Real Estate Committee

CITY OF MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. Real Estate Committee – 2024 City Hall, One Roosevelt Square Mount Vernon, NY 10550 REAL ESTATE COMMITTEE Cathlin B. Gleason – City Council President Dr. Darren Morton – Chair Stephanie Vanderpool – Co-Chair Antoinette Anderson - Secretary Meeting Minutes Friday, March 29, 2024, at 9:30am (In-person and via Zoom) Mayor’s Conference Room – City Hall, 1 Roosevelt Square, Mt. Vernon, NY 1. Call of the Meeting: 9:39am 2. Roll Call Present: Chair, Darren Morton Co-Chair, Stephanie Vanderpool Secretary, Antoinette Anderson Absent: Council President Cathlin Gleason Additional Participants: Brian Johnson, Corporate Counsel Joyce Brown, Land Use Counsel 3. Guests: Esther Osimeh – 331 South 2 Ave nd Cinthia Ibarra – 224 N. 7th Ave Vianey Ibarra – 224 N. 7th Ave Jorge Ibarra – 224 N. 7th Ave Annette Ibarra – 224 N. 7th Ave Anyssa Biggs & Madison Biggs – interested in 16 Glen Avenue 4. Approval of February 23, 2024 Minutes: Motion to approve by Co-Chair Vanderpool, seconded by Chair Morton. All were in favor – the motioned passed. 5. Correspondences: Were read for the record. 6. Guests Comments/Open Floor: a. Ester Osimeh – has an offer on 331 South 2nd Avenue. Wanted updates on the process. b. Cinthia Ibarra and family – gave statement on 224 N. 7th Avenue. The family has lived and rented this city-owned property for almost 20 years. The family made an offer on the property in 2018 and provided a deposit to the former Comptroller. 7. Comments: The Chair explained that the Real Estate Committee does not have the authority to accept offers on city-owned property, rather they must make recommendations to the City Council. The City Council, during their public session, will vote to approve the sale of the property. Following the approval, the Comptroller along with City Counsel, can enter into agreement and receive  deposits and execute deeds for the property. This process was not taken in prior years and has therefore provided an extra layer of research to the process. It is inevitable that individuals who previously made Best and Final Offers and have provided deposits will be asked to submit updated documents to properly document the process. In addition, the goal is to provide individuals who were interested in properties, as well as those who are living in properties, be able to submit their Best and Final Offers. The Chair reviewed the steps to Best and Final Offer process done August 2023 process, the deadline for submission, and the Putting Assets to Work initiative. With the final report from the Putting Assets to Work initiative, a plan will be put in place to move forward to finalize the process. The Chair provided information on his research done for 224 N. 7th Avenue and past meetings with the family. At the conclusion of the research, it was determined that the proper process of presenting the City Council with the recommendation to sell the property was not done by the previous Comptroller. A conversation about rent that was paid/not paid by the family was had, as well as who received and documented the offer deposit made by the family. The previous Comptroller did not issue a lease for this property which would have enable to city to collect taxes. The next steps for the family to provide updated information and Best and Final offer were discussed. The family’s statement was submitted for the records. 8. Old/New Business The committee will go through the file containing offers put on properties, conduct reviewed of the funds expended by the city to upkeep and manage the properties to date, use the recent appraisal and current market rate as a guide to determine an acceptable offer, while keeping in mind the recent Supreme court ruling for municipalities. Properties with occupant and budding properties will be included in the review. 9. The Co-Chair motion to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by the Chair. All Ayes, the meeting was adjourned at 10:13a NEXT MEETING: Friday, April 26, 2024