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MINUTES
Citizen’s District Council Meeting
City of Muskegon CDBG
Conference Room 203
Muskegon, Michigan
Thursday, November 8, 2012
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Oneata Bailey at 5:40p.m. She introduced Laura
Hichue as the new secretary in CNS.
ROLL CALL
Roll call was taken by Laura Hichue
Present: Chris Carter, Rosalind Ford, Addie Sanders-Randall, Virgie
Jackson, Tom Pastoor, Billie Quinn
Excused: Lori Rasmussen
Absent: Lea Markowski
Staff Present: Oneata Bailey, Laura Hichue
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chris Carter made a motion to approve the minutes from the June 5, 2012, meeting due
to the September meeting being canceled due to lack of a quorum. Rosalind Ford
seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS
• Vote for Chairman and Vice-Chairman and Introduction of New Members
Billie Quinn was introduced as a new member.
Virgie Jackson nominated Tom Pastoor for Chairman. This was seconded by Addie
Sanders-Randall.
Rosalind Ford nominated Chris Carter for Vice Chairman. This was seconded by Billie
Quinn.
The nominations were passed unanimously.
• Citizen Participation Plan
Oneata passed out a copy of the plan to those who did not have it. The plan showed
highlighted grammatical items that are being changed and the date on the plan would
be changed to reflect today’s date.
Rosalind Ford moved to accept the Revised Citizen Participation Plan. Chris Carter
seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
• CDC By-laws
By-Laws were passed out for the new members and those who did not have one.
Oneata explained there were no changes in the by-laws but just to keep members up to
date on them.
Oneata advised the Board that there was a new Commission representative, Lea
Markowski, and that Jonathan Phillips had relocated out of state and was no longer on
the Board.
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Tom Pastoor asked if there was a breakdown showing the make-up of the Board as far
as representation from different areas.
Oneata explained there was a chart showing this and she would make it available for
anyone wanting one.
NEW BUSINESS
• Limits on Priority Housing Repairs and Database Proposal
Oneata explained the reasons for setting limits on the emergency repair program (now
titled Priority Housing Repair Program). The houses that CNS repairs are now being
prioritized to health/safety issues and the income limits have been raised from 50 to
60% AMI to allow those slightly over the 50% to still get assistance but they pay $250
towards the repair. The vinyl siding program has been changed to require some
investment from the owner; this also helps the program’s budget to be used for more
people. There has not been any negative feedback so far regarding paying into the
program.
There has been a problem with repeat requests for assistance by the same owners.
Properties are ending up with 3 or 4 liens and the City owns more into the house than
the owner. Oneata explained an example of a property that had received a roof in the
1990’s and now they are asking the City for another roof. They had also received a
furnace and siding in that time since the roof was installed
Oneata stated she is asking the Council for a guideline to go by for repeat requests.
Tom Pastoor asked if HUD had any guidelines.
Oneata stated they left that judgment to the City.
Chris Carter stated his opinion was that in a case like this the owner should pay half of
the new roof and then would not be eligible for another roof .
Tom Pastoor stated that those in the 30% AMI may have a problem with a 50% co-pay.
Chris Carter stated maybe there could be a percentage breakdown or some portion for
them to pay, and this would only apply to the 30% AMI.
Discussion took place regarding multiple requests for assistance on a home, the age of
the applicants and the problem with putting multiple liens on a property.
Oneata stated the advantage the Priority Home Repair program has is that inspection
staff was able to go with the CNS staff to the properties to see what needs to be done
and if it is truly an emergency. She stated SafeBuilt of Michigan has agreed to continue
doing this service with CNS.
Tom Pastoor asked if all inspectors should go out and see what all needs to be done.
Oneata explained that whatever the priority is, that inspector would go out.
Chris Carter said if there were multiple issues, they would have to choose a priority and
that would be all and age should also be a factor.
Oneata explained they have been working along with CAAP and DHS to assist people
rather than covering the repair completely.
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Billie Quinn asked if age should be a factor in determining assistance.
Oneata stated all income in the home is considered in determining eligibility
Discussion took place regarding determining the number of persons living in a
household
Chris Carter stated there should be a gap between the times services are allowed.
Oneata asked what the Board wants to set for limits.
Tom Pastoor asked about liens.
Oneata stated they are 5 year liens for roofs, furnaces, across the board. They do
depreciate every year. Many times liens are paid off when houses are sold or other
circumstances.
Chris Carter said a 7 year gap seemed reasonable; pay off the lien and then have a
couple years after.
Tom Pastoor said he was more comfortable with 10 years gap before applying again.
Chris Carter stated the trends are showing that CDBG funds are decreasing every year
and let the citizens know that it need to be a priority.
Discussion took place to have a meeting with other agencies to talk about sharing
resources in order to help more citizens. Tom Pastoor and Chris Carter said they would
attend that meeting.
Oneata said she would try to have that by the end of November or beginning of
December.
Billie Quinn moved to set a 10 year limit on applying for a Priority Housing Repair
project and vinyl siding is a one-time project.
Addie Sanders-Randall seconded the motion
Tom Pastoor asked what if they owned 2 properties in the city.
Oneata explained that it could only be for their primary residence; otherwise they could
possibly go through the Rental Rehab Program.
The motion passed unanimously.
Chris Carter excused himself at 6:25 p.m.
STAFF REPORTS
Oneata explained that 2265 Lincoln has been sold and the house at 1733 Manz has
been completed, 605 Jackson is to be completed the week of 11/12/12. She invited the
Board members to come and see the houses. She will try for one of the three days
before Thanksgiving. They will be open so they can just go in.
Addie Sanders-Randall asked about a house on Arthur St. being repaired and how nice
it looked.
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Oneata explained that Community Encompass was doing the rehab.
Oneata reviewed the Monitoring Report for the CDBG and HOME programs. The report
was about making sure fair wages were being paid for CDBG funded projects such as
street repairs. The monitors were looking to see that reporting was being done and
suggested changes that CNS keeps a complete file of all information. Oneata explained
that the Affirmative Action director had some information; Engineering Department also
had information so CNS needs to compile all the information into one file. For the
HOME program, they were looking at the demise of Neighborhood Investment
Corporation and the year they were not doing very much; there was an administrative
fee paid and the monitors questioned why they were paid. Files needed to be reviewed
and show that they did do some things but did not complete the project. Oneata said
that was the purpose of HUD to make sure things were being done properly. She said
next year they will probably be checking the entire CDBG program.
OTHER BUSINESS
Oneata asked if the Board would like to meet in December. She said they were going
to get information out to the CHDO’s in January or the end of December for them to
respond for 2013. She suggested meeting in February to discuss what the Board wants
to do for the coming year and the applications would be coming in by then.
The Board agreed to meet in February and Oneata will put the results of the joint
meeting on the agenda.
The next meeting will be held on February 5, 2013.
The meeting adjourned at 6:30
Respectfully submitted,
Laura Hichue
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