At a glance
The Hudson Housing Authority's Board of Commissioners met the evening of Wednesday, July 15, 2026, though the meeting itself opened with real confusion over the date before commissioners landed on the correct one. Four commissioners, Smith, Decker, Young, and Joiner, were present; Zakos and Wolf were absent. The board passed three resolutions on unanimous roll call votes: a new accounting services contract with CliftonLarsonAllen, an advance of developer fees tied to the Bliss Towers replacement housing project, and a tenant selection plan for a new HOME funded rental assistance program. The Bliss Towers project's development partner gave a lengthy update on financing, tax credits, and a Planning Board site plan review continuing the following week. Much of the rest of the meeting covered building operations: a maintenance truck still not replaced since a fire last November, ongoing elevator repairs, and staffing for security and cleaning.
Call to Order, Roll Call & Routine Business
The board opened the meeting, working through a stumble over the date before settling on the correct one, then took roll call and approved routine business.
Key points
- Whoever was calling the meeting to order initially said the date was in April, caught the error, tried June 15th, and was then corrected on the record to the actual date: Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
- Roll call: Commissioners Smith, Decker, Young, and Joiner were present; Commissioners Zakos and Wolf were absent.
- The board approved the minutes from its last meeting, held in April; no meetings had been held in May or June.
- Accounts payable for April, May, and June were reviewed together, since no meeting had happened in the intervening months, and approved without discussion.
The recording opens with about two minutes of audio testing before the meeting is called to order. The chair also stumbled over the date at the very start, saying April and then June 15th before landing on the correct date, Wednesday, July 15, 2026, confirmed a moment later on the record.
Roll call names the fourth commissioner as Commissioner Teresa, but later votes in this meeting refer to a Commissioner Joiner. These may be the same person, but the transcript never gives a full name, so treat the two as possibly, not certainly, the same commissioner.
Executive Director's Report
Executive Director Jeffrey Dodson previewed Friday's tenant appreciation day, reported an elevator outage, and gave a brief audit update.
Key points
- Tenant appreciation day is set for Friday, July 17, funded in part by a grant the Authority has received for three years from the Bank of Greene County Charitable Foundation. Residents, community vendors, police, fire, the sheriff's department, and city representatives are expected, with food, music, dancing, and a bouncy house for kids.
- The building's smaller elevator has been out of service for a couple of weeks because of a broken door motor. Replacement parts are described as obsolete, and staff are comparing repair options and costs.
- The Authority's audit is largely done. A full report is expected at the annual meeting in September, when officers are also selected for the year ahead.
The elevator repair mentioned here comes up again later in the meeting, in the Commissioner Time discussion, as the reason a new maintenance truck purchase has been delayed.
Development Partner Update: Bliss Towers Replacement Housing
A representative of the Bliss Towers redevelopment's co-development partner updated the board on the project's schedule, financing, and a state review of design standards.
Key points
- A previously scheduled project board meeting was postponed and rescheduled for August 19.
- The Hudson Planning Board's continued review of the project's site plan is set for next week, on the 21st. The development team said it has answered the Planning Board's earlier questions and will bring its full architecture and engineering team.
- Architectural plans are expected to reach about 75 percent completion within the next two weeks, ready to submit to state and city reviewers.
- The project is still aiming for a financing closing in December, with what the speaker described as good interest from tax credit investors.
- The team plans to submit a full low income housing tax credit application to the state around the middle of August, and is setting up a call with a regional official at a state housing agency in the next week or two.
- The speaker walked through how federal and state low income housing tax credits work: a project is awarded a multi-year credit allocation, then the credits are sold through firms called syndicators to investors, typically banks and insurance companies, who use the credit to offset their own taxes. Pricing has fallen in recent years, from around 85 cents per dollar of credit a few years ago to what the speaker put in the high 70s or less today.
- New state design guidelines, adopted around the middle of 2025, raise energy efficiency and sustainability requirements, such as window and insulation standards, for new affordable housing construction, adding a design review step with the state.
