Minutes_Housing Commission 3 25 14MINUTES OF HOUSING COMMISSION MEETING
DATE: 25 March 2014
TIME: 4:00 PM
PLACE: Housing and Community Development Department
350 West 6th Street, Suite 312, Dubuque, IA 52001
Chairperson Holz, following staff assurance of compliance with Iowa Open Meeting Law, called the meeting
to order at 4:00 pm.
Commissioners Present: Amy Eudaley Rick Baumhover Ricardo Woods
Anna Fernandes Robert McDonell Jim Holz
Sister Dorothy Schwendinger, OSF
Commissioners Excused: Patricia Foster
Staff Present:
Janet Walker
Erica Haugen
Public Present: David Wall
Cpl. Scott Koch
Teresa Drury
Jessica Kieffer
Review and Certification of Minutes of 28 January 2014 Commission Meeting
Commissioner Baumhover motioned to approve the minutes. Commissioner Woods seconded. All others
present in favor. Motion passed.
Correspondence/Public Input
None
Old Business
Abstaining From a Vote
At the January Housing Commission meeting, Alvin Nash asked for clarification on abstaining from a vote.
Teresa Drury asked Kevin Firnstahl•via email: Is it a requirement or an option for a Commissioner to abstain
from approving minutes from a previous meeting if that Commissioner did not attend the previous meeting?
Kevin Fimstahl provided his response via email stating: No on both counts. A commissioner should still vote to
approve minutes from a previous meeting even though they didn't attend it. They could still have suggestions or
changes/corrections to the minutes. Any abstention requires a reason be stated. (e.g. conflict of interest). Further
discussion ensued and some Commissioners ultimately did not feel comfortable voting "Yes" if they did not
attend the meeting.
Discussion of Current and Proposed Preference Point System
Jessica Kieffer presented information pertaining to the current waiting list. She presented a comparison of the
waiting list sorted by preference points versus the waiting list sorted by date/time of application. She noted that
with the current preference point system, all elderly and/or disabled households must be pulled from the wait list
before a single non -elderly or single non -disabled household. Twenty-two -households are remaining on the
waiting list from CY2011, 131 households from CY2012, 607 households from CY2013 and 80 households from
CY2014. The proposal is to do away with the preference point system and strictly go by the date and time
applicants applied. There was much discussion about keeping the preference points pertaining to the Transitional
Housing Program for the homeless. Janet explained that HUD will look at our policies/plans and if we have
designated any preference points in our administrative policy; it has to be in response to a need that is identified
in the consolidated plan for the City of Dubuque.
Vice Chairperson Schwendinger motioned to eliminate all preference points andsort the waiting list by date/time
of application. Commissioner Eudaley seconded. Commissioners Baumhover and Fernandes voted yes.
Commissioners Woods, McDonnell and Chariperson Holz voted no. With a vote of 4 to 3, the motion passed.
New Business
Review of Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Proposal.
Commissioners received information regarding the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget. Erica Haugen gave a brief
overview of the budget, goals, objectives and performance measures. Janet Walker informed the Commissioners
of the hiring freeze and we are not currently replacing the most recently retired inspector. The number of voucher
participants was down to 760 as of March 1, 2014. HUD is considering implementing a 2 -year inspection
schedule for Housing Choice Voucher participants compared to the current l -year inspection schedule.
Public Hearing to Receive Public Comment and Approve PHA Annual Plan
Commissioner Baumhover motioned to approve the opening of the public hearing. Vice Chairperson
Schwendinger seconded. All others present in favor. Motion passed. Commissioners received a copy of the PHA
Annual Plan and the Resident Advisory Board meeting minutes from February 20, 2014. Janet Walker explained
the Annual PHA Plan and included information regarding -insufficient funding that occurred last calendar year.
Commissioners were inquiring about the Voluntary Compliance Agreement document and Janet suggested we
put it on next month's agenda to go through it in detail. Commissioner McDonnell motioned to close the public
hearing. Commissioner Baumhover seconded. All others present in favor. Motion passed. Vice Chairperson
Schwendinger motioned to approve the PHA Annual Plan. Commissioner Woods seconded. All others present in
favor. Motion passed.
Information Sharing
Crime Reports
Commissioners received a summary of Cpl. Koch's crime reports.
NCRC/NAHRO Conference
Commissioners received an invitation to the NCRC/NAHRO conference.
Intercultural Communication Training
Commissioners received an invitation to an Intercultural Communication Training.
2014 Iowa Great River Road Stakeholder Meetings
Commissioners received an invitation to the 2014 Iowa Great River Road Stakeholder Meetings.
Bridges Out of Poverty Conference
Commissioners received an invitation to the Bridges Out of Poverty Conference.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Commission, the meeting adjourned at 5:10 pm.
Minutes taken by:
T�as Drury
Recording Secretary
I Respectsitted by:
Alvin Nash
Department Director