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Agenda and Minutes 2008-05-21 Community Preservation Committee Agenda DATE: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 TIME: 7:00 PM PLACE: City Council Chambers, 212 Main Street (BEHIND City Hall) Contact: Jack Hornor, Chair, Community Preservation Committee Jack@JackHornor.com Fran Volkmann, Vice Chair, Community Preservation Committee Franv@comcast.net Bruce Young, Community Preservation Planner byoung@northamptonma.gov (413) 587-1263 Agenda Public Comment ?? Approval of Minutes for 04/16/2008 ?? Fiscal Update and planning for FY 2009 ?? Chair’s Report ?? 1. Report of 05/01/2008 and 05/15/2008 City Council Meetings 2. Report on work planning for the rest of 2008 Discussion of the number of funding rounds for 2008 and 2009 ?? Discussion of the Forbes Library CPA funding increase request ?? Discussion of the first round Valley CDC proposal ?? Discussion of the formation of an Executive Committee ?? Discussion of the CPC Funding Notification Form Letter ?? Initial discussion of second round CPA applications and finalizing of questions for ?? applicants Any other necessary business ?? Attachments: (1) Letter from Rep. Kulik; (2) Letter from Forbes Library For additional information please refer to the Community Preservation Committee website: http://www.northamptonma.gov/gsuniverse/httpRoot/comm/ 1 MINUTES Community Preservation Committee Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Time: 7:00 pm Place: City Hall, 212 Main St., Council Chambers Members Present: Jack Hornor, Fran Volkmann, George Kohout, Mason Maronn, Tom Parent, John Andrulis, Lilly Lombard and Craig Della Penna Staff Present: Bruce Young, Community Preservation Planner John Frey, Community Preservation Planner Jack Hornor opened the meeting at 7:05pm 1. PUBLIC COMMENT Dave Herships had many comments and suggestions for the CPC. He is primarily concerned about the interest costs for the Forbes Library preservation project. He estimates costs at $37- 50,000 per year. Also, he suggests the following… 1.) CPC hire staff, 2.) CPC should do a detailed cash flow analysis to understand available funds, 3.) CPC should on spend money as projects progress, not pre-pay to the grantee, 4.) require grantee to account for costs and return unused money, and 5.) check with city auditor so assure the CPC is operating within the law. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Jack Hornor presented the draft minutes from April 16th, 2008 for approval. Upon motion by Tom Parent to approve minutes, seconded by John Andrulis, all members voted in favor. 3. FISCAL UPDATE MEMO TO MAYOR ?? Jack Hornor presented a draft memo he proposed to send to the Mayor regarding FY09 funding. The FY09 budget assumes $735,000 in anticipated local income. The State match is assumed to be 65% of that figure for round 1 plus 90% of the base figure for decile 6 for round 2. This should total $564,908. The memo also allocates 10% each to Open Space, Historic Preservation, and Affordable Housing. Finally, 5% is allocated for administrative costs. ?? Jack Hornor also noted Representative Kulik is supporting a bill to fund the CPA at a minimum of 75%. ?? Craig Della Penna explained that the Historic Commission would like to utilize CPA administrative funds to do an historical inventory and needs assessment. 2 ?? Bruce Young stated the CPA does require us to do a historic needs study. This project would help that mandate. ?? Upon motion by George Kohout, seconded by Tom Parent, all voted in favor of the proposed memo to the Mayor. 4. CHAIR’S REPORT CITY COUNCIL MEETING ?? Jack Hornor noted the meeting before City Council went very smoothly. All projects were approved without problem. This is a credit to our intentional and transparent process. REPORT ON CPC PLANNING WORK ?? Presented a draft schedule of necessary basic annual activities for the CPC. The CPC needs to decide on the number of funding rounds, however this list includes mandatory work the CPC must accomplish regardless of number of funding rounds. ?? George Kohout suggested adding re-appointment dates to the master calendar. 5. FUNDING ROUNDS FOR 2008 DISCUSSION ?? Jack Hornor presented the CPC with draft schedules for both three and four rounds for 2008. He expressed concern that since the CPC already has planned four rounds for 2008 future applicants may have already decided when to apply. This may disadvantage some applicants. He recommends not changing for 2008. ?? George Kohout questioned if the CPC is tied to calendar or fiscal year. He advocated for a fiscal year plan to coincide with the tax receipts and funding cycles. He also supports switching to three rounds now. ?? Mason Maronn supported switching to three rounds now as a good transition for 2009. ?? Lilly Lombard supported staying with four rounds in order to not disadvantage any applicants. ?? Fran Volkmann stated she would support the majority opinion of the CPC. ?? John Andrulis stated he is in favor of three rounds. ?? Tom Parent suggested rejected applicants from round 2 might re-apply and therefore the CPC might need four rounds in order to not disadvantage them. ?? Craig Della Penna recognized Jack Hornor’s arguments for four now, but supports moving to two rounds for next year. ?? Mason Maronn noted the plan leaves a disclaimer on page two for changing the funding rounds. ?? Jack Hornor argued that disclaimer relates to future plans, not the current year. ?? Fran Volkmann noted three rounds would allow the CPC to stretch out the calendar and work primarily on weeknights instead of weekends. ?? George Kohout noted the CPC might need to meet more than once a month in order to accomplish the necessary internal work. 3 ?? Jack Hornor polled the CPC and the majority is comfortable with meeting twice per month. ?? Jack Hornor noted the public could be sufficiently made aware of the change via website, newspaper, radio, listserves and outreach list. ?? Fran Volkmann noted other projects could make urgent appeals at any time outside of the standard cycles. ?? Upon motion by John Andrulis, seconded by Mason Maronn, all voted in favor of switching to three funding rounds for 2008. 