Board of Directors Meeting - June 29, 2017

Agenda

1. Chair’s remarks

Action: Information

Pre-read: Verbal report 5 minutes

Presenter: Chair

2. Consent agenda

Action: -

Pre-read: -

Presenter: Chair

2a. Approval of Public Meeting Agenda

Action: Approval

Pre-read: Agenda

Presenter: Chair

2b. Chair’s Poll re: Conflict of Interest

Action: Declaration

Pre-read: Agenda and Conflict of Interest Policy

Presenter: Chair

2c. Confirmation of Board of Directors’ Public Meeting Minutes of May 29, 2017

Action: Approval

Pre-read: Minutes

Presenter: Chair

2d. Business Arising from the Public Meeting Minutes and Action Items Update

Action: Information

Pre-read: Action item list

Presenter: Chair

2e. City and TCHC Staff - Strategic and Operational Meetings

Action: Information

Pre-read: TCHC:2017-20

Presenter: Interim President and CEO

3. Interim President and Chief Executive Officer’s remarks

Action: Information

Pre-read: Verbal report

Presenter: Interim President and CEO

3a. Monthly President’s Report

Action: Information

Pre-read: TCHC:2017-18 10 minutes

Presenter: Interim President and CEO

4. RSC Chair’s report

Action: Information

Pre-read: Verbal report 5 minutes

Presenter: Chair, RSC

5. GCHRCC Chair’s report

Action: Information

Pre-read: Verbal report 5 minutes

Presenter: Chair, GCHRCC

5a. Conflict of Interest Policy for the Board of Directors

Action: Approval

Pre-read: TCHC:2017-31R2 5 minutes

Presenter: General Counsel

5b. Board Evaluation

Action: Information

Pre-read: Verbal Report 5 minutes

Presenter: Chair, GCHRCC

6. BIFAC Chair’s report

Action: Information

Pre-read: Verbal report 5 minutes

Presenter: Chair, BIFAC

7. City Sustainable Energy Plan (SEP) Financing – Change in Interest Rate

Action: Approval

Pre-read: TCHC:2017-40 5 minutes

Presenter: Vice President, Facilities Management

8. Tenants First Implementation Plan - Update

Action: Information

Pre-read: Verbal Report 20 minutes

Presenter: Interim President and CEO

TERMINATION

Minutes

The Board of Directors of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation held a public meeting on June 29, 2017 at 11:04 a.m. in in the Main Floor Conference Room at 931 Yonge Street, Toronto.

Directors in Attendance:

Bud Purves (Chair)

Councillor Ana Bailão

Robert Carlo Councillor

Joe Cressy Councillor

Frank Di Giorgio (left at 11:44 a.m.)

Councillor Michael Ford

Vincent Gasparro

Joseph Kennedy Colin Lynch (left at 11:34 a.m.)

Pamela Taylor

Catherine Wilkinson

Directors Absent:

Linda Jackson

Management present:

Cathy Barker, Vice President, Human Resources

Rose-Ann Lee, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer (Acting)

Ismail Ibrahim, Director of Compliance and Legal Counsel

Hugh Lawson, Director, Strategic Planning and Stakeholder Relations

Graham Leah, Vice President, Asset Management

Kevin Marshman, Interim President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Ted Millward, Legal Counsel, Corporate

Sheila Penny, Vice President, Facilities Management

Wayne Tuck, Chief Operating Officer

A quorum being present, the Chair called the meeting to order and Ms. Charmaine Zina served as recording secretary.

Item 1 – Chair’s Remarks

The Chair welcomed everyone to the Board meeting and provided the Board with the following highlights since the last Board meeting:

Robert Carlo Senior of Distinction award

The Chair began by congratulating Mr. Robert Carlo (TCHC tenant director). Earlier this month, Mr. Carlo was presented with a Senior of Distinction Award by the Ontario government. Ontario Children and Youth Services Minister Michael Coteau and Ontario Seniors Minister Dipika Dhameral presented Mr. Carlo with his award.

The award recognizes Mr. Carlo’s tireless efforts in supporting seniors in his community, Sunrise Towers. Mr. Carlo created a laughter yoga club, a seniors choir in the community, and has also organized numerous multicultural events that provide opportunities for social interaction and better quality of life for seniors.

