The meeting convened at 5:10. Kahoun asked that the presentation by Neighborhood Housing Services be removed as the presenter was ill. Walden moved to approve the agenda as amended; seconded by Howell; carried by unanimous vote. Volm moved to approve the minutes of June 6; seconded by Overman; carried by unanimous vote.

OFFICER'S REPORT/CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Kahoun reported on recent Council actions, including approving the reprogramming of unspent ESG funds previously allocated to Central City Drug/Alcohol Information Office, which went out of business. Kahoun said the RFPs for the 2002 HUD Consolidated Plan were also approved.

POLK COUNTY ASSESSOR. Many property owners in Polk County noticed major changes in their assessments this year and the Board requested the County Assessor, Jim Maloney, to explain the method

used by the County to calculate property taxes. Maloney said this year's assessments varied so much because of a unique situation. The City dissolved its Assessor's Office in 1997 and transferred that office's responsibilities to the County. The County undertook a citywide inspection of each property and then imposed a formula to apply a uniform rate throughout the County.

Maloney said the calculations were very complex, and included a market-rate sales factor which was produced by using new software which made it possible to divide the County into 250' squares, and call up the eight closest recent sales near a property. Further complicating factors were building materials, the effect of scattered new construction in older areas of small houses, and the inflation effect contract sales were having on purchase prices.

Maloney and the Board discussed the factors that can create significant differences between assessed values and sales price. Dozier and Maloney discussed certain cases in Dozier's neighborhood, Woodland Heights. Dozier questioned how close the assessments were to sales price. Maloney said some protests were received because the assessments went down, and the property owners were concerned about the effect on sales price and on the image of the neighborhood.

Hogate asked what the numbers under "grade" and "grade adjustment" meant. Maloney said they had to do with building materials and had to cover the wide range between the State Capitol building and virtual shacks, with 1 being the best and 6 the worst. He said most frame-built tract houses were ranked at 4. The pluses and minuses were for adjustments within the classification.

Nixon said the Assessor's report was disheartening to neighborhood organizations who worked hard to raise the perception of their areas, and hoped for higher values based on the improvements made. She said the formulas seemed too subjective and asked where they came from – were they a national standard? Maloney said the model was devised by the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance. He said appraisal is always a subjective process, but some kind of grading scale had to be used, and assessors tried to make it as accurate as they could. He said statistically the assessments that went out this time were within 96% of sales price. He emphasized the many one-time factors involved in this particular assessment and said unless there were dramatic market changes within the next few years, they should stay fairly stable.

Dodge and Maloney discussed the problems of new construction in old low-income neighborhoods – it can cost more to build a house than it can be sold for, and it may actually decrease in value due to its surroundings, but the value of the surrounding homes will increase.

Kahoun thanked Maloney for putting the Assessor's records on the web, which was useful to many people. but agreed with Nixon that the news in general was depressing – revitalization was not being factored in, nor was there much to show for ten years of the NRP program's efforts. Infill construction was getting more housing onto the tax rolls, but their individual value was down, so not much net improvement was being seen. Maloney said he understood the problem and asked if it would help to have the appraisers work more closely with people familiar with the neighborhoods. He said his staff was always looking for ways to produce more accurate data and assessments factored by comparable sales.

CONTRACT SALES COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION. Dozier presented the subcommittee's recommendation on contract sales, which included:

There was discussion on whether inspection should take place before sale or after, and whether a period of time should be imposed regarding time to fix up the house to occupancy standards. Howell suggested requiring the contract be reviewed by knowledgeable persons; Neiderbach said she had consulted with the City's Legal Department and they said review can't be required, only recommended.

Lynn Wright of River Bend said the problem in their area was contract sales to illegal aliens, who were then afraid to take any legal action for fear their status would be discovered.

Overman said he was unsure if the government had the capacity to regulate this type of sale and do any good; inspection would never be enough to fix "sharks eating the innocent." He felt the Board could devote its entire effort to this one issue and it wouldn't accomplish enough, and for that reason, he said he could not support the recommendations. Volm said she could not agree, as the move to examine the problem of contract sales was started by neighborhoods requesting the Board to get the City involved.

Walden moved to approve the recommendations with an amendment to state "City inspection must occur before sale. If the property is a known public nuisance, the sale may occur, but the designation of public nuisance must be made known to the buyer." Seconded by Howell.

AGENCY PRESENTATIONS – OWNER-OCCUPIED REHAB. Jay Liepzig gave a presentation on Community Development's Neighborhood Conservation Services programs for owner-occupied home rehabilitation and technical assistance. Liepzig said the way the winter lingered on caused the number of completions to be down somewhat. A new software program is providing detailed specs and more realistic bids, and they have purchased the same package for all the housing nonprofits, so "everyone can be on the same page." The Technical Assistance program has reduced the number of delinquencies from 124 last year to starting the year with 24 and then finally down to 8. Liepzig discussed the various inspections performed by his section – HSD, NFC, banks, and Grandshire. Dozier asked if why NCS was doing inspections for the Housing Services Department (HSD) when they had their own inspectors; Liepzig said HUD required a third party inspection. Dozier said the rental inspectors had a vacancy and so did NCS, so would there be any leftover funds to be reprogrammed at this year's planning conference. Liepzig said if there were any funds left over, they would be available to reprogram, but he said he believed NID was utilizing theirs to pay for overtime.

Hogate was concerned that the Emergency Repair Loan program had been discontinued; Liepzig said it was incorporated into the owner-occupied program. Hogate said the program required more work to be done than the people could afford. Liepzig said this program used to be a loan, and now it's a forgivable lien.

Dodge said Howell was stepping down as the NFC's representative to the NRB, and would take a position as secretary of the NFC board. Lumley will take her place.

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT. Kahoun distributed copies of the RFP packet that will go out to parties interested in applying for 2002 CDBG, HOME and ESG funding, and said that the next meeting would fall on July 4 and was therefore cancelled. She introduced Bert Drost, planning intern. Kahoun said the annual survey of neighborhood associations will start up later this month.

COMMITTEE/REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS. None.

OTHER BUSINESS. Overman moved that the Board send a letter to Howell commending her for "relentless service." Carried by unanimous vote.

Kahoun said the Neighborhood Development Corporation met that day and its board is restructuring. Kahoun told the Board Carol Bower had taken over the NDC and there were two houses under construction now and three more planned for fall.

Volm asked if Walgreens departure from the grocery store had any ill effects; Kahoun said the answer was both yes and no – some replacements are being lined up.

The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.

Jerry Overman, Secretary