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DRAFT MINUTES CITY OF GLENDALE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE VIRTUAL MEETING FEBRUARY 18, 2020 6:30 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Lisa Baker, Chair Leslee Miele, Vice Chair Kelly Carbello Elida Feltus Kirstin Flores David Giles Theodora Hackenberg Vivian Lizarraga Ezekiel Ojo Abby Vick MEMBERS ABSENT: Elizabeth “Cooki” Peverini Alicia Rubio STAFF PRESENT: Matthew Hess, Revitalization Administrator Ismael Cantu, CAP Administrator Jean Moreno, Director, Community Services Director Donald Paredez, Housing Administrator Shelli Henson, Community Revitalization Monica Schroeder, Administrative Support Specialist Sara Lickteig, ROSS Coordinator, Housing Division Michael Beck, Chief Librarian The meeting was conducted via Zoom online conference. 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Baker called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Roll taken. Introductions were made. 3. CITIZEN COMMENTS No comments received. No citizens present. 4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Motion by Committee-member Flores, second by Vice Chair Miele, to approve the January 21, 2021 CDAC meeting minutes as written. The motion carried 8 – 0. [Committee-members Lizarraga and Ojo were not yet present.] 5. OLD BUSINESS a. Fiscal Years 2016-17 Through 2019-20 Annual Action Plan Amendments Public Hearing Minutes of the Community Development Advisory Committee February 18, 2021 Page 2 [Committee-member Ojo joined the meeting during the agenda item.] Mr. Hess announced that notice was not published for the Public Hearing held at the January CDAC meeting, and therefore, another Public Hearing would be held this evening. Mr. Hess opened the Public Hearing. Mr. Hess provided an overview of the proposed changes to the Annual Action Plans as described in the Draft Substantial Plan Amendment for the following Fiscal Years: 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20, which included the following information: • The public comment period was opened on January 8th and goes through February 7, 2021. Comments can be made via online, email, or in person at tonight’s meeting. • Specific focus is made on projects that came in over or under budget, financial reconciliations of older activities, any reallocations made, and review of all transactions. Mr. Hess displayed and explained a list of revised allocations per project per Fiscal Year. • A change was made in the language for the Downtown VIP Program, which was originally a downtown-focused, commercial façade renovation program. Council has directed that unspent funds left in the program be re-purposed to be used for downtown bistro lighting. This has also been included in the Annual Action Plan Amendment. Ms. Moreno clarified that the first two years of the VIP Program have unspent funds due to the tighter language. Mr. Hess relayed that the new language allows for the VIP funds to be used for any infrastructure project, instead of only façade improvements. • Another Substantial Plan Amendment will be presented in April or May 2021 for approximately $600,000. There were no public comments made or received. Mr. Hess closed the Public Hearing at 6:45 p.m. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. CAP 2nd Quarter (FY21) Programmatic and Financial Update Mr. Cantu presented the CAP 2nd Quarter CAP Performance Report and Financial Update, which included the following information: • The detailed report was included in the Committee-members’ meeting packet. • Nearly $8 million in assistance has been expended since July 1, 2020. • A total of 1,279 in unduplicated households were served in the 2nd Quarter. • Due to COVID, a main focus has to been to keep people from becoming homeless. Ms. Moreno announced staff was expecting to receive an additional $7.6 million in housing assistance from the federal government and a soft launch will be conducted in March. Ms. Moreno stated that the application site will be kept open and additional staff will be hired to help process the applications. Ms. Moreno relayed that the eligibility requirements for the round will be more stringent and therefore, more documents from the applicants will be required. Ms. Moreno assured staff will keep up the momentum to help people in need in the community. Minutes of the Community Development Advisory Committee February 18, 2021 Page 3 b. Subcommittee Updates Mr. Hess reported that in September 2020, the CDAC created a number of subcommittees for goals stemming from the August 2020 CDAC retreat. Ms. Hess commented that subcommittee updates would be given at this evening’s meeting. Affordable Housing Subcommittee Mr. Hess announced that a number of discussions were held with Council regarding potential allocations of the FY22 HOME Funds and the broad Council consensus on direction was brought back to the Affordable Housing Subcommittee. Chair Baker announced that the Affordable Housing Subcommittee was presented with two funding opportunities, as follows: • To help with funding the purchase of two homes for low-income individuals. • To help approximately 22 individuals with down payment assistance for the purchase of a new home. Chair Baker relayed that the subcommittee recommended focus on the second option. Vice Chair Miele stated it was important to know that the Subcommittee had long, hard conversations with the goal to assist as many people as possible, and this was the reason the second option was chosen. [Committee-member Lizarraga joined the meeting.] Mr. Hess noted that the housing market was very crazy right now and helping someone purchase a home and creating affordable housing was a long-term solution. Mr. Hess relayed that the goal was to spend the funds within one year and with the programs available, getting the funds to people should not be too difficult. Mr. Hess said that finding a home in the current market was more of the challenge, but noted this program could help fill the gaps. Committee-member Vick stated that conversations regarding creating permanent housing continually need to be held, especially due to the current market. Committee-member Lizarraga agreed. Committee-member Giles supported all efforts to assist people with permanent housing. Mr. Hess explained that if a buyer sold the house within five to ten years, some of the funds from the equity would come back to the City’s program to assist other buyers. Committee-member Carbello requested clarification of the time frame. Mr. Hess indicated the timing was five, ten years, or fifteen years depending on the financials and the program. Mr. Hess said the owner would need to maintain the title in their name and live in the home for a certain time period based on the program. Mr. Hess suspected the fifteen-year timeframe would have to be used due to the current market. Committee-member Feltus inquired if a buyer would need to have a forty-hour a week job and wondered how long a buyer would have to be employed to qualify for assistance. Chair Baker replied Minutes of the Community Development Advisory Committee February 18, 2021 Page 4 that the mortgage broker would set the loan terms. Mr. Hess stated a buyer would have to show income to sustain the mortgage payment, which could come from employment, social security, pension, or passive income. Mr. Hess said the underwriting would be done by the first lender. Mr. Hess announced staff was currently developing the FY22 Annual Action Plan and the Subcommittee is recommending the allocation of all of the FY22 HOME funding to this first-time homebuyer program. Vice Chair Miele inquired about classes for the first-time homebuyers in the program. Mr. Hess confirmed this type of education was part of the program package. Committee-member Hackenberg asked about the definition of a first-time homebuyer in the program. Mr. Paradez stated that the lender would set the terms, which differ by each state. Committee-member Flores inquired if families would apply to the City or to the bank for the program. Mr. Hess explained a subrecipient of the funds would manage the program for the City. Mr. Hess stated the subrecipient would help the applicants find a first loan through different lenders. Motion by Committee-member Hackenberg, second by Committee-member Giles, to recommend the allocation of FY2022 HOME Funds to first-time homebuyer activities. The motion carried 10 – 0. New Member Orientation Subcommittee Committee-member Flores gave an update on the New Member Orientation Subcommittee, which included the following: • The onboarding process for new members has been discussed. • Committee-members have passion for helping the community. They have strengths in many areas and diversity in knowledge, which can make orientation a challenge. • The goal is for orientation to be purposeful. • Topics can include the overall purpose of CDAC, an overview of the grants, an overview of different City divisions, how Glendale has benefitted from the work of the CDAC, and the services provided. • Other ideas included: a Committee-member mentorship match and ongoing educational opportunities, such as on vocabulary and acronyms. • Committee-member Flores, Mr. Hess, and Ms. Henson are creating a curriculum for the orientation. • Others are welcome to join the Subcommittee. Committee-member Vick suggested included a holistic overview of the different programs and the funding sources. Committee-member Carbello liked the mentoring suggestion and indicated that an overview of the grants