Community Development Advisory Committee

CDAC MINUTES DELIBERATIONS MAY 10, 2010 3:00 P.M. ROOM 335 Members Present: Chairman Les King, Lynn Norris, Demo Angelopoulos, Red McKeon, and Ed Derr Others Present: Beverly Goulet, Susan Goldman, Linda Lee Smith Chairman Les King called the public hearing to order at 3:07 p.m. John Mathieu was away on vacation but emailed his recommendations to the committee. The committee will take his recommendations into consideration. This year because of the state of the economy they didn’t want budget line items and duplication of services. They wanted to help people with basic needs. The total Public/Social Service Requests received totaled $484,042 and the maximum eligible is $217,000. The Construction Projects totaled $828,182 requests, and the Community Development/Administration totaled $218,000; and CD/Rehabilitation Program $300,000. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Red McKeon to approve $218,200 for CD Administration. All were in favor. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Lynn Norris not to fund $10,000 to the Thames Valley Music School. All were in favor. A motion was made by Red McKeon and seconded by Lynn Norris to fund the Norwich Adult Education ESL Class for $15,000. Motion carried with Ed Derr recusing himself because he works for the Norwich Public Schools. A motion was made by Lynn Norris and seconded by Red McKeon not to fund the CT Legal Services, Inc. for $20,000. Motion carried unanimously. They have current grants and foundations of $3.7 million. A motion was made by Lynn Norris made a motion and seconded by Demo Angelopoulos to fund the NHS/Food Pantry for $10,000. All were in favor. There were other organizations that also wanted to administer food pantries. The committee would like to see all of the food pantries under the NHS umbrella and purchase their items together in order to take advantage of bulk rate pricing. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Lynn Norris to fund the NHS/Hospitality Center for $29,500; and if they have to adjust this amount because of other needs more relevant they could do so. All were in favor. This program was funded last year. Cold New England weather makes this program a necessity. The CDAC was also concerned about it being a line item. The Connecticut Coalition on Homelessness awarded the Community Care Team as a model for the State. The committee would like a copy of a text report with statistics on how many people were served and how much money they’ve done. A motion was made by Lynn Norris and seconded by Ed Derr to fund the Supportive Housing Program for $15,000. All were in favor. The committee wanted to focus on basic needs of food and shelter. This program keeps people in housing and is a preventive measure to the Norwich Hospitality Center. A motion was made by Lynn Norris and seconded by Red McKeon to fund the NHS Childcare Assistance Program for $15,000. All were in favor. A motion was made by Lynn Norris and seconded by Demo Angelopoulos not to fund Reliance House Scholarship for $7,500. All were in favor. This is duplication of services. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Lynn Norris not to fund the Katie Blair House for $10,000. All were in favor. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Lynn Norris not to fund the TVCCA Shelter for Homeless Client Rental Assistance for $30,000. All were in favor. This is duplication of services but they did receive funds from PY 35 last year. This would have only helped ten families with $3,200 - $3,600 per family. A motion was made by Red McKeon and seconded by Demo Angelopoulos to fund the Norwich Recreation Summer Day Camp Scholarships for $15,000. Motion carried unanimously. Lynn Norris briefly left the meeting. They are requesting $25,000. The total number of scholarships would be reduced but the committee could come back to give more funding later in the deliberations if there was more funding available. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Ed Derr to fund the NAACP for $7,000. Motion carried unanimously. This funding goes directly to program and services. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Red McKeon not to fund the Martin House for $6,889.00. All were in favor. They had approved funding to the NHS/Food Pantry and this was another duplication request similar to NHS pantry and this would only help 12 residents. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Red McKeon to fund the Women’s Center $5,000. All were in favor. The total amount they were requesting was $15,000. This $5,000 would at least help with the court advocate services. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Red McKeon not to fund Big Brothers/Big Sisters for $4,000. All were in favor. With the funding levels and all the PY 36 requests received discussion was not to fund the mentoring program, and they were not funded last year. Lynn Norris returned. A motion was made by Demo Angelopoulos and seconded by Red McKeon not to fund the NPS/Uniform Assistance for Homeless Families for $12,500. All were in favor including Lynn Norris, and Ed Derr recusing himself because he is employed by the Norwich Public Schools. This is a very important program to put children in uniforms but not at this time. A motion was made by Lynn Norris and seconded by Demo Angelopoulos to approve $10,000, not the $12,000 requested to fund Literacy Volunteers. All were in favor. This program works in conjunction with the Adult Ed ESOL Program and not a duplication of services. It will provide services at different times and places, and it will also provide training for high school students. A motion was made by Red McKeon and seconded by Lynn Norris not to fund the UCFS for $30,000. Motion carried unanimously. There have been large budget cuts this year on the State and Federal levels and their entire funding is for salaries. A motion was made by Les King and seconded by Demo Angelopoulos not to fund the NHS Senior Center for $50,400 and not to fund the Youth and Family $107,616. Motion was carried unanimously. The CDAC decided not to fund these two applications because the City plans on cutting these paid positions. This was a very difficult decision for the committee to make especially for the Senior Center and the Youth and Family Program these are two items that they should be looking at but they need to stand behind their decision of not setting a precedent. A motion was made by Lynn Norris and seconded by Demo Angelopoulos to fund NHS/Norwich Works for $51,000. All were in favor. The CDAC would like them to seek other EMT training that would be more reasonably priced. They have a total of $44,500 left for Social Services and the maximum amount of is $217,000. They will talk about this at the next meeting May 17, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. For the next deliberations meeting it was suggested to prioritize the construction applications using a ranking system like they had in the previous year. The CDAC compared their allocations with John Mathieu’s recommendations that he had submitted while being away on vacation. For next year they are going to want an update on all the organizations funded the previous year. A form could be done with how many have been served. A motion was made by Red McKeon and seconded by Demo Angelopoulos to adjourn at 5:46 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.