BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — Some senior residents at the apartments run by the Canton Housing Authority are calling on the village to appoint a new housing authority board to handle what they view as poor conditions in the facilities.

Several residents, along with the director of the county Office for Aging, voiced concerns at the village board meeting Wednesday, April 22. They spoke about the state of affairs in the apartments and what the residents called a lack of attention by management.

However, during a separate conversation with North Country This Week on Thursday, the authority’s executive director, Amanda St. Marie, said even with the COVID-related challenges of the last year in the senior housing facility, she and her office have been available to residents. Maintenance and security concerns are being addressed, she said.

At the board meeting Wednesday, Andrea Montgomery, director of the Office for the Aging which provides advocacy, meals and other services to seniors throughout the county, told the board that her office has received “multiple complaints” from residents at the Canton Housing Authority apartments at Riverside and Law Lane.

The Office for the Aging has no oversight over the authority or the apartments and does not provide operating capital for the authority, which is funded by the federal department of Housing and Urban Development and the state.

Management operations are overseen at the authority by the executive director, currently Amanda St. Marie, who is appointed by the Housing Authority Board and answers to them. The members of the board, however, all resigned last year, and it's up to the village board of trustees to find new members to appoint.

“The current Canton Housing Authority doesn’t have a current board of directors,” Montgomery said. “I would like to ask the board (of trustees) to consider trying to appoint some members to that board for the tenants and residents to have another resource to go to when they have concerns.”

“We’re extremely worried about our safety here as the director has started putting in new doors here and every door in the house, in the apartments are open, unlocked, for anybody to walk in except for one,” said resident Rebecca Swinney. “If we call for an emergency we can not get ahold of anyone in the office, it goes to an answering machine, and they never call us back.”

Resident Deborah St. Germain said her kitchen light in her apartment was “like a strobe light” for three or four months before she could get a member of the maintenance staff to come look at it.

St. Germain said the public bathrooms on the main floor are currently locked, which forces residents to try to make it back to their apartments to use the facilities.

“There have been accidents on the elevator,” St. Germain said. “We found urine on the elevator. A lot of these people are disabled and if they can’t get to a bathroom, well what are they going to do?”

“And, like Ms. Swinney said, we can’t get an answer from the office,” St. Germain said. “It's a very unsafe place to live.”

“Like I say, it's every man for themselves here,” St. Germain said. “We need a board here.”

Village Trustee Carol Pynchon asked what the executive director’s office hours were.

“We don’t know, she comes and goes as she wants. We can’t go to the office, she won’t answer the door at all,” Swinney said. “Everything has to be done by the tenants. It’s not a place for the elderly to live anymore. It's every man for themselves.”

“We really are desperate because we don’t really have anyone else to go to,” said resident Beverly Bice.

Village Mayor Mike Dalton told the residents that the village board has been attempting to appoint a full housing authority board since four of the members resigned last fall. One member resigned previous to that during the summer.

“That has been a difficult thing to attempt. However, I think this brought some things to a head, and I’ve reached out to several people I believe will step up and give us a hand here,” Dalton said.

Dalton said the village board is committed to getting the authority board filled.

Pynchon said the village has known there was an issue with the authority board. She clarified that the village board only has the purview to appoint members to the authority board and no other administrative role. She said it has been difficult to find potential members who want to serve and take over oversight of the apartments.

“We’ve been trying to get people to be on the board, but what they know is that it's a hornets' nest that has already been kicked and that they are going to be asked to come in and try to fix it. So we need to get some good, strong people that understand what a mess it really is, and come in and try to straighten it out and it hasn't been easy,” Pynchon said.

The trustee said that the residents coming out to speak about the issues at the apartments will help the board find people willing to take a seat at the authority board.

In a phone call with North Country This Week Thursday, the authority’s executive director said initially she felt hurt that residents had decided to voice their concerns to the village board. “They certainly could have addressed them to me,” she said.

St. Marie said, however, she understood why some residents may be frustrated with the situation. The facility is just now starting to open up from COVID lockdowns.

During the last year, the Canton Housing Authority has experienced COVID lockdowns, staffing changes, and ongoing project work at the facility, she said.

“There have been a lot of challenges during COVID,” said St. Marie.

For instance, the executive director said the head maintenance staff member retired last year after 30 years, and another stepped down, requiring new hires (the department is up to full strength now she said).

In addition, she and another administrative staff member both had COVID and were out for 6 weeks. Adding to that there were quarantines in place for other staff members due to possible exposures.

Administration staff had to do some remote work from home during the height of the pandemic, she said. However, they did answer complaints and concerns even while remote. During the last year, memos were distributed to tenants and during warmer weather she was holding scheduled, socially distanced tenant meetings outside.

Currently, she said offices are being staffed during normal hours and administration is available to residents. And, she plans for more outdoor meetings once the weather improves.

“We are here and we are answering phones,” St. Marie said. She said there are drop boxes set up for written complaints or concerns and there is also a grievance procedure for tenants to take advantage of if they have concerns, she said.

Addressing the tenant concerns about maintenance at the facility during the last year, the executive director said the four-member maintenance staff was forced to stick to just urgent or emergency repairs and had to avoid entering apartments due to COVID precautions. St. Marie said those precautions are now relenting a bit and more work is being done.

Addressing the maintenance issues further, St. Marie pointed out that the 219-unit apartment complex is currently in the midst of several projects, including apartment renovations, a Community Development Block Grant-funded elevator overhaul and replacement of the building locks and security system. The latter she said should be complete soon with new keys for all of the tenants.

“We have work going on in all the buildings,” St. Marie commented.

“I think my tenants have had a lot to deal with and I understand they’re frustrated,” said St. Marie.

St. Marie would not comment on the reasons for the resignation of the last board in October, but was anxious to get new members in the seats.

“It’s so important for me to have a board,” she said. “But it’s a small community and it's hard to get people to volunteer their time.”

The authority board can not only approve needed capital projects but also conduct a yearly certification that allows the executive director to draw upon her operating subsidy.

“I don’t fault these tenants. I wish they would have come to me first, but I get it,” she said. “And I do care, I wouldn’t be doing this job if I didn’t care.”