Houma-Terrebonne Housing Authority
Board of Commissioners Regular Meeting
The regular meeting for the Houma-Terrebonne Housing Authority was held September 24, 2025
at 3:00 p.m. in Senator Circle at 124 K Senator Circle, Houma, Louisiana.
Chairperson Hebert called the regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners to order at 3:00 p.m. followed by the Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairperson Hebert stated that this is the regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners.
Upon roll call, the following Commissioners were recorded as present:
Commissioners: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou and C. Hebert
Absent: None
Also present: Mrs. Nikita Gilton, Executive Director, Mr. Jamie McDaniels, Sulzer Group, Mr. Brandon Decuir, Legal, Mrs. Tiffany Stokes, Housing Supervisor, Ms. Tamara Matthews, Procurement, Justin Coleman, Maintenance and Stephanie Trott, Sulzer Group
Continuing with the agenda, Item #4, Order of the Day/ Approval of Agenda; Mrs. Gilton said the agenda will proceed as published.
Continuing with the agenda, Item #5, Public Comment; There were no speaker cards.
Continuing with the agenda, Item #6, Election of Officers: October 1, 2025-September 30, 2026; Item #6A, Nomination for Chairperson; Commissioner Sherman nominated Commissioner Hebert, seconded by Commissioner Burke. Chairperson Hebert called for the vote:
UPON ROLL CALL THERE WAS RECORDED
YEAS: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou, and C. Hebert
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: None
ABSENT: None Motion carried
Continuing with the agenda, Item #6B, Nomination for Vice Chairperson; Commissioner Sherman nominated Vice Chairperson Picou, seconded by Commissioner Burke. Chairperson Hebert called for the vote:
UPON ROLL CALL THERE WAS RECORDED
YEAS: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou, and C. Hebert
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: None
ABSENT: None Motion carried
Continuing with the agenda, Item #7, Approval of Minutes from July 24, 2025 regular board
meeting; motioned to approve by Commissioner Burke, seconded by Vice Chairperson Picou. Chairperson Hebert called for the vote:
UPON ROLL CALL THERE WAS RECORDED
YEAS: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou, and C. Hebert
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: None
ABSENT: None Motion carried
Continuing with the agenda, Item #8, Bills and Communications, Item #8A, Approval of Pay
Vouchers for the period of July 11, 2025-September 12, 2025; motioned to approve by Vice Chairperson Picou, seconded by Commissioner Sherman. Chairperson Hebert called for the vote:
UPON ROLL CALL THERE WAS RECORDED
YEAS: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou, and C. Hebert
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: None
ABSENT: None Motion carried
Continuing with the agenda, Item #8B, Monthly Financials-June 2025; Item #8B1, Memo from Fee Accountant to Board of Commissioners; Item #8B2, Balance Sheet for June 2025; Item #8B3,Income and Expense Statements for June 2025; Item #8B4,Public Housing Financial Assessment Score for the month of June 2025; Item #8B5,Bank Reconciliation.
Continuing with the agenda, Item #8BC, Monthly Financials-July 2025; Item #8B1, Memo from Fee Accountant to Board of Commissioners; Item #8C2, Balance Sheet for July 2025; Item #8C3,Income and Expense Statements for July 2025; Item #8C4,Public Housing Financial Assessment Score for the month of July 2025; Item #8C5,Bank Reconciliation.
Continuing with the agenda, Item #9, Report of the Secretary / Executive Director–Agency Update; The budgets was delivered late. Mrs. Gilton reported a few months back HUD reached out and said the operating money would go down for fiscal year 2026 because Bayou Towers was approved for demolition. The fee accountant was trying to see if that allocation was going to come out because HUD fiscal year starts with HTHA, 10/1. It did not and that is why they were late. There are three amps. They went down on operating for all three. She did not put the amount the agency usually gets. She decreased it at all three amps, to have a budget in place. The agency will not get the money they received from Bayou Towers for the previous years because of the approval of the Section 18 application. She wanted to clear that up before they get to those items on the agenda.
Mrs. Gilton reported that NAHRO will be in Arizona. She and Ms. Matthews will be traveling there. LHC is the first week in October in Lafayette. If anyone of them would like to reach out to Naquada. There is no deadline.
