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Dupage Policy Journal

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

DuPage County CDC Executive Committee met August 1

Meet

DuPage County CDC Executive Committee met August 1.

Here is the minutes as provided by the committee:

1. Call to Order

11:35 am meeting was called to order by Chairman Tim Elliott at 11:39 am.

11:35 am or Immediately Following Home Advisory Group

2. Roll Call

A visual roll call was obtained which included confirmation of Wiley via phone due to his

Military Duty.

Present: Anderson, Bastian, Chaplin, Chrisse, Elliott, Grill, Krucek, Tornatore, Wiley (Remote)

Absent: Berley, Chassee, Grasso

Staff Present: Mary Keating, Community Services Director; Jennifer Chan, Community

Development Administrator; Christopher Ragona, Community Development Manager; Julie

Hamlin, Sr. Community Development Specialist; Barb Temborius, Community Development

Specialist; Therese Witkus, Community Development Specialist; Christopher Donovan,

Community Development Specialist; Dorin Fera, Community Development Specialist; Tom

Schwertman, Community Development Specialist; Nicole Rashan, Principal Account Clerk

and Anthony Mistretta, Community Development Intern.

State’s Attorney - Patrick Collins.

Others Present: Karen Ayala, Executive Director - DuPage County Health Department;

Dennis Brennan, External Affairs Manager - DuPage County Health Department, Anne

O’Dell, Executive Director - H.O.M.E. DuPage Inc., and Ruth Broder - City of Naperville.

3. Public Comment

There was no public comment.

4. Approval of Minutes

A. CDC - Executive Committee - Regular Meeting - Jul 11, 2017 11:35 AM

There was no discusison.

On a voice vote, the motion passed.

Result: Accepted [Unanimous]

Mover: Elizabeth Chaplin, District 2

Seconder: Janice Anderson, District 5

Ayes: Anderson, Bastian, Chaplin, Chrisse, Elliott, Grill, Krucek, Tornatore, Wiley

Absent: Berley, Chassee, Grasso

5. Action Items

A. Action Item -- Recommendation to approve a request from Ray Graham Association for

Persons with Disabilities, Project Number CD17-09, for additional funds in the amount of

$18,275 bringing the total to $268,275.

Chan informed the Committee that the increase in funding for Ray Graham’s 2017

project will allow for an additional bathroom to be remodeled. The additional funding is

available in a 2017 line item.

There was no discussion.

Result: Accepted [Unanimous]

Mover: Sam Tornatore, District 1

Seconder: Janice Anderson, District 5

Ayes: Anderson, Bastian, Chaplin, Chrisse, Elliott, Grill, Krucek, Tornatore, Wiley

ABSENT: Berley, Chassee, Grasso

B. Action Item -- Recommendation to approve a policy waiver request for the DuPage

County Health Department to invest 2017 CDBG funds in the City of Naperville.

Keating stated this item was related to the discussion from the last meeting (July 11,

2017) about providing funding to the DuPage County Health Department to purchase two

CILA (Community Integrated Living Arrangement) homes that are currently owned by

NAMI DuPage. The homes are occupied by clients of the DuPage County Health

Department.

One of the homes is located in Naperville. Naperville receives its own CDBG funds.

Typically DuPage County would not invest CDBG funds in Naperville. However the

County is not precluded from investing funds in the City of Naperville as long as it can

be demonstrated that investing these funds will further the cause and purpose of the

CDBG funds, and that the services and amenities afforded by those funds, will be

available to any resident of DuPage County. The Health Department serves all of

DuPage County, including the City of Naperville. Keating specifically stated that if and

when slots were to open in the Naperville CILA, those slots would be open to any health

department client from anywhere in DuPage County.

This request is a departure from the CDC’s normal policy. For that reason, it is a

requirement to acknowledge it as a waiver of the current policy. CDBG funds have been

invested outside of DuPage County previously, the most recent being the Northern

Illinois Food Bank facility located just outside of DuPage County in Kane County. The

largest percentage of clients who receive services are from DuPage County. As long as

the benefit to DuPage residents can be demonstrated, there is no statutory or regulatory

ruling preventing this.

