In a relatively cut-and-dried meeting Tuesday morning for the Elizabethton Housing Development Agency (EHDA) Board of Commissioners, officials amended a pair of policies for residents.
Board members voted unanimously for both policy amendments, including a change to how rent is collected.
EHDA Executive Director Kelly Geagley stated the agency will look at allowing payments by debit or credit cards for residents to pay their rent.
“This is a service to our residents,” Geagley said.
With a reported one-third of rent payments coming in by checks or money orders, board members unanimously voted to approve the measure, citing it as a win-win across the board for the EHDA and residents.
The agency will go about purchasing a debit/credit card machine and use it as a way to receive rent either by phone or in-person.
According to documents provided at the meeting, paying for rent in-person requires written authorization from the cardholder. To process a payment over the phone, the EHDA “must receive prior written approval and verify the card number, expiration date, the name as it appears on the card as well as the member’s billing address …”
Along with a change to the rent collection policy, board members voted unanimously to approve the proposed changes to the pet policy involving the security deposit. There will no longer be a separate deposit for a pet and the change will be absorbed with an additional $100 tagged onto the security deposit for an apartment.
The EHDA would be able to use funds, like before, for any damages received from a tenant. Any unused funding from the security deposit would be refunded back to the tenant.
In other business, the commissioners voted unanimously to extend the term of Geagley’s services as executive director.
The board’s previous contract with the director was set to expire on Monday, Oct. 31, but with the vote, Geagley’s term was moved by an additional five years — with the contract now set to expire October 31, 2021. Commissioners also unanimously voted to approve the EHDA’s fiscal year, five year and annual plans and to write-off/dispose of equipment.
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Geagley announced an update on the recycling center and that the center’s fencing and paving has been completed.
While adding the rain had hemmed up the plans to bring the bins over, the executive director added he expects to see the new additions to the Pine Ridge Circle location within the week, or next week.