6. FUNDING ROUNDS FOR 2009 DISCUSSION ?? Jack Hornor presented a sample schedule for two funding rounds in 2009. ?? Lilly Lombard noted the process is much longer for each round and suggested this may be a burden on the applicants. ?? Craig Della Penna noted many committees he has worked on often have up to 12-month grant cycles. This schedule is not out of the ordinary. ?? Tom Parent suggested tabling the discussion regarding 2009. ?? Mason Maronn stated he is in favor of two rounds in the future. ?? Upon motion by George Kohout, seconded by Tom Parent, all voted in favor (except Fran Volkmann who abstained) of tabling discussion until September. 7. FORBES LIBRARY GRANT APPEAL ?? Jack Hornor stated that Forbes Library has appealed the grant request asking for $200,000 additional in order to fully fund the amended project. ?? Jack Hornor read a letter from Don Bianchi, which stated he is not in favor of granting the additional support. He suggested Forbes submit a new complete application. ?? John Andrulis noted this is an appeal, not a new application. The CPC needs a formal process for handling appeals. Forbes should not need to submit a new application. ?? Fran Volkmann agreed with John Andrulis. ?? Tom Parent noted the main problem is that the CPC account is now down to $400,000. ?? Mason Maronn stated this is not fair to the round 2 applicants. ?? George Kohout questioned Janet Moulding of Forbes Library regarding the new figures. ?? Janet Moulding stated that pulling window renovations from the plan lowers the cost from $1.6M to $1.2M. This is new full stabilization figure for the project. ?? Lilly Lombard stated the CPC needs a formal appeal process. Also, Forbes has time and therefore the CPC should not decide now. ?? John Andrulis suggested putting the request in with the round 2 applications. ?? Fran Volkmann stated she is disappointed by the lack of leveraging. It is reasonable to expect $200,000 of support from the City. However, with bonding the CPC could fund the entire project. ?? Jack Hornor stated that Forbes should have dropped the figure in March when requested what exact stabilization costs. He would consider adding it to the round 2 applications, as 4 Forbes needs an answer before the end of the year. He agreed it would be difficult for Forbes to fundraise the amount needed. ?? Mason Maronn questioned the projected 7-9% increase in costs per year. ?? Fran Volkmann suggested the CIP include in 2012 improvements. ?? Bruce Young stated CIP funds are fully allocated to 2011 and the Mayor suggested funds would not be approved for Forbes after that date. ?? George Kohout agreed with the city’s belief that Forbes funding is now under the purview of the CPC. He is in favor of adding the request into the round 2 hopper. ?? Lilly Lombard acknowledged it is difficult for applicants to leverage funds, however they should at least attempt to do so. She believed this would be a repeating theme for future applicants. ?? George Kohout asked if this request is sufficient to act as an application for round 2. ?? Jack Hornor stated the request is sufficient as an application. ?? George Kohout stated he does not want to set a precedent for applications to be appealed. ?? Tom Parent stated the CPC should include a stipulation that this is a one-time appeal. There will be formal appeal procedures in the future. ?? Craig Della Penna stated he has never seen an applicant appeal the funding amount. ?? Upon motion to allow Forbes Library to submit funding request with the round 2 applications by John Andrulis, George Kohout seconded, the motion is defeated. John Andrulis and Tom Parent in favor. Mason Maronn, George Kohout, Lilly Lombard, Fran Volkmann, Jack Hornor against. Craig Della Penna abstained. ?? Upon motion to deny Forbes Library to join round 2 (suggesting Forbes re-apply in round 3) by George Kohout, seconded by Mason Maronn, the motion is approved. Mason Maronn, George Kohout, Lilly Lombard, Fran Volkmann, and Craig Della Penna in favor. Tom Parent, John Andrulis, and Jack Hornor against. 8. MEETING WITH VALLEY CDC ?? Fran Volkmann announced she and others would meet with Valley CDC on June 18, 2008 to discuss best options for supporting affordable housing homeownership. She invited all CPC members to attend. 9. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ?? Jack Hornor tabled discussion regarding the formation of an executive committee to the June meeting. 10. CPC FUNDING NOTIFICATION LETTER ?? Jack Hornor presented a sample form letter for notifying applicants. The disbursement and monitoring regulations need to be discussed. He noted he along with Fran Volkmann and Bruce Young would produce the disbursement protocol. 5 ?? It was agreed by all the letter should include the requirement of all projects to post the statement “this project funded in part by the citizens of Northampton through the Community Preservation Act”. 11. MAY 31 QUESTIONS FOR APPLICANTS ?? All members broke into small groups in order to edit the follow-up questions to st applicants for the May 31 presentations. 12. MAY 31 APPLICANT PRESENTATIONS ?? Fran Volkmann suggested the CPC not organize the presentations into subject groups, rather the order should be kept random. ?? Bruce Young agreed to keep the order random except for the City presentations as they requested to meet earlier in the day. ?? Jack Hornor suggested the CPC use discretion to shorten some of the presentations. Meeting adjourned at 10:07pm. Respectfully submitted on June 3, 2008, John Frey, Community Preservation Planner 6