CITY OF PALM BAY, FLORIDA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD The meeting was held on Wednesday, the 18th of April 2018, in the City Hall Council Chambers, 120 Malabar Road, SE, Palm Bay, Florida. These minutes are on file in the Housing and Neighborhood Development Services office located at 120 Malabar Road, SE, Palm Bay, Florida. The minutes are not a verbatim transcript but a brief summary of the discussions and actions taken at the meeting. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chairperson David Hernandez at 6:30 p.m. ROLL CALL: CHAIRPERSON: David L. Hernandez (Residential Home Bldg.) Present VICE CHAIR: Vacant (Advocate for low-income) - MEMBER: Alan Borkowski (Banking) Present MEMBER: Khalilah Maragh (P&Z Board) Present MEMBER: Kristine Herndon (Real Estate) Absent MEMBER: Steven Henryy (Employers within the City) Present MEMBER: Rebecca Thibert (Resident of the City) Present MEMBER: William O Hara (Not-for-profit) Absent MEMBER: Vacant (For-profit provider) - MEMBER: Rainer Warner (Actively engaged in home bldg.) Present (late) MEMBER: Jim Schmitt (Essential Services Personnel) Present ALSO PRESENT: Nancy Jewell, Community Development Administrator; Ximena Escobar, Board Recording Secretary. PUBLIC COMMENTS: There were no public comments. ADOPTION OF MINUTES: 1. Special Meeting No. 2018-02; February 21, 2018. Motion by Mr. Borkowski, seconded by Ms. Thibert, to adopt the minutes of Special Meeting No. 2018-02. Motion carried with members voting unanimously.
Page 2 of 5 Mr. Warner arrived at this time and was present for the remainder of the meeting. NEW BUSINESS: Ms. Jewell gave a brief review of the last meeting. The board was tasked with the responsibility of evaluating the Public Service applications for the upcoming CDBG fiscal year 2018/2019, beginning October 1 st and successfully selected the board s recommendations to go before the City Council. A final action requested was that Ms. Jewell would bring additional recommendations to the board for the remainder of the nonpublic service CDBG funding. 1. Presentation of Staff Recommendations for awards of funding. The current CDBG budget total allocation would be $703,841. The tentative recommendations would be a twenty percent (20%) take for Administration of $140,768; fifteen percent (15%) for Public Services, the non-profit agencies which the board made the recommendations in the February meeting for $105,576; and the rest for other eligible projects for $457,497. Total Allocation $703,841 Administration (20%) $140,768 Public Services (15%) $105,576 Other Eligible Projects $457,497 $703,841 Ms. Jewell made some changes in the policies and procedures for this fiscal year in the application cycle and requested that even internal departments within the City would submit a formal application to Ms. Jewell s office so all the applications would be evaluated at the same time and there wouldn t be unsolicited requests for funding projects that were not planned or thought of in advance. Unfortunately, none of the departments submitted an official request for funding. Since the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had not announced the actual allocations for this 2018/2019 fiscal year, HUD instructions were to determine the upcoming new fiscal year using the current fiscal year as a base. With the presumption there was $457,497, Ms. Jewell s recommendations were as follows: Proposed the use of $100,000 for residential and commercial demolitions. The use of this fund could be for single family homes, vacant, dilapidated, unoccupied structures that would create an opportunity for the City to clear those properties that tend to create blight/slum in our neighborhoods and community making them more desirable for redevelopment.
Page 3 of 5 For commercial property demolitions Ms. Jewell suggested approaching owners wanting to sell offering to demolish the property with the incentive to market the property for redevelopment. However, there would be a a five-year lien on the property and a stipulation that the owner must redevelop within the five years. The end goal would be to clean the properties and have them ready for resale creating some economic opportunities and encouragement for new development. Ms. Jewell s second recommendation was to allocate the remainder $357,498 to the Fire Department for the completion of the fire station project. In this current fiscal year, the City had funded the Fire Department with $457,497 for the acquisition and redevelopment cost for a new fire station to replace Fire Station No. Five on San Filippo Drive SE located on the Eastern State College campus. This fire station was not occupiable and became uninhabitable and abandoned due to mold and water issues. The City proposed for a new more durable and fortified structure to be built environmentally flood-proof, increasing the City s response time in this area with such critical service. Additional revenue intended for the completion of this project outside of Grant earnings was coming from sale proceeds of another City owned fire station property. A contract was in place, but unfortunately the seller backed out leaving the Fire Department s project budget in deficit. 2. Discussion and recommendation of awards of funding of FY 2018-2019 CDBG funding excluding Public Services There was discussion among the board members about the recommendations of award of funding proposed by Ms. Jewell. Motion by Mr. Schmitt, seconded by Mr. Borkowski to allocate $100,000 for the residential demolition and $100,000 for the commercial demolition with a three (3) year stipulation to redevelop. The motion carried with members voting as follows: Mr. Schmitt Mr. Borkowski Mr. Hernandez Mr. Henryy Ms. Thibert Ms. Maragh Mr. Warner There was further discussion on the allocation of the remainder $257,498 award of funding to the Fire Department.
Page 4 of 5 The board discussed awarding the remaining fund to cultural and/or economical elements such as facades, hook up for water and sewer, museums, bus stop shelters, roads and sidewalks. Ms. Jewell pointed out the importance of allocating the funds to a shovel ready project otherwise the City would still be behind expending the funds on time. If the Fire Department did not find another source, did not sell that property, or if the City did not contribute with available funding to the fire station, the project would be canceled. With the project canceled there would be a possibility the $457,498 already allocated to them would have to be reallocated within the next twelve to eighteen months, putting the City further behind in its expenditure requirements. The Fire Department was a shovel ready project but put on hold due to the sale transaction mishap not allowing them to move forward for lack of funds. The Fire Department did not have the remaining funds necessary to complete the project estimated on $800,000. The $257,498 added to the existing allocation of $457,498 would give the Fire Station project a total of $714,996 which would be less than $100,000 from where their low budget was for them to come up with the rest of the money needed for the completion of the project. If this project would be funded, then it would be billed and the City would have expended its funds within the allotted time. Motion by Mr. Borowski, seconded by Ms. Thibert to allocate the $257,498 to the improvement and facades programs to existing homes. After further discussion by the board, Mr. Borowski rescinded the motion to allocate the $257,498 to the improvement and facades programs to existing homes. There was further discussion on the allocation of funds to the Palm Bay Fire Station. Motion by Mr. Borowski, seconded by Ms. Maragh to allocate the $257,498 to the City of Palm Bay Fire Department with the understanding that they must secure the remaining balance to complete the San Filippo Fire Station project. The motion carried with members voting unanimously.
Page 5 of 5 ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:37 p.m. ATTEST: David Hernandez, Chairperson Ximena Escobar, Secretary