Land Bank Authority

Rome/Floyd Land Bank Authority Minutes Friday, February 3, 2023 8:30 AM Carnegie Building Training Room Committee Members Present: Others: Harry Brock Meredith Ulmer - City - Assistant City Manager J.R. Davis Thomas Goggans - City - City Manager’s Office Intern LaDonna Collins Dylan Nelson - City - Finance – Senior Accountant David Mathis Kevin Payne - County - Tax Commissioner Rob Ware Two guests Staff: Amanda Carter - City - Community Development - Rome/Floyd Land Bank Authority Manager Logan Drake - City - Community Development - Administrative Program Assistant Welcome and Call to order: Chairman David Mathis called the meeting to order at 8:33 AM. A quorum was established. Approval of Minutes: Mathis asked for any corrections to the January minutes. LaDonna Collins motioned to approve the minutes, which was seconded by Rob Ware. Motion carried. Financial Report: The financial report was distributed for review and presented by Dylan Nelson. The active status column has been added to the report and will be updated as needed. Nelson discussed active properties, the cash balance as of January 31st and the 2018-2022 YTD property taxes collected. Action Item: The LBA 2023 Work Plan draft was discussed at the previous board meeting. Copies were provided for people to review. Carter had asked for any suggestions for change or correction be emailed to her, but none were received. Only two changes were made, both of which concerned Committee meeting times. The Housing Development Committee will now meet at 8:30 on the first Tuesday of the month. The Program Development/Partnership Committee will now meet at 8:30 on the fourth Monday of the month. The Board acted as follows: • Ware motioned to approve the 2023 Work Plan, which was seconded by Harry Brock. Motion carried. Authority Updates: The deeds have been recorded for 1 Orchid Place (J14O113) and 7 Forsyth Street (J13J165). Carter and LBA Director Bekki Fox have been working with Attorney William Richardson on completing the agreements with Proactive Construction, LLC. Richardson has already sent staff the construction management agreement. Staff attested to said document’s quality and approved it. Carter brought a copy. Richardson is currently drafting the subcontractor agreement. Carter stated she would inform the Board when the document is finished. Building will soon begin on the lots located at 1 Orchid Place (J14O113) and 7 Forsyth Street (J13J165). Carter reminded everyone that the deal with Proactive Construction, LLC is cost plus a 5% flat fee. Proactive will manage the build. The LBA will order and pay vendors directly. LBA Staff and Finance have been conducting research on the LBA’s eligibility regarding tax exemption. The Land Bank Resource Guide has a section on revenue and taxation. Nelson stated they are still waiting on tax-exempt status concerning sales tax purposes but did discover an answer as to whether or not donations would be tax deductible. Nelson explained that the Rome Downtown Development Authority had recently researched this issue. They were told that donations are tax deductible if solely for public purposes (I.R.C. Section 71(c)(1)). Basic interpretation of this law is it must not be intended to benefit any particular individual. Any unrestricted gift, or gifts related to programs, activities or projects that the local government is currently participating in, would be made for "public purpose.” In summary, this should also cover the LBA. Carter also provided the text for Georgia Code Title 48. Revenue and Taxation § 48-4-108. Carter informed everyone that the LBA is moving forward with the donation of 303 E. 20th Street. Staff received confirmation from bankruptcy court that the owner did attend so the property will be allowed to be donated to the LBA. Richardson is going to first confirm that just the owner can sign off on the donation agreement. The home is in both the owner and his deceased wife’s name, but she did not have a written will. This donation should take place soon. As previously discussed, letters have been sent to other property owners of vacant lots on this street but there has been no feedback received. Carter provided other property updates. 312 Kingston Avenue (J13I105) recently closed on January 31 st. Proactive Construction, LLC will begin rehabilitation on the property soon. 0 St. Mary’s Avenue (J13W277) and 0 St. Mary’s Avenue (J13W283) closed as well. A neighbor to 29 Circle Drive (J16X049) has shown interest in acquiring said property. While the Board previously accepted an offer for 14 Morningside Drive (J14251), the would-be owner has since rescinded. The LBA sign is still in place and neighbors have expressed interest in submitting offers. An individual has also inquired about the property located at 123 Smith Street (J13O210). Updates will be given later. Authority Updates: Mathis and Brock stated that they recently inspected LBA-owned lots. On Nixon Avenue, they discovered that one of these lots had a considerable amount of garbage on a portion of the property. Discussion was had. All agreed that the lot needed to be cleaned. While the City could use heavy machinery to remove the bulk of the garbage, the smaller pieces would likely need to be picked up by hand. A proposed option was to have the LBA participate in the Clean-Up Day coordinated by Keep Rome-Floyd Beautiful. Carter stated she would make some calls to the City to see if they would help. Carter will look into whether the LBA needs to participate in the Clean-Up Day. Updates will be given later. Brock suggested the LBA look at the property located at 323 Branham Avenue (I14W495) as an example of a high- quality, aesthetically pleasing CHIP home build. Carter stated that progress is continuing to be made on both the new LBA and ePropertyPlus websites. Staff will soon go out and take photographs of LBA-owned lots to use for the new website. This will also allow the LBA to see the physical condition of everything again. These new photos will replace the stock photos. Carter showed everyone the draft website, which will go live soon. Other Business: The Housing Development Committee will plan to meet before the next regular meeting, which is scheduled for Friday, March 3, 2023, at 8:30 AM. There being no further business to discuss, Ware made a motion to adjourn the meeting, which was seconded by J.R. Davis. The meeting was adjourned at 8:59 AM. Respectfully submitted, Logan Drake, Recording Secretary