Taunton Redevelopment Authority

TAUNTON REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING MINUTES February 23, 2022 at 4 pm Taunton City Hall, 15 Summer Street, Taunton Silver City Conference Room, 2nd floor Members Present: Chris Coute Ed Correira Larry Silvia Jeff Pagliuca William Roth, OECD/TRA Ex. Director was also in attendance. Dennis Ackerman was also in attendance. Call to Order at 4:04 pm: A quorum was present. Item number 1 on the agenda was to review and approve minutes of January 25, 2022. Mr. Coute motioned to approve the minutes and was seconded by Mr. Silvia. There were no corrections. Motion passed unanimously. Item number 2 was Financial Update Mr. Roth reviewed the balances in the two accounts, Bristol County Savings (checking Account) - $35,019.83 and Taunton Federal Credit Union (savings Account) - $82,037.55. There were no expenses paid in the last month. Mr. Roth presented an email estimate for $1 million dollars Directors & Officers Liability coverage. The estimate is between $800 - $1,000. Discussion on insurance needs occurred. Mr. Correira requested to get a quote on a $2 million dollar policy and to also check with Walker Insurance Agency as well. Item number 3 Discussion on Whittenton URP. Mr. Roth indicated that the RFP was advertised on February 16, 2022 and would close on March 16, 2022. Mr. Ackerman presented his review of URP’s for several Redevelopment Authorities that had completed URP’s in the last few years. He indicated that he downloaded them and presented printouts of the cover sheets, but could provide the digital files. He also discussed how he reached out to the Dukakis Center about the City’s URP RFP and he hope they would bid on it because being an educational institution the City might get a better price. TRA – February 23, 2022 Meeting Minutes Mr. Roth indicated that as of the date of the meeting 41 Companies or individuals had downloaded the RFP. Mr. Roth reviewed the list. Mr. Ackerman also reported to the TRA that he had met with Mr. Roth and OECD staff and reviewed the various grants that OECD has applied for. He informed the TRA that Mr. Roth and OECD staff have done an excellent job in getting grants and was impressed with the knowledge they had on what was out there and how to get them. Item number 4: Update on hiring legal council Mr. Coute indicated that he reached out to Jeanne Quinn and she was not interested. He also reached out to Ed Brennan who was interested. Mr. Coute recommended that the TRA hire Mr. Brennan. Mr. Roth recommended that since the TRA is a public entity that they should at a minimum get a second proposal to compare to what Mr. Brennan would propose. The TRA agreed that they should get two proposals and ask Mr. Roth to get a second proposal from Bob Treano who has represented the TRA in the past. Item number 5: Discussion on Consulting Contract for Mr. Ackerman Mr. Roth informed the TRA that he had forwarded the draft contract to the City’s Law Department for review. Mr. Coute indicated that he met with the Law Department and a final draft had been prepared. Mr. Ackerman indicated that he had reviewed it and there were several blanks left to be filled in and presented a copy with the blanks filled in by hand. Mr. Roth indicated that he would take Mr. Ackerman’s hand written copy and add it to the document so it can be formally approved. Mr. Coute motioned to approve the contract and was seconded by Mr. Silvia. Motion passed, 4 in favor. Item #6: Other Business Mr. Coute requested that Mr. Ackerman research into other opportunities for the TRA to look into doing while the URP planning process is going on. He mentioned an idea brought up by Mr. Roth about taking over tax title properties from the City and working on them to make them developable and get them back on the tax rolls. Mr. Ackerman mentioned that maybe he and Mr. Roth should go meet with other Redevelopment Authorities. TRA – February 23, 2022 Meeting Minutes Mr. Coute felt that he should call them or meet on Zoom and discuss what they as Redevelopment Authorities do outside of an Urban Renewal Plan. Mr. Ackerman mentioned that maybe the TRA should look at how Community Development HUD fund could assist with redevelopment. Mr. Roth indicated that OECD runs the Community Development HUD funds and that since he was Executive Director of both OECD and TRA that was currently being done. Mr. Correira indicated that he wanted Mr. Ackerman looking into other funding opportunities and if there were other projects the TRA could do, such as the vacant tax title land project OECD had suggested. Item number 6: Next meeting date Mr. Roth indicated that the TRA meeting moving forward would be the fourth Wednesday of the month at 4 pm. He mentioned that a meeting invite had been sent out for the entire year. Therefore the next meeting would be March 23, 2022 at 4 pm. A motion was then made and approved to adjourn the meeting at 4:53 pm. Respectfully submitted, William D. Roth, Jr., Executive Director, TRA TRA – February 23, 2022 Meeting Minutes