January 11, 2007 Minutes (Neighborhood Resources Department)
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MEMBERS PRESENT: |
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Jeanette Collier, marci francisco, Curtis Harris, Carol Nalbandian, Brenda Nunez, Kirsten Roussel, Mike Randolph, Patti Welty |
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MEMBERS ABSENT: |
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Susan Mangan, Greg Moore |
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STAFF PRESENT: |
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Lesley Rigney, Margene Swarts |
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PUBLIC PRESENT: |
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Robert Mosely, Marilyn Roy |
Randolph called the meeting to order at 5:35 pm.
Introductions
Members and public introduced themselves.
Approval of the December 14, 2006 minutes.
Roussel moved to approve the December 14, 2006 minutes. Welty seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Capital Improvement Deliberations - CDBG
Swarts handed out the letters from Tenants to Homeowners (TTH) and Habitat for Humanity to the City Commission (CC) requesting that the City not charge water/wastewater development fees for their respective agencies. She suggested authorizing the Chair to work with staff to draft a letter and then they can decide what they want to do regarding the Habitat CDBG request. The CC supports affordable housing initiatives.
Roussel said authorizing the Chair to work with staff is a good starting point but it might make sense to set aside some funds to fund a portion of the request in case the CC does not approve their requests.
Randolph said they could earmark the funds if the City does decide to waive that cost.
Swarts said they will likely know before the final recommendation from the NRAC.
francisco suggested having a discussion about this. Where would the funds come from to pay for this? Federal funds are income taxes. Would the new way of funding be funded through property taxes? She wants to make sure that burden will not be placed upon low-income people.
Nalbandian said it wouldn’t be an allocation, but would rather be absorbed by the City.
Collier asked if any landlords or developers are charged any fees that are funneled into affordable housing.
Nalbandian asked if we could know some more about what the cost would be to the City and where it would come out of that would help. What would be the impact on the City?
Randolph asked what the group wants to do.
Harris said we want to find out the source of the funds.
francisco said if it would be likely that the City could do it for less than the amount they charge it might make sense to fund the actual cost.
Nalbandian said that the cost of absorbing the cost is not the same as allocating the money.
francisco said she was suggesting they ask the City to waive the mark-up.
Nalbandian said there are also staffing costs. We just want to know actual costs and if the City is to lose this revenue, what will the impact be. We want to be as fair as possible in waiving these fees.
francisco said we may ask them to waive the cost and then use some of our CDBG to pay for that. It actually seems now to be going the other way. If we have been subsidizing the City up to now this would change that.
Swarts said staff will ask the questions and get back to the Committee.
Randolph said it will be an agenda item for the next meeting and suggested getting started with allocation decisions.
Roussel moved to fund 19a, Neighborhood Resources Department (NR) Comprehensive Rehab Program for $400,000; 19b, NR First Time Homebuyer Program for $100,000; 19d, NR Weatherization Program for $40,000; and 19e, NR Furnace and Emergency Loan Program for $35,000. Collier seconded the motion.
Nalbandian asked why NR separates programs – why isn’t Weatherization in the same category as Emergency and Furnace Loans?
Swarts said Weatherization is the only grant program and it is done once per year in one shot. The emergency and furnace loans are applied for and administered on an ongoing basis. We used to have them separated and have since combined them.
Harris asked if items could be considered separately.
Roussel said she would not consider a friendly amendment. There are questions she has about the appropriateness of other requests that will make it possible to fund all NR requests.
Welty said she would also like to consider them separately. She puts Habitat at the top of her priorities. Weatherization is at the bottom. If the City covers Habitat’s request she can support the motion.
Collier said weatherization is incredibly important considering utility costs for low-income individuals. They are especially hard hit – it is critical.
Randolph said the housing stock in our target neighborhoods needs it desperately.
Swarts said it is the most popular program. The Department receives many thank you letters that are read at staff meetings after the weatherization program. Larry Hamm gets several letters from clients who say that their houses are warmer and they have already saved money on utility bills.
The motion passed, Welty and Harris dissenting.
Nalbandian clarified that nothing is set in stone.
Roussel moved to fund 6a, Ballard Community Center window replacement for $8881. Welty seconded the motion.
Nalbandian would like to see a budget for this request. She supports it but there is no budget. 16a, Social Service League building repairs also has no budget and she is not comfortable funding these projects without budgets.
Roussel said the estimate is included.
Nalbandian asked if they could ask Ballard to provide a budget.
Swarts said if the Committee thinks the amount is reasonable and when it comes time to complete the project, it will be bid and if the bid is over their allocation, Ballard will have to come up with the balance.
