MEETING MINUTES Neighborhood Revitalization Board September 8, 2010 St. Etienne Conference Room Armory Building 5:00 p.m.

Transcription

1 MEETING MINUTES Neighborhood Revitalization Board September 8, 2010 St. Etienne Conference Room Armory Building 5:00 p.m. Present: Frank Affannato; Tim Hielkema; Nadine Hogate; Frank Owens; Jean Minahan; Laura Mundy; Sharon Murphy; John Rowen; Neal Westergaard Absent: Steve Bruere; Staff: Kathy Kahoun (CD); Susan Minks (CD); Marci Rafdal (HS); Bob Schulte (CIA); Jayne Breckenridge (HS) Guests: 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Meeting was called to order by Westergaard at 5:03p.m. Roll call was taken by Hogate. 2. Approval of Agenda (Action) Kahoun explained there would be changes to agenda: Item 8 on the 2011 HUD Consolidated Plan Funding recommendations cannot be an Action item since you did not receive the information so we would like to spend a little more time on item 5 which is the NRB Outreach. Motion by Minahan to approve the agenda; seconded by Owens. Motion carried (8-0). 3. Chairman s Report/City Council Information CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION August 9, 2010 Approving the contract with Home Opportunities Made Easy, Inc. (HOME, INC.) for $50,000 of HOME funds for operating support as a designated Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO). Approving Home Agreements with Home Opportunities Made Easy, Inc. (HOME, INC.) for development of single-family homes at 1351 Forest Avenue and 453 E. Hillside Avenue. August 23, 2010 Approving withdrawing commitment of $100,000 of Home Funds for new construction for the following (deferred from August 9 th ): 1 P a g e

2 A) Christ the King Senior Housing, LLC for 28 units of low-income senior housing at 5601 SW 9th Street. B) Curly Top, LLC for 40 units of low-income senior housing at 1900 SE 6th Street. C) Fort Des Moines Senior Housing, LLC for 60 units of low-income senior housing between SW 5th and SW 6th Streets on Army Post Road. D) Olive Street Brickstone, LLP for 21 units of low-income housing for families at 18th Street and Olive Avenue. Kahoun explained that all the projects would proceed even though the Council withdrew the City s HOME contribution for the projects. 4. Approval of the Minutes for August 4, 2010 (Action) Motion by Minahan to approve the minutes for August 4, 2010; seconded by Owens. Motion carried (8-0). 5. NRB Outreach update Neighborhood Revitalization Board teams met and signed up with Minks for Neighborhood Associations they would plan on meeting with this fall. Mundy arrived at 5:15 pm. Minks handed out a letter and questionnaire form for NRB members to review. Minor changes were made to the letter. Kahoun explained that the initial letter would be sent out to Neighborhood Associations by September 15, 2010 and that teams were responsible to contact the associations they signed up for. Contact Susan Minks prior to your visit to pick up packets. Murphy asked if there would be information in the packet explaining which neighborhoods were designated. Kahoun explained staff can insert information into the packets explaining who is designated. Westergaard explained that NRB members need to be prepared that we may not have answers to all the questions asked by the neighborhood associations. Kahoun explained that if members would their questions to me, depending on the question, I can send the question out to staff for a better response; if you think there is something people need we want to help them out. 2 P a g e

3 Hielkema asked if the website could be placed on a cheat sheet. Kahoun explained that staff will put web information in the packet. Minahan explained that we also need each others information in the packet as we may need to trade associations we visit if one of our team has a conflict on the meeting night of the association we plan to visit. 6. Des Moines Community Action Agency monthly report Marci Rafdal explained that we staffed the Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) at the Logan site 3 to 4 days before FEMA was active. Joining us was Polk County Health and Polk County General Assistance, Community and Family Youth Services and Red Cross. We all did a very good job assessing the clients and passed along information that could be used and what they could not do. There were some very sad stories and people were devastated because they lost so much so fast. We are offering help with furnaces, water heaters, energy assistance and flood kits. Rafdal also explained that this year we were only granted $20,000 in franchise fees, so we will be really watching this pool of funds. Minahan asked what a Franchise fund is. Rafdal explained that general fund dollars from the Franchise provided a bridge for lowincome households. Last year we had $60,000 for utility help, $210,000 for a supplemental payment on household utility bills, which averaged between $25 and $35 depending on the number of approved households. Franchise funds also provided furnace repair and replacement. This year we will be working with $20,000 so there will be no supplemental payments and limited help with utility assistance and furnace repair/replacement. 7. CSBG ARRA update Rafdal explained that there will be some internal program shifting to spend down the money to the last penny, which the State gave us the ability to do. However, there will no shifting between the major categories. Everything comes to an end September 30 th so I will let you know next month how the funds spend down HUD Consolidated Plan Funding recommendations Bob Schulte explained they received information at the conference that funding would be about the same as allocations in (handout given) 3 P a g e

