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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 8/4/2015 City of Glendale 5850 West Glendale Avenue Glendale, AZ 85301 r#q //: GLEs .. Meeting Minutes - Final Tuesday, August 4, 2015 1:30 PM Workshop Council Chambers - Room B3 City Council Workshop Mayor Jerry Weiers Vice Mayor Ian Hugh Councilmember Jamie Aldama Councilmember Samuel Chavira Councilmember Gary Sherwood Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff Councilmember Bart Turner City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes-Final August 4,2015 CALL TO ORDER • Rollcall Present 7- Mayor Jerry Weiers, Vice Mayor Ian Hugh, Councilmember Jamie Aldama, Councilmember Samuel Chavira, Councilmember Gary Sherwood, Councilmember Lauren Tolmachoff, and Councilmember Bart Turner Also present were Richard Bowers, Acting City Manager; Jennifer Campbell, Assistant City Manager; Tom Duensing, Interim Assistant City Manager; Michael Bailey, City Attorney; and Pamela Hanna, City Clerk. Mayor Weiers called the meeting to order and asked for a moment of silence for the Tucson officer and Marine Corp veteran Isaac Reserio, killed in a car accident in Glendale on Saturday. He called the Mayor of Tucson to express his condolences. WORKSHOP SESSION 1. 15-496 FISCAL YEAR 2016-17 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUNDING PRIORITIES Staff Contact and Presented By: Erik Strunk, Director, Community Services Presented By: Gilbert Lopez, Community Revitalization Manager Presented By: Cherie Hudson, CDAC Chairperson Erik Strunk, Director of Community Services, said this is a review of the CDBG program for FY16/17 and asked for Council's priorities which it has previously established each year for use of the funds. He introduced Cherie Hudson, Chairperson of the Community Development Advisory Committee, and Gilbert Lopez, Community Revitalization Manager. He also introduced Ms. Becky Daniel, Community Action Program Manager, and Mrs. Elaine Adamczyk, Community Housing Manager, in the audience. Mr. Strunk said Glendale received about$2.8 million from HUD to fund CDBG, HOME and ESG programs. He said$2.3 million was for CDBG, ESG received a little over $100,000 and HOME fund received$255,000. Monies received for the next fiscal year should remain about the same. He explained cities with populations over 50,000 receive these funds each year. Mr. Strunk said these funds are used for public services and physical improvements. The city relies heavily on the CDAC to guide the applicants and recommendations Council will receive for approval. Gilbert Lopez, Revitalization Manager, said public services provided with these funds include the Hope for Hunger, Community Legal Services,YWCA, Community Action Program, Central Arizona Shelter Services, and Heart for the City. He provided information about a Habitat subdivision that was built over the last few years. He said the Fire Department also partnered with Habitat to improve a home. He spoke about blight City of Glendale Page 1 Printed on 8/13/2015 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes-Final August 4,2015 removal and voluntary demolition of several properties that were dangerous to the community. He said this program has a shared cost component to in. A business will have a 50%shared cost of demolition and applicants will help pay for 25 percent of the demolition if it is a residential property. Mr. Lopez also spoke about several projects in the multi-family affordable housing development program. He provided information about the monies received for modernization of city assets. Ms. Hudson thanked the Council for their support over the years. She asked Council for their recommended priorities for the upcoming year to determine how the grant applications will be judged. She explained the advisory committee annually conducts an extensive review and public hearing process to come up with recommendations that meet Council priorities. She said CDAC has worked with staff and United Way to enhance the grants process over the past few years. She explained the process the committee goes through to determine the best way to spend the money and everything the committee takes into consideration when they make a decision. Mr. Strunk provided a list of the key dates for this ongoing process. He said CDAC will be reviewing applications in November and December and funds will be released after Council approval. Councilmember Aldama thanked Ms. Hudson for her service. He asked if a person can apply for a second grant if a grant has already been awarded to them. Mr. Strunk said that is correct and they can apply for any number of years for any projects. There is no limitation on that. He said there is no guarantee that a group will be funded year after year. Mr. Lopez said different grants have different match requirements and CDAC looks to the leverage over all that is provided. He explained some agencies apply for certain funding because they can match it and others cannot, so they go for different grants. Ms. Hudson said one of things they look at is the organizations past history. She said on some occasions, money has been donated, but the organization has not been able to use the funds within the appropriate time. In those cases, CDAC is hesitant to award a grant a second time. