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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunity Development Block Grant Commission - Minutes - 06/08/2000CITY OF FORT COLLINS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT Meeting Minutes June 8, 2000 Phil Majerus, Chair Alfred Flores, Vice Chair Bill Bertschy, City Council Liaison The meeting of the Community Development Block Grant Commission was called to order by Chairman Phil Majerus, beginning at 6:30 p.m., at 281 North College, Fort Collins, Colorado. Board members present included: Chairman Phil Majerus, Terri Bryant, Brett Hill, Dennis Vanderheiden, Cheryl Zimlich. Absent: Alfred Flores (excused), Linda Coxen (excused), Violet Guthrie, William Steffes, Staff present: Ken Waido, Jackie Davis, Maurice Head, Julie Smith, and Melissa Bauer Islam. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Moved by Ms. Zimlich, seconded by Mr. Majerus: To approve the minutes of April 13, 2000. Motion carried unanimously. Moved by Ms. Bryant, seconded by Mr. Vanderheiden: To approve the minutes of May 11, 2000. Motion carried unanimously. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CONSOLIDATED PLAN Mr. Majerus complimented Staff on the quality and depth of the presentation. The plan contains comments that are complementary to the recommendations of the Commission. Moved by Ms. Zimlich, seconded by Mr. Hill: To recommend that Staff submit the Consolidated Plan to City Council as written. The following changes were discussed: To change Larimer County Mental Health to Larimer Center for Mental Health; Page 7 refers to comments that do not exist elsewhere in the report, and that reference will be deleted. Motion passed unanimously. FOLLOW-UP COMMENTS & REVIEW OF COMPETITIVE PROCESS A summary review was held over the provisions and parameters of the competitive process. Ms. Zimlich commented over the depth of description in the minutes produced from the last meetings. Mr. Waido made the follow comments concerning the year's second cycle: Proposals will available July 1 and are due niBl Community Developmeock Grant Commission • Meeting of June 8, 2000 Page 2 by August 24. Advertisements are being assembled. Staff will be synthesizing the experience gained from the last process to make the next process easier. The breadth of the financial data submissions was discussed. Mr. Majerus is in favor of receiving greater detail. Mr. Waido noted that on the public service side, the Commission will get a project -only budget in order to understand the costs of various financial elements of a project and how CDBG funds will be applied. Staff will encourage housing project developers, particularly not -for -profits, to attend the technical assistance seminar in July. Staff will be asking public service applicants for their audits in order to provide better balance -sheet detail for the Commission. If there are concerns, the information is sent to the City Controller for review. The Commission made positive comments about the form, its ease of use, the overall uniformity, and pleasing aesthetics. Concise narratives by applicants are preferred over florid descriptions. Mr. Waido encouraged further suggestions. The Affordable Housing Board is pleased with the process and application forms. Environmental review and environmental review advertisements will be included in the project costs. KING PROPERTY EXTENSION REQUEST Mr. Waido gave a presentation on the status of the King property. This item is carried over from the last meeting for a discussion on the ability to carry over the grant. $1,169,00 was granted in 1999. $1,073,00 is committed. $83,000 has been drawn. $758,000 is unspent so far between King ($358,000) and Windtrail ($400,000). Windtrail has started construction. King has consultants on -board who are analyzing alternatives for procedure on drainage issues. The process will take another three or four months. Until that is resolved, the King property cannot be started. If the Commission does not, by motion, extend funding for King, those funds will be reprogrammed. Mr. Waido noted that the developers will probably proceed with the project on this property. The question is when development will take place. Ms. Davis noted that the CDBG program can carry over one and one-half times the grant, and that level would not then be jeopardized. Moved by Mr. Hill, seconded by Mr. Vanderheiden: To extend funding to February 2001. Motion passed unanimously. Community Development Slock Grant Commission • Meeting of June 8, 2000 Page 3 CONCORD CAPITAL REDWOOD APARTMENTS Ms. Smith stated that the Commission's questions about progress have been extended to the project. The developers are committed to proceeding and are meeting with apparent frustrations. The issues are not insurmountable but need to be assiduously addressed. Ms. Smith will look at the results as they occur and ensure that the project is meeting with the intent of the Commission's funding. Mr. Majerus