Regarding Duson, Mrs. Gilton reported that a gate is going to be put up there. After speaking with the mayor and several people in the area, they were calling the police because they had people staying in the units. The mayor’s office will have a key.
Last week, the last two residents here were issued eviction notices. It was a 30-day notice. The last day is October 16th.
Over the last month and a half, she did visit a few properties, land and apartment complexes. She visited the apartment complex behind the mall. Mr. Liner came to the meeting in July and she visited that apartment complex. She met with Mr. Cullen with South Central Planning regarding the land on side of Chevron. She also looked at some land off MLK. Jamie is checking on the environmental for those three properties.
She had a call with HUD at the end of last month. Bayou Towers and Senator Circle was discussed. HTHA had 265 Tenant Protection Vouchers for Bayou Towers, meaning that they are protected. Those must be brought back as public housing. With the other 35 units, because there were 300 units, they could go to RAD. She mentioned it before. She told HUD she would bring it before the board to see if that is something they would be interested. Once the demolition of Bayou Towers is finished and the money from FEMA is received, they could do a small neighborhood with 35 units. It could be mixed housing. The other 265 must be public housing. The reason it is 265 is because the TPV what were applied for was the number of units that were occupied. Thirty-five were vacant. With those 35, if the board wants to entertain it, she can reach out to HUD and start the application for those 35 for RAD. Chairperson Hebert asked other than the mixed, is that the only thing different. Mrs. Gilton said it would not be public housing. It would still be under Houma Terrebonne Housing Authority but it won’t be public housing. This weekend they have a few sessions on that. She wants to learn the ins and out. It is new. Chairperson Hebert asked if this was like ownership. Mrs. Gilton said no. Mr. Decuir said under the traditional public housing, sort of like Mrs. Gilton was just explaining with the budget and how they are going to be adjusting to what the agency receives from Bayou Towers because it is not listed in PIC as housing residents any longer. HUD came up with a different program altogether to address needs across the country. Sending money to different agencies to maintain brick and mortar was no longer efficient or effective. So, they figured out the calculation for rent in your area. Sort of like a Section 8 voucher, which says I’m giving you rent based on your income and against what your housing needs are. You may end up with a voucher for $1,200.00. That $1,200.00 voucher contemplates paying a landlord rent. A landlord would bill into the rent annual maintenance, insurance, property taxes and so forth, which is why to cost somebody $1,200.00 in the private market unlike what HTHA have. He said RAD is essentially taking what would ordinarily been done in public housing, putting a private dollar figure amount to it and telling the tenants and the agency if they convert to RAD a facility that you have will be paid according to RAD rents. RAD rents are pretty much equal to Section 8 rent. It then becomes the owner’s responsibility of that property to maintain insurance, property tax, as well as, capital improvements. You will not get any more money. So how HTHA gets cap fund, you don’t get that anymore. Chairperson Hebert asked if the people living in RAD housing pays their own insurance. Mr. Decuir said no, the amount they are paying for rent covers a fractional share and it is on the owner to manage. So, when you get a $1,200.00 payment in, you must know to set aside 5% for this, 15% for that, then you get down to what your real profit, which is like $300.00 per unit. Chairperson Hebert asked if they were to entertain that and would find land, would it have to be separated. Mr. Decuir said they can go wherever they want. The main concept is that the agency itself would likely enter into a partnership agreement with another entity to fund the construction as well as be an owner with HTHA through the payback of the construction cost. So, if it cost you $5 million to build 25 or 30 units, that person may show up and fund everything and they would be a partner until that is repaid. The repayment comes from the RAD rent. When the tenants are put there, the tenants are receiving rent like they would ordinarily receive in public housing except now, they are receiving the full dollar amount. Those rents are then paid to the owner who then pays off his loan and so forth. The structure is a lot different. The agency would not actually manage the tenants as much as they would manage the assets. The management of the tenants is going to fall back to voucher entity in the Parish. Right now, you have two voucher issuing entities in Terrebonne. You have TPCG and LHC, which is Louisiana Housing Corporation. Each of those entities can issue vouchers. One of them would be responsible for managing the RAD rent voucher tenant in the unit. Meaning that if they have a problem with rental coming in or whatever it may be, they would handle them on that side. The agency would handle just the property side. Chairperson Hebert asked Mrs. Gilton how does she feel about that. She said she just wanted to bring it to the board because when she had the HUD call, it was discussed. She did not want to keep that information from the board. She feels that if they are getting acres, if they do move ahead, they could build back the 300 units if it is in the budget or they say do the application and
see how it works out. Chairperson Hebert asked Mrs. Gilton to get back with them after she find out, just to see her feelings on it, the ups and downs, if it’s a good idea or whatever. Chairperson Hebert asked if that could be families and as well as seniors. Mrs. Gilton said correct. Chairperson Hebert said she does not really see a problem. Vice Chairperson Hebert said she does not either.
