DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES OF A BUDGET PUBLIC FORUM
OF THE CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2007, AT 7:00 p.m.

Mayor Kevin Foy introduced the topic of the budget to public.

Mr. Roger Stancil remarked that the Council had started to revise the budget process.  He also gave a brief summary of the agenda items to be considered.

Mayor Foy asked for citizen input.

Bernadette Keefe shared her concerns regarding downtown development.  She expressed her belief that the Council should preserve the older essence while creating a new vision for it.  Ms. Keefe also shared her concerns regarding the Northside community. She requested that community block grant money be used to improve some of the deteriorated homes of the area. This would continue the regrowth of the area.

Damita Hicks from the Pine Knolls Community Center thanked the Council for its continuing support of citizens in need.  The Pine Knolls Community Center has an affordable housing program, where they recently moved a house over to Park Grove, she said.  Ms. Hicks requested that the Council provide $60,000 in funding to help with the renovation of that house. She also requested $70,000 for development of a major subdivision in the area on Park Road.

Pam Bailey, speaking on behalf of The Oaks Home Owners Association, requested that the Town consider placing a stop light at US 15-501 and Clelland Drive.  Traffic had increased greatly over the past few years, she said.  Ms. Bailey also requested that the Council add sidewalks along Clelland Drive because this street has high pedestrian traffic and is a cut-through for vehicular traffic.  For the same reason, she asked the Council to consider adding sidewalks on Burning Tree near Pinehurst Drive.  Ms. Bailey also requested that the Council work with OWASA to add underground power wiring while they have the area exposed on Clelland Drive.

Mayor Foy reminded Ms. Bailey that the intersection of Clelland and US 15-501 is a State highway and that NC DOT would be responsible for erecting the stop light, not the Town.  Council Member Easthom said that Mr. Neppalli had just reported to her that NC DOT was reviewing this area and would return in four to six weeks with a decision.

Executive Director of EmPOWERment, Deloris Bailey, thanked the Council for its support of EmPOWERment and the Pine Knolls community.  There are some improvements that need to be made within the the Northside community, she said, adding that EmPOWERment would continue working to meet those needs.  Ms. Bailey said she would be making requests for Community Development Block Grant funds, HOME, and general funding to help the community to grow. 

Mayor Foy asked if there were any further potential legislative requests that needed to be included?

Council Member Kleinschmidt asked if there was a list of things that have been added to the legislative list since last year?

Mayor Foy respond that he was not sure a formal memo had been produced yet because the Council had just had its informal discussion.  However, they could continue to review Legislative actions, he said.  Mayor Foy said that the legislators seem to be making some movement on local options by county for funding of transportation.  If that is the case, then the Town could advocate for that, he said.

Council Member Thorpe noted that the Town was honored to have the Orange County representative as the Speaker of House.

Council Member Kleinschmidt said that he was supportive of the items on the legislative list that had not been addressed.  This year, the Town should ask Durham County Representative Larry Hall to attend the Legislative Breakfast, since he represents Chapel Hill citizens who live in Durham County, he said.  In the past, said Council Member Kleinschmidt, the Town had  not invited him, but it would be beneficial to have him attend.

Council Member Harrison said that in the past Council Member Kleinschmidt had suggested inviting the Durham County representatives.  He had spoken with Joe Hackney in December, he said, and now Speaker Hackney had found the invitation to be appropriate.  Council Member Harrison also suggested that Senator Atwater be invited as well.

Ms. Johnson reiterated that the Council had decided to change the way that it would look at the budget this year.  As such, the schedule of meetings could also be adjusted to attain the most benefit, she said.  Ms. Johnson continued to review the schedule as presented in the agenda item, highlighting that the early February meetings could be used as a continuation of the Council's retreat, if needed, or could be canceled. She recommended that the February 28 budget work session be used to hear from advisory boards.  Also as the Council had requested to learn more information about specific topics of the Town, Ms. Johnson suggested that the Transportation Department be considered in the second half of that meeting.

Council Member Greene questioned why advisory boards were invited to address the Council at budget time.  She said there had been some discussion about changing the process and inviting them in the fall so that they could report more globally instead of only focusing on the budget. Ms. Johnson responded that the plan in the future would be to invite the advisory boards in the fall, but that since they did not have that opportunity this year they would continue in the old format. 

Council Member Harrison inquired about why the Transportation Department would do a presentation if the Transportation Board would also be speaking that night.  Ms. Johnson responded that the Council had requested more in-depth information on specific functions of the Town, including the Transportation Department, and that this would provide the entire Council with an extra opportunity to obtain information regarding transportation information.  In the future, other Town areas would be considered, she said.  

Ms. Johnson recommended that the March 7 budget work session be used to hold a discuss of the initiatives for the north/northwest area.

Mayor Foy clarified that the February 7 budget work session was supposed to be for working on the concept of the budget.  Mr. Stancil said that it would provide for a discussion on the top 15 items agreed to at the Council’s retreat, plus 10 priority items that were identified by two of the groups.  The summaries were to be distributed by early the following week, he said.

Mayor pro tem Strom said that he and several other Council members would not be able to attend the February 23 meeting, and that the Council may need a better date. Mr. Stancil suggested that they wait until after the completion of the February 7 meeting to determine if there needed to be an adjustment to the schedule.

