Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - February 27, 2007 SSCITY OF LODI INFORMAL INFORMATIONAL MEETING "SHIRTSLEEVE" SESSION CARNEGIE FORUM, 305 WEST PINE STREET TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2007 An Informal Informational Meeting ("Shirtsleeve" Session) of the Lodi City Council was held Tuesday, February 27, 2007, commencing at 7:00 a.m. A. ROLL CALL Present: Council Members — Hansen, Hitchcock, Mounce, and Mayor Johnson Absent: Council Members — Katzakian Also Present: City Manager King, City Attorney Schwabauer, and City Clerk Johl B. TOPIC(S) B-1 "Review of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Program Funding Requests for the 2007-08 Program Year and Conceptual Strategy for Phase I Funding of Grape Bowl Improvements Using Partial CDBG Funding" City Manager King briefly introduced the subject matter of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME program funding requests for the 2007-08 year. Community Improvement Manager Joseph Wood provided a presentation regarding the CDBG and HOME program funding. Specific topics of discussion included current year and previous allocations, amount of funding from applications for current year, total of approximately $3.6 million of previous distribution of what Lodi received approximately $717,000, timely administration and application of funds, information gathering, Grape Bowl allocation, San Joaquin County's 6% off top, 20% cap of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) mandate, remaining $14,000 for program administration, and fair housing services mandated program. In response to Council Member Hansen, Mr. Wood stated surrounding cities may have less of a share because the amounts are based on a formula that takes into account poverty and growth. Discussion ensued between Council Member Hansen, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Wood, City Manager King, and he consultant regarding reduction of available funding, trends in light of new entitlement cities and higher demand, federal government workings regarding taxes and poverty elimination, HUD efforts to stop the reduction, and the estimated funds of approximately $610,000. In response to Council Member Hitchcock, City Manager King stated the purpose of the Shirtsleeve Session is to consider the potential Grape Bowl element of CDBG funds and the Council will review the individual programs and proposed allotments at a future City Council meeting. Parks and Recreation Director Tony Goehring provided a presentation regarding potential usage of CDBG funding for Grape Bowl improvements. Specific topics of discussion included Phase I funding strategy and approach, CDBG entitlements, potential phased allocations from the Board of Supervisors, community donation expectation, Save the Grape Bowl Committee, 12 -month time period for contributions, Phase I addressing of only Americans with Disabilities Act (kDA) issues with no field improvement or functionality improvements, itemized budget for Phase I improvements, Phase I work schematic, proposed interim work plan with the School District, and Grape Bowl Steering Committee efforts. Continued February 27, 2007 In response to Council Member Hansen, City Manager King stated there is no firm commitment from the County at this point. He stated some funding may be available per conversations with current and former Supervisors if the City also dedicates funding to the project from its own CDBG program. Mr. King stated there are no guarantees at this time regarding the ability to receive funding from the Board or the community. In response to Council Member Hansen, Mr. Goehring provided an overview of the fundraising efforts to date including setting up fie appropriate donation entity through a foundation and the initial deposit of $5,000 to establish the account. Discussion ensued between Council Member Hansen, Mr. Goehring, and Mr. King regarding the one-year date certain time period, time and expenditure considerations for CDBG program administration purposes, and the use of $225,000 for engineering purposes, which will be completed by 2008 with proposals being sent out thereafter. In response to Mayor Johnson, City Manager King stated that they do not know the specifics of the potential funding through the County as it relates to their budget process and there are no guarantees at this time. Discussion ensued between Council Member Hansen, City Manager King, and Mr. Goehring regarding the $225,000 covering the design related expenditures, time frame for construction design in conjunction with community fund raising efforts, and the ability to raise $500,000 in 12 months. In response to Council Member Hansen, Mr. Goehring stated they will be reviewing sponsorship and naming opportunities at the next Committee meeting. PUBLIC COMMENTS: 0o Jack Fiori spoke in favor of applying CDBG funding toward Grape Bowl improvements, stating he has received positive communications regarding donations and naming rights. In response to Mayor Johnson, Mr. Goehring stated there are consulting firms that will look at facilities for possible marketing purposes. City Manager King stated he anticipates the $60,000 maintenance cost will remain the same or go up after improvements are made. He stated Phase I improvements are for ADA issues only and do not address field improvements. City Attorney Schwabauer stated the ADA does not require immediate compliance, only reasonable progress, to meet obligations for steady progress. Discussion ensued between Council Member Hansen and Mr. Goehring regarding the possibility of field maintenance after Phase I improvements. In response to Mayor Johnson, City Manager King stated currently there is no in-kind contribution from the San Joaquin Land Company. In response to Council Member Hansen, Mr. Wood stated there would be approximately $400,000 for other requests if the $225,000 is dedicated to Grape Bowl improvements and there is a chance that requests may not be filled in their entirety or with a reduced amount. Discussion ensued between the City Council regarding the Family Resource Center pre -development and the time delay for Council to donate the land, audit recommendations for CDBG funding, reasonable and timely requests, prioritizing projects, and staff recommendations. W Continued February 27, 2007 In response to Council Member Hitchcock, Mr. King stated the City may be able to request a written commitment from the County regarding potential funding, if the $225,000 is designated by the Council, but is not sure of exactly how much. Discussion ensued between City Manager King, Mayor Johnson, Council Member Hansen, and Mr. Hatch regarding the value of the $40,000 being paid to the County for CDBG program administration. Specific topics of discussion included levels of service, potential of in-house administration, total program administration costs caps, plan development for County -wide use, staggering payment options for County services, and determination by HUD of 20% figure for program administration costs and service level expectations. 