Travis County Commissioners Court
October 24, 2006
Item 19
Then we need to take up item 19 a, since we have hud representatives in the building. If we can get them to head this way. After 19 a we will call up the 10:30 item number 14, which will probably take longer than a few minutes. But I think that we can handle 19 a in five minutes or so. They were middle easting on on--meeting on the fifth floor of this building so hopefully they are headed this way. Way.. If you go to me office we'll make a copy for you, a copy for media. My office will be happy to do that. Speaking of office, if anybody is listening, if they would go across the hallway and get the hud representatives to head this way or advise the court of their situation. Our plan is to discuss 19 a with the hud representatives and to take up the rest of 19 this afternoon. 19 is to consider and take appropriatation on substantial amendment to the community development block grant cdbg 2006-2010 consolidated plan and program year 2006 action plan. And a is to discuss reasons for significant reduction in amount of cdbg allocation to Travis County with representatives from the u.s. Department of housing and urban development. And we do have two representatives from hud. Good morning.
>> good morning.
>> welcome.
>> good morning, sherry flemming, executive manager for health and human services and veterans service. I have with me today john da dalmado and layer will kin son from the hud office in stoneyo. I will let them speak with you.
>> grorm, I'm director of community development and planning for hud in in--in san antonio. I'm here to apologize for hud for making the mistake we made. Clearly you were planning on a lot more money than you ended up getting . I want to reiterate what generally deputy assistant secretary sent to you in his letter that the problem ended up being a formula problem. We have two formulas that we fund communities with. One takes into consideration population, number of sub standard housing and number of low income. And b, number of low income, number of sub standard housing, and then it takes economic development into account in there as well. And what happened is whomever did this in headquarters took the city of Austin population also with the county's population and combined both of those . That's why the larger amount of money showed up. And then when we caught it, actually we had already approved it in our office and it was in the mail, or larry had to run down and pull it out of the mail when we got the word from washington about our mistake mistake. So I deeply apologize. I can tell you that washington is red faced about this. We're here simply to number one, say what we want to do is move forward as quickly as we can with the plan that will be submitted to us. We want to implement it as soon as possible. We have said to staff it would be great if you could get this plan to us late November so that can you get started spending the money immediately. That's kind of what our goal is, is to help you do the appropriate amendments that have to be made and then to start spending the money that you have been allocated allocated. That's basically my message to you today. If you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer any of them.
>> the big problem is that there was a double counting of some residents.
>> that the correct.
>> who resided in the city of Austin and Austin received cdbg spunds already.
>> that's correct is there when we did the unduplicated account Travis County allocation when from 2.4 million to 800,000.
>> that's correct. And again, it's not the first time that washington headquarters has made mistakes about what happens in Texas. They don't understand how large a state we are and they don't understand the differences in the populations here. That was one of the big mistakes that they made.
>> last time we went through a series of public meetings, collected a lot of comment and recommendations. I guess if our responsibility now is to work with about a third as much, the big question for us is do we have to jump through the same, go through the same processes again or is there a way to short circuit some of that.
>> I think we talked to staff this morning.
>> okay.
>> our position, is you have already gone through your public hearings. And it just depends on what you already prioritized in the submission initially. So you could move forward with those and submit the plan to us. If there's a change in the plan, you could go ahead and submit the change in the plan, go out for review, but at the same time submit the document to us. And that would cut all of that out. We anticipate that we could probably get the plan by about November 22.
>> were you able to modify some of the other deadlines also? We had a very frutful conversations this morning and staff is going to modify the time line so the one have you in yourup is to longer in effect. We will try to get you a new one this afternoon so you can look at istwe have substantially reduced the time that we thought we had in terms of being able to get everything done appropriately. We're very encouraged by the cooperation we have received.
>> the sooner you approve it the sooner we could get the process moving. So I encourage you to approve the plan as soon as possible.
>> we will have a chance to look at the plan this afternoon.
>> how about a chance to look at some of the amend amendments to the projects and what we're proposing and recommending that we revise.
>> okay any comments?
