New member, old problems: After delay, Tompkins joins Housing Authority still plagued by bedbugs

More than two months after being appointed by Meadville City Council, Joe Tompkins joined the Meadville Housing Authority board at its monthly meeting Wednesday in the Holland Towers community room.

Tompkins was present for the board's meetings in each of the past two months, but he attended as an audience member at the request of Authority officials. This week, Tompkins was at the table and was an active participant, asking numerous questions throughout the course of the meeting.

The outcome was greeted as a positive resolution by City Council members Autumn Vogel and Gretchen Myers, who were in the audience for the meeting.

"We're glad to see Mr. Tompkins seated today," Vogel said, reading from a letter to the board during a public comment period at the beginning of the meeting. "It just reaffirms the appointment that we made of Mr. Tompkins several months ago and encourages the Housing Authority to take any steps that they can to make that appointment a long-lasting one."

The reason for the delay was a conflict of interest involving Tompkins that authority attorney Christopher Ferry had hoped to resolve prior to Tompkins taking his seat. Citing the potential for "unintended consequences" with regard to the funding the authority receives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Ferry convinced Tompkins to delay assuming his role as a board member.

In an email Friday, Ferry explained that the conflict arose because the authority has a contract with Meadville nonprofit Common Roots for three housing choice vouchers, also known as Section 8 vouchers. Tompkins' wife, Julie Wilson, is the executive director of housing and community development for Common Roots.

HUD officials followed up with Tompkins and determined that the situation does constitute a conflict, according to Ferry. While Tompkins joined the board this week, the resolution to the conflict has not yet been determined. Instead, HUD directed the Housing Authority to propose a course of action.

"Joe seated himself on the board at the meeting on the (Wednesday)," Ferry said. "So, the next step is to put together a proposed resolution of the conflict to submit to HUD for review and hopefully approval."

Among updates on the authority's various housing complexes, Executive Director Vanessa Rockovich told board members that the $6.2 million renovation of half of the 132 units at Holland Towers was progressing but that "a few hiccups" had complicated the work.

"Because we've had so many unforeseen things occur — electrical, plumbing — we're hoping once we get through these 30 units, when we do the other 35 units, that we've got all the hiccups and bugs worked out," Rockovich said. "It seems like things are starting to move a little bit more."

The 365-day timeline that was part of the project contracts was thrown off by about three months largely due to the discovery that asbestos abatement was needed, according to Rockovich. In response to questioning from Tompkins, she estimated that the work would be completed next fall or winter.

Sixteen units in Holland Towers and 13 at William Gill Commons are being treated for active bedbug or cockroach infestations, according to the monthly extermination report.

With all 100 Gill units up for inspection last month, Rockovich said there had been concern that more apartments would be found to have insect issues.

"That's not bad," she told the board. "We were pleased that the number came in that low."

Regarding the Holland Towers infestations, Assistant Maintenance Inspector Kyle Lynch said the steady number of units being treated has typically involved reoccurring infestations in the same units.

"They'll get rid of them for a little bit and they get them back again," Lynch said. "We don't understand how or why, but that's probably a few of them and then some people just congregating with people who have them."

The intractable nature of the bedbug problem, which has waxed and waned for more than three years without ever disappearing entirely, is the result of a gap in social services, authority officials said in response to questions from Tompkins. The authority can react to the infestations as they occur, but can't provide the social services often needed by tenants experiencing repeated infestations. At the same time, the social services agencies that might be able to help are often understaffed and lack the resources to adequately address the problems.

Rockovich described a Catch-22 situation that has arisen numerous times, particularly when hoarding tendencies contribute to an infestation.

"Some of the tenants here need a lot more help than they're getting, and we just have tried anything and everything," she said, referring to social service agencies. "It's just so ongoing, and it's so frustrating because they'll say, 'Well, our case workers can't go in because they have bedbugs.'

"How are we going to get rid of the bedbugs," Rockovich continued, "if caseworkers don't go in and help them get ready?"

Similar questions are asked during the eviction proceedings that can result from ongoing problems with tenants, according to Ferry, and there tend to be few remaining options by the time a case is being litigated.

"It's difficult, there's no question about it," he said. "I don't know that we can blame anybody in particular. I just think that we've just got a gap. It would be great if we could figure out a way to fill it."