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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunity Development Block Grant Commission - Minutes - 02/10/2021 CDBG COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING February 10, 2021 at 5:30 PM Remote/ZOOM due to COVID-19 2/10/2021 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER • At 5:31PM the meeting was called to order by Josh Johnson. 2. ROLL CALL • Board Members Present o Olga Duvall o Steve Backsen o Ethnie Treick o Sara Maranowicz o Sam Stoltz o Nick Verni-Lau o Pat Hastings o Josh Johnson, Chair • Board Members Absent o Mike Kulisheck • Staff Members Present o Adam Molzer, Staff Liaison, CDBG Commission – City of Fort Collins o Beth Rosen, Social Sustainability Department – City of Fort Collins o Lindsay Ex, Social Sustainability Department – City of Fort Collins o Sue Beck-Ferkiss, Social Sustainability Department – City of Fort Collins o Meaghan Overton, Community Development – City of Fort Collins For further information, details and insight, and audio recording, resources are available by contacting the CDBG Commission staff liaison. 3. AGENDA REVIEW Josh Johnson read remote session instructions for the Community Development Block Grant Commission (“CDBG”) and public attendees. It was noted that nominations for Chair and Vice Chair would be added to the agenda. Adam Molzer reviewed agenda. The Commission accepted the agenda with this modification. DocuSign Envelope ID: D7B2FB01-EBD7-4732-A4C6-4ACB356D528C CDBG COMMISSION REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING 2/10/2021 – MINUTES Page 2 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION No public comment. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – January 13, 2021 Regular Meeting Olga Duvall moved to approve the minutes. Ethnie Treick seconded approval. Motion approved with roll call. Pat Hastings abstained. Passed unanimously. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Election of Officers • Olga Duvall nominated Josh Johnson to serve at Commission Chair for the remainder of 2021. Sara Maranowicz seconded the motion – unanimously approved. • Josh Johnson nominated Olga Duvall to serve at Commission Vice Chair for the remainder of 2021. Steve Backsen seconded the motion – unanimously approved. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. CDBG CV Round 2 Funding Beth Rosen Beth highlighted an error in the original funding recommendation packet. The initial estimated costs for non-congregate shelter were $155,900 and has been adjusted to $175,900 to reflect a change for residents moving to permanent supportive housing. A community-wide nonprofit application was deployed for Round 2 of the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Funds specific to the CDBG program. Funds must be used to benefit low-moderate income persons to the maximum extent feasible and are eligible as of January 1, 2021. The CDBG Commission is relying on guidance of staff for a prioritized slate of proposals, based on the existing social recovery policy priorities of the City and the eligible uses of funds. Funding recommendations from the Commission will go to City Council for final approval. In the event that requests exceeded available funds, staff developed an evaluation method to prioritize funding recommendations for eligible activities. No requests were received for childcare and remote learning supports. Recommendation for funding was broken down in two categories: 1. City Response Costs: Congregate shelter and non-congregate shelter programs. Total recommended costs were $196,080. 2. Public Service Response costs: Prioritized funding recommendations for existing nonprofit applications. Total recommended costs were $563,943. • Priority 1 Funding Recommendations: Staff recommended full funding for applicants in this category. Total recommended costs were $454,750 and included the DocuSign Envelope ID: D7B2FB01-EBD7-4732-A4C6-4ACB356D528C CDBG COMMISSION REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING 2/10/2021 – MINUTES Page 3 following applicants: - Neighbor to Neighbor – Rent Assistance - Homeward Alliance – Quarantine and Recovery site - Homeward Alliance – Inclement Weather Shelter (to accommodate the additional space for social distancing due to Covid-19). Pat Hastings asked why Salvation Army did not receive funding while categorized as priority 1. Beth responded it was because their request was a duplication of services (rent assistance provided by Neighbor to Neighbor). • Priority 2 Funding Recommendations: Staff recommended partial funding for a total of $109,193 to the following organizations: - Meals on Wheels – Home delivered meals - Family Housing Network – Day Center - Catholic Charities – Mission Shelter • Unrecommended Funding: Total requested in this category was $84,000 and included the following organizations (and reasons). - Crossroads Safehouse (insufficient funding / not an identified priority) - Salvation Army (duplication of services) - Homeward Alliance (insufficient funding / not an identified priority) Of note, staff do not know when other stimulus funds will be available to municipalities. If an additional funding package is received, those funds would likely become available in June. Olga Duvall asked Beth to explain why utility and trash service are not an eligible expense in the Family Housing Network application. Beth explained that the City cannot reimburse, essentially ourselves, for a fee that the City charges – this removes any utility costs paid to the City of Fort Collins. The other difficulty is that FHN does not have a lease or written agreement with the church to cover these expenses. Sara Maranowicz asked how staff saw Neighbor to Neighbor’s request alongside their recent EHAP allocation of $3 million and how the team talked about the need for Homeward Alliance’s family navigator support, given it is overwhelming and difficult for families who are vulnerable to access the right support for emergency rental services. Beth shared that as a recipient to EHAP and CDBG funding, Neighbor to Neighbor will need to screen for eligibility of persons and cannot duplicate support. She explained that due to restrictions in funding eligibility and documentation, it is hard to tie a service like family navigator to COVID. This evaluation was similar to Crossroads Safehouse application. Sam Stoltz asked if there was a way for Crossroads