HCPA staff begin records cleanup, appraisals sent as property-disposition committee forms

HCPA staff told the Hudson Community Preservation Authority they are cataloging a large volume of archived boxes, verifying ownership of records, and planning to work with clerks to return files that do not belong to the authority. Staff also reported sending appraisals for two properties and said a property‑disposition committee will meet to begin preparing the properties for sale.

“I sent Chris some pictures of the HDC boxes that certainly kinda look like they're HDC boxes. I need to kinda go through and make sure that none of that is HDPA files mixed into them,” a staff member said, describing an initial inventory of boxes in storage. The staff member said one wall of the storage room is relatively organized while another is piled with boxes that the Department of Public Works had moved into the room.

Staff described steps: verify which boxes belong to the authority, contact clerks for files that belong elsewhere, retain historically important records, and destroy nonessential materials following retention schedules. “The next step would be finding the files that we don't need to keep that aren't, you know, historically important, and then working with the clerks and you, you know, get rid of and destroy those files,” the staff member said.

The authority also discussed a deed-transfer record search. Staff reported a person who obtained a mortgage through the authority in 1995 seeks to transfer the deed to a child; records on whether the mortgage balance was fully repaid are not yet located in the electronic files and staff are conducting a manual search.

On real property management, staff said appraisals had been sent and the authority will begin using the committee established the previous month. “We do wanna start, you know, using the committee we established last month,” a staff member said, adding the plan is to consider two properties (described in the packet) and discuss proper listing and sale processes. The property‑disposition committee was identified to meet after the next regular meeting; members cited for one committee were Tricia Joyner, Rhonda Smith and Dominic Rente for the finance committee, and a separate property‑disposition committee membership will be confirmed and publicly noticed.

Staff and board members said the long-term goal is to digitize historically significant files — likely through a grant — and to relocate retained records to city hall when the inventory is reduced. No formal vote on disposition or sales was recorded during the meeting; the discussion set the committee work plan and scheduling for follow-up.