>> I think they did a pretty good job. But we are definitely going to be working with you to set up the streamlined operation as we can and I think we talked about a letter that will come to us with respect to any revision revisions that may be necessary in terms of your citizen participation plan that you have set up now to where you may be temporarily out of compliance, but I think that it would be for good cause, and therefore we should be able to approve that right away.
>> you think it will be for good cause?
>> yes.
>> or you know.
>> it would be for good cause. You're needing to go ahead and get these activities funded. Your beneficiaries benefitted.
>> we appreciate you coming up then. Mistakes do happen. Normally not in the 1.6 million category. But what it is, the it is.
>> we apologize for the mistake. You know, we have a little something that we can get started here in Travis County and I just want to get that going.
>> actually we were told that was the first time it ever happened. So nobody ever thought to question the formula people. And here we find out that there was a population trend that they have to take into consideration going back from 1960, using some older census tapes. And apparently there was a double counting of the city of Austin in that 1960-70 trend or something like that and really messed it up. But nobody ever thought to question it. And now I guess they will.
>> if a mistake is to be made, it's better to catch it at this end before anything has happened. I'm going to take it in terms of the positive. This is 837,000 that will be be--838,000 that will be put to very good use. So we moved forward.
>> okay. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> I'll have to take that 2. 2.4 million off of my list of accomplish ments.
>> (laughter.)
>> delete.
>> thank you very much. We appreciate you coming up.
>> thank you all. Good to see you.
>> look forward to working with you further. And working with our friends in washington, d.c.
>> indeed. Thank you.
>> we will take the rest of item number 19 this afternoon.
this morning we discussed the a part of item 19 with representatives from h.u.d. And as a reminder 19 is to considered and take appropriate action on substantial amendment to the community development block grant, cdbg, 2006 through 2010 consolidated plan, pardon me, and program plan 2006 action plan. B, is -- is time line for amending plan, 30 day public comment -- should we take action as we go down the list?
>> yes, thank you very much. I'm going to have staffing over with you. The changes based on our conversations with h.u.d. This morning. So I will -- I will pass it to ms. Christie moffett.
>> good morning, good afternoon. Basically the changes to the time line indicate a 15 day public comment period rather than a 30 day public comment period. That is h.u.d. Allowing us to not be in compliance with our approved citizens participation plan that you all approved back in April. It is within the federal regulations. In terms of a substantial amendment, which is what this revision is. So it's allowable for the san antonio regional office to give us that permission without having to go to washington. With that, that means that we would be asking for the court to -- to review and approve project reinvoicessed projects either today or next Tuesday. Staff would then revise the plan and present those revisions to you on November 14th. We would begin the 15 day public comment period on November 15th with that closing on November 29th. At the same time, h.u.d. Wants to and he tight their review of the revision. So on November 22nd, we would provide copies of our draft plan for them to begin reviewing. And then on December 5th, once we have all of the public comment, we can include that into the revision, the draft. Provide that final copy to h.u.d. And then h.u.d. Would -- would basically make a decision by December 15th. Therefore, taking about six weeks off of the plan -- off the time line that we had previously given to you. So -- so the one question that we have for you is that in terms of public hearing, the dates within this 15-day period looks to be either November 21st or November 28th. Which -- which goes right around the thanksgiving period.
>> when is thanksgiving this year?
>> it's --
>> 23rd.
>> 23rd.
>> 26th or something?
>> what's the football date, joe? So I believe the 21st is the week of thanksgiving. And the 28th is the week after thanksgiving.
>> well, I guess in fairness to our residents, we need to probably make it a week after thanksgiving, don't we? Giving them a little bit more time and we would be able to keep the rest of the schedule if we do that?
>> uh-huh, yes.
>> okay.
>> so that's the -- that's the time line.
>> so November 28th represents the end of the public comment period?
>> no, November 29th represents the end of the public comment period. November 28th would represent the public hearing. And that's an important date because we have to put that in the ad.
>> the 23rd is thanksgiving.
>> the tell the public hearing in the Commissioners court room.
>> correct. At 9:00 a.m.
>> is that a Tuesday? Is it --
>> and in -- the public comment period would be the next day 5:00 I guess November the 29th.
>> yes.
