GADSDEN COUNTY
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
FEBRUARY 16, 2009
11:00 A.M.
ROOM 201
CALL TO ORDER:
The Advisory Committee Meeting on Affordable Housing was called to order at 11:15 A.M. by Chair Hinson.
Roll Call:
Present:Eric Hinson, Chairman, Rev. Charles Flowers, Mr. Richard Lockwood, Mr. Alonzo McBride, Sr., Mr. Jeff Davis, Mr. Julius Houston, Mr. Don Vickers.
Absent/Excused:Mrs. Mary Matthews, Ms. Alma Venice, Mrs. Sherry VanLandingham, and Ms. Dianne Forman.
Staff Present: Phyllis Moore, Ship Administrator
Jean Chesser, Deputy Clerk
Each member present stated their name for the record.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER 12, 2008:
MOTION: UPON MOTION BY MR. MCBRIDE TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER 12, 2008, GADSDEN COUNTY AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVISORY COUNCIL AS PRESENTED AND UPON A SECOND BY REV. FLOWERS, THE COMMITTEE VOTED 7-0, IN FAVOR OF MOTION BY VOICE
VOTE.
Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 7).
Yes: Eric Hinson, Chairman, Rev. Charles Flowers, Mr. Richard Lockwood, Name 4 Mr. Alonzo McBride, Sr., Mr. Jeff Davis, Mr. Julius Houston, Mr. Don Vickers.
Ms. Moore explained there was no quorum for the scheduled January 26th meeting as only four members were present.
BOCC STAFF UPDATES:
Ms. Moore attended a STIMULUSWorkshop last week in Tallahassee in an effort to get some of the stimulus funds; only the City of Tallahassee (Not Leon County) has yet to receive any of the funds. She said the City of Tallahassee received $1+ million and plans to build a homeless type shelter and they will also be renovating houses (above the means of the Ship Program). She said Gadsden County probably will not receive any of those funds, but hopes that when the new Stimulus package comes out funds will be steered towards the small counties. Ms. Moore said she and Ms. Saunders has already submitted a package to DCA for funding; has not received any feedback as to whether the County will receiveany funding. She also is working on writing another grant for CDBG funding to match the SHIP dollars as the County received last year. She said staff is still in hopes of getting some of the Stimulus funds because there are so many things needed in Gadsden County, i.e. homeless shelter, something for the Veterans, etc; things that the County doesn’t have funding for. It will take everyone (BOCC, staff, Committee, All the citizens of the County) working together to come up with ways the County can get some of these funds.
Ms. Moore explained the Florida Housing Finance Association has a technical advisory board and they have agreed to come out and speak to the AHAC to discuss options, make suggestions and recommendations on ways to improve the housing program for Gadsden County, etc. She said in the next couple of months she could schedule this visit, if the AHAC would like to do that.
Mr. Flowers said one of the things the AHAC may want to consideris to clearly identify specific projects to be concentrated on for the County so when they go to the meetings and request money, they will already have the projects scheduled (know what they want to work on) and this will give more support for Gadsden County. He suggested taking one of their meetings to review and discuss projects they would like to request funding for so that when the AHAC does go and request funding, the Committee will be doing it as one voice.
Ms. Moore agreed andbriefly discussed one area of concern as being the dilapidated mobile homes in the County – can’t use SHIP money for mobile homes –SHIP money comes from documentary stamps and must be used on “stick built” homes. She saidthere are so many dilapidated mobile homes throughout the County.Infrastructure within the County has also been discussed. Can’t do mobile homes with Ship funds – recommended bringing those people(ones needing assistance with dilapidated mobile homes) to the BOCC for some type of assistance, if anything is available.
Mr. Vickers asked Ms. Moore how much money they have at this time for building new homes in Gadsden County and Ms. Moore respondedthat she had just received the documents for down payment and closing costs for four (4) new constructions. She said at this time she believes the figure is approximately $70,000 unencumbered. She said the program allows up to $10,000 for down payment and closing costs.She said there is no other money at this time.