Bastian, who was absent on July 11th, requested verification that the substantial benefits

outside the nonparticipating municipality falls within the mission of the CDBG program.

Keating stated that was correct.

Krucek asked for confirmation that using these funds would not impact any of the other

projects to be funded with 2017 CDBG monies. Keating said no. At the July 11th

meeting, discussed was the amending of the Action Plan. There is unobligated money

available through the FY2016 administration funds, the Single Family Rehab program

and other projects coming in under budget.

Wiley asked if this indicated the need to change policies or practices. Keating believed it

did not. It was felt that the majority of the investments should be made outside of the

City of Naperville because Naperville receives its own funding specifically to serve

Naperville only. If it were the general practice to invest in Naperville, there would be an

overlap in benefits to the City of Naperville. The City of Naperville’s population is not

included in the calculation that creates the County’s allocation. Keating would not

recommend, as a practice, expanding the policy to automatically allow investment in the

City of Naperville.

Ruth Broder, CDBG Administrator and the HOME Advisory Group Representative from

the City of Naperville was in attendance. Broder felt that under normal circumstances the

city would have been very favorable to an application of this type. However, as

mentioned in the memo, the City of Naperville’s full allocation is approximately

$450,000. Naperville would not have been able to fund the full amount. NAMI or the

Health Department would have still had to ask for additional financial assistance. The

way the city of Naperville’s funding cycle is structured, 2017 funds have already been

allocated. It was her understanding that it was not possible to wait for the 2018 cycle.

Keating said that is correct. There is a sense of urgancy since NAMI is actively seeking a

buyer for these properties.

Tornatore, in full disclosure, stated he sits on the Health Department board and if the

Health Department can purchase these buildings its clients will be able to continue to live

in these homes. If the Health Department cannot, it was quite possible the clients would

be displaced.

There was no further discussion.

On a voice vote, the motion passed.

Result: Accepted [Unanimous]

Mover: Janice Anderson, District 5

Seconder: Elizabeth Chaplin, District 2

Ayes: Anderson, Bastian, Chaplin, Chrisse, Elliott, Grill, Krucek, Tornatore, Wiley

Absent: Berley, Chassee, Grasso

C. Action Item -- Recommendation to approve modifications to the Neighborhood

Investment, Capital Improvement, and Public Service applications as part of the 2018

CDBG funding round.

Chan said the department is preparing for its 2018 CDBG application round. There are

four main changes the staff wants to present to the Committee.

1. Several years ago, a policy change was made allowing only Housing and Homeless

service providers to apply for public service funds. Since doing this, the same applicants

are funded on a continual basis. To streamline the funding process for the 2017 and 2018

years, it is proposed that the awards be based on the last two years of funding providing

the agencies prove they are still meeting the national objective and submit minimum

requirements.

These are the last two years of the current five-year Consolidated Plan that has the

demonstrated data on need level. While still operating under the same need level, it was

felt it was safe to propose this change.

2. Staff would like to add a “Past Performance” category. This is to award subgrantees who

turn in their reporting documents in a correct and timely manner.

3. The weighting of points of applications need to be adjusted. Currently the scoring is

heavily weighted for priority need and low-mod income beneficiaries. In doing so,

projects that score well in those two categories were almost guaranteed funding. It was

felt that a change in weighting was necessary to allow for consideration of other

application categories such as past performance, agency capacity, project budgeting and

leveraging. More points will be awarded to emphasize the actual readiness of the project.

4. The last change will be to require additional documentation demonstrating meeting of the

national objective based on the results of HUD’s 2016 monitoring letter.

Krucek asked if these changes would create a disadvantage for any new applicant. Chan

stated that the public service request is capped at $50,000. When averaged out, the

highest amount awarded is approximately $30,000 and then down to the teens. Currently,

staff is unaware of any new potential applicants.