Mrs. Gilton reported that she asked Mr. McDaniels and Ms. Trott to come to the meeting to elaborate on the RFP because every time they meet, she tells them they are about to go out and then it is pushed back. She did not want them to think she is holding it up. They have to make sure everything is done correctly. They do not want to mismanage or do something wrong and they lose funding. She knows it has taken awhile but she rather does it the right way then the wrong way.
Mr. McDaniels said to touch on RAD, they need to consider the potential for FEMA funds. If they are using FEMA funds to rebuild all 300 units, then if they are getting other money to help rebuild units, then that could be a duplication problem. They need to look at grant funding if they move forward with that. He said let’s look at potential implications for the lack of FEMA funding decrease.
Mr. McDaniels reported on the environmental for the three track properties they looked at. There are several aspects when talking about environmental. There is the actual dirt/ground. There is the socioeconomic part of it. There are the living conditions. There are multiple parts of the environmental. When they went looked at the apartment buildings, the construction manager did a moisture test on the walls, some ranged up to over 100% in moisture. That could potentially be an issue. He talked to the gentleman what was showing them and he said just because it was August or whenever it was, he said it was probably the humidity in the air. That might be the case but it might be something they have to look at. Overall, if FEMA funds are going to help fund that then there is going to be higher levels of scrutiny on that. With the other two, it’s undisturbed dirt. They look at everything from artifacts in the ground. The one parcel of land that is owned by SCPDC, did a level 1 environmental. They did find some artifacts in the ground. He has forwarded to FEMA to look at. It means at some point it was either Native Americans or old settlers; something that was there that potentially could trigger some sort of further studies. That study probably last eight or nine months. That part is already done there. For the other track of land, there is a lot of different impacts that is looked at. They want to make sure they cover all the basis.
As far as the project update, he believes the original number of units was 21. They did an elevation certificate study. A surveyor came out. Some of the buildings have to be elevated 8 ft. That is pretty significant. Some were six. Some were four. He said above base flood elevation. They were anticipating that. It would cost a lot more to elevate the building then it would be to be like the unit are now. He reported that a soil study was done to see if the soil would be able to support elevated structures and it will. They had to go back to the drawing board to add extra foundation support. Without the proper support the building would be a viable option. The cost is significantly more than anticipated. Any that fall out of the insurance units will fall into the FEMA project. The good thing about that is they can use those numbers to bolster. They can give those numbers to FEMA and say this is the real cost of what it is going to cost to build here. Once they get the insurance dollar amount and how many units they are going to build, they will add the other ones to the FEMA project. The first FEMA project is going through the FEMA process. He believes they are weeks away for getting the results of that. That is 12 buildings and potentially 70 something buildings will be in the next project. Anything after that would be the ones that do not meet the FEMA 50%.
Mr. McDaniels reported on the October 3rd anticipated date for the request for proposal, he is not really sure as to what that date is going to be. They are waiting on the architect. The architect and engineer did meet with the Parish. They saw the plans of the buildings and that they are moving. He knows that was a big concern and it was communicated to them. He said Mr. Bergeron is aware of what they are doing in Phase 1 and the plans.
Mr. McDaniels apologized that they are not further along. They have been pushing.
Mrs. Gilton reported that there is a water leak in Senator Circle. The plumber was reached out to by maintenance.
Mrs. Trott with Sulzer Group said Mr. McDaniels did elaborate on a couple of the projects that are going on. She was trying to move forward with the RFP and like Mr. McDaniels said that’s anticipating with they receive back the updated plans for the new foundation that has to be adjusted because of soil samples.