Mayor Foy reported that he and Mr. Stancil had met with the Chancellor today to discuss proceeding with the development of the zone.  On February 12, the Council would be discussing this and may or may not take action, he said.  Mayor Foy and Mr. Stancil also discussed how the Town might deal with this issue, including considering a consultant to prepare the work instead of Town staff, he said.  Mayor Foy suggested that on February 12, the staff prepare a resolution, separate from any process, for a Request for Proposal (RFP).  He said that in the RFP the Council would want to know the following: What would they propose to do? How do they think the public could be involved? How long would it take? How much would it cost? This would allow the process to get started, said the Mayor, noting that it takes a while to get responses. 

Robert Dowling, Orange County Housing and Land Trust (OCHLT) director, reported on OCHLT activities and expressed continuing concerns.  On a side note, Mr. Dowling thanked the Council for its commitment and noted that it had figured out a solution to the condominium fee problem. 

The OCHLT faces long term challenges that it has been evaluating, Mr. Dowling said.  He pointed out that the OCHLT model did not anticipate that HUD would leave income funding flat for four to five years.  They already had some units that could not be resold as affordable housing without adding subsidy, he said. Mr. Dowling added that the second challenge was maintenance of high cost items such as roofs and HVAC systems. Low income home owners are not able to maintain the high cost items, he said.  Mr. Dowling told the Council that the Land Trust sees the need to make adjustments to both issues.
 
Mr. Dowling stated that the OCHLT had drafted a new model, which has four components. First, the OCHLT would be moving away from an appraisal model to a 1.5 percent annual increase, he explained.  Secondly, the OCHLT would collect a monthly stewardship fee from homeowners to pay for expensive items that have a predictable need to be replaced over time: HVAC, roof, hot water heater, exterior painting, and flooring. Third, they will hire a new staff person to manage the processes, collect the fee, and to work with HOAs and tenants to manage the maintenance, he said. Fourth, the OCHLT will revise the lease so that typical maintenance, repair, and excessive damage will become responsibility of the homeowner, Mr. Dowling explained. He said that this model would be applied to future homes within the program.

Mr. Dowling told Council members that there were 125 homes (115 within Chapel Hill) existing in the old model, which does not address the affordability and maintenance issues.  The funding needed over 25 years is $2.8 million dollars, he said, but funding to meet short term needs in 2007 is $235,000.  And in 2008, they will require $77,000 because Greenway units will become available, said Mr. Dowling . He said that the OCHLT was requesting $150,000 of CDBG money this year and would also make a request to Orange County for HOME funds.

Mr. Dowling also requested that the Council consider and seek opportunities for payments in lieu, which would continue their commitment and support of inclusionary zoning.

Council Member Thorpe restated that a stewardship fee means one collects money to prepare the house when it fails.

Mr. Dowling said he would be preparing a full report for the Council and staff to analyze.

Mayor pro tem Strom thanked Mr. Dowling for informing the Council of the new model and for being proactive in identifying the shortfall on the existing inventory.  The Council would likely be discussing payment in lieu verses the 15 percent of units being built for affordable housing, he said.  Mayor pro tem Strom said that he recognized there is a need for more affordable houses and also for having funds available to maintain the inventory.  Instead of lumping them together, the OCHLT should identify what resources are needed to build a successful process and define the challenges, he said. This way, the Council and other jurisdictions can figure out the resources available to address those needs, said Mayor pro tem Strom.

Council Member Kleinschmidt requested that the OCHLT keep the Council informed on cost. He asked if units would be migrated to the new model when they are resold.  Another idea would be to reduce the guarantee, which may provide an incentive to current owners to voluntarily migrate from the old model to the new model, thus reducing the costs associated with resale and achieving the goal of the new model, said Council Member Kleinschmidt.  Mr. Dowling agreed that this would be a good opportunity for the current owners, but he said that they had not worked out the details.

Council Member Greene pointed out that the area was in a building boom with the multi-use developments and that now was the time to acquire the affordable housing inventory.  She agreed that there needed to be a separation between the need for housing and the need for maintenance of the housing.

Mayor Foy said he had been at a meeting with Moses Carey, Orange County Commission Chair, who had suggested adding this topic to the Assembly of Governments meeting scheduled for March to get further discussion.

Mr. Dowling said he would welcome the opportunity to discuss this topic with all the governments.

Mayor pro tem Strom stated that a potential source might be the unallocated Orange County Affordable Housing Bond funds.

Mayor Foy reported that the Orange County Board of Commissioners had discussed facility needs, including the homeless shelter, a justice facility, the Inter-faith Council Kitchen, to name a few.  Their staff was reevaluating and it was likely that they would make a request soon, he said. Mayor Foy said that the Council needed to figure out what was the best use of Town property, including the Post Office property. The Council then brainstormed possible ideas.

Council Member Easthom stated that she was not comfortable discussing the issue further until the Council got more information.  This would typically result in the Mayor receiving a letter that would be forwarded as a petition, she said, adding that the Council would receive and refer that to the staff for a report.

Council Member Greene stated that the Inter-faith Council did not want the kitchen to be at the same place as the shelter.

Council Member Ward asked for the building footprint, so that the Council could determine if it is a realistic idea.

Mayor pro tem Strom agreed that knowing the County’s interest in square footage was important.  It would  be difficult to respond to Kidzu without it, he said.

Mayor Foy restated the petition process.

Mayor Foy requested information from the Town Manager regarding a potential ice storm.

Mr. Stancil reported that the fire and police chiefs had talked to the Town of Apex to review and learn from their weather event last fall. He said he believed the Town was in good shape with its emergency plan. With regard to the current storm, Mr. Stancil reported that the staff had prepared accordingly.

The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.