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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunity Development Block Grant Commission - Minutes - 09/10/20151 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES 321 Maple Street, Fort Collins SEPTEMBER 10, 2015, 6:00PM COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Margaret Long (Chair) Anita Basham Steve Backsen Taylor Dunn COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Holly Carrol, Stephanie Crookston, Catherine Costlow STAFF PRESENT: Sharon Thomas OTHERS PRESENT: Pete Iengo, Utilities Program Coordinator The meeting was called to order by Chair, Margaret Long at 6:01 pm without a quorum present. PUBLIC COMMENT: None APROVAL OF MINUTES: Minutes were discussed from the August meeting and minor changes were made. A quorum was not present so a vote was not taken. DISCUSSION WITH PETE IENGO WITH FORT COLLINS UTILITIES Sharon Thomas introduced Pete Iengo to discuss the Low-Income Utilities Energy Assistance program which is planned at this time to go before City Council in the spring of 2016. The program will provide assistance to low-income households at 50% Area Median Income (AMI) or below. It is recognized that that there are two types of assistance needed; temporary assistance (medical emergency, car problems, etc.) and on-going assistance. People with temporary assistance needs would be able to get assistance any time during the year. Those with on-going needs will qualify once a year during the rebate qualification period from August to October. Currently about 12% of customers, or 7500 households, could benefit from this program. Those earning 50% AMI and below pay twice as much of their income on electricity as those earning 100% AMI and above. Households earning 30% AMI would be eligible to receive a 50% reduction on their electric rate and those earning 50% AMI would be eligible to receive a 35% reduction. Households will be able to apply for energy assistance through the City’s rebate program. This program is established in the finance department. The hope is this will keep administrative costs down. Hopefully new employees will not need to be hired to handle the extra workload. Eligible households will be required to qualify every year. 2 Concerns were raised that households receiving assistance might get used to the lower rates and will not be as concerned with conserving electricity. Iengo noted that there will likely be an educational component with the program and monitoring of usage is possible. CDBG COMMISSION VACANCIES AND TERM EXPIRATIONS Sharon Thomas noted that there will be five total vacancies on the CDBG Commission at the end of 2015. Catherine Costlow will be term limited after serving two four-year terms. Margaret Long and Anita Basham will be completing their first four-year term and will need to re-apply to remain on the Commission. The other vacancies occurred when Kristin Stephens was voted in as a City Councilmember and Jamaal Curry resigned his position when he moved out of the City limits. GRANTEE TRAINING Sharon Thomas shared information from the Grantee Training – training given to all FY2015 grantees. During the training the nonprofit agency participants were asked for feedback regarding how the Competitive Process was conducted. Most responses were very favorable. The comments of note were: • Would like site visits to nonprofits by Commission members • Transparency in funding decisions by the Commission (scoresheet/rating system) • Balance presentations with questions • Agencies would like questions ahead of time • Would like to have information about each Commission member Thomas agreed to provide short biographies of each Commission member to applicants in the 2016 Competitive Process. The Commission wanted to visit agencies this fall but decided to try for the spring after new Commission members have been appointed. Although there is a mechanism to provide questions to applicants in advance of their presentations many questions come up during the presentations and can’t be given ahead of time. STAFF REPORTS & PROGRAM UPDATES Sharon Thomas reported on the It’s On Us Campaign and shared the requested funding information provided by United Way. The requested three year history was not included with the information received. Thomas shared the responses by SERVE 6.8 to the audit report written by the City. OTHER Steve Backsen discussed the status of the letter written by the Commission to Council concerning the need for more funding for the human service agencies. He will meet with Kristin Stephens to see what more can be done. 3 Anita Basham shared that the Affordable Housing Strategic Plan (AHSP) is finished and will be going to Council in early October. The five funding priorities will give the Commission guidance for making housing funding decisions. Sharon Thomas added that a question can be added to the housing application in the spring that asks how a proposal aligns with the new AHSP. ADJOURNMENT Steve Backsen made a motioned to adjourn. Anita Basham seconded. The motion passed unanimously without a quorum. The meeting was adjourned at 7:52 pm. The next meeting is Thursday, October 8 at 6pm.