This speaker's name is never clearly stated. The auto-captions garble his introduction beyond recognition. He's described in the meeting only as being with the project's development partner, and speakers is left empty here because no name was said aloud.
The Bliss Towers project's co-development partner is rendered as Marco, Monco, and North at different points in this transcript, most likely different auto-caption attempts at the same company name. A Hudson Common Council meeting on November 10, 2025 discussed the same redevelopment and a related cooperation agreement, and named the co-development partner as MCO.
The state agency acronyms in this section are garbled (rendered as HDR in one place and HCL in another). They likely refer to the same state housing finance agency, but the exact name isn't clear enough in the recording to state as fact. Specific dollar figures in the tax credit walkthrough are also complex and not always precise on the record, so they're described here in general terms.
Resolution 558: Accounting Services Agreement
After a moment for public comment drew no response, the board voted to hire CliftonLarsonAllen for accounting services, working out some confusion over the contract's dates along the way.
Key points
- The chair asked for public comment before moving to new business; none was offered.
- The Authority issued an RFP for accounting services on April 27, 2026. Two firms responded, and the executive director recommended CliftonLarsonAllen (the resolution and discussion render the firm's name several ways, including CLA, Clifton Larson LLP, and Clifton Barley LLP).
- The agreement caps fees at $50,000 per year.
- The board spent several minutes sorting out the contract's term on the fly. It was ultimately set to run from July 16, 2026 through May 1, 2028, a term of a bit under two years that keeps the RFP's original May renewal cycle even though the start date slipped from May to July.
- The executive director said he was correcting dates in the resolution as he read it, noting he had pulled an earlier draft of the document.
- Passed by unanimous roll call vote, 4-0 (Commissioners Smith, Decker, Young, and Joiner).
The resolution's term dates were corrected live during the meeting. Commissioners can be heard working out on the record that the term runs July 16, 2026 to May 1, 2028.
Resolution 559: Advance of Developer Fees for Bliss Towers
The board authorized advancing a portion of the developer fee from the Bliss Towers replacement housing project to help cover the Authority's current expenses.
Key points
- The resolution covers the Authority's partnership with its co-development partner on replacement housing for Bliss Towers (the transcript renders the partner's name variously as Marco, Monco, and North).
- The partner and the Authority are working with New York State and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to secure funding for the project.
- The advance lets the Authority draw on part of the anticipated developer fee now, to pay current expenses, ahead of the larger project financing closing.
- The resolution is dated adopted July 15, 2026.
- Passed by unanimous roll call vote, 4-0.
The resolution refers to the project once as replacement housing for Eastwing, but every other reference in the same resolution, and every other mention in the meeting, calls it Bliss Towers. Eastwing is most likely an auto-caption error.
Resolution 560: Tenant Selection Plan for Rental Assistance Program
The board adopted a tenant selection and affirmative marketing plan for a new HOME funded tenant based rental assistance program, after a lengthy explanation of how it will work.
Key points
- The plan governs a new tenant based rental assistance (TBRA) program funded through HUD's HOME program. It was posted for a 45 day public comment period from May 20 to July 6, 2026, and takes effect July 16, 2026.
- The program will draw participants from the Authority's existing Housing Choice Voucher waiting list rather than opening a separate one for now. Households keep their place on that list even while receiving this assistance.
- Eligibility can reach up to 60 percent of area median income. The director noted the Authority's existing housing mostly serves households below 30 percent of area median income.
- Assistance can cover rent and, in some cases, security deposits or utility costs. The director estimated funding would help roughly 25 to 27 families over about two and a half years, with some possibility of renewal.
- There is no work, job training, or income progression requirement attached to receiving assistance under this program.
- Commissioners asked whether individual tenant selections would come before the board (they will not, this is handled administratively) and about citizenship rules. The director said the program follows applicable HUD rules for eligible noncitizens, and that the portion of rent tied to an ineligible household member is prorated rather than subsidized.