Regarding the handout, Mrs. Trott has gone into a little bit more detail about the process of the RFP because of the amount of money and the amount of phases that will be taking place. She has received multiple requests to be put on the list. The reason she wanted to go deeper into the RFP is because across the country the RFP process using federal funds is under high scrutiny. Because of this, they have to make sure every I is dotted and every t is crossed that you are audit ready, compliant and following your procurement process and following the federal government process
Continuing with the agenda, Item #10, Discussion and possible action relative to Resolution No. 1080-25, amending the Houma Terrebonne Housing Authority’s 2025 Annual Operating budget, beginning October 1, 2024 to reflect actual budget expenditures during FY 2025, ending September 30, 2025; Mrs. Gilton said that is what they amended; motioned by Vice Chairperson Picou, seconded by Commissioner Sherman. Chairperson Hebert called for the vote:
UPON ROLL CALL THERE WAS RECORDED
YEAS: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou, and C. Hebert
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: None
ABSENT: None Motion carried
Continuing with the agenda, Item #11, Discussion and possible action relative to Resolution No. 1081-25, adopting Houma Terrebonne Housing Authority Fiscal Year 2026 Operating Budget for FY beginning 10/01/2025 and ending 9/30/2026; Mrs. Gilton said that is the one she explained. She did it across the board for three amps because the agency won’t get the usual operating monies that they get because Bayou Towers was approved for demolition. Motioned by Commissioner Sherman, seconded by Commissioner Burke. Chairperson Hebert called for the vote:
UPON ROLL CALL THERE WAS RECORDED
YEAS: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou, and C. Hebert
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: None
ABSENT: None Motion carried
Continuing with the agenda, Item #12, Discussion and possible action relative to Resolution No. 1082-25, approving the Houma Terrebonne Housing Authority’s submission of the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Compliance Questionnaire and the engagement of Smith Marion & Co., Franklin, Tennessee to conduct the Fiscal Year Ending (FYE) September 30, 2025 Independent Financial Audit; Mrs. Gilton reported that they have already reached out with the dates of January 5th and 6th , if the board move forward. Chairperson Hebert asked if they were the ones who have been doing the audit. Mrs. Gilton reported that this will be the third time they conduct the audit. Before it was Cohn Reznick. Motioned by Vice Chairperson Picou, seconded by Commissioner Burke. Chairperson Hebert called for the vote:
UPON ROLL CALL THERE WAS RECORDED
YEAS: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou, and C. Hebert
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: None
ABSENT: None Motion carried
Continuing with the agenda, Item #13, Discussion and possible action relative to the schedule for 2026 Board of Commissioners meeting Date; motioned by Vice Chairperson Picou, seconded by Commissioner Burke. Chairperson Hebert called for the vote:
UPON ROLL CALL THERE WAS RECORDED
YEAS: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou, and C. Hebert
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: None
ABSENT: None Motion carried
Continuing with the agenda, Item #14, Commissioner Comments; Vice Chairperson Picou said he thinks that everything is moving smoothly. He thanked the Sulzer Group for coming to give the reports. He knows they are really pushing the subject. He said yes, they are frustrated, but they understand. Chairperson Hebert told them it is not their fault. Mrs. Trott said it has been a little bit more difficult than in the past. What they have to do to meet standards in Terrebonne Parish and federal, it has become a little bit more difficult than they have anticipated. The flood planes have been changed. The structures have been changed. She does have a meeting with the PMG about the projects and trying to push the CRC, which is who does the costing for the projects.
Chairperson Hebert wished Commissioner Sherman a happy birthday.
Continuing with the agenda, Item 15, Next Regular Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 20, 2025, 3:00 p.m., 124 K Senator Circle; Houma, LA 70363.
Continuing with the agenda, Item #16, Adjournment; Motioned to approve by Commissioner Sherman, seconded by Vice Chairperson Picou. Chairperson Hebert called for the vote:
UPON ROLL CALL THERE WAS RECORDED
YEAS: G. Burke, J. Boykin, D. Sherman, D. Picou, and C. Hebert
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: None
ABSENT: None Motion carried
Meeting adjourned at 3:32 p.m.