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked if the program was designed to help families avoid eviction or foreclosure and asked if there were programs to help the elderly and disabled stay in their homes. Mr. Lopez said the answer is yes to all of the above. He said CDAC makes decisions on everything from housing rehabilitation to providing accessibility assistance that helps keep people in their homes CDAC looks at the priorities and where those requests fit • within those priorities. Mr. Strunk said it is cheaper to keep residents in their homes and that was an important goal for staff. He said they do what they can to keep residents from losing their homes. City of Glendale Page 2 Printed on 8/13/2015 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes-Final August 4,2015 Councilmember Sherwood said just because funds were awarded in past years, it doesn't mean those funds were used. Mr. Lopez said some physical improvement projects span over a number of years and nonprofits may also have funds to carry forward. He said staff has to watch over these funds to make sure the money is spent promptly. Councilmember Sherwood asked for a more detailed explanation about a$3 million figure and only$2.5 million showing in the figures presented in the Council packets. Mr. Lopez said there is an amount used for administration and any costs for clearing projects environmentally. He also said rehabilitation projects are run in house and the money is adjusted,depending on need. Councilmember Turner thanked staff and Ms. Hudson for their work on this. He said some of the most valuable work they do at the city is through CDAC. He asked if there were funds allocated for emergency temporary housing. Mr. Strunk said there are funds allocated for that, including CDBG funds allocated to CAP,which was approved by Council. He said funds are also available which are administered by St. Vincent de Paul for similar activities. He said there are also funds with A New Leaf to assist in moments of crisis, as well as funds available through CASS for shelter services. Mr. Lopez said some of the funds Mr. Strunk mentioned have restrictions, so they do look at each situation individually. He said they look at the resources available and determine which funds fit the situation best. Councilmember Turner said his concern was for the immediate crisis and said he would like to see emergency temporary housing listed separately as a priority. Councilmember Aldama supported Councilmember Turner's comments about emergency temporary housing. He asked what marketing does the city does to get out the information about available CDBG monies. Mr. Strunk said they use media releases and put the information on the city's website. He said they also send out notification to a list of nonprofit organizations. He said those organizations do look at the website around this time of year for information about these programs. He said they do a little advertising on social media and use word of mouth to try and get the word out. Mr. Lopez said the city also puts a public notice in the local paper as additional outreach. He said they get calls from church groups and other groups such as the Lions Club regarding their programs. Councilmember Aldama said he would like to see broader marketing to get a more City of Glendale Page 3 Printed on 8/13/2015 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes-Final August 4,2015 diverse group of applicants. Mr. Lopez said all nonprofits are members of different organizations and staff shares information about these programs with new nonprofit groups. He said these organizations have to be able to carry some debt as the programs run on reimbursement. He said that is all part of this process. Several community partners also list the city as a funding source for organizations that might be interested. Councilmember Aldama said the nonprofit did not have to be a Glendale organization to apply. Councilmember Tolmachoff asked about five year funding recommendations and asked if there was funding to assist residents with Code Compliance issues for FY15-16. Mr. Lopez said in the past they used federal funds for Clean and Lien Program, but federal regulations have changed and they cannot use federal funds for that program any longer. He said Code still has CDBG money to carry forward so it can continue to fund several areas of its operations, but decided not to apply in FY 15-16 and CDAC is aware of that. He said they have to use those funds in low income areas. Councilmember Tolmachoff said someone who does not have the means to get up to Code, accumulates fines, and the problem spirals out of control. Mayor Weiers said there was consensus. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT Acting City Manager Bowers had nothing to report at this time. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT City Attorney Bailey had nothing to report at this time. COUNCIL ITEMS OF SPECIAL INTEREST Vice Mayor Hugh said the city needs to begin the RFP process to secure management for the arena. He also would like to see recommendations from staff about when they can start rolling back the sales tax. He said they do need to keep in mind they need to fully fund police and fire. He said the amphitheater is under-utilized and would like to see it used more often. Councilmember Turner asked that staff provide a report about owning chickens in the city, including zoning and any negatives regarding this idea. Councilmember Aldama asked to research a residential overlay for the Sonorita community that would allow remaining residents to apply for state, federal and local funding for home repair. City of Glendale Page 4 Printed on 8/13/2015 City Council Workshop Meeting Minutes-Final August 4,2015 MOTION TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION A motion was made by Councilmember Turner,seconded by Vice Mayor Hugh,to enter into Executive Session.The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 7- Mayor Weiers,Vice Mayor Hugh, Councilmember Aldama, Councilmember Chavira, Councilmember Sherwood, Councilmember Tolmachoff, and Councilmember Turner EXECUTIVE SESSION The City Council entered into Executive Session at 2:04 p.m. City of Glendale Page 5 Printed on 8/13/2015