expressed appreciation with the update and stated that it seems as though the applicant is learning to work with the City and is forging ahead. Ms. Smith noted that issues still exist with neighboring residents, particularly concerning traffic. CDBG & HOME STATUS REPORTS Ms. Davis reviewed the report as distributed to the Commission, with the addition of the following salient points: Habitat for Humanity — The Faith Relations Group will build the house, starting in July, and taking about 23 weeks. A meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday to consolidate the divergent views and information being received about the projects and organization. Ms. Davis will report back on the presentations that are made. Commission members expressed their impressions of the information that had been received at prior meetings. Elderhaus — Discussion was held concerning the meaning of "complete." Ms. Davis updated on the tribulations experienced by this project. It is listed as 95% complete and should be done by September 30. Fort Collins Housing Authority's King property update — as acted upon by the Commission this evening. Down payment assistance — Committed 44 loans, closed 40, 18 remaining. She receives five or six applications per month. As of late, there has been increased interest expressed and increasing number of phone calls. SEPTEMBER 14T" MEETING CHANGE Mr. Waido: Staff had extremely tight deadlines in the spacing of meetings, particularly with City Council, to get materials ready for the Council study session and meeting for the Spring cycle. The September 14`h proposed meeting change Community DevelopmentBlock Grant Commission • Meeting of June 8, 2000 Page 4 to September 7" results from the logistics of delivering packets. August 24th is the deadline for submitting proposals; the packets were going to be delivered to Affordable Housing on September 7th; delivered to CDBG on September 141n Ms. Davis and Mr. Waido will be out of town that week. Therefore, they request to move the September 14" meeting to September 71n in order to distribute proposals to Affordable Housing at 4:00 p.m. and the CDBG Commission at 6:30 p.m., all on same day. If this proposal is not acceptable, Staff can mail the applications around that time frame, with the meeting occurring at its normal date, with Ms. Smith and Mr. Head in attendance. The function of the meeting is to distribute packets and hold a public hearing. The Commission was initially scheduled to hear presentations and Q&A on October 111n and October 12". Staff is asking to move those dates to October 4th and October 51n. That Q&A session is expected to be only one night. The Commission could then meet on October 111n rather than October 181n in order to allow more time to prepare materials for the October 24tn Council meeting. A question was raised if insufficient worthy projects were tendered to meet the dollars available. Under HOME, there is more flexibility, and money can be carried over. The City's Affordable Housing Fund has no special time limits or restrictions. Upon discussion the consensus of the Commission was to move the Question & Answer session to October 5`n and the meeting for recommendations on October 121n. The consensus of the Commission was to hold the September meeting on September 7`n Discussion was held concerning the dearth of items to be discussed in July. It was agreed that two weeks before the meeting, the proposed agenda would be presented to the Commission Chair, and a decision made at that time whether to have the meeting. OTHER BUSINESS An agenda item summary was distributed. Three items approved by Council relate to boards and commissions. Ordinance 2000-76 sets out Council liaison roles in greater detail. Ordinance 2000-77 defines the new attendance policy. Either the Chair or Staff should be notified in writing prior to the meeting for an absence to be excused. "In writing" includes e-mail. Three consecutive absences or four absences in Community Development lock Grant Commission • Meeting of June 8, 2000 Page 5 one year will result in removal. City Attorney has issued instructions that if quorum is not reached, Staff is not to attend. Staff does not plan to call Commission members to remind them of scheduled meetings. Ordinance 2000-78: Redefines terms. Terms ran from July to July. Now they will run to December 31. General discussion was held on the City's e-mail philosophies; the allocation of HOME and CDBG funds; and potential upcoming applicants. NEW BUSINESS Mr. Majerus noted there was a meeting that had been held with Mayor Martinez and other commission/committee chairs. The CDBG Commission has an opportunity to have a Web page to better inform the public. Mr. Waido noted that Advance Planning has a Web page with CDBG and HOME link. Further generalized discussion carried on and eventually faded. Upon motion by Ms. Zimlich, seconded by Mr. Hill, carried unanimously, the Commission meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.