Roussel asked if the request includes window treatments such as last year’s request.
Harris suggested taking $1800 off and if Ballard can fund the remainder, great, and if not then it doesn’t get done.
Welty said that last year there were a lot more applications – it was not just because of the window treatments.
Nalbandian would just like a copy of last year’s budget and to strike window treatments and add a percentage for increased cost.
Roussel amended her motion to fund 6a, Ballard Center window replacement for $8800 and to make it clear that the funds would not be spent on window treatments. The motion passed unanimously.
Nalbandian moved to approve 16a, Social Service League building repair for $2000 and to ask for the budget from last year. Collier seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Roussel moved to fund 12a, Independence, Inc. Accessible Housing Program for $30,000. Welty seconded the motion.
Harris said this is less than 1% of the Independence, Inc. budget. We could fund half of the request and have $15,000 for other areas.
Swarts said this is the only program for accessibility modifications for rental units. They are very good about partnering this with the KAMP program, leveraging the funds and getting the most out of both programs.
Nalbandian likes that it is targeted at rental housing and not just all homeownership.
Randolph said that once the unit is accessible it stays that way.
Harris said Independence, Inc. is possibly going to receive an additional $15,000 later in this allocation process.
francisco said this organization does more than install accessibility modifications, but it is a good place to come back and look if the budget so requires.
The motion passed unanimously.
Roussel moved to zero-fund 18a Van Go Mobile Arts parking lot improvements. Nalbandian seconded the motion.
Roussel said her question is primarily how does this fit with work the Committee did on goals. It is not housing – it is curbs and a parking lot. If there is money available she would rather see it go to Habitat or some other low-income housing activity and then if there is some left over perhaps some could be allocated to Van Go.
francisco said that the request is 25% of the parking lot budget. They will not get the building permit to do the expansion if they don’t make these improvements.
Swarts said that is not stated in the grant application.
Nalbandian said Van Go has not completed their fundraising campaign. Why are they asking for this now?
Randolph said they are approaching the end of the campaign. There has been a lot of community money going into this.
Nalbandian asked how the Committee knows Van Go will not get this from their fundraising efforts.
Francisco said they have fallen short of fundraising goals. This is a group who raised a lot of money and has fallen short.
Nalbandian asked if that was the reason there is no budget per se – they are just asking CDBG to throw in $50,000.
Roussel pointed out the budget.
Randolph said this is a parallel to Social Service League and Penn House in that it serves low-income people and it is in a target neighborhood. The distinguishing factor is that Van Go is in a substantially better financial position.
Nalbandian agreed that this project does not meet Committee goals.
Roussel said she would be happy to allocate any excess funds to Van Go.
The motion passed, francisco and Nunez dissented.
Nalbandian asked why Brook Creek Neighborhood Association (BCNA), East Lawrence Neighborhood Association (ELNA) and Oread Neighborhood Association (ONA) include their cleanup in operating costs and North Lawrence Improvement Association (NLIA) does not.
Swarts said the cleanup that NLIA asks for is payment for a chipper to grind up woody material that is dragged to the curb.
Nalbandian asked if it costs $1800 to rent a chipper.
Swarts said it costs about $900 per event and they do it twice per year.
Nalbandian moved to zero-fund 2c, ELNA sidewalk repair. Roussel seconded the motion.
There was some discussion around the value of the project.
Harris said he thinks it should be funded.
Nalbandian asked Collier if they could get money for t-shirts somewhere else.
francisco suggested paying for the materials but not the t-shirts.
Swarts said t-shirts are not an eligible capital improvement cost – it would have to come out of Public Services.
Nalbandian said it could be donated.
francisco said Cottin’s already donates so much.
Swarts said the remainder of the request is $55. She questions whether that amount is worth all the administrative time and the message it sends to other neighborhood associations NAs and other organizations.
Collier said it would be more valuable to talk with them about how to solicit the funds otherwise.
francisco would like to look at it under public service.
The motion passed unanimously.
Randolph clarified that 10a, Habitat for Humanity water/wastewater development charges would be tabled until further notice.
Randolph said at the next meeting, allocations will focus on HOME requests.
Nalbandian suggested having a discussion to determine what our policy/philosophy will be regarding NAs, considering the NA funding hint from the CC.
Randolph said the CC always raises that issue, every year.
Harris said the Committee could discuss that at next meeting.
Randolph asked to include that as a separate agenda item. If there is sufficient time the Committee can begin Public Service allocations.
Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 6:45 pm.