- Passed on a roll call vote. Commissioners Smith and Decker can be heard voting aye, the recording does not capture an audible vote from Commissioner Young, and a final aye is recorded for Commissioner Joiner. The chair announced the motion carried.
The motion on this resolution is attributed in the transcript to Mary, described as vice chair, a name that doesn't match any of the four commissioners named at roll call (Smith, Decker, Young, Joiner). It may be a nickname or middle name for one of them, but the recording doesn't clarify which.
The roll call on this vote does not capture an audible response from Commissioner Young, though the motion is announced as carried.
Public Comment: Resident Questions on the Rental Assistance Program
A resident named Lori asked detailed questions about how the new rental assistance program's income rules compare to Section 8 and whether it could help people above the current income limits.
Key points
- Lori asked whether the program uses income tiers the way some housing programs do.
- The director said the program is governed by a single ceiling, up to 60 percent of area median income, rather than multiple tiers, though it can serve a range of incomes up to that point.
- They discussed how the program compares to Section 8: Section 8 provides more assistance overall, but this program was described as easier to access at first, running for about two and a half years with some chance of renewal.
- Lori asked whether the program, or the broader redevelopment, could eventually help people whose income is too high to qualify for the current waiting list. The director said that's a separate question from this specific program, but noted the planned new development includes a wider range of income levels than the Authority's current housing.
- Lori referenced a personal example involving someone she knows locally. The director offered to continue the conversation with her outside the meeting.
This speaker gives her name as Lory Lori in the transcript, most likely a repetition while spelling it aloud. She's identified here as Lori.
Commissioner Time & Facilities: Truck, Security, and Staffing
Commissioners pressed the director on when a maintenance truck will be replaced, questioned staffing hours and a vacant security position, and asked about garbage removal and a summer youth work program.
Key points
- A commissioner asked when the Authority would replace its maintenance and plow truck, out of service since a fire (reportedly a transmission issue during a snowstorm) around November 2025.
- The director said a truck purchase is planned but has taken a back seat to the elevator repair, and that she is still finalizing budget details and researching options before buying.
- Commissioners asked why a dumpster couldn't stay on site between bulk trash dump days. The director said a dumpster left out permanently invites illegal dumping and scavenging for scrap metal and parts, and adds work for limited staff to monitor.
- The Authority has hired one new maintenance or security staffer but has a second position still open due to limited applicants. Current cleaning and maintenance staff work daytime hours, roughly 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The director said shifting some of that work to nights would require a particularly reliable employee working unsupervised, and she does not consider it a good use of limited funds right now.
- A commissioner flagged uncollected garbage behind a stairwell door that had been sitting for some time. The director said she would have maintenance check on it.
- Asked about summer youth employment, the director said the Authority is again hosting one participant this year through a Columbia Greene County funded youth work program. The county, not the Authority, pays the participants.
The delayed truck purchase is described here as a budget tradeoff against the elevator repair mentioned earlier in the director's report.
Adjournment
The board wrapped up with a brief aside about hiring difficulties, then voted to adjourn.
Key points
- A commissioner raised a tangential question about difficulty finding local workers for a particular kind of job. The chair said they could discuss it further outside the meeting.
- The board voted to adjourn.
About this page
FUTURE HUDSON is an experiment in civic engagement: every public meeting of the City of Hudson since January 2026, transcribed and made readable, so any resident can follow what the city is deciding without attending every meeting. This page covers one meeting; see the full archive.
How it was made
The meeting video was transcribed automatically; the transcript was then organized into sections and summarized. The raw transcript is above, every claim can be checked against it.
What to be skeptical of
The transcript is automated and contains speech-recognition errors; names and numbers may be wrong. This page has not been reviewed by a human. Nothing here is an official record, the city's official minutes are authoritative.
About coverage of this body
Meetings of the Housing Authority are uploaded to the city YouTube channel by members on a best-effort basis (not by the city audiovisual coordinator, who posts only the Common Council family, Planning Board, and HCDPA). If a meeting of this body is missing from the archive, it usually means the recording was not uploaded. See the archive index for the full coverage note.