4 Schulte explained the allocation breakdown of Administration, Public Service and Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO). The final budget allocations will not be available until the first of the year, but at this time we have more than we thought we would, with the reprogramming. Hogate asked when we would know. Schulte explained they would know by at least March. Schulte explained items on the handout, one was asking for $50,000 less under administration, because of some of the stimulus and other programs providing administration funding. Owens asked what happens if you do not request it. You said you are requesting $50,000 less. Schulte explained that we can spend up to 20% of our allocation and program income on administration, and if we don t need all of it, it can go for programs. Schulte explained that the NRB needed to act on their recommendations by October 6 so it could make it to Council by October 11. Then there is a 30 day public review period. Residents have access to the proposed plan at the libraries and in the City Clerk s office. HUD requires 45 days to review the Consolidated Plan so we will be writing a letter explaining we will be 6 days late, but I do not see a problem. Schulte continued to cover information in the handout. Hogate questioned if they would be having any kind of special work session or would NRB members figure this out at home, and bring their recommendations to the next meeting. Kahoun explained that last year was a five year plan where Minks did a lot more documenting goals and the needs assessment it was also your two year plan , which requires your recommendation. Next year you will need to visit and look at your goals and go through some type of process. Affannato stated which means we are meeting for the heck of meeting. Kahoun explained that if the Board had something to discuss or questions this is the time to be asking. Do you need updates? Murphy asked does this mean that the next time next year the non-profit will be receiving nothing. Schulte explained that next year they would be receiving 25%. Minahan asked that if they were to receive $20,000 it would be reduced to $5, P a g e

5 Westergaard explained that was the compromise. Hogate asked regarding the 2011 HUD Plan Funding, did we approve this last year. Schulte explained what you are doing now is allocating for those in 2011 and if they are in non-compliance for some serious reason would not recommend funding them. Owens explained that we need to go through the process. Kahoun explained that we do not do the meetings with the individual agencies this year - we will do that meeting next year. Hielkema questioned what we are doing at the next NRB meeting: If we look at the Neighborhood Based Service Delivery, the amount recommended is more than last year; is there a reason? Kahoun explained that they are behind on demolition and backlogged. If you have questions, and that is a good question, we can ask for the Neighborhood Based Service Delivery to be present at the next meeting to answer your questions. Westergaard explained that we did not approve some of these dollar amounts. Schulte explained why the dollar amount had changed. Schulte explained by the City Manager s guidance Minahan asked if the NRB could have someone from the City Manager s office present at the next meeting. Schulte explained that yes he would ask to have someone from the City Manager s office at the next meeting. Owens questioned where all the changes are. Kahoun identified projects that received an increase Demolition, Neighborhood Inspection Division (NID), and in Neighborhood Conservation Services (NCS). Hogate explained that some dollars are down so could they give it to code enforcement. Bob asked if there were any other questions. Hielkema explained that he would like an explanation and question if those dollars are set in stone, because these items went up when we agreed to a 50% reduction and Owens is asking to justify the changes, and I m reacting to someone in the audience (not recognized by Chair). Owens explained that there are some changes the Manager made, and the question is how did that happen? 5 P a g e

6 Schulte explained because there is more money, if we receive what we are estimating, it could also be less. Owens explained what he is questioning is who is getting the extra money and why. Schulte explained that was in the City manager s recommendations last year. Budget problems are affecting the city-operated programs. Owens did he say where the dollars were going. Schulte explained that yes the Manager stated to city projects. Kahoun asked the NRB if that was the question the NRB wanted to ask the City Manager s office. Hielkema explained that he would also like to hear the rationale toward specific city projects. Westergaard asked Schulte and Kahoun can we ask for a member of the City Manager s office to come over and explain why he allocated money to certain increases and why some stayed the same. Schulte stated yes we could ask someone to come to the next NRB meeting from the City Manager s office. Kahoun stated that we could also ask someone from NBSD to come to the next NRB meeting Flood Update Kahoun explained that the flash flood was extremely dangerous. (Handout given) The process for tagging these properties was done by the Permit and Development Center (PDC) staff went out and inspected property and tagged them: red for dangerous, yellow to proceed with caution and green to proceed. There were a lot of mobile homes tagged red. The Mobile home infrastructure court itself is in bad shape. We are in the process of working with the owners of these trailer courts. 50% of homes were damaged and since they are in the flood plain they will not be able to rebuild in the area. At this time we are looking at the cost of buyout in the flood plan. What we are looking at is an application, through the State, which will assist owners in about 6 months from now; help from FEMA will be in about 15 months. Currently 2,528 have applied in Polk County for FEMA. Westergaard asked, is your prediction that there will be no mobile homes? 6 P a g e

7 Kahoun explained that is correct. We are working so that there are no longer hardships to owners and try to buy properties out, because there is not going to be a way to stop flash flooding. If you look at the properties the creek is right there. It is a nasty situation, Polk County Health Department and Rowen was in to look at them. There is an elevation in the property there so not all mobile homes were flooded. Westergaard questioned what the value of those homes was. Kahoun explained that they are going by the NDA book value, which would have been a huge challenge except we found an agency that will look these up for us based on the NDA book value. Affannato asked if the homeowner would have a chance to appeal. Kahoun explained that they would have the opportunity to appeal. Mundy asked if the dollar amount depended on age and size of the trailer. Kahoun explained that they would go by the trailer size and age and that the process would give them what they would get on the market plus differential for lot, they might come ahead. Affannato explained that if this was done right would it clear out everything on the flood plain? Kahoun explained that a second application would be submitted for structure. Kathy Allsup is taking applications on that. Westergaard asked if there were a number of homes. Kahoun explained that there were roughly twenty to fifty, which we will need to do an inspection Westergaard asked if those were buyouts. Kahoun explained that everything is a buyout. John Rowen 6:26 left 10. City of Des Moines new Federal Funding applications Kahoun explained that Minks and Lynch helped with the grant language for a new Federal Funding application. Westergaard questioned when do you think you will receive an answer. Minks explained that they did an electronic application and sometime in November they would expect to know the answer. 7 P a g e

8 Kahoun explained that the money was there but it was very competitive. 11. Neighborhood Development Administrator Report Neighborhood updates Update King Irving Plan (handout given) 12. Other Affannato moved adjournment, meeting adjourned at 6:38 p.m. Laura Mundy, Secretary 8 P a g e