HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-05-28 Housing & Human Services MIN
Ashland Housing and Human Services Commission
Minutes May 28,2015
CALL TO ORDER
Vice Chair Coriann Matthewscalled the meeting to order at 4:30 pmin the Siskiyou Room at the Community
Development and Engineering Offices located at 51 Winburn Way, Ashland OR 97520.
Commissioners Present:
Council Liaison
Joshua Boettiger, arrived at 5:15Pam Marsh
Coriann Matthews
SOU Liaison
Heidi Parker
Vacant
Gina DuQuenne
Sue Crader
Staff Present:
Rich Rohde
ConnieSaldana Linda Reid, Housing Specialist
Carolyn Schwendener, Admin
CommissionersAbsent:
Assistant
Regina Ayars
Approval of Minutes
Rohde/Craderm/sapproval of minutes of the April 23, 2015Housing and Human Services Commission meeting.
Voice Vote: motion passed unanimously; minutes were approved as presented.
Public Forum
No one present spoke.
Social Service Award Discussion and Recommendation
The HHS Commission was given the task of recommendingto City Council the allocation of the funds for the social
service grant monies. On May 27, 2015 each applicant who requested grant money gave a presentation before
the HHS Commission. The Commissioners briefly discussed the process they individually took in order to come
up with their recommendations for these monies.
Most of the Commissioners had previously given Reid their numerical values for each of the organizations they
wished to allocate funds to. Reid took a few minutes to input the remainder of the Commissioners numbers into a
spreadsheet.
After a group discussion the following is the names of the organizations along with the allocation of funds that was
agreed upon by the Commissioners as a group. The total Social Service Grant money tobe awarded is
$130,660.
1.Community Health Center$8,000
2.Planned Parenthood of SW Oregon$1,500
3.Children’s Advocacy Center of JC$3,750
4.Center for Nonprofit Legal Services Inc.$5,000
5.RVCOG (Meals on Wheels)$3,700
6.Community works Inc (Helpline)$4,700
7.CASA of Jackson County$3,000
8.Maslow Project$8,000
9.On Track, Inc.$6,000
10.Community Works (Sexual Assault Victim Serv)$1,800
11.St. Vincent de Paul$20,000
12.Community Works Inc (Dunn House)$11,760
13.Access$4,600
14.Children’s Dental Clinicof JC$2,850
15.Community Works Inc (Homeless & Runaway)$6,000
16.Options for Homeless Residents of Ashland$40,000
Councilor Marsh expressed her appreciation to the Commissioners for doing such a fine job. Marsh asked the
Commissioners if they could take a little time to evaluate this process.
The Commissioners determined there were a few changes that could be made in the next grant cycle. Here is a list
of some of the suggestions.
The application form itselfcould include more specific questions.
Specify what financial forms need to be filled out.
Presentations could be more direct. Some presentations seemedmore like storytellingand need
to be morefocused
Ask the applicant more questions either on the application or at the presentations.Example“What
if you didn’t receive this funding?How would that affect your project? ““What are you going to do
with the money? “Give us a brief overview of your program.
Would like to receive feedback from the applicant.
Would like a little more time between the applications and the presentations. Discuss the
applications as a group and then hear their presentations.
Marsh asked the Commissioners if they felt they had enough membership with this group to make this kind of
decision. Would it be helpful to have someone from the Budget Committee or aCouncil memberincluded in the
decision makingprocess, inquired Marsh?The Commissioners recognized that depending on the applicants and
the employment of some of the Commissioners it would be possible to not have a quorum. However the
consensus was that they will make that determination after they evaluate how well they express their decisions to
the Council. Boettiger pointed out that the goal is fluid communication with the Council. They are open to the
possibility of additional assistancewith the processif necessary.
The recommendations go to the City Council on June 16, 2015. Matthews, Crader and Rohde will attend that
Council meeting with Reid.
Quorum Check:
Next Housing Commission Meeting –4:30-6:30 PM; June 25,2015
Possibility that Matthews might be absent
Saldana will not be able to attend
July 20, 2015 City Council Study Session-Housing Trust Fund Discussion.
Crader invited the Commissioners to attend the Economic and Culture tourism grants deliberation. They follow
the same format as the Social Service Award.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:00p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Carolyn Schwendener