HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-01 Housing & Human Services MIN
Ashland Housing and Human Services Commission Special Meeting
Minutes March 1, 2018
CALL TO ORDER
Commission Chair Rohde called the meeting to order at 4:30 pm in the Siskiyou Room at the Community
Development and Engineering Offices located at 51 Winburn Way, Ashland OR 97520.
Commissioners Present: Council Liaison
Tom Gunderson Traci Darrow, absent
Rich Rohde
Heidi Parker SOU Liaison
Michelle Linley, absent
Gina DuQuenne
Jackie Bachman Staff Present:
Sue Crader Linda Reid, Housing Specialist
Linda Reppond Carolyn Schwendener, Clerk
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
N/A
PUBLIC FORUM
No one spoke at public forum.
CDBG AND AHTF CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCUSSION
The commission reviewed and discussed the City’s conflict of interest policy. The commission also reviewed the
Planning Commission public hearing protocol and agreed it would be beneficial for the Housing and Human
Services Commission to ask members for declarations of ex parte contacts, and statements of bias or conflicts to
be stated at the start of the meeting.
Parker suggested that she be recused from the grant recommendation process due to her association with OHRA
in her role as the Winter Shelter Volunteer Coordinator. OHRA will be acting as the fiscal agent for Parker on a
grant from Access for a paid Winter Homeless Shelter Volunteer Coordinator position. Parker stated that
although she herself will not personally gain financially from the grant, she will be training her replacement and
will be coordinating with OHRA during that grant reimbursement period. After discussion with other commission
members, it was agreed that while Parker’s situation is not an actual conflict, that it might be better if Parker
recused herself from the CDBG and AHTF award process to avoid any perceived conflicts.
Linley asked about weatherization rebates in relation to the Starthistle Project. Reid did not think that there would
be any weatherization rebates available for the type of work being done at this time.
AHTF APPLICATION QUESTIONS DISCUSSION
The commission discussed the Affordable Housing Trust fund applications at length. Several questions were
generated:
Habitat for Humanity
What is the current zoning of the property proposed for purchase?
What is the value of those lots? How did Habitat settle on $50K for a price?
In some instances, the land is donated to the affordable housing developer, is that a possibility in this
case?
Why is this proposal targeting households earning 80% Area Median Income rather than 60% Area
Median Income when the estimated mortgage costs will be so low?
What happens if you receive less grant money than you requested?
OHRA-Short Term Application:
How does your proposed program complement the St. Vincent De Paul’s program rather than compete
with the St. Vincent De Paul Program?
What is the extent that you are able to work with the clients in terms of length of time and/or complexity?
How would you go about securing enough funding so that the navigators time is able to be used to serve
clients?
-Mid-Term Proposal:
The mid-term proposal is requesting 19,000, but in the long term proposal the request says that the mid-
term and the long term proposals are tied together. What would happen if only the mid-term or only the long-term
proposal are funded?
-Long Term Proposal:
Would this project be eligible for HUD funding?
Is this property located in a floodplain?
Columbia Care
What specifically in the delay added to the cost of the acquisition of the property?
What are the pre-funding conditions mentioned in the OHCS reserve letter and has Columbia Care met
those conditions?
Is there a current planning action to rezone the property?
What is the timeline for utilizing OHCS funds? Is the timeline effected by the planning action timeline?
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Linda Reid