There was discussion concerning the Rural Development Program (they have mortgages and SHIP doesn’t) and problems being encountered with people’s applications for housing – credit issues, low income, etc. There was also some discussion on possibly writing to Governor Crist urging the Rural Development Program Office be moved back to Quincy from Marianna as it was more effective when located in Gadsden County, but no action was taken. It was the consensus of theCommittee that applications being prepared for submission to Rural Development be sent back to SHIP (Dr. Grant) for him to review prior to submission so any issues or questions on the applications could be addressed and corrected which would alleviate unnecessary problems with an application before it is submitted.
Mr. Vickers said in the process of people applying through HUD that many of them simply give up when they run into credit problems. He said one of the biggest problems is the low income in Gadsden County and the lack of jobs.
REVIEW CO. COMP. PLAN (HOUSING ELEMENTS)
Ms. Moore said when a contractor submits his application for permits for building a new house or to rehab a house they should not have to wait – it should be a quicker turn around – no more than one or two days. It shouldn’t take two weeks. Time is very important on these projects – 45 days goes quickly –and she suggested going to the Planning & Zoning Department and explaining they need a quicker turn around on these applications.
Mr. Lockwood asked if the fees were waived by the County and Ms. Moore responded they were not. Mr. Lockwood suggested waiving the fees so they could get a notice to proceed and the contractor could then move forward with a building permit from the County’s building department.
During discussion of the rehab process, Ms. Moore explained some of the other counties are using one of their building officials to do the write-up on the rehab housing projects. She suggested the AHAC Committee study these issues and come up with some recommendations to give to the Board of County Commissioners in designating one of the County building officials to do the write-ups on rehab housing projects in Gadsden County because they are already required to go out and inspect the jobs – can do the write ups at the same time. This would help save the County some money.
REVISE HOUSING ORDINANCE - After a brief discussion, Ms. Moore asked the Committee Members to review the Housing Ordinance and make suggestions, changes, and recommendations and bring them back to the next AHAC meeting for discussion and revisions at that time.
SHIP REPORTS – REVIEW
There was general discussion among the Committee, and Ms. Moore said they need to figure out how to do the same type of things that are done by the “Extreme Makeover “ people – need to get together as community and be willing to go out and help – get things donated from different businesses, etc. She did state they cannot do anything with rentals or
Mobile homes and homeowner’s insurance is a requirement for their program. She said they are still working with applications for houses that were submitted in 1999 and they must be done in order – the only exception being for handicapped or elderly(age 62) persons. She also said the cities within the County can do some houses through the CDBG Grant.
OTHER AHAC BUSINESS
Brian Scruggs addressed the Committeeconcerning the stimulus proposed bill and said he would like to figure out some way to help get some of that money into Gadsden County to help the contractors, subs, etc because the stimulus proposal is to help boost the economy. Suggested going to BOCC to try and get as much money as possible.
There was general discussion among the Committee and Chair Hinson suggested finding out where the Board of County Commissioners stand on this, what their ideas and their approach to the stimulus package is going to be and then the Committee should recommend to the Board of County Commissioners that they add the recommendations from the AHAC to their list of pet projects. He said the entire county needs to be stimulated in this effort and the County needs to go after as much money as possible – be greedy, think big, have a plan and ask for a lot because if you don’t ask, you won’t get. Everybody (all elected officials, all boards, all committees, all citizens) needs to be involved, join together as one force.
There was also discussion as to why the different cities/municipalities within the County have to apply for these funds – why can’t there be one location – One big local housing department for the entire County.
SCHEDULE NEXT MEETING
There was discussion on setting future meetings and it was the consensus of the Committee that the third Tuesday at 11:00 A.M. of each month be designated as the monthly meeting schedule for the AHAC Committee. March 17, 11:00 A.M. and April 21, 11:00 A.M. scheduled and confirmed.
ADJOURN
THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE COMMITTEE AT THIS TIME, THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 12:15 P.M.
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Eric Hinson, Chairman
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Jean Chesser, Deputy Clerk
GADSDEN COUNTY AFFORDABLE HOUSING
ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
FEBRUARY 16, 2009
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