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
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August 28, 2002
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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.
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August 28, 2002
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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
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August 28, 2002
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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
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August 28, 2002
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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