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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHousing & Redevelopment Authority Minutes 08-28-2002MINUTES PLYMOUTH HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY August 28, 2002 PRESENT: Chair Susan Henderson, Commissioners Steve Ludovissie, Leon Michlitsch, Tim Bildsoe, and Sandy Hewitt ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Executive Director Anne Hurlburt, Housing Program Manager Jim Barnes, Support Services Manager Denise Hutt, HRA Specialist Tracy Jones, HRA Specialist Kristine Aritt, Office Support Representative Barb Peterson OTHERS PRESENT: Mayor Joy Tierney, Council Member Scott Harstad, Grace Management Representative Jodi Boedigheimer, Cookie Kulas, Barbara Brooks, Vivian Greeninger, Ed Goldsmith, Sandy Dockter and Ken Wendinger 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Henderson called the Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting to order August 28, 2002 at 7:03 p.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION by Commissioner Bildsoe, seconded by Commissioner Hewitt, recommending approval of the July 18, 2002 minutes. Vote. 5 Ayes. Motion approved unanimously. Housing Manager Barnes stated that two items will be added to the agenda; tax-exempt bonds for West Lutheran High School and Commissioner Hewitt requested a discussion regarding Plymouth Towne Square. 3. CONSENT AGENDA A. Plymouth Towne Square — Accept monthly housing reports. B. Stone Creek Village — Approve Cooperation Agreement and Initial Agreement to accept 13 MHOP" units. C. 2001 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) and Annual Citizens' Participation Meeting. MOTION by Commissioner Bildsoe, seconded by Commissioner Hewitt, approving the Consent Agenda items. Vote. 5 Ayes. Motion adopted unanimously. Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority August 28, 2002 Page 2 4. NEW BUSINESS 4A. Plymouth Towne Square Commissioner Hewitt stated that she had met with six residents from Plymouth Towne Square and they had concerns regarding the rent increase. She said they didn't seem to understand the rent recertification process. Commissioner Hewitt said these six residents represented the resident council. Housing Manager Barnes said the rent recertification process did not change from previous years. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer clarified that the six residents were not representing the council or the other residents. She said a few tenants are disgruntled because they received considerable rent increases due to a large amount of assets. Housing Manager Barnes said he and Director Hurlburt attended the resident meeting at Plymouth Towne Square and one item the residents brought up was Section 8. Housing Manager Barnes said the residents seemed to understand the process, but that staff would rather wait until we know if the vouchers are received before explaining the process in more depth. Director Hurlburt said some residents were worried that Section 8 would bring a bad element into Plymouth Towne Square. Director Hurlburt told the tenants that if Section 8 vouchers will be beneficial then they will use them at Plymouth Towne Square. Commissioner Hewitt felt the people she met with did not make negative comments regarding people who use Section 8 vouchers. She thinks they do need more explanation and Director Hurlburt stated that Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer has offered to sit down one on one with them to explain the program. Commissioner Hewitt said her preference would be to meet with them herself. Commissioner Hewitt said another concern of the residents was regarding the new management company. The residents felt that the staff does not spend enough time on site. Commissioner Hewitt said she felt the residents were led to believe that the owners would be on site more often. Director Hurlburt explained that they are going through an extensive process to transfer management from Walker to Grace and she feels Grace Management is meeting the expectations set for them. Chair Henderson said the first priority was expenses for the building and the services will be addressed at a later time. Commissioner Hewitt feels that they are missing out on services at this time. Housing Manager Barnes said that all services provided prior to Grace taking over are being done now. Commissioner Bildsoe asked if their concern was social things to do or social services, which could be provided by other sources. Commissioner Bildsoe suggested doing a survey to find out what these residents really want. Discussion was held regarding the services that could be provided. Mayor Joy Tierney said she feels one of the problems is the aging process of the residents and that we need to keep in mind it is an independent facility. Commissioner Bildsoe feels we should go the extra step and find out what the residents need is. Director Hurlburt said the residents should also be furnished information about the City and what it offers, especially at Plymouth Creek Center. Commissioner Bildsoe suggested taking a bus tour to Plymouth Creek Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority August 28, 2002 Page 3 Center. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer said that finances are not available for a lot of extra services. Chair Henderson suggested providing information in the Plymouth Towne Square newsletter regarding services, having a bus tour to Plymouth Creek Center and do a survey to find out what the residents want. A video was presented about Plymouth Towne Square, which was produced by Northwest Cable, and promoted the two bedroom openings. Commissioner Hewitt voiced another concern regarding caretakers being on site. