City Council

October 1 6, 2020 A Special Meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 5:00 p.m. on the 16th day of October, 2020, at the Public Safety Building located at 500 Quincy Street in Fairmont, West Virginia. Mayor Merrifield called the meeting to order. Councilmembers present were: Second District Frank G. Yann Fourth District Kenneth (Brad) Merrifield Fifth District Barry H. Bledsoe Sixth District Dora Kay Grubb (by phone) Seventh District Philip R. (Phil) Mason Eighth District Thomas (Tom) Mainella (by phone) Ninth District Donna M. Blood Absent: First District Joshua D. (Josh) Rice Third District Karl (David) Kennedy Also present were: City Manager Valerie A. Means (by phone) City Clerk Janet L. Keller Program Manager Alex Petry United Way Representative Emily Swain The Mayor noted that the purpose of this special meeting is for Council to get informed about the CDBG grant to be submitted by the City of Fairmont on behalf of the United Way. PUBLIC HEARINGS IN RE: A PUBLIC HEARING FOR PURPOSES OF OBTAINING THE VIEWS AND PROPOSALS OF CITIZENS REGARDING COMMUNITY AND HOUSING NEEDS INCLUDING THE NEEDS OF LOW OR MODERATE-INCOME PERSONS FOR PURPOSES OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT ’S PROPOSED APPLICATION FOR A CDBG CORONA VIRUS RESPONSE (CDBG-CV1) GRANT Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on October 9, 2020, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on obtaining the views and proposals of citizens regarding community and housing needs including the needs of low or moderate income persons for purposes of the City of Fairmont’s proposed application for a CDBG Coronavirus Response Grant. 1 The Mayor asked if anyone present desired to speak to the proposed ordinance. EMILY SWAIN, on behalf of the United Way, stated that they have worked through the Covid-19 Pandemic with community members on multiple projects and multiple areas of need and one thing they have found is that there is a continued need and will be a continued need for rentals, utility assistance, and mortgage assistance. She went on to say that the Cares Act that was passed by the Congress earlier in the year allows for some community development block grant money to come to non-entitlement cities which is what Fairmont is and through the State Development Office, they are asking the City of Fairmont to apply for CDBG-CV1 funds for a public service project to create the Fairmont Family Relief Fund which will provide direct support to families within the city limits of the City of Fairmont to prevent eviction, including rent, mortgage and utility assistance. Families must be considered low income based on high metrics for income and family size and have proof of income for eligibility. They will also have to show proof of financial hardship due to Covid-19. We would have to have proof that their income financial issues are due to Covid-19. She went on to say that there are several entitlement cities in the state that are already doing this and Parkersburg is already doing this which is what they have modeled our program off of. Ms. Swain said that the total application budget will be $126,000 and is broken down as follows: Budget: $100,000 – Direct Service Costs – These will be managed by United Way MTC and paid directly to service providers (landlords/mortgage holders/utility companies). $20,000 – Staffing – This will go to United Way MTC to hire part-time program staff $6,000 – Administrative Fee – The City of Fairmont will receive the administrative dollars. Mayor Merrifield asked if there is a limit per person or how far back can they go. Ms. Swain replied that the CARES dollars can be extended from January 1, 2020 and there is a $2,000 limit per family and there is income guidelines to follow. She noted that they will also have to show proof of residency that they are in the City of Fairmont. The Mayor asked what impact this will have or is it just a drop in the bucket. Ms. Swain said that it certainly will make an impact. She said that a lot of agencies have a smaller cap than that but that is why we made the cap a little larger because we know people have mortgages and utilities. She explained that they wanted to make sure it is as easy and streamlined for clients as it possibly can be. She also mentioned that it can be stacked with other assistance that they are getting but it won’t duplicate benefits. Councilmember Mason said the client will apply and then the money from the United Way will go to the utility or the mortgage holder. 2 Ms. Swain said that was correct. She said there will never be cash in hand, it will only be paid on their behalf to the service provider or lien holder. Councilmember Yann asked if they can apply for gas, electric and mortgage. Ms. Swain said they can apply for all three but it would go by order of greatest need. The goal is to prevent homelessness so if their rent is behind and if it is a private landlord that doesn’t have a payment plan, then they would hit that first need first and put the most money toward that and if they were still under that cap, then it could be applied to the next need. The greatest need would always be the one that is captured first. She said $2,000 per family could really get someone back to even and be able to move forward. The Mayor said that it would be nice if some people would work with the utility companies but that would have to be done on a larger scale. Ms. Swain said that they have facilitated a relationship between Mon Power and WV Coalition and homelessness so we have a direct contact that we have given them that we can work with that may be able to negotiate some of those prices. Councilmember Bledsoe asked if they had anything that would protect landlords. Ms. Swain said that they would certainly have those conversations and get assurances from the landlords that we are not throwing money into the wind. Councilmember Blood said that it sounds like a great program. The Mayor said that Council appreciates the fact that the United Way is involved in it and everything that they do for the community. He said that a lot of people would be hard-pressed to survive without assistance and their work is well appreciated. There being no one else to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 5:15 p.m. The Mayor announced that the next public hearing will be held at the special Council meeting on Thursday, October 22nd, at 5:00 p.m. and once we get through that portion, a resolution will be on the October 27th agenda for Council to vote on the resolution to support this grant application. Alex Petry said that they will have the completed application that everyone can take a look at for the next meeting. He said that the City of Fairmont will be administering the records and the funds. He explained that the money will come to the City and the United Way will request it from the City. The United Way will report everything that they are doing to the City on a monthly basis. ADJOURNMENT 3 The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember Bledsoe moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Blood. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 5:15 p.m. 4