Safehouse to document an increased DocuSign Envelope ID: D7B2FB01-EBD7-4732-A4C6-4ACB356D528C CDBG COMMISSION REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING 2/10/2021 – MINUTES Page 4 risk of COVID from homelessness caused by domestic violence. Beth explained that if Crossroads had applied for shelter specific services for clientele in order to expand services due to COVID for victims of domestic violence, it may have qualified. Staff are requesting the Commission to recommend funding of $760,023 across the priority need areas, as presented by staff. In addition, allowing for the flexibility to allocate any unspent funds for a like purpose. The recommendation will then go to City Council on March 2, with a note that the CDBG commission relied heavily on staff guidance to make these funding recommendations. Olga Duvall made a motion to approve the funding slate as proposed by the recovery policy team. Ethnie Treick seconded the motion – unanimously approved. b. Competitive Process Update Adam Molzer Housing and Human Service applications are due Friday, February 12 at 5pm. To-date proposals (based on pre-application / intent to apply) • Human Service – 45 proposals, $1.8million • Housing – 4 proposals, $2.2million Due to recent staff changes, Adam is evaluating capacity for binders vs. doing digitally through ZoomGrants. Adam will email a poll to get preferences from the commission. Overview of meetings in the coming months: • March 10 – Overview of housing projects • March 24 – Housing project presentations with the Affordable Housing Board • April 7 – Overview of Human Service projects and the Commission will identify questions to ask of applicants. More details about the protocol and process will be provided in the March / April meetings. He welcomes thoughts to better administer the process in the coming months. 8. LEARNING SERIES PRESENTATION Housing Strategic Plan Lindsay Ex - Sue Beck-Ferkiss – Meaghan Overton The Housing Strategic Plan team attended to request the CDBG Commission to make a recommendation for the plan going to City Council on February 16. Sue Beck-Ferkiss began with an overview of the Housing Strategic Plan process that started in 2020. Council has approved 26 strategies that is going into the final adoption draft. The new plan encompasses DocuSign Envelope ID: D7B2FB01-EBD7-4732-A4C6-4ACB356D528C CDBG COMMISSION REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING 2/10/2021 – MINUTES Page 5 the entire housing spectrum and carries over strategies from the previous affordable housing strategic plan and digs in on refining incentives and bringing new partnerships / funding sources. The team went through the 26 strategies that are included in the draft plan that Council will consider. Strategies are grouped in three categories based on timeframe of execution. Meaghan and Lindsay provided summaries of how these strategies and key outcomes advances the City’s housing priorities. The planning team has met with community members and groups for feedback. This has resulted in some changes made to the draft plan. Lindsay shared some of the comments received from community members and briefly introduced the implementation framework, highlighting the need for the plan to be adaptive and agile. Sue explained that the plan will be used by the Commission in decision making procedures. The purpose of the guiding principles should help with evaluating proposals that don’t fit neatly. Lindsay closed with an overview of the next steps of this plan through summer 2021. Commission members shared initial thoughts about their support of the plan. Josh started with voicing that there was a lot of information to review in a short timeframe. Other members felt the development of the plan was thorough, liked that the plan will evolve and adapt over time based on community needs, and felt comfortable to make a recommendation at this time. Ethnie asked if the 2040 end-goal is obtainable. The planning team provided more context, also included in the plan appendix, on how the City hopes to achieve the goal but challenges (such as funding) might affect the goal. Sam commented that he would like to see how the plan benefits historically disadvantaged populations over time (specifically in strategies 8 and 11). Olga Duvall motioned to approve that the CDBG Commission support the Housing Strategic Plan, both work completed and the ongoing work. Nick Verni-Lau seconded the motion – motion passed unanimously. Sara left the meeting and did not cast a vote. 9. COMMISSION MEMBER REPORTS None 10. STAFF REPORTS FY20 Q1 Invoice Payouts (Oct – Dec 2020): last month nearly $250,000 went to current grantees receiving program support and all appear to be on track to expense funding. Civic Center Master Plan Focus Groups: there is an opportunity for board / commission member representation to support a series of focus groups. The planning team would like 1- 2 members from identified boards / commissions to provide input on a vision to redevelop the downtown campus. Adam will email the information to the Commission. DocuSign Envelope ID: D7B2FB01-EBD7-4732-A4C6-4ACB356D528C CDBG COMMISSION REGULAR COMMISSION MEETING 2/10/2021 – MINUTES Page 6 Additional Stimulus Funding: It is anticipated that additional stimulus funding will be received later in the year and may require Commission support for funding recommendations. Board / Commission Restructure: The proposed new name of the CDBG commission is the Human Services and Housing Funding Board. Changes to boards and commissions across the City include member composition, names, appointments, and term limits. Several commissions will become boards. Nick asked why the City was changing the composition. Adam said the change reflects the desire for uniformity across the boards. Adam acknowledged that the new composition may not align well given the influence and authority CDBG has over millions of dollars. 11. OTHER BUSINESS Grantee Client Story Adam Molzer shared a brief impact story submitted by Ensight Skills Center in their recent quarterly report. 12. NEXT MEETING a. Wednesday, March 10, 2021 | 5:30pm | Remote/Online Via Zoom 13. ADJOURNMENT Josh Johnson adjourned meeting at 7:16 PM. Minutes were finalized and approved by the CDBG Commission on March 10, 2021 City of Fort Collins Staff Liaison: ____________________________________________ Adam Molzer DocuSign Envelope ID: D7B2FB01-EBD7-4732-A4C6-4ACB356D528C