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer said a problem occurred during a power outage when the residents were trying to contact the caretaker. She said the policy is that the caretakers are contacted by cell phone after hours and one of three caretakers is always on call. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer said the procedure for emergencies is in the resident handbook. Housing Manager Barnes said there are plans to update the resident handbook in the future. 4B. 2003 HRA PRELIMINARY BUDGET Housing Manager Barnes stated that the 2003 budget is being prepared at this time. The City Council has the overall authority to adopt the HRA's tax levy with the recommendation of the HRA. A budget study session was held last Monday, August 26th and another will be held on Sept. 3rd. He explained that the HRA budget includes three separate program budgets: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG); Section 8, which is funded entirely by federal dollars; and the HRA General Fund. CDBG is primarily funded by federal funds except for approximately $17,000 from the tax levy. The proposed 2003 tax levy is a total of $552,050. Additional revenues in the 2002 General Fund Budget included the Fox Forest annual payment of $30,000, $25,000 interest earnings and $40,000 from retained earnings for PTS. Housing Manager Barnes explained the main focus was to maintain a "status quo" for this year. In the CDBG budget, the main change reflects the expected income and expenditures from federal funds including repayment and carry-overs from previous years allocations. The large carry-over amount is due to a commitment the HRA made to the Stone Creek Village project. The property tax support for this budget includes a modest $176 increase in the tax levy. The employee training line item has been increased to $3,500 to send two new Housing Specialists to a training program offered through the National Development Council. Support Services Manager Denise Hutt explained the proposed changes to the Section 8 program. Staff proposes to increase the 24-hour per week Housing Eligibility Specialist position to 40 hours per week. She said 50 additional vouchers have been applied for from HUD and the proposed budget is presuming that we will be awarded at least 25 new vouchers. The cost to make this position full time will be approximately $17,122. Director Hurlburt said that even if we do not receive the extra vouchers we may still propose to make this change, as current federal revenues will cover the additional cost. Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority August 28, 2002 Page 4 In the HRA General Fund the increase is $13,451 or about 2.5%, which is primarily to cover cost of living increases. Housing Manager Barnes said we are budgeting $40,000 from the Plymouth Towne Square Reserve accounts to compensate for any shortfall we may have as a result of the rent structure change. Two handouts were passed out regarding the 2003 HRA Tax Levy and a summary on the impact of the City's tax levy that was provided to the Council on Monday evening. Director Hurlburt reviewed the two documents with the HRA Board. She indicated that the 2.5% increase in the City's budget was the lowest in over 10 years. In regard to the HRA tax levy, Director Hurlburt explained the calculation and impact on a home valued at $284,000 and $150,000. Housing Manager Barnes explained that Council Member Harstad is proposing to increase the HRA's tax levy to the maximum allowed by law and use the additional tax revenues to cover the un -met need of the HRA's current programs. Housing Manager Barnes explained the memo included in the packet regarding information on the HRA program waiting lists. He cautioned that we have not marketed these programs on any large scale and waiting lists for the Section 8 program and Plymouth Towne Square are not opened very often because we don't have the funds to cover them at this time. Only recently has Plymouth Towne Square opened its two- bedroom waiting list. Commissioner Hewitt asked what list the 27 persons for 2 -bedroom units came from. Housing Manager Barnes replied they are from both the old list and recent applications. Chair Henderson asked what the $12 million potential funds required referred to and Housing Manager Barnes said it would be the cost to build a comparable facility such as Plymouth Towne Square at this time. Housing Manager Barnes introduced Council Member Scott Harstad. Council Member Harstad stated that he is very involved in transit and that the Met Council is linking affordable housing with transit. He stated that his presentation would focus on dollars. He asked Director Hurlburt to explain the rental housing replacement credit aid. Director Hurlburt explained that the legislature enacted a very complicated tax reform last year and explained the rental housing replacement aid. Plymouth gets no money for that aid compared to other Cities because our tax rate is lower. She explained that a low tax rate has many benefits but not for this aid calculation. Commissioner Ludovissie asked if the funding should be changed at this time. Director Hurlburt replied there is not anything we can do at this time to affect the 2003 calculation. The Mayor explained that the formula the State uses to distribute funds is very hard to understand. She said the good news is that some reforms were passed and hopefully we will be able to budget better next year. She said we just want to get out of state control and manage our own funds and not deal with the state. Director Hurlburt stated it is a very tough year for budgeting. Council Member Harstad continued his presentation on un -met needs. The Rehab Program shows 21 families are on the program and the funds needed are $420,000. He questioned how many requests would be