Citizens Advisory Committee

CITY OF MIDDLETOWN CITIZENS’ ADVISORY COMMITTEE – Meeting via WebEx Minutes – January 20, 2021 6:00 p.m. Committee Members: Attendance: Staff Member: R. Pelletier, Chairman Present Lynda MacPherson R. Bantum M. Belyea Present H. Cushing Present G. Daley Present M. Fallon Present G. Faulkner Present Mayor Ben Florsheim S. Fulton Present J. Middleton Present S. Owens B. Peterson J. Rumberger Present L. Salafia Present C. Smith Present V. Szynkowicz Present A. Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 6:12 p.m. B. Public Comment–No members of the public. C. Update on CARES Act Grant Awards– Ms. MacPherson updated the committee on the approved CDBG Cares Act Grants awarded to small businesses. D. Update on 2020 CDBG Program Year – Ms. MacPherson advised the committee that HUD had miscalculated the award amounts to all grantees. This caused a very long delay in HUD providing the City with a funding agreement for the 2020 program year. The City was not allowed to send any contracts out to awarded subrecipients until this funding agreement was received. HUD sent the funding agreement on January 7, 2021. The contracts have been sent to the subrecipients. Once the contracts are signed by the subrecipients, they must go through the routing process at city hall which may take up to three weeks. This may cause issues with the subrecipients because they have a very short time period to perform the work specified in the contract. The committee may need to vote on extensions to the deadline date of June 30, 2021 if the subrecipients could not perform the work due to receiving the contract so much later. E. Withdrawal of grant award to Columbus House-Lead Paint Removal Project –Ms. MacPherson advised the committee that Columbus House was unable to perform the work that had been awarded to them in the amount of $62,212.60 to perform lead abatement. Columbus House was encouraged to apply during the 2021 application process for this project. M. Belyea questioned the safety of the property if lead was present. Columbus House will be contacted for the report they received on the work that needed to be done. G. Adjourn –It was unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting at 6:23 p.m. Lynda MacPherson Community Development Specialist, Planning, Conservation & Development