HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - November 27, 2007 SSCITY OF LODI
INFORMAL INFORMATIONAL MEETING
"SHIRTSLEEVE" SESSION
CARNEGIE FORUM, 305 WEST PINE STREET
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2007
An Informal Informational Meeting ("Shirtsleeve" Session) of the Lodi City Council was held Tuesday,
November 27, 2007, commencing at 7:00 a.m.
A. ROLL CALL
Present: Council Members — Hitchcock, Katzakian, and Mayor Johnson
Absent: Council Members — Hansen and Mounce
Also Present: City Manager King, City Attorney Schwabauer, and City Clerk Johl
B. TOPIC(S)
B-1 "Review and Comment on the Annual Community Development Block Grant and HOME
Program Allocation Process"
City Manager King provided a brief introduction to the subject matter.
Community Improvement Manager Joseph Wood provided a presentation regarding the
annual Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Program allocation
process. Specific topics of discussion included a funding breakdown from 1999 to 2007,
predetermination of allocation toward City projects, and a sample two-tiered system for the
allocation process.
In response to Mayor Johnson, Mr. Wood stated there does not appear to be other local
cities with a similar set-aside program, but the County does have a set-aside practice.
In response to Mayor Johnson, Mr. King stated the CDBG program originated from the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and was designed to benefit low-
income individuals. He stated currently the City tries to avoid providing funding to ongoing
capital projects and concentrates on basic brick and mortar needs. Mr. King stated the
suggestion is to segregate two pots of money: one for community-based organizations and
the other for City -based capital improvement projects. He stated the more consistent
allocation will assist with capital improvement based projects because the funding will be
available in the future and allow for better planning.
In response to Council Member Hitchcock, Mr. King stated the funding would be available
to not only Americans with Disabilities Act type of projects, but also to other CDBG eligible
projects to address the responsibility associated with maintaining the City's assets.
In response to Mayor Johnson, Mr. Wood confirmed that the Library and Lodi Lake projects
take up a majority of the funding for the City's current project list. He stated all projects
have to meet the same criteria, which includes approximately 12 to 15 activities and a
national objective, such as serving low -moderate income and eliminating blight. Mr. King
provided an example of Lodi Lake being used for affordable recreation for low and moderate
income and the necessity of showing that relationship to receive the benefit.
In response to Mayor Johnson, Mr. Wood stated that the survey is already done and it will
be up to HUD to accept the results.
In response to Mayor Johnson, Mr. Wood stated park -related projects must also qualify as
serving the needs of the required population. He stated throughout the years several park
improvements were made with CDBG allocations.
Continued November 27, 2007
A brief discussion ensued between Council Member Hitchcock and City Manager King
regarding the ability to look at both City and community organization based projects so that
they compete with one another to ensure that the most important projects receive the
funding and the flexibility associated with the same.
In response to Mayor Johnson, Mr. King stated that there is a much greater backlog of
capital improvement types of projects, but only a portion of those needs are listed due to
the assumption that application can only be made for a limited amount.
City Manager King stated that, aside from the fact that he anticipates receipt of large
requests from community based organizations in the future, he believes the City should
make a predetermination based on a percentage of what will be spent on both types of
projects as a matter of doing business.
In response to Mayor Johnson, Mr. King stated the matter will be brought back to Council
for consideration prior to the call out for availability of allocations. Mr. Wood stated the
timeline includes the annual application process from December to January, the application
reviews from January to February, and the public hearing in March.
Mayor Johnson requested that information be provided regarding how other communities are
handling similar requests. He also requested that the listing of City projects be inclusive to
show the entire backlog.
C. COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC ON NON -AGENDA ITEMS
None.
D. ADJOURNMENT
No action was taken by the City Council. The meeting was adjourned at 7:34 a.m.
ATTEST:
Randi Johl
City Clerk
2
AGENDA ITEM 1B • \
&1& CITY OF LODI
COUNCIL COMMUNICATION
TM
AGENDA TITLE: Review and Comment on the Annual Community Development Block Grant and
HOME Program Allocation Process
MEETING DATE: November 27,2007
PREPARED BY: Community Development Department
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Review and comment on the annual Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) and HOME Program allocation process.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: San Joaquin County has been an entitlement community with the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since 1985.
The County is classified as an Urban County jurisdiction, which
includes all unincorporated County communities and the cities of Lodi. Escalon, Lathrop, Manteca, Ripon
and Tracy.
Each year, the Urban County jurisdictions receive a formula -based allocation of CDBG, Emergency
Shelter Grants (ESG), and HOME Program funding. The participating jurisdictions, in tum, go through an
annual process which beginswith a public meeting to gather input regarding the use of these federal
funds. That meeting, held in early December, usually marks the beginning of the application period that
runs through mid-January. During that period, both public and private agencies and organizations,
submitfunding requests for the coming years' funding.
As a practice, the City of Lodi has always made one -hundred percent of our annual allocation available
for funding requests, and our City projects, from both Public Works, Parks & Recreation or any other City
department, have competed head to head with funding requests for both capital projects and public
services submitted by private agencies and organizations.
A breakdown of those funding allocations since 1999, illustrated in the attached ExhibitA, shows an
average of 63.8% of our annual allocation going toward City projects.
It is fairly common for CDBG entitlement communities and participating jurisdictions within an Urban
County designation to set-aside a certain percentage of their annual CDBG allocation for City projects or
programs. This set-aside provides a fairly reliable funding source for which to plan or schedule projects
or services into the future. The set-aside also segregates or groups the funding requests so that City
departments compete amongst themselves and community-based organizations (CBO) compete only
against other CBO funding requests.
APPROVED:
BI ' ' g, City Manager
The City Manager is proposing that the Council consider splitting the CDBG allocation into two funding
set asides, one for CDBG-eligible city projects and the other for eligible CBO projects.
In order to provide an estimation of the magnitude of financial need, City Departments provided a list of
projects and services that could be funded via CDBG funds. The amount is in the neighborhood of
$1,525,640. The estimated 2008/09 CDBG allocation is $717,592. The preliminary list of City projects
and services is attached as Exhibit B.
In addition to providing an identifiable source of funding for City projects, a two set-aside system would
allow staff to develop a better rating and ranking system in order to make recommendations with regard
to CBO projects and services.
It is proposed that the Council consider the concept of pre -determining the appropriate share of CDBG
funds for City projects and how much of the total CDBG and/or HOME Program funding allocation should
be made available.
FISCAL IMPACT: N/A
FUNDING AVAILABLE: N/A
01
Randy balich
Community Development Director
Attachments