Community Development Advisory Committee

CDAC MINUTES DECEMBER 13, 2010 4:00 P.M. ROOM 319 Members Present: Chairman Les King, Demo Angelopoulos, Red McKeon, Ed Derr, John Mathieu and Lynn Norris Others Present: Beverly Goulet, Gary Evans, Susan Goldman, Amy D’Amico from Habitat for Humanity, and Linda Lee Smith, Chairman Les King called the CDAC meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. Beverly Goulet introduced Gary Evans, the new CD Supervisor to the committee. Motion was made by Lynn Norris, seconded by John Mathieu to accept the minutes of the March 31, 2010 meeting. Motion carried unanimously. Motion was made by John Mathieu, seconded by Red McKeon to accept the minutes of the June 29, 2010 meeting. Motion carried unanimously. Old Business None New Business Habitat for Humanity – Change in Use A memo had been emailed to the committee members pertaining to Habitat for Humanity’s Change in Use for their PY 36 funds that were approved. Their original application was approved for funding to support the acquisition of two properties that were to be rehabilitated or newly constructed. While waiting for the approved funding allocation, they had an opportunity to acquire a property at a very good price, and they used leverage funds to acquire it. Habitat for Humanity sent a letter to the C.D. office requesting an amendment to their approved allocation to use $10,000-$15,000 of their funds to reflect for hard costs related to infrastructure, site clearance, site development and to tie into the Department of Public Utilities instead of for acquisition. One question raised – was the property on Fairmount Street a buildable site? The property is .2 acres with a very small frontage and with setbacks they weren’t sure. The Habitat for Humanity Construction Manager will be checking with zoning if the property meets the requirements. If the property does not meet the requirements they could go to the Zoning Board of Appeals and ask for exceptions. The recommendation was to approve the change due to the fact that the end use of the funded project is still the same. In addition, HUD finds favor when projects using CDBG funds leverage other existing funding sources. This request is in line with CDBG requirements. Lynn Norris made a motion to accept the revised Habitat for Humanity allocation for funding with the contingency that it be approved to be built on through the zoning process for approved residential building in accordance with the letter dated July 23, 2010 using the $10,000 - $15,000. John Mathieu seconded. The motion carried unanimously. Application Process Gary Evans spoke to the committee on the Social Service and Construction applications for PY 37 and asked for any changes that need to be made to the application. He handed out information for the committee members entitled Things to Consider When Reviewing the Existing Application Form with definitions for inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes. The conversation stressed the need for applicants to understand and define true outcomes – changes in behavior, attitude, circumstance, knowledge and skills. The committee members discussed other changes they would like to see on the application. They have in the past had concerns and have asked for finance information from the organizations applying for funds, which is very important. Also whether the funding they are looking for is for a pre-existing agency that is offering duplication of services. They also would like to see partnering of different agencies and a question on the application asking “where does your application fit in to the objectives of the 5 Year ConPlan. There was some discussion on having a pre-application workshop for those that want to put in an application with a meeting to discuss any new changes in the application. It could also help them to define and write their application. It would give Gary Evans a chance to talk about the need to define and produce measurable outcomes. Chairperson Les King will take all the information from the committee members until December 25th on their input and changes to the Social Service and Construction Applications. At the January meeting they can review and discuss all changes to be made on the applications and vote on it. Gary Evans told the committee that there is a big push from HUD to measure Section 3 Business hiring. To insure that mostly construction contractors but also non-construction contracts are looking to impact the lives of the local residents with a main focus on low to moderate income individuals with helping with employment and training. It also pushes contractors to consider hiring and retaining individuals who are lower income into employable jobs where they have to increase their skill level and get training. There will be a Section 3 Plan and documents attached to the PY 37 application. Contractors don’t need to be Section 3 but they need to agree to hire Section 3 low to moderate-income workers when possible. For future discussion at the next meeting January set up the calendar with all CDAC meetings and public hearings. There will be one public hearing in the evening. The Final ConPlan went out in mid July and approved by HUD. Gary Evans will put the approved ConPlan on the City’s website. Linda Lee Smith will bring a copy to the meetings for referencing. There was recapture of funding for Reliance House on Penobscot Street. The property was sold to CIL and they didn’t want to use C.D. funding because they would have to use Davis Bacon wage rates. They had other funding of their own. Yes there was a letter sent to Reliance House and they had to answer by December 2010. A letter will be sent to them and signed and that they understand. The next meeting will be Monday, January 10, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. Motion was made by Lynn Norris, seconded by John Mathieu to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The CDAC meeting ended at 4:55 p.m.