Keating made one correction stating that the Housing and Homeless and Neighborhood

Resource Centers receive public service dollars. Under the Housing and Homeless, one of

the major criteria is to be an active member of the Continuum of Care through

participation in committees and in the Homeless Management Information System

(HMIS). Keating believes that all of the major players receive Housing and Homeless

CDBG funds. If a new applicant came in, it may be at a disadvantage. This, however,

may not be a bad thing, because of all of the funds managed, not only in Community

Development but Community Services overall, an agency is scrutinized to see how well

integrated the organization is into the fabric of the nonprofit community; are they already

partnering with other nonprofits, or are they new to the area and are unaware of the

services already being provided. It may be a challenge for a new applicant to score well.

The Human Services Grant fund, (a county general fund) has a lower cap for new

applicants, which is what is being proposed for the CDBG funds. The County wants to

see that the new organization is established and working in partnership with the activities

already available.

Krucek asked if an organization has worked outside the area, do they get any credit for

that. Keating stated typically no, due to the Housing and Homeless requirement of

having to participate in the Continuum of Care. The organization may be qualified, but

because it would not be a part of the Continuum of Care it more than likely would not

score well enough to be funded. Specifically, the County does not want organizations

that are coming into the area to provide services with an underlying goal of expansion of

its donor base. The County wants to make sure it is supporting agencies with a proven

track record serving DuPage County residents.

Chrisse asked about the maximum award amount of $10,000 per new agencies. Are new

agencies capped at $10,000 because they don’t have the average of prior years. Keating

said that a new applicant can apply for $10,000; keeping in mind that the public service

funding is a pool and $10,000 would be deducted from that pool. In the grant world this

is not an uncommon practice to cap the amount for new applicants.

Chrisse supposed that there is not enough money to fully fund all agencies, and if a new

agency is not funded the one year, then the following year, they technically would still be

a new applicant and would still have the $10,000 maximum. In terms of distribution,

there could be some agencies that apply year after year and don’t receive funding.

Keating said the public services funding works differently. As a comparison, with

CDBG capital projects, the top scoring applicant is funded its full requested amount and

then the rest are funded until funds are exhausted. Public service is a pool. All the

agencies that meet the minimum thresholds receive funds. The amount of funding

received is based upon the percentage of the total applicants relative to the other

applicants’ scores.

Chaplin asked if a new organization that has been in DuPage County for 50 years, but is

requesting funding for the first time, would they be a new applicant with the $10,000 cap.

Keating said yes.

Anderson mentioned the “Do Good DuPage” initiative. She would want to encourage

more collaboration with the existing organizations already established in DuPage County.

On a roll call vote, all ayes, no nays, the motion passed.

Result: Accepted [Unanimous]

Mover: Patrick Grill, Vice Chair

Seconder: Elizabeth Chaplin, District 2

Ayes: Anderson, Bastian, Chaplin, Chrisse, Elliott, Grill, Krucek, Tornatore, Wiley

Absent: Berley, Chassee, Grasso

D. Action Item -- To approve a policy allowing for leased properties to be eligible for the

investment of CDBG funds including the recording of a 20 year mortgage against the

property and 20 year lease requirement from the tenant.

Chan stated that this item is a cleanup of an old policy. The plan is to periodically bring

these policy revisions to the Committee for approval.

The original policy was more of a valued-based approach. The goal is to simplify the

policy and bring it more in line with the current property-owned policy. If property is

leased, participation of the owner is required, along with a 20 year lease and a 20 year

lien placed on the property. Many of the nonprofits currently have long-standing

relationships with the landlords.

There was no discussion.

On a roll call vote, all ayes, no nays, the motion passed.

Result: Accepted [Unanimous]

Mover: Sam Tornatore, District 1

Seconder: Elizabeth Chaplin, District 2

Ayes: Anderson, Bastian, Chaplin, Chrisse, Elliott, Grill, Krucek, Tornatore, Wiley

Absent: Berley, Chassee, Grasso

6. Other Business

There was no other business.

7. Adjournment

Grill made the motion, seconded by Chaplin, to adjourn the meeting at 12:01 p.m.

8. Next Meeting Date - September 5, 2017

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