Minutes Housing Comm 5 22 07MINUTES OF HOUSING COMMISSION MEETING
DATE: 22 May 2007
TIME: 4:00 pm
PLACE: Housing and Community Development Department
1805 Central Avenue, Dubuque, IA 52001
Commissioner Kapler called the meeting to order at 4:05 pm following staff assurance of compliance with
Iowa Open Meeting Law.
Commissioners Present: Dorothy Culberston Dave Kapler Jim Holz
John Plein Rachel Savage Dorothy Schwendinger, OSF
Char Eddy Linda Frommelt Angie Mozena
Commissioners Absent: Bill Helling
Staff Present: David Harris Janet Walker Tami Ernster
Jenny Larson Rick Till
Guest: Michelle Mihalakis
Review and Certification of Minutes of 27 March 2007 Commission Meeting.
Commissioner Schwendinger moved to approve the 27 March 2007 Housing Commission meeting
minutes. Commissioner Culberston Seconded. Roll call. Commissioner Mozena abstained. All others
present in favor. Motion passed.
Correspondence/Public Input
None
Old Business
HUD Voucher Program Funding FY2007
Janet stated that we have not yet received our calendar year 2007 funding notice yet. HUD is still working
on it.
PHA Governing Board
HUD had sent information to Janet regarding the request for clarification from the last meeting. The
information states that we must have a resident advisory board. We are not required to have a governing
board. We are allowed to have both. The resident advisory board must have six participants and it must
meet quarterly. Janet will continue to solicit participants for the quarterly meetings. Unfortunately, there is
no leverage to require participation. It is all voluntary. It may be possible to have the resident advisory
board meet quarterly with the commission meeting. It was decided to leave as is for the time being.
New Business
Section 8 Annual Reporting
Jenny Larson and Rick Till from the Finance Department were introduced. Jenny explained the HUD
REAC electronic reporting process. There are two submissions. The first is the unaudited submission,
due 90 days after year end. Janet does the electronic on-line submission using the modified accrual
basis. The audited submission is due in March and it must agree with the City's certified annual financial
report written by Eide Bailley. The auditor makes adjustments to various Housing accounts for different
accruals to get to full accrual. Rick starts with the unaudited report and gets a trial balance from the
auditors which shows the Housing funds. He will adjust the unaudited submission to get it to agree with
the certified annual report. He provides the information to Janet who submits it in the on-line REAC report.
Eide Bailley then looks at the submission and certifies it. It is then submitted to HUD. Adjustments are
only done at year end and they must be performed by an auditor. There are only a few cities still doing
their own submissions. Most cities now use a fee accountant to prepare their submissions. Housing may
want to consider budgeting for this option.
Request from Michelle Mihalakis for Project-Based Vouchers
Michelle distributed a flyer for the Manasseh House. The building will be finished in June. There has not
been much response for the rental units. The women who have money, are not choosing the Manasseh
House because they want their own apartment. Those who do want to live there are the very poor or
those in shelters and they do not have funds to cover the rent. Michelle received a grant for supportive
housing from HUD. The 25% in-kind match comes from the rental of the units. If the units are not rented,
there are insufficient revenues to pay for staff and utilities. Her request is for Project-Based Vouchers.
This would set aside so many vouchers to be used for this building. There are 19 units in the building and
she is requesting consideration for up to 19 vouchers for this building.
Commissioner Holz asked what the established preferences are. Janet responded that these include local
residence, disability, SSI, 0-30% income, elderly. Janet was asked if there were other groups that receive
preference points. Hillcrest receives preference points if the participant is enrolled in the Family
Empowerment Program or their Transitional Housing Program. There are points if they are working with
DHS and receiving community services. Michelle was asked for her list of community based supportive
service programs to see whether preference points could be provided.
As an amendment will have to be made to the administrative plan to allow preference points for the
Manasseh House, a special meeting of the Housing Comm_ fission was scheduled for Tuesday, May 29,
2007, at 12:00 noon, to approve the amendment.
Administrative Plan Amendment: Hearings Scheduling
Hearings are currently scheduled at about four per week, creating aback-log of appeals. The request is to
change the 20-day appeal/hearing grievance scheduling requirement to 90 days. At the current time, staff
cannot get all of the appeals taken care of in the current 20 day schedule. We currently allow appeals for
every single action taken that relates to eligibility or benefits. We are not required to do this. It was
recommended to reconsider reasons for granting appeals. It was requested that this be on the next
agenda for discussion. It was decided to extend the appeal scheduling deadline to 60 days.
Commissioner Kapler asked-for a motion to extend the deadline from 20 days to 60 days. Commissioner
Schwendinger moved for the extension. Commissioner Culbertson seconded. Roll call. All present in
favor. Motion carried.
Information Sharing
None.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Commission, Commissioner Eddy motioned to
adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Culbertson seconded. Motion passed by acclamation. Meeting was
adjourned at 5:17 pm.
Minutes taken by:
,~~~~~
Tami Ernster
Lead Paint Assistant
Resp ctfully submitted by:
David Harris
Department Director