Travis County Commissioners Court
December 20, 2005
Housing Finance Corporation
Now let's call to order the Travis County housing finance corporation. First item is to consider and take appropriate action on request to approve the following. A is a contract with cj cropling as consultant for the Texas department of housing and community affairs grant for home buyer assistance. And 1-b is invoice for setup fee for the consultant's contract. I guess that's to pay the invoice.
>> yes, sir. : afternoon, I知harvey Davis, r the corporation. I知 here with cj jopling, who I am pleased to introduce as our consultant on the upcoming american dream down payment assistance initiative. Cj comes very highly recommended. She has recently completed a program for jim shaw at the capital area housing finance corporation. He has spoken very highly of her. I致e talked to several of the lenders who have worked with cj. They also spoke highly of her professionalism and friendly customer oriented service that she's done. So I知 asking the board today to approve the attached contract. Our attorney has reviewed the contract. Cj has signed the contract. It provides that she would be paid $250 per home closing. Our program is -- if we fully originate the program, we'll have 30 closings. Plus a 700-dollar setup fee. And so she has submitted an invoice, which I知 recommending -- asking the board to approve paying her setup fee of $700.
>> let's get ms. Jopling on the road to fortune and fame item, isn't it?
>> at least fame. [ laughter ]
>> do you know of any reason why we shouldn't approve this, ms. Jopling?
>> no, sir.
>> then I move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion? Any comments or questions from you?
>> no, sir.
>> mr. Davis told you not to say anything unless we were headed in the wrong direction? [ laughter ]
>> no, he didn't.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. The second part is to approve the invoice for the setup fee of $700.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Number 2, consider and take appropriate action on request to allow a partial application fee refund to united housing foundation.
>> united housing foundation submitted an application in 2004 for a lond allocation. They received an allocation earlier this year and paid the application fee, which was $12,000. Then they were not -- they were not able to close on the bonds. They had difficulties with securing full title to the land in sufficient time to close the bonds. We did hold a public hearing, if you recall. This was a company out of dallas, a nonprofit housing company out of dallas. They have -- after they notified us that they were not going to be able to proceed, they sent a letter to president Biscoe asking for a partial refund of their application fee. When I talked to them on the telephone, they told me that their plan was to submit another application in the early part of 2006 that they were wanting to close on this project, wanting to do the bond financing through the corporation, and they understood that they did another application, they would have to pay the full application fee at that time. So the -- we don't have additional outside costs that we owe on this project to our financial advisor or our attorney, cliff blunt. He has been paid $1,500 on this project and he told me he does not -- owe he would not be submitting additional expenses with regard to this application. We have -- the board has approved refunds twice in the past. Once in 2001 and a second time in 2004. Both times the amount that was approved was $7,500. I do recall that in the 2001 situation that was also a nonprofit entity. We had done very little work, if any. And in 2004 we had done a little bit of additional work, and with that project. On this one I would say that we have done a little bit more than we did on the 2004 because we did hold the public hearing. I don't think -- I know we didn't in the 2001. I知 almost sure we did not have a public hearing on the 2004. But we did a little bit more work on this project, so that's what I can offer as far as perspective on their request.
>> anybody here from unified housing?
>> I don't believe so, no.
>> they're trusting our judgment on this, aren't they, mr. Davis?
>> I guess so.
>> your recommendation is for us to do the right thing and set the amount ourselves.
>> I did not make a recommendation, just have given you what has been done in the past.
>> if we go with what we've consistently done in the past, we've figured out ways it was a 7,500-dollar refund, meaning that the corporation still would pay 4500. In this case a reasonable argument could be made for the same situation and that 4500 minus the 1500 mr. Bunt has already been paid, there's still $3,000 to cover any work we actually did do even if it was a little bit further than the others. And it does sound -- I do want to make sure these folks are fairly treated in the sense that there's a very good chance they're going to be coming through and again paying a 12,000-dollar fee, which is good stuff for the corporation. So judge -- if you make a motion --
>> I値l move that a 7,500-dollar refund to the corporation -- to the entity.
>> second? Discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. We're in the holiday mood here too, mr. Davis. [ laughter ]
>> the lawyers got paid. The lawyers got paid first and we still have a little bit left over.
>> speaking of lawyers, 3 is to consider and take appropriate action on request to approve an invoice from vin son and he elkins, llp law firm.
>> the amount of this invoice is $3,000. This is for legal work related to the extension of a single-family mortgage note program. If you'll recall, the board approves an extension on October 4th for an additional six months. This is the 18-million-dollar note program that we may or may not use for a new single-family mortgage loan program. Just a little bit of history, when the 2002 mortgage loan program was issued, vin son and elkins was paid a fee that -- at that time and that fee did cover some of this work, but I think their point was that this -- because the note program has been extended several times, they have incurred significantly in their opinion more legal time and expense.
>> and in fairness, I must say that mr. Davis and I had a conference with vin son and elkins attorneys before the last extension, and told them our position on the previous ones, in spite of the fact that they were a great deal more numerous than anybody could have anticipated was that we probably should have addressed those much earlier. But like I said, make sure you invoice us for the ones that we incur after today. This would be after that conversation. To be honest, I noticed the county judge's name is prominently displayed in the little summaries of conferences in the task. And mr. Davis and I have chatted with them quite a bit. So in my view this invoice is really --
>> I move the payment of the christmas invoice.
>> the judge will be quiet long enough, we will be through with this, mr. Davis. [ laughter ]
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Enthusiastic Commissioners court.
>> > number 4 is to consider and take appropriate action on a request to approve an invoice from consumer credit counseling service.
>> this invoice is for $75,000 and this is for a class that they taught for one of our home buyers. The home buyer has paid us the $75, so this is really passing the expense of the class, reimbursing consumer credit counseling.
>> move approval.
>> everybody moves approval of this one. [ laughter ] let's turn one of those into a second.
>> second.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> move adjourn.
>> all in favor? [ laughter ] that passes unanimously too.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, December 21, 2005 11:44 AM