>> so then you will see behind that the revision to the advertisements to be placed in newspapers and general circulation. I will change November 21st to the 28th. Everything else changed 30 day comment period to 15 day comment period, making all of the appropriate changes in terms of the dates that you had previously had.
>> move that we approve the recommended changes.
>> second.
>> we have been given tentative approval by hudnell.
>> that's correct.
>> okay. The new public hearing date is November 28th. The end of public comment period November 29th at 5:00 p.m., we will schedule the public hearing for 9:00 a.m. In this courtroom.
>> okay. And that's b?
>> yes.
>> that I just move approval.
>> a clarification, newspapers of general circulation I'm assuming that's going to be the small community papers and the chronicle?
>> that is correct, yes. Any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> c is advertisement for public hearing. That was Commissioner Sonleitner's hearing just then. Chronicle and community newspapers.
>> yes, I have also made the revision to the public hearing date.
>> is there a budget for that?
>> it ends up coming in under 5,000, I think it's around 3700.
>> health and human services budget, yes.
>> good source.
>> move approval.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Any other related issues.
>> the next item is a rather colorful spread sheet that you have to -- to try to reflect our recommendations in terms of going forward on our revisions of the map, how we may spend the money. Several options based on the discussion that we had last time with looking at how we might not use as much of the administrative allocation or not using it at all. Tried to reflect that. Also tried to reflect different things that have occurred with some of the projects. For example we have been notified by t.n.r. Of the cost of doing roads and so -- so essentially $400,000 I think buys one mile of road. For example. So we tried to -- to select projects that we felt would -- would reflect your original intent, but also take into account some of the things that we have learned and of course Commissioner Sonleitner shared last week that family elder care was not ready to move forward and so we tried to -- to those projects out, move those in that we felt were ready to go. So I will have --
>> do we need to make this decision today.
>> no. I would suggest we wouldn't because Commissioner Davis is not here.
>> if we can do it next week that will help us out.
>> okay.
>> I was going to ask if there were questions.
>> any questions? I think that I need to spend a little more time with this. I may land on exactly the same thing there. Are one or two other things that I think we need to try to get done if we can that may not -- may be here, may not.
>> okay.
>> if they are not here, what I would like to do is suggest to the court next week. If we don't have them on her list, one of them is one that we are kind of leveraging cdbg money for t.n.r. That sort of attracts other money. If it's not here, I think that we need to have maybe a separate agenda item to at least address it.
>> so if I could just have that time it will help me.
>> if we could share with staff with what project you are speaking of particularly because we do have one project that was originally on our list that we have gotten some feedback from h.u.d. On.
>> okay. I will chat with one of you all before then.
>> my thing is that I have not given up that -- one piece at a time. Before anybody says why is she wearing her u.t. Sweat shirt it's freezing up here. This is the only thing I had upstairs to put on. I hope with the idea that there's no way that we are going to tackle the issues that are going on in that particular subdivision in terms of the road if we don't start taking a parcel of it at a time. I would like to see if there is a way to still do a chunk if we were going to do a $750,000 chunk, divide that up, takes three years rather than one, that is a project that needs to get hosted and I don't see it getting hosted during the regular budget process. This was the only thing on the original map that had the appropriate color related to the level of poverty out in that particular area, that's the no brainer area. That would meet all qualifications. I would like to see a revised something that potentially could get a small chunk and you know a mile is a mile is a mile. Gets us a mile closer.
>> put that on the list and ree-mail it out.
>> > one mile. Maybe other --
>> language. If you all -- had a little thought, we can discuss that, make sure that -- absolutely.
>> what this whole process is telling us is that each year this is the money that we are dealing with. We are feeling with 800 now versus 2.4.
>> that would be correct, sir.
>> sherri, if you could also be prepared next week to remind us during the budget crisis we added a couple of extra pots of money related to economic development workforce development and if there are things that were cdbg related, that could be potentially part of those new initiatives, that's another way for us to get to the same place. If you did need a subrecipient thing because we are not dealing with federal funds, it's general funds, it's a different way of having to monitor it. Knowing that outline of our tools are on the table.
>> all of that information available --
>> thank you for your dedication, hard work, patience, we will see you next week.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, October 24, 2006 7:59 AM