SUMMARY OF A COUNCIL MEETING WITH UNITED STATES CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE DAVID PRICE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1997 AT 7:30 A.M.

Mayor Waldorf called the meeting to order at 7:40 a.m. Council Members in attendance were Julie Andresen, Joyce Brown, Joe Capowski, Pat Evans, Richard Franck, Lee Pavao and Edith Wiggins. Council Member Mark Chilton was unable to attend. In addition to Congressman David Price, also in attendance were Jeanette Gay Eddy, Congressman Price’s Assistant, Town Manager Cal Horton, Assistant Town Managers Sonna Loewenthal and Florentine Miller, Transportation Director Bob Godding, Transportation Planner David Bonk, Planning Director Roger Waldon, Town Clerk Peter Richardson and Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos.

Congressman Price presented a brief overview of the status of the current congressional session in Washington, D.C.. He said that the session was off to a fairly slow start with only one major vote, on international family planning, having been taken to date. Noting the important role of bipartisan cooperation in the U.S. Congress, Congressman Price stated that bipartisan efforts would be very important in achieving the goal of a balanced budget. He stated that the so-called “ISTEA bill” (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act) would be renewed during the current session of Congress. Congressman Price said the terms of renewal were under discussion. Council Member Andresen inquired what committees the Congressman was serving on. Congressman Price listed his committee assignments including the Treasury Postal Subcommittee and Appropriations Committee. He noted that at present the State of North Carolina was receiving approximately eighty-one cents in return for every dollar in taxes earmarked to the Highway Trust Fund.

Congressman Price said regardless of how the ISTEA bill turned out, it was likely that the devolution of transit funding to the State level would continue. He noted that the good news in this regard was the work of the Transit 2001 Commission. Congressman Price said that intercity rail travel and regional travel were the two main foci of the Commission’s report. He stated that a number of the logistics relative to the future plans for the Triangle Transit Authority regional transit plan still needed to be worked out. Congressman Price said he would try to help out in this regard.

Council Member Wiggins inquired about the status of housing issues in the Congress. Congressman Price stated that federal housing programs were one of the main victims of federal budget reductions. He stated that the first struggle relative to housing funding would be to attain baseline funding. Congressman Price also stated that the HOME program was a good innovative program which encouraged participation by other funding sources. Congressman Price invited Council Members to provide him with their thoughts and input regarding housing funding matters.

Noting that barring big cuts in entitlement programs, about only one in three federal dollars would be discretionary by 1999, Council Member Andresen inquired about the long-term prospects for transit funding in the future. Congressman Price said that future debates would likely be over how accounting would be done for transit programs. He also stated that transportation programs in the United States were largely self-financed. Congressman Price stated that transit advocates in North Carolina would have to continue to strongly advocate for their projects, priorities and continued project funding. He also noted that it was important to lay down a request for a funding base as soon as possible.

Council Member Brown said the principal concern in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area was the extent of flexibility relative to transit funding. Congressman Price stated that the sponsors of the ISTEA Step 21 program favored more flexibility for states relative to funding, rather than less. Council Member Brown asked whether there would be specifics regarding funding flexibility for local governments in the proposed bill. Congressman Price stated that the proposed bill guaranteed the consultative aspect for states.

Council Member Franck said that letting State departments of transportation determine how to spend funds would not necessarily improve the situation for local governments in deciding which specific transit projects would receive highest priority. Council Member Franck said he was concerned that the good elements of the existing ISTEA legislation might be lost. Congressman Price said he concurred with these concerns and did not think that Step 21 would result in this loss.

Council Member Capowski stated that neither raising property taxes or bus fares was a palatable option for making up for federal transit shortfalls. Noting that the administration was recommending a cut in operating funding for buses, Congressman Price stated that in the short term was no assurance that this funding situation could be improved.

Stating that the quality of some paved state roads in the Town was poor, Council Member Capowski inquired about the likelihood of the Town receiving federal funding for maintaining local roads. Congressman Price stated that federal funds currently paid a portion of road maintenance in individual communities.

