November 15, 2007, 2:30 p.m.
Community Development Committee
City Commission Chambers, City Hall
Agenda
1. Approval of October 18, 2007 Minutes
2. Preview 2008 Community Development Budget
a. Housing
b. Downtown
c. Facilities & Capital Improvements
d. Public & Social Services
3. Other Business
4. Next Meeting: December 20, 2007
Minutes
Present: Dan Fremling, Linda Coates, Linda Klebe, Lynn Fundingsland
and Rocky Schneider
Absent: John Paulsen, Pat Zavoral, Steve Stoner, Tim Mahoney
Others Present: Dan Mahli, Jim Gilmour, Nate Bailly, Monica Graber,
Hali Durand
Chair Coates called the meeting to order.
Item 1. Approval of October 17, 2007 Minutes
(2:30 p.m.) Rocky Schneider mentioned he was present at the October 17, 2007 meeting. All members present voted aye to approve the October 17, 2007 minutes with the noted addition. The motion was declared carried.
Item 2. Preview 2008 Community Development Budget
(2:33 p.m.) Dan Mahli presented the 2008 Community Development budget and summarized the application process. He stated applications were sent out the end of September and were due at the end of October. He added that all of the applications have been reviewed by staff and are available in the Planning Department to preview.
Mr. Mahli stated the City expects to have $1.7 million available in 2008 for community development activities. That number includes CDBG and HOME allocations from HUD, the City social service and art fund and about $275,000 in program income. Program income is community development funds that are paid back from previous allocations over the course of the year. Mr. Mahli mentioned that HUD funding is calculated assuming a 10% reduction.
Mr. Mahli handed out a summary spreadsheet of the applications and explained that the community development requests are broken down into four categories: housing, downtown slum and blight, facilities and capital, and public and social services. The Community Development Committee reviewed each category. Dan Fremling asked about the carryover amounts. Mr. Mahli stated that carryover
funding is money that was budgeting in previous years but has not been allocated to a specific project yet.
Mr. Mahli talked about the history social service and art fund. He added that preliminary recommendations are provided the budget summary, but recommendations are not provided on the refugee and New American service requests. He is meeting with New American service providers to talk about those needs and how to coordinate the services.
a. Housing
(2:40 p.m.) Mr. Mahli stated that the housing requests address funding for affordable housing projects and homelessness. All of the requests are designed to assist low to moderate individuals and households.
b. Downtown Slum and Blight
(2:58 p.m.) Mr. Mahli stated the City can use 30% of its CDBG funding to address slum and blight in downtown Fargo. Chair Coates suggested looking at the recently conducted slum and blight study and focus funding on buildings that are the most deteriorated. Rocky Schneider suggested contacting the owners of buildings that in are in the worst shape.
c. Facilities & Capital Improvements
(3:04) Mr. Mahli summarized the facility improvement requests. He stated the Jefferson neighborhood has a proposal for improvements at Jefferson West Park. He also mentioned the request for a new ceiling at the Myrt Armstrong Mental Health Social Club, an elevator at Churches United for the Homeless and a facility improvement request from the Family Healthcare Center.
d. Public & Social Services
(3:12 p.m.) Mr. Mahli stated 15% of the CDBG allocation can be used for public service requests (approx $116,000) and there is $288,000 available in the City’s social service and art funding. That is a total $404,000 available and $742,000 in requests. He pointed out that organizations need to apply each year to request and/or renew funding.
Mr. Mahli provided a summary of each request. Lynn Fundingsland stated that consideration should be given to avoid duplicating services. After summarizing the requests, Mr. Mahli stated the applications are available for committee members to review. Once the Community Development Committee
makes a recommendation, staff will publish the findings, accept public comments for 30 days, and bring the recommendations and comments to the City Commission for a public hearing.
Item 3. Other Business
(3:42 p.m.) There was no other business.
Item 4. Next Meeting: December 20, 2007
The meeting adjourned at 3:43 p.m.
