Du Page County CDC-Executive Committee met July 7.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
1. CALL TO ORDER
11:05 AM meeting was called to order by Chairperson Lori Chassee at 11:07 AM.
11:05 AM OR IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING HOME ADVISORY GROUP
2. ROLL CALL
PRESENT: Argules (Remote), Bastian (Remote), Chaplin (Remote), Chassee, Crandall (Remote), DeSart (Remote), Heniff (Remote), Ozog (Remote), Page (Remote), Renehan (Remote), Rutledge, Selmon (Remote)
ABSENT:
Staff Present: Mary Keating, Community Services Director; David McDermott, Community Development Administrator; Christine Pedersen, Senior Accountant/Community Services Manager; Julie Hamlin, Community Development Manager; Elizabeth Dunn, Senior Housing and Community Development Planner; Harrison Martin-O’Brien, Housing and Community Development Planner; Tom Schwertman, Housing and Community Development Planner; Anna Sitton, Housing and Community Development Planner; Michael Walker, Housing and Community Development Planner and Hayley Woodbridge, Housing and Community Development Planner.
State’s Attorney - Katherine Fahy.
3. PUBLIC COMMENT There was no public comment.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A. CDC - Executive Committee - Regular Meeting - Feb 4, 2020 11:05 AM
Chassee asked if there were any corrections or changes that needed to be made. Selmon noted a correction to the February 4, 2020 meeting under the Roll Call heading. Stated was that "......Renehan, Selmon and DesSart were also members of the County’s Transportation meeting which was currently ongoing.....", when it should have read “.....were also members of the County’s “Public Transit Committee.....”.
On a Roll Call Vote, all Ayes, the February 4, 2020, Minutes were approved as amended.
RESULT: ACCEPTED AS AMENDED [UNANIMOUS]
AYES: Argules, Bastian, Chaplin, Chassee, Crandall, DeSart, Heniff, Ozog, Page, Renehan, Rutledge, Selmon
5. COMMITTEE VOTE REQUIRED
A. Action Item -- Recommendation for Approval of the Revision to the 2020-2024 Consolidated Plan and 2020 Annual Action Plan for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) HOME investment Partnership (HOME) and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) programs utilizing Waivers and Suspensions of the HOME Program Requirements in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic and Reprograming of CDBG and HOME funds. Chasse said for clarification, when she requests a discussion, if there is a Staff comment to be made, Staff’s comments will be first, followed by questions from the Committee.
Keating said that this is the same request as was made in the HOME Advisory Group meeting. She reminded the Committee that there are two separate agendas, because Naperville is included in the HOME Consortium, but they are not included in the County’s CDBG program. That is why the HOME Advisory Group is separate from the CDC Executive Committee. When there are items that impact both the HOME and CDBG program the item has to be taken to both Committees.
As discussed in the HOME Advisory Group, McDermott had explained the reasons for the revision of the 2020-2024 Consolidated Plan (ConPlan) and 2020 Action Plan. These included Waivers and changes to HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) rules. Some of the waivers granted by HUD due to COVID do affect the 2020-2024 ConPlan such as an increase in administration percent and removal of the CHDO (Community Housing Development Organization) requirement for the HOME (HOME Investment Partnerships Act) program.
The only programmatic change was to the Single Family Rehab program. This program has existing applicants; however, with the COVID pandemic, no field work has been able to be performed. The plan is to address the current approved applicants with the 2019 funds and not to take any new applications for 2020. The 2020 SFR funds were removed and are going to be used to fund one more Capital project.
There were no questions.
On a Roll Call Vote, all Ayes, the motion passed.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Ashley Selmon, District 1
SECONDER: Julie Renehan, District 3
AYES: Argules, Bastian, Chaplin, Chassee, Crandall, DeSart, Heniff, Ozog, Page, Renehan, Rutledge, Selmon
B. Action Item -- Recommendation for Approval of Second Policy Revision to the CDBG
Capital and Neighborhood Investment Maximum (Amount) Request Policy. McDermott mentioned that he has only been with the County for four months and part of his time has been spent reviewing CDC policies. He felt that this policy needed updated since the maximum funding request amount had not been updated in eight years. It was time for a small adjustment while keeping the intent of the policy. He noted sometimes the project cost is in the millions of dollars.
Keating thanked McDermott for bringing this forward. She felt it has been tremendous having a new set of eyes on the things the department does. He was correct that the maximum request policy of $400,000 has been in place for quite some time and construction costs keep going up with the $400,000 representing a smaller portion of some of these projects. She fully supported the idea when brought to her attention and is appreciative of his proactive attitude.
