Dungan introduced Evian Distefano. Distefano was recently appointed by Mayor DeBoer as a high school student representative.

The December 18, 2002 minutes will be held for approval until the next meeting.

as an example, though that doesn’t have to be the vehicle. He needs to have some direction from the Housing Commission.

Seidman wondered why hiring hinges on the new city administrator, and why does the process need to be held up? It would be frustrating to have another delay. His vote would be not to delay the process and advertise right away for a full-time position. Seidman’s own experience with outsourcing has been that as a non-profit director, it takes an enormous amount of time to continually work on fund raising at all levels. Then, there is the time it takes to implement programs Non-profits, by their nature are very tenuous. It would not only take a director, but a full-time staff to build a stable program. He believes it would be in the City’s best interest to have the dedicated funds for a staff person who can focus on delivering the program and not worrying about the next year’s funding.

DeBoer said when we go to a full-time position, there are some procedures that have to go in place to create the pay scales, the job itself and the job description. He thinks it could take about two months. If we outsource to ACLT, this could be a City arm. If this didn’t work, we could pull the person back into the City and if it did, it would help stabilize the Land Trust.

Hartzell has not seen the city administrator involved in this type of thing in the past. It seems the major change is that we are taking a temporary part-time position and we are re-advertising for a permanent position. She also does not understand the need for a delay. With regard to outsourcing, she sees that we have a position we haven’t even started and she doesn’t think it is even outsourcing. The consultant recommended we place it in the city. Non-profits are not a reliable place to put this position. Hartzell noted that ACLT grew out of the Housing Commission.

Medinger said he is fully supportive of ACLT and wants to see it flourish, however, he is concerned about outsourcing.

DeBoer said budgetary approval is needed to create a new position.

Jackson questioned how much the job description would change. DeBoer said the structure would change. Jackson said personnel can take care of that. In her discussions with McLaughlin, he said he would rather have a full-time position now. DeBoer thought is could be a two-month process.

Legg said the purpose is to get some stability. If it takes an extra two months, so be it. She knows that the banks she has worked with would never fund an organization if they didn't have confidence in the staff that is running it. She believes it is important to coordinate this position with other positions in the city such as those dealing transportation, schools, etc.

Dungan thought there could be a conflict of interest if we hired an ACLT person to do affordable housing. He reminded the Commission that they spent a lot of time talking about having this position as a non-city position. Through their extensive discussions, however, they decided the position needs to be in the city because of the city needing to have control of some things.

Seidman does not believe a temporary position would have time to tackle the issues of affordable housing. The time has come to work with the gathering momentum. The way the Land Trust is currently constituted is very limited compared to the comprehensiveness of the Action Plan. Maybe half the items suggested in the Action Plan are beyond the scope of the Land Trust and really in the domain of city government--policy changes, land use changes, etc. Funding for a non-profit is often geared to the budget of the organization and their financial track record. We need to attract millions of dollars and the city has the stature to be a credible recipient of those funds from major foundations and other government sources.

Hartzell suggested we ask Staff to prepare an advertisement that would reflect the permanent nature of the job so it will be on the Council’s work agenda. We could re-advertise it as early as February 5th or 6th.

Medinger thought the Commission should write a letter to the Council recommending a permanent position. Hartzell said the letter could reflect the recommendation of the Needs Assessment and Action Plan and ask Council to adopt both. It might be helpful for the Council to understand why we want a full-time city position.

DeBoer noted that there is currently a rental assistance program that has not been used in for at least two years. There is an affordable housing purchase program and the contracts were dropped. There is funding but no way to access the program. He would like some research done on these programs and recommendations. Also, they need a specific change in the affordable housing program so someone cannot sell a house out of the affordable program.

Molnar said the Planning Commission forwarded a recommendation to the Council so that affordable units that come under annexation or zone change will have a 60 year term of affordability.

Molnar said originally ACCESS volunteered to administer the rental assistance and first time home buyers program. The contract with ACCESS has lapsed. Molnar said they drafted another contract with ACCESS and ACCESS asked for covering of their administrative fees. It has been in limbo with an agreement to do that. Molnar just needs to get the contracts finalized.

Hartzell wondered if we have a Housing Coordinator, do we need ACCESS? Molnar said we should still use ACCESS because tracking the program is time-consuming. With the demands being placed on the Housing Coordinator his/her time could be better spent in other areas.

Molnar said he has not any contact with people who want the loan programs. We have approved 12 rental assistance loans over the last three years. All have been paid back. We have approved seven first time homebuyer loans between $2000 and $2500. Payback is deferred for five years so none of those loans have yet required payback.

The Commissions directed Molnar to keep moving ahead with this program. Dungan asked Legg if she could look at some new ways to view this program in the future.

Uto arrived at 5:00 p.m. DeBoer left the meeting.

Seidman asked how the Commission’s motion is communicated to the Council. Medinger and Hartzell will assist Seidman in writing a letter to the Council. Legg moved to have a letter written and included in the Council packet for the February 4, 2003 Council meeting. Medinger seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. Medinger and Legg will attend the Council meeting.

Seidman said Uto will be writing a letter to the editor. The idea was to get regular letters to the Daily Tidings refuting people who think that investing in affordable housing is a losing proposition and to lay out very specific steps to be taken that have a likelihood of success.

A spokesperson from the League of Women Voters announced they will be having a meeting at the Ashland Elks Club on February 12th at noon. They want to get the facts and present them with regard to affordable housing.

The Education and Outreach Committee will meet Wednesday, February 12th, 1:00 p.m. after the League of Women Voters at the Elks.

Hartzell felt, as a matter of protocol, that we understand something about any project brought forward to the Commission asking for support. She can get the background material on this project, but as a matter of course, we should understand any project and not become a rubber stamp for projects. Seidman agreed.

Uto offered to write the letter and send to Dungan for his signature. Legg moved to have Uto write the letter. Hartzell seconded the motion and everyone favored. Medinger abstained. Hartzell thought it would be beneficial if Uto e-mailed the letter to the Commissioners for their review. Legg said she is on the Foundation Board for Medinger’s project so she asked for her motion to be withdrawn.

Molnar thought, at a later date, it would be educational to understand the steps involved for Medinger to get this project approved.

Hartzell would like to talk about working with everyone on the Commission, finding the best time for meeting. Dungan thought the new Commissioners should be involved in the discussion

Uto doesn’t believe we need to sell anything more to the Planning Commission or Council, but to get the public involved.

Ideas were brought up such as involving churches and neighborhoods, and an educational meeting in the spring inviting people to break into working groups. Seidman wondered if there are people on the Commission that can articulate some tasks and activities people could plug into. Hartzell committed to Seidman if he reminds her.

Promoting Community Engagement will be an agenda item for next month.

Legg would like to develop some orientation for new Housing Commissioners. Hartzell said Kim Miller should be up to speed as a new Commissioner. Hartzell wondered if Legg has the time to serve as a sort of mentor to Christine Oswald.