MINUTES

 

Neighborhood Revitalization Board

St. Etienne Conference Room – Armory Building

September 2, 2003

 

Present:           Bob King, Mike Gibson, Nadine Hogate, Kimberly Hansen, Mike Kinter, Jean Minahan, Carol Bower, Betty Volm, Dolph Pulliam, Pam Carmichael

 

Absent:            Willa Mae Allen, Joann Muldoon, Martha Walden, Paul Sadler

 

Staff:                Kathy Kahoun (CD), Robert Schulte (CD), Mindy Miller (CD),  Ann DiDonato (LEG), Mark Lahey (HSD), Jay Leipzig (CD), Carol Gathright (HSD), Lyle Schwery (HSD)

 

Guests:            Gary Dodge

 

The meeting convened at 5:03. Bower moved to approve the agenda with the removal of the "Election of Officers" item left on from last time, seconded by King, carried by unanimous vote. Regarding the minutes of August 20, Dodge asked to change the sentence reading, "Dodge said he had also spoken to NCS staff about not relying on this developer for this project since so many of his projects were not complete," to read "…his project was not complete," because as far as he knew the developer had only one project. King moved to approve the minutes of the August 20 meeting as amended, seconded by Muldoon, carried by unanimous vote.

 

OFFICER'S REPORT/CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Kahoun reported on recent City Council actions, including setting the hearing on the Highland Park SSMID.  Volm said she received a letter from Council Member Tom Vlassis stating that some boards said the annual boards and commissions appreciation dinner should be cancelled due to the budget crisis, and he asked how the NRB felt.  Hogate said she felt that since it was the only public acknowledgement of the work citizens put in on these boards, and since it was paid for by corporate contributions, it should not be cut.  King agreed, and moved to write a letter saying the dinner should continue.  Hogate seconded the motion.

 

 

Allen

out

King

y

Bower

y

Minahan

y

Carmichael

y

Muldoon

out

Gibson

y

Pulliam

y

Hansen

y

Sadler

out

Hogate

y

Volm

y

Kinter

y

Walden

out

 

 

 

 

Result:

10/0

Carried

 

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST.  Ann DiDonato of the City's Legal Department was present to answer the Board's questions regarding conflict of interest and the gift law as it applies to Board members.  DiDonato said if an item came before the Board in which a member had a financial interest, as soon as the member became aware of the conflict, he or she should declare it to the group and not participate in the discussion or vote.  In some instances, the member should leave the room so as not to impair discussion or voting by other members.  Regarding gifts, DiDonato said if the general public is receiving items, the member can also receive it, but should avoid any gifts that are given to influence them or to persuade them to influence others. 

 

Hogate said it was a conflict for the Housing Services Department to submit proposals and then be the department that is monitoring the allocations, and that was the reason the Manager moved the monitoring function out of Community Development.  Schulte said there were no proposals from Housing Services for the 2004 allocations. 

 

Carmichael asked if she had a conflict if she served on the board of an agency and although she had no financial interests, she supported what the agency was doing and had an interest in them doing well.  DiDonato said a conflict would exist.  Hogate asked whether there was a conflict when a member served as the Board's representative to an agency.  DiDonato said there was no conflict in that case.

 

Dodge asked about conflicts for contractors who were sitting on the Board – was there a problem if the agency operated several programs, and the ones the contractors would be bidding on were not the programs the proposal would finance?  DiDonato said it was not a conflict unless they were interdependent, i.e., operation of program B(which the contractor would bid on) was contingent upon receiving funding for program A.  Dodge said their program had over 270 contractors, so he felt there was no conflict.

 

Pulliam asked whether there was a conflict for a member if they sat on a task force that was a subcommittee of the NRB, and then that subcommittee came for funding.  Kahoun said there would be no conflict because they NRB is advisory and thereby any committee of the NRB is also advisory.  Kahoun said in that scenario, it would not be the task force that applied for funds, but the City.

 

Minahan asked about conflicts for members who live in neighborhoods that are designated – was there conflict in their voting on any proposal that would benefit their neighborhoods?  DiDonato said any NRB member who was an officer of the neighborhood association of a designated neighborhood should abstain.  She said the member may participate in the discussion if they state they are speaking as an NRB member or as a citizen, but not vote. 

 

Carmichael and Bower asked about proposals for which their agencies, HOME Inc and CHDC are  potential applicants.  DiDonato said it depended on the size of the pool of potential applicants, and she would research it further and let them know.

 

QUESTIONS REGARDING 2003 HUD CONSOLIDATED PLAN PERFORMANCE REPORTS.  Schulte distributed additional performance reports on 2003 projects and maps of low income areas.  Hogate said she was surprised how much the percentage of the city that was low income had increased and asked how Iowa compares nationally.  Schulte said the census showed an increase in low income areas for Midwest cities.  Hogate asked if the median income used was based on national or Des Moines data; Schulte said it was Des Moines metro area.  Carmichael asked if affected the amount of money Des Moines gets; Schulte said it was one of many factors, with age of the housing stock being one of the major factors.

 

Volm asked about the New Directions shelter and whether children were eligible to stay there.  Schwery said it housed males up to 13 and females up to 18.  He also said there were few shelter alternative for boys over 13, but when they were with a family, sometimes agencies put them in motels for a limited period.  Volm asked whether the New Directions shelter was having trouble.  Schwery said the City had suspended payments due to incomplete bookkeeping, and there appeared to be financial problems.  The monitoring staff have met with the agency's board and are checking into the agency's operations.

 

The Board discussed some of the other staff funding recommendations.  Hogate asked whether the review committees had changed; Schulte said the people were different every year and were chosen for their expertise.

 

RESIDENTIAL REDEVELOPMENT.  Kahoun gave a report on the apparent shortfall in the housing units goal of the HUD Consolidated Plan which showed that the City was 77% behind on its five year goal.  She said the HUD method of counting units gives inaccurately low numbers; it only counts completed projects, and puts some units in different categories.  She distributed a summary showing all the projects that the City had been involved in that generated affordable housing units.  She also said the experience of the last few years showed that the goal level was somewhat unrealistic and should probably be revised downward for the next five year plan.

 

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT.  Kahoun distributed the Neighborhood Update and asked the Board if they wished to cancel the second meeting in September since it would closely follow Planning Conference.  The Board agreed to cancel. 

 

COMMITTEE/REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS. None

 

OTHER BUSINESS.  Bower said there would be a grand opening of the NDC's Temple project on September 18 and she encouraged the Board to attend.

 

The meeting adjourned at 6:20 p.m.

 

 

                                               

Carol Bower, Secretary