CEO Search

The search is both continuing and progressing, but as yet there is no news to report. Fire Safety During the confidential session this morning, Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg and Deputy Fire Chief Jim Jessop met with the Board. Both reinforced TCHC’s continued cooperation and collaboration with Toronto Fire Services in support of strengthening our fire life safety programming.

The Chair identified the following items that were addressed in the in-camera and closed sessions:

Building Investment, Finance and Audit Committee

• The Board approved a proposal to sell TCHC’s subsidiary company, Regent Park Energy Inc. (“RPEI”), through a public Request for Proposals. RPEI owns and operates a district energy system that serves the Regent Park neighbourhood.
• The Board approved a contract award of $7.5 million to Martinway Contracting Ltd. Martinway will make energy-efficiency retrofits at TCHC highrise building at 30 Teesdale Place in Scarborough. These capital repairs will improve tenant comfort and reduce energy use and costs.
• Lastly, the Board approved contract awards to two fire alarm system manufacturers, Mircom Technologies and Tyco. Both firms will replace fire alarm panels that are aging or have become outdated with new panels. Mircom will replace the fire alarm panels in 11 buildings, and Tyco will replace them in eight buildings. The value of Mircom’s contract is $673,000 and Tyco’s contract is $634,000.

The Chair identified the following items to be discussed in the public session:

• Chair’s Reports. The Chairs of the Board committees will each provide a verbal report of their committee’s activities.

President’s Monthly Report. Mr. Marshman will present the President’s Monthly Report for April 2017, which describes how the company is doing in meeting its public commitments and organization priorities.

Lastly, Mr. Marshman will provide an update on next steps for the Tenants First Plan.

Deputations

The Chair polled for any deputations to be heard at the meeting. The following deputations were presented:

1. Item 2E – City & TCHC Staff – Strategic & Operational Meetings (Deputed by Shannon Holness (Tenant)); and
2. Item 2E – City & TCHC Staff – Strategic & Operational Meetings (Deputed by Talisha Ramsaroop (Social Planning Toronto)).

Consent Agenda Items

Item 2 – Consent Agenda Items

Consent Items Held for Discussion:

• Item 2D – Business Arising from Public Meeting Minutes and Action Items Update; and
• Item 2E – City and TCHC Staff – Strategic and Operational Meetings

Item 2A – Approval of Agenda and Review of Agenda Order

The agenda was approved with the following changes:

• Item 5A: Conflict of Interest Policy for the Board of Directors – Deferred until additional feedback from Board members is incorporated in the policy. A revised policy will be sent to GCHRCC and then brought back to the Board for consideration.
• Item 5B: Board Evaluation – Deferred - evaluation questions to be circulated to the Board before the item is brought back for consideration.

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Mr. Gasparro, seconded by Mr. Lynch and carried, the Board of Directors approved the revised agenda.

Item 2B – Chair’s Poll Re: Conflict of Interest

The Chair requested members of the Board of Directors to indicate any agenda item in which they have a conflict of interest, together with the nature of the interest. No conflicts were declared.

Item 2C – Confirmation of Board Of Directors’ Public Meeting Minutes of May 29, 2017

The Board of Directors had before it the draft Board minutes for May 29, 2017.

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Mr. Gasparro, seconded by Mr. Lynch and carried, the Board of Directors confirmed the above-captioned minutes without amendments.

Item 2D – Business Arising from the Public Meeting Minutes and Action Items Update

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Councillor Cressy, seconded by Mr. Gasparro and carried, the Board of Directors received the report for information.

For item TCHC:2016-05 Board Procedures (Page 5 of 5), the Board indicated that rather than the proposal to post on the website a list of historical reports available to request, that a link be posted from which the actual reports can be accessed.

Action Item:
For item TCHC:2016-05 Board Procedures (Page 5 of 5) – The Board requested that management post a link to historical Board documents to TCHC’s website.

Item 2E – City and TCHC Staff - Strategic and Operational Meetings, TCHC:2017-20

The Board of Directors had before it the above-captioned report (TCHC:2017-20) from the Interim President and Chief Executive Officer.

