moon, Mr. Bradley and he are working with Eaton Vance to amend the indenture so this will not happen in the future. Mr. Ehrenberg said that Town Lake is at 75% occupancy and will be about $300,000.00 short in making the next debt service payment, but that JPI has a deficit guarantee of$400,000.00 and will make up the difference. The Cambridge is at 99.4% occupancy and just finished refinancing to pay off the construction loan which lowered the debt service. Mr. Ehrenberg told the Board that he has negotiated the D&® insurance for next year and the Board will have $2,000,000.00 coverage for $20,000.00. Last years amount was $1,000,000.00 coverage and$1,000,000.00 for attorney's fees for $25,000.00. Changing the amount of coverage will give the Board more flexibility. Mr. Ehrenberg concluded his report saying audits of all of the properties are in progress and should be finished in the next few weeks. There were questions regarding the debt service and regarding the refinancing of the Cambridge. Mr. Moon explained this point to the Board. Mr. Smyth and Dr. Darlage told the Board about the Community College initiative. This is a program in which Dr. Darlage will contact the Community Colleges around the state to make available the TSH scholarship information to their graduates. There was a discussion regarding this program with the consensus being that this will be beneficial at all of the facilities,but especially in San Marcos where a student has to be a junior before they are allowed to live off campus. Mr. Smyth told the Board that the Town Lake property management issue and the Denton property management issue was covered in his and Mr. Ehrenberg's report. There was a motion by Ms. McKean, seconded by Dr. Darlage,to pay an invoice from Thomas Allen Moon in the amount of$4,900.00 for legal fees incurred in November and December. There was no discussion and the motion carried unanimously. Mr. Moon invited any member of the Board or Staff to join Mr. Bradley and himself in meeting with Mr. Jerry Prada at Caro's restaurant in Fort Worth on Wednesday, January 26'b at 11:45 a.m. Mr. Prada is associated with the Dallas County Community College and a good friend of Mr. Charles Matthews who is the Chancellor for Texas State University. There being no further business there was a motion by Dr. Darlage, seconded by Ms. McKean to adjourn. The motion carried unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. MINUTES APPROVED AND CERTIFIED TO BE TRUE AND CORRECT and to correctly reflect the duly constituted officers and members of the Board, and is hereby certified to be a correct copy of an official copy thereof, on file among the official records of the Board, on this the 22nd day of March 2005. ATTEST: 7Jc Irvine, Chair J Dwinnell, Secretary