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Minutes
Citizen’s District Council Meeting
City of Muskegon CDBG
Conference Room 203
Muskegon, Michigan
October 4th, 2016
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order by Chris Carter at 5:42 pm.
ROLL CALL:
Roll call was taken by Samantha Pulos-Porter, and a quorum was present.
Present:
Lisa Judge Chris Carter
Veania Coleman Ken Johnson
Kim McDonald
Absent:
Addie Sanders-Randall
Kim Burr
Tom Pastoor
Excused:
Staff Present:
Oneata Bailey
Samantha Pulos-Porter
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Ms. Coleman motioned to approve the minutes, from June 7th, 2016; Ms. McDonald seconded the
motion, which passed unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS:
Homebuyer Assistance Report
Oneata explained that the report represented the 26 homebuyers assisted by the Homebuyer’s
Assistance Program. She went on to say that a lot of the families chose to move to Muskegon from sister
cities, as far away as Monroe and as close as Fremont. Ms. McDonald asked if it was income based, Ms.
Bailey confirmed that it was. Ms. Bailey stated the total appraised value of the house for the report was at
about 1.5 million dollars. Ms. Bailey stated that the program insures low income buyers receive an
inspection and that things that need to be fixed are before we invest. She also stated that you would be
surprised at how many homes are listed for sale with broken windows. Mr. Carter asked if “M” stood for a
Mexican buyer on the report. The entire group discussed what different letters stood for on the
Homebuyer’s Assistance Report. Mr. Carter stated that he thought there may be a new classification of
race and that we kept track for statistical purpose to make sure we were helping everyone. Ms. McDonald
asked who funds the program. Ms. Bailey responded that we use funds from home sales for the
Homebuyer’s Assistance and that we are still using 2013 funds.
Mr. Carter asked if there was any more old business and moved into new business after no response.
NEW BUSINESS:
CAPER
Ms. Bailey stated that this was CAPER season and that we have to report (to HUD) how we used our 2015
money. She also went on to say we did submit the CAPER and that they (HUD) has 45 days to respond
and let us know that the report was received and correct. She said that the things that are looked for are:
consistency, parameters of CDBG program to be reported on, for instance Fair Housing, Education, or
other things related to furthering Fair Housing.
CPP (Citizen Participation Plan)
Ms. Bailey explains the 30 day comment period following the commission meeting about the CAPER. She
explains that it is part of the Citizen’s Participation Plan and that everyone has been handed the page with
the clause giving 30 days. Ms. Bailey explains the problem with the time line during that time of year with
auditors here and that it is a push not having a window to get it ready for the HUD submission. She
proposes that the comment period for the CAPER be changed to 20 days instead of the 30. She proposed
to add a line specifying that or it could be separated and just have the CAPER be specified to have the 20
day comment period. The statistics of Race/Gender/Marital Status were discussed again as to what the
abbreviations stood for in the CAPER report.
Mr. Carter asked if anyone wanted to make a motion on changing the comment period.
Commissioner Johnson asked if Ms. Bailey was asking to add language or amend existing to 20 days. Ms.
Bailey stated that the existing clause is not being amended and explain that the Environment Review and
Request for Release of Funds in compliance with CFR 24 58.45 are 15 day comment periods. She went on
to say that we will add to the Citizen’s Participation Plan that the CAPER will have the 20 day comment
period. Commissioner Johnson asked if Ms. Bailey would provide the group with the proposed language
to be added at the next meeting to approve. Mr. Carter added that we would have it as old business at that
meeting.
STAFF REPORTS:
Ms. Bailey talked about the location and progress at 2112 Sampson in the Bluffton neighborhood. Ms.
Coleman asked if all the bedrooms were upstairs. Ms. Bailey confirmed that they were. Ms. Bailey
continued to share that this is one of the first homes where we really focused on making sure the house is
ADA accessible from the street. Commissioner Johnson asked if that was the policy of CNS going forward
to insure that our homes are handicap accessible. Ms. Bailey confirmed that it was, stating that especially
for new construction that was our focus and that sometimes it was difficult with rehab homes. Ms.
Coleman added that there should be one bedroom on the ground floor to make it truly handicap
accessible. Ms. Bailey explained there was an issue with a ground floor bedroom increasing the square
footage and price of the home. Her concern was if someone would be able to afford the home without a
huge subsidy from CNS. Views from the home to the lake and positioning of the home were discussed by
all. Ms. McDonald asked who the contractor on the home was. Ms. Bailey stated Mike Murphy.
Mr. Carter asked if there was anything else for the staff to report. Ms. Bailey talked about our 2324 Park
Drive property selling for $105,000. She talked about the dynamics of the family, the location of the
property and that the buyers brought $4000 to the closing after being denied, because of income, two
years ago. Another HUD home was discussed that is located on Vincent, which is the same neighborhood
as Park Drive.
ADJOURN:
Mr. Carter entertained a motion to adjourn at 6:12pm, which was unanimously accepted.
Next Meeting:
The next meeting date is: November 1st, 2016
DISCUSSION:
There was general discussion about the difficulties of finding contractors to show up and bid on jobs. Mr.
Carter asked if that has had any effect on our vinyl siding program. Ms. Bailey explained that we have had
to remove contractors because they were too busy but the program continued to move forward and how
she compiled a list of appraisers from people we have used in the past.
Ms. Coleman asked if there was any program that helped with the replacement of hot water heaters. Ms.
Bailey confirmed that was have helped with some in the last year and will continue under our Priority
Home Repair Program.
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