00 Myrna Wetzel spoke in favor of community fundraising efforts for the Grape Bowl improvements and suggested targeting both small and large donors. 00 Robina Asghar, representing the San Joaquin Community Partnership for Families, stated the reason the $45,000 remained unspent from the previous year's allocation was because the Partnership had not yet received a land lease commitment from the Council at the time. C. COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC ON NON -AGENDA ITEMS ►= D. ADJOURNMENT No action was taken by the City Council. The meeting was adjourned at 8:16 a.m. ATTEST: Randi Johl City Clerk AGENDA ITEM Sort Ja% CITY OF LODI %W COUNCIL COMMUNICATION TM AGENDA TITLE: Review of Community Development Block Grant and HOME Program Funding Requests for the 2047108 Program Year and Conceptual Strategy for Phase I Funding of Grape Bowl Improvements Using Partial CDBG Funding. MEETING DATE: February 27, 2047 PREPARED BY: Community Improvement Manager RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive information regarding Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Program funding requests that have been received for the 2007108 Program Year, and a conceptual strategy for Phase I funding of Grape Bowl improvements using partial CDBG funding. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The City Council is set to conduct a Public Hearing on March 7, 2007 to review and approve proposed recommendations for use of 2007108 CDBG and HOME Program funding. The City anticipates receiving $610,460.00 in CDBG funds and $263,675.00 in HOME funds from the Federal government in the coming fiscal year. This represents a 15% reduction in CDBG funds from what was received in 2006107. To supplement the 2007108 allocation from HUD, and additional $40,600 in CDBG funds is available for reallocation from unused projects for services from previous years. After an application period that ran from December 6, 2006 to January 12, 2007, the City received a total of 19 applications requesting a total amount of $2,035,420. A list of the applicants, their funding requests, a brief description of their proposed project or service, and any special concerns is attached as Exhibit A. in our review of those applications to this point, the following issues have been identified and will be considered in the recommendations for funding. • Timely expenditure of funds. in order for the City to continue to receive CDBG and HOME funding, projects must be ready to proceed within three months of the grant award, with funding generally spent within the fiscal year. • Administrative capacity. All organizations receiving funding must be prepared to administer their grants in accordance with the program regulations, which require collecting beneficiary data for all participants, complying with federal wage requirements for construction projects, and expending funds in a timely manner. APPROVED: '::�-. ng, City Manager In order to proceed with final recommendations, there also needs to be some discussion regarding the proposod use of CDBG funding for the Grape Bowl ADA Improvement project, as it represents a sizable portion of our funding allocation and a decision whether to use CDBG funds for that project will determine whether other projects are recommended for funding. The only eligible use of CDBG funds for the Grape Bowl facility is for the removal of architectural barriers to accessibility for the disabled and for senior citizens. A total of $225,000 is being requested for the initial design and engineering for the first phase of a project to renovate the entrance to the Grape Bowl facility, which will eliminate those existing architectural barriers. The City's CDBG funds would not be the only funding proposed for Phase I improvements. Phase I funding is anticipated to be a three-part combination of our CDBG funds, County funds, and private donations, with the City's CDBG funding being the cornerstone of the funding proposal. Also of note is funding for Program Administration. HUD Regulations allow for a maximum of 20% of the allocation to be set aside for Program Administration activities. A total of 6% of the total CDBG allocation from HUD is taken by the County for the overall administration of the program before funds are distributed to the jurisdictions. Lodi's share of those administrative funds that are used by the County is approximately $40,000. Our request for $85,464, equal to 14% of the City's total allocation, is being requested to cover our local costs of administering the CDBG and HOME Program activities, including contract staffing services. A line item budget is attached as Exhibit B to identify where those Program Administration are intended to be used. While the 6% that the County takes for program administration costs is modest in dollar terms, it is worth discussing if the City is getting it's dollars worth for that estimated $40,000 or whether the City should consider becoming an entitlement community to receive the CDBG funds directly from HUD. There is one year left in the City's Cooperation Agreement with the County to participate as part of the Urban County designation. One other funding request of note is to San Joaquin Fair Housing for mandated fair housing services. These services are mandated by HUD and also referenced in Lodi's Housing Element. In San Joaquin County, each participating jurisdiction and the City of Stockton as an entitlement community, pay a fair - share avocation to one central agency, San Joaquin Fair Housing, to provide the services for housing discrimination, harassment and tenant/landlord disputes. If funding is not provided to the Fair Housing agency, those services would then need to be provided by the City. The request for $25,565 represents Lodi's fair -share contribution for 2007108. It has been noted however, that in the past year San Joaquin Fair Housing has been identified as a slow performer in the expenditure of their funds. Currently, all of their 2006107 funding remains unused. In an effort to better manage the allocations in regards to the timely expenditure of funds, it is likely that our recommendation will be to reallocate their 2006107 funds and either reduce their funding request or reallocate program income to cover their allocation, as that would free up more of our current allocation for other projects or services and would not count against our overall balance of funds, and therefore would not calculate into our allowable carryover which determines the timely expenditure of funds. FISCAL. IMPACT: NIA FLMDWG AVAILABLE: NIA Joseph W)6od Concurred: FZAndy ch Cbmmunity Improveme� Marfager Community Development Director Attachmerft cc: