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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDA MIN 10-24-06 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (EDA) REGULAR MEETING MINUTES October 24, 2006 CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL President, Murzyn, Jr. called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Present: Don Murzyn Jr., Bruce Nawrocki, Tammera Diehm, Gary L. Peterson and Bruce Kelzenberg Absent: Patricia Jindra, Bobby Williams PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CONSENT AGENDA Nawrocki asked what the charitable $56,000 was for. Streetar stated it was for the Helicor Anchors for the Sarna site, which comes from COBG funds. Nawrocki questioned under transfer out of budget, what is that for. Streetar stated it is the EOA/HRA levy that comes into account 204 and is transferred into 201. MOTION by Diehm, second by Kelzenberg, to Approve the consent agenda Items #3 and #4 as listed. All ayes. Motion Carried. Nawrocki asked why we aren't reviewing the budget tonight. Streetar stated it will be discussed at a joint City Council/EOA meeting on Novembe'r 6th, like we did it last year. BUSINESS ITEMS Adopt Resolution 2006-08. Approving Funding for Rehab Incentive Program Partenheimer stated she would be presenting this item and that Suzanne Snyder, from GHMC was present to answer any questions. This program was designed to help residents that do not require a loan, pay for improvements needed on their homes. Rebates of 10, 12, or 15% residents can receive depending upon their median income after the work has been preformed. The original funding was provided back in 2004, which is now expended. Staff is asking for an additional $35,000 to fund the program. Murzyn Jr. asked what is the median income for this area and stated he felt it was a good program and it will improve our housing stock. Snyder stated the median income would serve household incomes up to $88,000. The program is designed to assist homeowners in maintaining and improving their homes by providing a rebate to them after an improvement has been completed. Homeowners of single-family or owner-occupied duplexes with a household income at 115% of the area median income or less are eligible to apply. A rebate payment of 10%, 12% or 15% may be granted, up to $3,000. Some of the examples of eligible improvements are repairing or replacing dilapidated porches, roofs, retaining walls, siding, retaining walls, siding, exterior steps or railings, and heating, plumbing or electrical systems. Murzyn Jr. stated it would income a majority of our households in Columbia Heights, which would improve our housing stock, which is good as our housing stock is so old, Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes October 24, 2006 Page 2 of4 we could use whatever incentives we can to improve our housing stock. Nawrocki stated he didn't agree that the program should take all of the credit for improving housing stock, the difference is whether or not some work gets done. Murzyn Jr. stated he thinks it's the difference between some people doing it or not, it is the difference that some people will do it a little bit nicer and looks at $774,000 of work getting done and if he was paying for that and could get some money back, he would be very happy. Diehm asked if the money wasn't used up in a year, would it continue, until it's gone. Snyder stated yes, it would. Nawrocki asked where the funding would come from, do we have the money, and if we authorize the expenditure it is suppose to come out the budget. Streetar stated it would come from fund 226. Nawrocki stated in the monthly financial report for September it doesn't list any funds for this. Streetar stated we do fund accounting, we don't budget annually as we don't run out annually, we come to the board to request funding when we need it. Diehm stated this is a great program, which encourages residents to do improvements to their home, rather than waiting. , Motion by Diehm, second by Peterson, to waive the reading of Resolution 2006-08, there being an ample amount of copies available to the public. All ayes. Motion Carried. Nawrocki stated the residents on 38 or 3900 block of 2nd street, thought they were going to get a $3,000 rebate for their assessments and they didn't get it, as we found out there wasn't any money left, and the asked would there be funds available to them if we approve this. Streetar stated there would be. Motion by Diehm, second by Peterson, to Adopt Resolution 2006-08, a Resolution approving funding for the Rehab Incentive Program to the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation (GMHC) in the amount of $35,000 from fund number 226, Special Projects Fund. All ayes. Motion Carried. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS Activity Center Partenheimer stated last night Gerry Herringer updated the City Council on the progress of the Activity Center meetings. Many members are excited about the progress they are making. All of the information can be found on the website. Murzyn Jr. asked where the school board with is. Partenheimer stated they are members of the activity center committee, attend meetings regularly and are active participants. Murzyn Jr. asked if the City and School Board are working on this as a Economic Development Authority Meeting Minutes October 24, 2006 Page 3 of4 joint project. Partenheimer stated that was true, city council appointed this committee. Murzyn Jr. asked why Huset park isn't being considered, didn't understand why we would want to take the NEI property and put a non-taxable entity there, after so many years of no taxes coming in, he felt that by the wading pool would be an excellent place to put it. Diehm stated they have three sites they are looking at. Partenheimer stated the committee decided for a number of reasons, not to. They didn't eliminate it completely, but felt they couldn't pass on so many sites to the architect, it would be just too much to study. So for a number of reasons they choose these three and if for some reason it is determined that these sites wouldn't work they would go back and look at it again. The committee didn't totally axe the site, but had to prioritize their choices. Nawrocki stated relative to the activity center, people forget about Murzyn Hall, which has been our activity center since 1938, we should be talking about the need for additional space, it originally started as a gym, and at the Monday meeting we were not told that an architect was hired. Where are the bids for these services, he saw nothing advertised or that went to City Council, which he takes strong exception to this, he called the finance department to see if there was a signed contract, who talked to someone in your department who said there wasn't one. Streetar stated: 1) we do have a contract with the architect and if you come and see me I could give you a copy; 2) it is the group of 36 members that you assigned to work on this and come back with suggestions; 3) the process we are following is community wide; 4) you have participated in almost all of the meetings, you have seen that the group is very engaged, there are school board members on the committee as well as staff members who attend the meeting; 5) the understanding with this process was rather than ram rod it down the communities throat, lets ask the community what they want and that is what the committee is presenting. Nawrocki stated the point still is, in the end, to his knowledge the committee isn't aware that an architect has been hired, and if you don't have a signed contract, your not hired, and that he has attended these meetings. Partenheimer stated it was announced at the last meeting. Streetar said Mr. Herringer the vice chair, said he felt it was an excellent choice. Nawrocki stated this architect was involved in the Andover project that cost over $18 million dollars, which was a plus, you know what the architectural fees are on an $18 million dollar project are, well over a million dollars, we should have had a competitive bidding process and should come before the body to approve. Streetar stated we interviewed 5 people, the cost for this feasibility study was between $9,500 and $13,000, we picked the low bidder, we picked him because he has previous experience that the committee has actually seen, competitive bidding doesn't apply to service contracts, it never has, it applies to the construction of materials, our job in this process that the council approved and endorsed is in the contract with JMS and Ehlers. If you look at line 1.05 it talks about engaging an architect, which was not included in the initial $35,000, but we entered into an agreement for $9, 500, which comes under the Economic Development Authority Meeting Minntes October 24,2006 Page 4 of4 City Managers limit. Murzyn Jr. stated that is just a feasibility study. Streetar stated yes, it doesn't imply in any way, shape or form that if the community center is built that these are the people that would be doing the architecture. The council gets to choose, not staff. He would encourage the council to spend a lot of time talking to architects. Nawrocki stated he has probably been involved in more projects, involving more architects and engineers than anybody in this room. Streetar, Fehst, Peterson stated they didn't think so. Nawrocki stated the years he was on the MTC commission, hundreds of millions of dollars were spent in building projects, and that he went through engineering and architectural contracts. Fehst asked if he got bids on the financial consultant when he was the mayor, when Norb Schroeder was our financial consultant, no you didn't. Murzyn Jr. stated these are all interesting things that they should talk about at a council, not the EDA. Other Business Nawrocki stated he wanted to know about the clean up on the property. Murzyn Jr. stated that was all staff had prepared for tonight. Nawrocki stated you had some comments on the Sarna property, soil correction, tell me about it. Streetar stated we have gone through that many times. Nawrocki stated okay refresh my memory, call me a dumby, I don't care what you call me, just tell me about the soil correction in this report. Streetar stated we put down helicdr anchors because there were poor soils and contamination. Helicor anchors are holes in the ground, filled with rock, on which the slab goes and paid for by CDBG. Nawrocki asked how much money. Streetar stated about $56,000. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Peterson, second by Diehm, adjourned the meeting at 7:37 p.m. All ayes. Motion Carried. Respectfully submitted, Oz( d:~.. Cheryl Bakken Community Development Secretary H:\EDAminutes2006\10-24-2006