CHR debates hiring new staff positions; celebrates full occupancy
During its last meeting of the year, Sanibel’s Community Housing & Resources discussed the possible addition of staff members to assist the organization in meeting its long term goals.
CHR Executive Director Kelly Collini submitted a review of staff capacity to the Executive Committee in November, finding two areas of need: building maintenance and administrative/fundraising duties. The Executive Committee considered Collini’s review and offered a number of recommendations at the December meeting.
Although a full time staff member already deals with CHR maintenance projects, the committee recommended outsourcing larger, stand-alone maintenance projects to take some of the burden off of the current supervisor.
“The challenge, although not what it was, is still a challenge,” said Board President Richard Johnson. “There are times when it may be that it’s very taxing for him to do everything that needs to be done.”
She said CHR’s maintenance program is operating well, but she recognized that there are some larger maintenance projects on the horizon, such as tiling and refurbishing, that require outside assistance.
The committee also recommended the development of a new staffing plan to transition Collini from administrative duties to fundraising and public relations, which they recognized as her stronger skill sets. With these staffing changes, the executive director would be able to devote more of her time to public speaking at local events, organizational development, and fundraising.
Hiring administrative staff and outsourcing projects are on the table for CHR, but Collini pointed out that neither of those options are included in the next budget.
“It’s not in our budget this year, we didn’t budget for it, so the money would have to come from somewhere and it would take some thought,” said Collini.
The board also reported that 100 percent of island properties were rented as of Dec. 1. CHR’s vacancy rate typically hangs around 3 percent and being full doesn’t happen very often.
“It has happened previously, but usually because of the nature of the business, we have one or two down,” said Collini. “I have to give my staff all of the credit.”
The CHR has a waiting list for potential tenants and Housing Administrator Patti Bohm keeps residents queued up to take vacant properties after their background checks.
The next CHR board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the Center 4 Life. For more information, visit sanibelchr.org.