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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunity Development Block Grant Commission - Minutes - 12/10/20151 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES 1221 Green Street, Fort Collins December 10, 2015, 6:00pm COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Margaret Long – Chair Holly Carroll – Vice-Chair Anita Basham Catherine Costlow Steve Backsen Taylor Dunn COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Stephanie Crookston STAFF PRESENT: Sharon Thomas – Staff Liaison Tina Hopkins-Dukes – Minute Taker OTHERS PRESENT: John Carnahan (Public) The meeting was called to order by Chair, Margaret Long at 6:00 pm. PUBLIC COMMENT: John Carnahan introduced himself as a resident of Fort Collins and the appointed representative for Citizen Planners of Fort Collins. An inactive nonprofit organization organized in 1989 with 2,000 dues paying members and 3,000 non-dues paying members. They plan to reactivate in 2016 and focus on making Fort Collins 100% sustainable by 2025. One of their goals is Carbon Neutral Construction. Their goals focus around community centered projects and empowering citizens of Fort Collins to get involved in their local government. They plan to attend and video record every board and commission meeting/work session. The recorded meetings will be posted biweekly as podcasts for those that could not attend and for future reference. Citizen Planners will be looking at ways to fundraise and will be present at future CDBG Commission meetings. APROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were revisited from the September meeting but no changes were made. Steve Backsen made motion to approve and Catherine Costlow seconded the motion. Minutes were unanimously accepted. MURPHY CENTER UPDATE: 2 The Bohemian Foundation became the building owner of the Sister Mary Alice Murphy Center for Hope (Murphy Center) as of December 6, 2015 and has agreed to pay off loans to the City of Fort Collins and Loveland. Approximately $75,000 will be returned to the City for allocation during the FY2016 Competitive Process. A coalition of four nonprofit organizations will assume the day-to-day operations (Catholic Charities, Homeless Gear, Neighbor to Neighbor and SummitStone) with Homeless Gear serve as the center’s managing partner. The FY2015 grant allocated to Serve 6.8 for partial salaries of Resource Specialists has been assigned to Homeless Gear. They have hired a Resource Specialist to work with the guests of the Murphy Center. Homeless Gear will assume the remaining dollars on the grant after final invoices have been paid to SERVE 6.8. COMMISSION MEMBER UPDATES/CELEBRATION: Chair, Margaret Long thanked Costlow for her eight years of service and presented her with a gift given to her by Council. Sharon Thomas presented a gift to Costlow for her years of service and to Long and Anita Basham for completing their first term. Thomas reported that there were five positions open. Long and Basham were reappointed after completing one term. Amy Dondale and Deb Westcott will fill two open positions that run through 2017 and Annette Zacharias will be replacing Costlow fulfilling a full four year term. STAFF REPORTS & PROGRAM UPDATES: Thomas made changes to the grantee invoices which include requesting updates about the nonprofit organizations and client stories. Some stories will be posted on the Social Sustainability website throughout the year. Thomas provided some updates and stories to the Commission. OTHER: Backsen asked for an update regarding the request for additional funding. It was brought to the attention of Councilmember Kristin Stephens that the Competitive Process needs an additional $500,000 to fulfill the funding requests. He asked for suggestions on how to make more contacts with Councilmembers. Costlow suggested targeting each member’s district and attending the informal meetings by Councilmembers since the public will be in attendance. Backsen and Taylor Dunn will contact Mayor Troxell and Mayor Pro-tem Horak; Holly Carroll and Long will contact Councilmember Overbeck and Carroll and Basham will contact Councilmember Martinez. Long was interested in learning how Larimer County did on Colorado Gives Day, hoping it would help cover some of the $500,000 deficit. Carroll asked how this affects United Way funding. Long stated the trend of donors is to give directly to agencies and that United Way is looking at more ways to work collaboratively with the community impact model and hopefully creating more flexible funding. 3 Backsen requested to include United Way funding history and IRS form 990 to the Public Service application. Three years history broken down in percentages of administrative and program service costs. A question will also be added that asks applicants how their programs align with the Social Sustainability Strategic Plan. ADJOURNMENT: Long asked for a motion to adjourn, Carroll moved and Backsen seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 6:53 pm.