would be beneficial as well. Committee-member Flores suggested an overview of City staff. Mr. Hess relayed the goal of the orientation was to provide simple and understandable information. Minutes of the Community Development Advisory Committee February 18, 2021 Page 5 Grants Process Subcommittee Committee-member Vick gave an update on the Grants Process Subcommittee, which included the following: • The Subcommittee created the matrix for aligning the CDAC goals for funding scoring. • Any suggestions for changes to the matrix for future funding rounds are welcome. Ms. Moreno announced that she received an email from one of the Councilmembers, who was very impressed with the matrix and the thoughtfulness put into it. Ms. Moreno noted that the Councilmember stated that she did not have any funding questions because of the matrix. Ms. Moreno reported that Council is noticing all of the hard work CDAC is doing in the subcommittees. ROSS Subcommittee Ms. Moreno announced the following: • HUD’s ROSS Program is available to the residents of the City’s public housing units and is designed to help residents achieve self-sufficiency through increased education, re-skilling, and other areas. • The City received a HUD grant to undertake the ROSS program over a three-year period. • Ms. Sara Lickteig was recently hired to run the ROSS program in Glendale. • One of the HUD regulations for the program is to establish a Board for the oversight of the ROSS activities. A CDAC subcommittee could potentially be established to serve on the Board. Ms. Lickteig stated that a Program Coordinating Committee was needed, which could be an already existing committee, however would need to include the City’s service partners. Committee-member Carbello requested a copy of the ROSS grant application. Mr. Hess suggested a review of the Committee-members’ experience and background to determine overlaps with the ROSS Board requirements. Mr. Hess stated that if there was no experience overlap, a CDAC Subcommittee might not be the appropriate venue. Ms. Moreno agreed it would be beneficial to review all of the Committee-members’ professional experience, however noted that some of very specific service providers need to be on the Board. Ms. Moreno asked that the Committee-members send Mr. Hess information on any specific expertise they have in the fields of substance abuse, the elderly, healthcare education, and workforce re-entry. The agenda item was concluded. 7. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS None. 8. DIRECTOR’S REPORT Ms. Moreno her report, which included the following: • Ms. Schroeder was promoted to Community Revitalization Coordinator. Minutes of the Community Development Advisory Committee February 18, 2021 Page 6 • Mr. Hess developed a plan to spend over $2.5 million in CDBG funds that must be expended by April 1, 2021. • Chicanos por La Causa was the agency chosen to administer the Small Business Assistance program. The total expended will be $600,000. In the first two weeks, there were 28 applications received with 4 approved so far. • The City of Glendale will register as an outreach partner for the FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, that allocates funding to Wi-Fi service in low-income households. Staff will recommend to Council not moving forward with the previously proposed Mobile Hotspot Program ($500,000) and Public Housing Wi-Fi Program ($500,000), due to the FCC funded program. The $1 million in savings can then be used for the FY21-22 Public Services requests and increasing the SBA allocation. • The City is pursuing a contract in regards to addressing Glendale’s homeless response. An executive-level task force has been established to work on the matter. Outreach is being conducted with active assistance groups in the City. A street outreach event in coordination with CASS and Community Bridges will be held at Bonsall Park, on Sunday, March 21, 2021. Clean-ups of homeless encampments were held at 83rd Avenue, between Bell Road and Union Hills, and at Bonsall Park South. A regional focus on homelessness strategies is needed including the City’s investment in the strategy, enforcement, and stakeholder forums. There is currently a state Senate bill in the works regarding the development of a shared facility in the west valley for the homeless population. 9. NEXT MEETING The next regular meeting of the Community Development Advisory Committee will be held on March 18, 2021 at 6:30 p.m., virtually or in conference room B-3 of the Municipal Office Complex, located at 5850 W. Glendale Ave., Glendale, Arizona 85301. 10. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Committee-member Giles, second by Committee-member Lizarraga, to adjourn the meeting at 8:06 p.m. Motion carried 10 – 0.