There were no questions or comments.
On a Roll Call Vote, ally Aes, the motion passed.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Dawn DeSart, District 5
SECONDER: Ashley Selmon, District 1
AYES: Argules, Bastian, Chaplin, Chassee, Crandall, DeSart, Heniff, Ozog, Page, Renehan, Rutledge, Selmon
C. Action Item -- Recommendation for Approval of a Waiver Request of the Early Release and Transfer Policy for Project #CD10-24c, lien to be transferred to 420 Madison; and Partial Forgiveness and Transfer of Project Numbers CD03-08b, CD04-24b, CD06-24c, CD07-20f, CD08-21c and CD09-20b liens to be transferred to 420 Madison.
McDermott noted that this is a multi-step request, and this was the first step. Ray Graham is interested in transferring/selling this property to the DuPage County Health Department to be used for immediate COVID isolation spaces.
The first request is asking for a waiver of a CDC policy. The current lien is just two months shy partial forgiveness. Staff is requesting the policy to be waived for those two months. The second request is to partially forgive and allow transfer of liens to another property owned by Ray Graham.
The second step would happen next month and would allow the remining two liens to be assumed by the Health Department, which also requires approval from this Committee. This is an issue that comes up from time to time and this body has the authority to waive CDC policies. This usually comes into play when an organization is having a financial difficulty or the opportunity for a transfer of liens becomes available.
Keating clarified that this Committee has the ability to waive CDC policies but not to waive Federal requirements. The last two projects, CD15-06 in the amount of $170,742.05 and CD16-05 in the amount of $116, 287.04, have not met the Federal requirement. If the Health Department does purchase the property, Staff would be coming to this body for approval of transfer of the lien since it would still meet a CDBG eligible use requirement. If Ray Graham sold it to another entity, which did not meet a CDBG eligible use, Ray Graham would have to pay the money back, because it had not met HUD’s minimum payback requirement of five years.
McDermott did add that Ray Graham had completed the Public Comment Period and no public comment was received.
There were no questions or comments.
On a Roll Call Vote, all Ayes, the motion passed.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sheila Rutledge, Vice Chairperson
SECONDER: Ashley Selmon, District 1
AYES: Argules, Bastian, Chaplin, Chassee, Crandall, DeSart, Heniff, Ozog, Page, Renehan, Rutledge, Selmon
D. Action Item -- Recommendation for Approval of a Second Agreement Modification of a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Agreement with DuPage Homeownership Center dba as H.O.M.E. DuPage, Project Number CD17-22a, Extending the Project Completion Date to May 31, 2021.
McDermott commented that this project is grant given to assist with closing costs for new homebuyers It is a program that has not had a lot of participants in recent years, and with COVID, they have also had a drop in clients. This is just extending the agreement another year to try to spend the money.
There were no question or comments.
On a Roll Call Vote, all Ayes, the motion passed.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sheila Rutledge, Vice Chairperson
SECONDER: Elizabeth Chaplin, District 2
AYES: Argules, Bastian, Chaplin, Chassee, Crandall, DeSart, Heniff, Ozog, Page, Renehan, Rutledge, Selmon
6. COVID-19 FUNDING UPDATE
1. Informational -- Informational Item -Second Allocation of ESG-CV Funding.
The County received a second allocation of ESG funding; almost 2.5 times the original allocation, for a total of $2.4 million. It will be added to an Action Plan and come to this Committee for approval. The Committee will then have an idea of what the funding is going towards. Based off the initial legislation, it is expected that the County will receive one more allocation. If any subsequent legislation comes, there is the potential to receive even more funding.
Rutledge asked if this will allow staff size to increase. Keating said yes, and McDermott said an additional headcount has been added. It is possible to add another. Keating said the challenge is that this is a huge influx of money for a short term. A balance has to be struck between ramping up and then potentially having to let staff go once the grant ends. Keating noted that the funding deadline is through September 2022, but it is possible it could be extended. These funds are so difficult to manage and bringing inexperienced people makes it more of a challenge. It takes at least six months to learn the basic process.
Rutledge went on record to state that she would always advocate for higher pay and more staff for Keating’s department. Keating said that about a month ago for much of the Community Development staff a job reclassification and increase in pay took place. She was very pleased to get the Board’s support.
There were no other comments.
7. OTHER BUSINESS
There was no other business.
8. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 11:23 AM.
9. NEXT MEETING DATE - AUGUST 4, 2020
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