Deputations by Ms. Talisha Ramsaroop and Ms. Shannon Holness were heard regarding Figrove relocations.

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Ms. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Kennedy and carried, the Board of Directors received the report for information. Action Item: Management to provide the Board with information on the tenant engagement and relocation process for Firgrove.

Item 3A – Monthly President’s Report, TCHC:2017-18

The Board had before it the above-captioned report (TCHC:2017-18) from the President & Chief Executive Officer (Interim).

Prior to proceeding in reviewing the April results, Mr. Marshman addressed a number of questions that were raised at the last Board meeting, which are noted below.

• The Board requested that Management explore options for bringing the MPR forward in a more timely way. The report currently comes forward to the Board approximately 60 days after month end. Due to the timing of Board meetings for the remainder of 2017, and the timing under which the Finance division can gather the financial data, Management’s ability to make adjustments to the current schedule is limited. The only possibility for earlier reporting would be to provide the MPR directly to Board members by email (45 days following month end).
• Service Calls. The Board requested Management to further define the ‘service calls’ categories on the scorecard, and provide some insight into the length of time it takes contractors to respond to calls. Requests are completed by either TCHC building staff or contractors, depending on the nature of the request but the numbers easily broken out for repairs done by TCHC staff versus those done by contractors. Management includes repairs to building walls in the routine maintenance service level metric, and roughly 46 per cent of those requests are closed within five business days.
• Crime Against Property. The Board requested a strategy for reducing the numbers in the crimes against property category. It was noted that there are 33 different sub categories against this metric. Reducing the numbers in this category requires a focussed partnership strategy with Toronto Police Services (“TPS”), which TCHC is working on expanding into 2018. The new deployment model for CSU will enable more officers to be out of their cars in communities, during the hours when the reporting of property crimes tends to be highest and it is expected this may have a positive impact on this metric.
• Arrears. With respect to separating out parking arrears from residential tenancy arrears, this would require a labour intensive and manual process which is not practical or cost effective to undertake on a monthly basis. It was confirmed that parking arrears make up a small percentage of total arrears.

Mr. Marshman highlighted the following results and key trends from the MPR:

• Net income: TCHC had a year-to-date excess of revenue over expenses of $5 million. This gain represents a favourable variance of $26 million compared to the YTD budgeted loss of $20.7 million. This difference is a result of the timing of some non-recurring items primarily from gain on the sale of lands. It is also partially attributed to lower utility costs, and lower staffing costs. It is expected that the monthly trend towards an excess of revenue over expenses will continue throughout the remainder of 2017.
• Capital Repairs: In April TCHC completed repairs worth $13.9 million, bringing YTD spending to $53.2 million putting us on track to meet the Q2 target of $67.8 million.
• Community Safety: TCHC’s Community Safety Unit (“CSU”) conducted 48 joint patrols with TPS in April, short two patrols for meeting the target of 50 patrols per month. The decline in April was due to a lack of availability from TPS. To further enhance community safety, TCHC has initiated the 2017 Summer Readiness Plan, which focuses on creating increased visibility of CSU Special Constables, TPS Constables and third-party security in targeted communities, and also seeks to keep youth in those communities occupied this summer through various employment opportunities.
• Tenant Calls: The average speed of answer for tenant calls improved to 41 seconds, from 43 seconds in March.
• Elevator Calls: The percentage of elevator calls answered within 30 seconds remained constant when compared to March results at 89 per cent. The abandonment rate for elevator calls also stayed flat at 6 per cent and remained within the target level of 10 per cent.
• Service Requests: Performance on response times for administrative and maintenance requests is flat when compared to last month, with some year over year improvement. 74 per cent of routine maintenance requests were closed within five business days, up slightly from 73 percent in March, but still below the target level of 80 per cent. 86 per cent of administrative requests were closed within two business days, the same as last month, but an improvement on the 84 per cent reported in April 2016.
• Vacancy: The Rent-Geared-to-Income vacancy rate decreased for the third consecutive month to 2.52 per cent, down from 2.68 per cent in March. The market vacancy rate also decreased to 2.17 per cent, down from 2.33 per cent in March. There were a total of 1,404 rentable vacant units in April, down 6 per cent from the 1,491 rentable vacant units in March.
• Arrears: The rent and parking arrears balance was $8.3 million in April, which was 2 per cent lower than the Q1-17 average arrears balance of $8.45 million. 85 per cent of all arrears owed are at the managed stage of the legal process, with 34 per cent of all arrears having had an N4 served for the household.