received if we were to advertise for this program. He used examples from the City's Comprehensive Plan showing 17.4% (4,439) of homes in the city are 30 years old plus based on 1990 information. He also said that 15% or 2,897 units of owner occupied homes in 1999 were valued at $100,000 or less by assessor's data. Director Hurlburt said the Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority August 28, 2002 Page 5 majority of these homes were condos, however, they are still eligible for rehab loans. Commissioner Bildsoe said the least expensive house in Plymouth today sold for $150,000. Discussion took place regarding the marketing of these programs. Commissioner Ludovissie said he has a problem with getting the money and then figuring out what to do with it. Director Hurlburt said it would be difficult to address a large population with the CDBG program because of income restrictions. She said if we had our own loan programs we could use different types of loans and have different income limits. Housing Manager Barnes said if we become the lender we wouldn't have to do as much handholding and could choose to just service the loans. Council Member Harstad asked if the Board knew how many households in Plymouth have an income less than $50,000. He stated that the number in 1990 was 50% of households in Plymouth. He thinks 5,000 households would have an income less than $50,000 now. Mr. Harstad continued his presentation on raising the HRA tax levy to the maximum of 932,833. In summary, he asked the Board to raise the levy amount so the program can be marketed and get the households the help they need. Mayor Joy Tierney spoke about the Mayor's Housing Task Force of which she is co-chair. She shared programs they are working on and explained how hard it is at this time to get increased dollars. Housing Manager Barnes said we have approximately $380,783 available unused levy authority and provided options on how the HRA could use it if we did request that additional amount. The dollars could be used for funding the programs we have in place now, or new programs like we did with Plymouth Towne Square. The most common types of bonds are essential function bonds, or a housing revenue bond that would be used for a large project. Housing Manager Barnes explained different types of bonds and the affect of increasing the levy. Director Hurlburt said we don't need to decide immediately what to do with the additional money, but the deadline is September 15th for certifying the maximum levy. The amount cannot be raised after it is certified but the levy amount can be decreased. Discussion took place regarding the timeline needed to pursue the extra funding. The Board was of the general consensus that there is more direction needed to use the money before requesting additional funds. They also felt it was not a good time to raise taxes. Resident Vivian Greeninger spoke in support of Council Member Harstad's proposal and asked the Board to take it into consideration. Commissioner Hewitt said she felt we just don't have the time to prepare for bonding this year. She said the option she would support would be to put funding into the programs we have. Commissioner Bildsoe would like to look at an overall strategic plan and address it as a whole. Commissioner Michlitsch suggested that staff come up with a master plan. Commissioner Hewitt thought the money could be used now. Housing Manager Barnes said it is possible to do a large project. Commissioner Ludovissie said he is in support of increasing the levy but first we need a plan. Commissioner Bildsoe said we have to look at the mission of the HRA and weigh this against everything else we are trying to do. Housing Manager Barnes spoke about the Village of Bassett Creek and said there are other types of developments and opportunities Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority August 28, 2002 Page 6 coming up also. Chair Henderson said she is uncomfortable at looking at increasing the levy this year. The most important factor is that we don't have a plan in place at this time. Council Member Harstad repeated his desire to raise the HRA levy. MOTION by Commissioner Michlitsch, seconded by Commissioner Ludovissie, recommending that the City Council adopt the 2002 HRA preliminary budget of $552,050. Commissioner Hewitt said she would like to raise the amount. Commissioner Bildsoe felt that we couldn't do it without a plan. Chair Henderson said that the Board needs to update its strategic plan and it should be done in the Spring. Vote. 5 Ayes. Motion adopted unanimously. Chair Henderson asked that we revisit the CAPER report at a future date. 5C. REQUEST TO CHANGE HRA MEETING DATE IN OCTOBER MOTION by Commissioner Bildsoe, seconded by Commissioner Michlitsch to reschedule the October meeting from October 17, 2002 to October 10, 2002. Vote. 5 Ayes. Motion adopted unanimously. 5D. TAX EXEMPT BONDS FOR WEST LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL Housing Manager Barnes explained the purpose for the request is to refinance existing debt. Housing Manager Barnes asked if this is something the Board feels staff should pursue. At this time there are no formal bond policies and staff is recommending that the HRA adopt the City bond policy. West Lutheran High School asked that the $2,000 fee be waived. The consensus of the HRA Board was not to do that. Director Hurlburt said the HRA will let them apply but will follow the Cities policy. Chair Henderson suggested getting the a policy in place for the HRA. MOTION by Commissioner Hewitt, seconded by Commissioner Bildsoe, that the HRA adopt the Cities bond policy for West Lutheran High School. Vote. 5 Ayes. Motion adopted unanimously. 5. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 9:45. HRA/Minutes/082802