Fairbury City Council Hears Housing Authority Report

By Gordon HopkinsTwilya L’Ecuyer, the outgoing Executive Director of Fairbury’s Housing Authority, gave what will be her final report to the Fairbury City Council on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.One of the major projects L’Ecuyer has presided over during her tenure at the Housing Authority is updating the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) for Parkview Apartments. She was able to announce at the meeting that the project is now complete. L’Ecuyer said, “Last October, we finalized the last phase of our HVAC project. That was four and a half years, plus an interruption with COVID, of upgrades to both the units and the HVAC infrastructure in the building. And so, I’m really proud of that project. It was very expensive at times, tear filled because of all the chaos that I didn’t know HVAC projects could bring into one authority. But we have modernized the HVAC system. We have lowered the cost of utilities, both for the authority and for the tenants, and made the building a lot more comfortable to live in.”“That being said, we did have to dip into cash reserves to complete that project, because we were just really trying to complete the project and be done with it. This last year, we did post a profit of $56,192 which might not sound like a huge profit. For us, that is a very huge profit, considering that is money we get to put back into the building,” said L’Ecuyer. In addition to completing the HVAC upgraded, other projects during the 2024 fiscal year include completing two-bedroom, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant bedroom; replacing flooring, both carpeting and tile, in eight additional units; and modernizing four additional bathrooms by replacing outdated tile with tub surrounds. More projects are in the works for 20025, including replacing the building’s sign; cover balcony railings to eliminate peeling paint; update exterior door mechanisms to improve accessibility; replace flooring for an additional four units; replace the building’s canopy, which will hopefully improve marketability; and establish an online bill pay for tenants. After 11 years of service, L’Ecuyer recently announced she would be leaving her potion with the Housing Authority to join Southeast Community College (SCC) as the Apprenticeship Program Director in the Office of Work-Based Learning. Her last day will be January 28, 2024.Councilperson Phil Rogge said, “You’ve done an excellent job that has really grown, and you’ve got a lot of things updated over the years. So, thank you.”

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