The Board identified that there was a reduction in the detail of information provided with respect to arrears in this MPR. Mr. Marshman advised the Board that the intention was to provide information that was more useful rather simply to provide data. He noted he will be working with Ms. Cynthia Summers to provide the Board with a summary of OCHE information on arrears.

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Councillor Ford, seconded by Councillor Cressy and carried, the Board of Directors received the report for information.

Item 4 – Resident Services Committee (RSC), Chair’s Report

No comments or remarks from the Chair of RSC were received at this time due to her absence.

Item 5 – Governance, Communications, Human Resources and Compensation Committee (GCHRCC), Chair’s Report

The Chair of the GCHRCC advised the Board that there has been no meeting since the last Board meeting. However, some discussions at the July 4th GCHRCC meeting will include the following:

• Whistleblower Policy Procedure
• Board Strategy Workshops

Item 5A – Conflict of Interest Policy for the Board of Directors, TCHC:2017-31R2

DEFERRED

Item deferred until additional feedback from Board members is incorporated in the policy. A revised policy will be sent to GCHRCC and then brought back to the Board for consideration.

Item 5B – Board Evaluation, Verbal Report

DEFERRED

Item deferred pending the circulation of proposed evaluation questions to Board members.

Item 6 – Building Investment, Finance And Audit Committee (BIFAC), Chair’s Report

No comments or remarks from the Chair of BIFAC were received at this time.

Item 7 – City Sustainable Energy Plan (SEP) Financing – Change in Interest Plan, TCHC:2017-40

The Board of Directors had before it the above-captioned report (TCHC:2017-40) from the Vice President, Facilities Management.

Ms. Penny presented the report and answered questions raised by the Board.

The Board enquired about the reason for the increase in the rate of interest from 3.5% to 3.7%. Management will provide the Board with information on the reasons for the interest rate change.

The Board requested that in future when previous Board reports come back to the Board with changes that the previous motions are provided in order for the Board to see what has changed.

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Ms. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Gasparro and carried, the Board of Directors unanimously approved the recommendations in this report.

Action Item: Management to provide the Board with information on the reason for the interest rate increase.

Item 8 – Tenants First Implementation Plan - Update, Verbal Report

The Interim President and CEO provided the Board with an update on the above-noted matter. Some highlights included the following:

• Tenants First report goes to Council July 4th, 5th, 6th.
• Report expected to pass, but with questions and discussion.
• TCHC to develop budget to implement Tenants First recommendations. • Propose a team to lead the new TCHC work. It is expected that approximately 6 staff will need to be seconded full-time to work on this team.
• The Project team would include:
  • Project Manager/Lead.
  • Change management expert.
  • Consultation coordinator (to organize all internal/external consultations).
  • Financial analyst.
  • Business planner.

Next Steps

• Two Advisory Groups to begin work:
  • Seniors Housing Entity Group.
  • TCHC Advisory Group.
• TCHC to develop budget to implement TF recommendations
• Q4 2017 City Council report to focus on:
  • Governance of new Seniors Entity
  • Decentralization pilot, REOI for stand-alone homes
  • Public consultation process
• A 2018/2019 interim funding formula is to be determined in the budget process.
• TCHC is to undertake a planning process with staff, tenants, stakeholders to shape direction of new TCHC.

A brief discussion ensued. Mr. Marshman confirmed that communication to tenants regarding this report will be reported out after City Council approval. An all staff webcast session was held for all TCHC employees to keep them apprised of the report information and answer any questions arising from this report. Management is working on answering any remaining questions from employees in the next couple weeks.

Motion carried

ON MOTION DULY MADE by Councillor Ford, seconded by Councillor Bailᾶo and carried, the Board of Directors unanimously approved the recommendations in this report.

TERMINATION

The public meeting terminated at 12:10 p.m.