Loading...
BAHT Meeting Minutes 17-10-25CITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES Board: Beverly Affordable Housing Trust Date: October 25, 2017 Location: Beverly City Hall, Conference Room "B" Members Present: Chair Aaron Clausen, Mayor Michael Cahill, Treasurer Bryant Ayles, Clerk Sue Gabriel, Richard Dinkin Others Present: Assistant Planning Director Darlene Wynne, Guest Bob Butterworth Recorder: Donna Musumeci Adjournment The meeting was called to order at 2:03pm Meeting Minutes: Clausen asked for comments on the outstanding minutes — of which there were 3 sets. Wynne noted some minor edits made. Dinkin: Motion to approve the draft meeting minutes of May 31, 2017. Ayles seconded. Motion carries (6 -0). Ayles: Motion to approve the draft meeting minutes of July 19, 2017. Dinkin seconded Motion carries (6 -0). Draft meeting minutes for August 23, 2017 will be re- reviewed to ensure standard language and terms are correct. Clausen will rework and present for approval at the next meeting. Review of Affordable Housing Trust Guidelines and Priorities Section I - Roles and Responsibilities - Gabriel noted should we clarify if we get money from the CPA, we can't use it for administrative expenses, and Ayles noted that is on page 2 under CPA, that we have to clearly separate the expenses. Section II - Goals - Clausen noted our priorities give us flexibility to change every year and Gabriel agreed. Gabriel stated that our concerns are with supporting the trust, and that citywide goals should be an addendum, not part of this. Dinkin advised that guidelines are there as a point of reference and was agnostic about including them or not. Dinkin said that they do allow the citizen to have it all in a document. Group agreed to either add the citywide goals as an addendum or find another place to list them in the document. On page three, group also agreed to strike the summary of housing strategies. Section III - Funding Priorities - First sentence to be rewritten more generally so it doesn't reference citywide goals specifically. Clausen said he would re- paginate the package on priorities. Will use bullets as the hierarchy instead of numbers. Cahill confirmed that all eight of these sentences refer to affordable housing and should it be noted in each one. Clausen indicated Beverly Affordable Housing Trust Fund Regular Meeting October 25, 2017 it would be more appropriate in a lead -in sentence, making clear that the goal is affordable housing. Some other word - smithing recommendations were made to the priority statements. Section IV - Eligible Activities - no changes Section V - Funding Guidelines - Ayles reviewed the two types of funding, loans and grants. If we are keeping grants in this, need to clarify deed restrictions. Clausen said we will do some research on how other communities handle deed restrictions, maybe something like Somerville. Cahill asked on the funding guidelines page 5 last bullet, where does the city council fit in. Mayor asks if we need a unanimous vote of the Trustees? Wynne confirms that is what it says and that guidelines aren't required. Dinkin recommending deleting the word unanimous and the clause requiring City Council of Funding Guidelines — as that is not their role per the statute. Ayles asked about the dollars amounts and where they came from. Some of these are not really guidelines, they are set amounts. Cahill asked if we are bound by them. We do see the value in setting parameters, but should soften the language, perhaps "best practices ". Also discussed on the Table 2 Summary page 6, that Housing Rehab should have its own row. If we separate loans from grants, then perhaps have 2 separate tables. Clausen will take another look at reworking the funding guidelines. Section VI - Application Process - Wynne said announcement of funds to be available will be made at the end of year and we will use the letter of intent (LOI) process. Clausen said the goal was to get the announcement out as soon as possible, but that the letter of interest is not a huge effort. He noted that it is not a threshold that a project will be funded or not funded based on a LOI. Wynne noted that going forward, we have to align with fiscal years and CPA funding availability. Ayles advised local CPA money comes quarterly and state CPA comes November/December in one check. He notes that money can be sent in advance of receipt. Wynne noted that the Trust will be receiving different amounts each year. Mayor asked if we should consider a first -year calendar and then will determine a preferred time table for future years. Wynne noted that it can be updated annually. Discussion about an October/November timeline, as we will know what the $$ is for the budget, and the Trust is ready to award funds beginning of the year. Mayor asked whether there another way other than doing on a rolling basis, perhaps on a cycle? Wynne noted they thought of a cycle, but applications may not fit into those schedules. Another timeline to think about is local and state funding. Wynne to check with DeFranza, as we know they will be seeking BAHT funds. Section VII - Selection Criteria - Ayles asked how we qualify scores, what would be considered a good project, or how do we compare projects against each other. He suggested there should be a minimum standard. Gabriel said there should be a disclaimer to say the score doesn't guarantee selection. Dinkin inquired if our decisions were appealable; Clausen advised he would look into that. Section IX - Reporting - Will follow as part of the annual report process, pursuant to section 15 -5 of the city ordinances. 2 Beverly Affordable Housing Trust Fund Regular Meeting October 25, 2017 Application Package - Wynne wants to look at CPA documents to make BAHT application consistent. Could create an on -line document. Noted that his application package is not done, is only shown at meeting in draft form. We will aim for the trustee group to meet 6 times a year. Next steps Clausen advised we should meet in November and shoot for filing in December. Meeting on 11/29 to vote on approval. He added the group can submit comments and push moving this forward December 1 -15. Adiournment• Motion to adjourn by Ayles. Dinkin seconds. Adjourned at 3:39. 3