Everett committee hears AMA Consulting’s proposal for a 12-point health check of housing authority

On a Thursday evening meeting of the Everett City Council Committee on Government Operations and Public Safety, councilors heard a presentation from AMA Consulting on a proposed "agency health check" of the Everett Housing Authority meant to review administrative plans, file and financial compliance, unit conditions and staff processes.

The proposal was introduced in a resolution sponsored by Councilors Martins and Stephanie Smith asking that a health check be performed to verify that paperwork and vouchers are in order, residency compliance requirements are met and conditions support resident well-being. Councilors invited representatives from AMA Consulting and Dominic Puleo of the Everett Housing Authority to speak.

AMA Consulting director Stephane Gillum said the firm — a private affordable-housing and government consulting company — offers a 12-point health check that begins with a review of an agency’s administrative plan and then proceeds to operational assessments. "We go through the plan and check for policy and procedural documentation," Gillum said, describing reviews of eligibility determinations, rent-reasonableness calculations and quality-control file checks. Gillum said AMA typically pulls about 40 recently approved files to test processing accuracy and compliance.

Gillum also described a CMAP-style financial review that examines budgeting, accounting and HUD reporting to identify fiscal risks and help agencies avoid troubled status; on-site operational assessments to develop process maps and KPIs; unit-level inspections aligned with HUD housing quality standards and INSPIRE; staff interviews across roles; and a final report with observations, recommended corrective actions and areas of excellence.

Christina Quinones, AMA’s senior vice president, said AMA would include a comprehensive list of opportunities and recommendations in its report and could support implementation or refer an alternate vendor if appropriate. Gillum noted AMA offers technology tools to automate inspection scheduling, reminders, electronic pass/fail reporting and ticketing to track repairs and response times.

Dominic Puleo and other Everett Housing Authority speakers responded that many of the activities AMA described are already part of the authority’s practice. "There are four audits performed each year… the outside audit teams handle all of that," Puleo said, and he cited annual inspections and a work-order system that produces work orders and tracks closures. He reported the authority had received strong audit results in recent years, saying, "we've gotten a 100% rating for the last 10 years." He described the authority’s staffing and capacity: roughly 670 public housing units in the city and about 11 maintenance staff with licensed trades represented.

Committee members questioned AMA’s role and scope. Councilor Pigeontoni asked whether AMA is a private firm; Gillum confirmed it is private and works with federal, state and local programs. Councilors also asked about wait-list management, landlord recruitment and lease-up strategies; Quinones explained AMA can assist with purge policies, selections, eligibility determinations and landlord outreach. The housing authority said Everett administers about 370 Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8) and that long wait lists (described in the meeting as about seven to eight years) are common.

Councilors and the housing authority also discussed an urgent operational matter at Glendale Towers: street work by National Grid that must finish before in-unit air-conditioner installations can be completed. Puleo said the housing authority has begun a procurement process to acquire 12,000 BTU air conditioners and installation services for each unit, aiming to have units available by summer if street work is finished in time.

When asked about funding for a potential health check, the housing authority said it would have to find funds and could approach the state but first must determine whether an additional audit step is necessary. Several councilors expressed resident complaints about responsiveness and unit conditions and said automated maintenance-reporting tools could help.

Procedurally, the committee voted to invite the guests to speak, heard the presentation and then moved to refer the resolution back to the sponsor and place it on file for further consideration; the motion to refer back and place on file was seconded and carried. No contract or procurement decision was made at the meeting. The committee then excused the guests and adjourned.

What happens next: the item was referred back to the sponsor for follow-up; the housing authority and council members indicated they will continue conversations, and any procurement for outside services would require a bidding process or other funding decisions before a contract could be awarded.