Noting that Governor Hunt was only recommending $36 million of the $75 million needed to implement initial recommendations of the Transit 2001 Commission, Council Member Brown asked whether the North Carolina delegation in Washington was supportive of the $36 million funding level and a local menu of funding options for transit matters. Stating that the report was relatively new and a number of members of the transportation community had not been able to digest the report’s recommendations, Congressman Price said he would lobby hard with the General Assembly for the $36 million in recommended funding. Congressman Price also noted that there would have to be some new revenues to fully implement the recommendations of the Transit 2001 Commission. Council Member Brown asked whether the legislative delegation was aware and fully supportive of the Commission’s recommendations. Noting that some real headway had recently been made with State Department of Transportation officials on general transit funding matters, Congressman Price stated that there had not been any specific meetings of the legislative delegation to date regarding the Transit 2001 Commission recommendations. Mayor Waldorf asked whether or not there was a coordinated effort to lobby the General Assembly. Noting that he was generally encouraged about prospects for the first year funding request, Congressman Price said there would likely be an organized effort to lobby the General Assembly regarding the Commission’s funding recommendations.

Council Member Capowski asked whether or not state or federal gasoline taxes would increase in the near term. Congressman said he did not think this was likely, since there was no serious discussion at either level about such an increase.

Mayor Waldorf asked whether or not the Congress might look at funding of community policing programs. Stating that the work of the community policing program was considered effective by most legislators, Congressman Price said a slight improvement in funding levels was likely during the current congressional session.

Council Member Evans inquired about the viability of converting some public housing units from rental properties to opportunities for people to own their own homes/units. Mr. Horton noted that a practical impediment to proceeding in this manner was that under existing federal guidelines communities were required to replace any existing units which were sold. Stating that such a program was certainly not a prominent feature of current federal housing policy, Congressman Price stated that there had been concerns about the cost efficiency of such efforts.

Expressing her serious concern about the gentrification of moderately-priced housing in the minority community, Council Member Wiggins inquired about the possibility of purchasing and holding such properties in an affordable housing land trust. Council Member Andresen asked whether or not Council Member Wiggins was proposing that the government insert itself into the private property marketplace. Stating that she did not have a specific proposal, Council Member Wiggins said she was simply expressing her general concerns about the overall situation. Mayor Waldorf said it would be desirable to receive a flexible lump sum for housing programs at the local level. Congressman Price inquired how much the Town was currently receiving in Community Development Block Grant funds. Mr. Horton said approximately $400,000. He added that although the use of these funds was fairly flexible, there were sometimes some very tight timeframes involved and funds were sometimes directed at programs in which the Council had no interest policywise. Noting that some funding “strings” such as local participation in funding decisions were desirable, Congressman Price said he would like to see more generous funding of the HOME program. Noting strict regulations regarding conversion of HUD properties to private use, Congressman Price said that there would probably be no federal funding leverage on the situation cited earlier by Council Member Wiggins.

Council Member Wiggins inquired about the viability of having someone or some agency hold property in trust until indigenous residents could be found to purchase individual properties. Congressman Price said there might be some state and local resources to help in this regard.

Mr. Karpinos suggested that there might be ways for the federal government to assist universities in finding off-campus student housing options. Mayor Waldorf said this was a good suggestion. Stating that there was currently no such program, Congressman Price noted that there used to be such a program administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Council Member Franck said a land trust program could be implemented much more quickly at the local level. Council Member Wiggins inquired whether there was any funding for such a program. Mr. Waldon stated that the HOME program was one possible funding source.

Council Member Brown said the Congress’ assistance was needed in efforts to reduce excessive packaging of products. Council Member Andresen asked whether Council Member Brown was suggesting an examination of the whole life cycle of products. Council Member Brown said this was correct. She also inquired about the possibility of changing packaging-related federal laws such as the prohibition against patrons taking their own containers to restaurants. Congressman Price stated that Ms. Eddy could look into the matter and report back to the Council.

Council Member Andresen inquired about Congressman Price’s overall impression about the new Congress’ environmental policy. Congressman Price said although he did not have a firm overall impression, he did not believe there was quite as much zeal in the current session to strip regulatory authority relative to the environment. He added that there was also a lot of bipartisan support on many matters, including backlogged legislation such as the Endangered Species Act and the future of the Superfund.

Stating that Town staff was glad to see Gay Eddy return as Congressman Price’s assistant in his Chapel Hill Office, Mr. Horton inquired about the Congressman’s key contact in Washington and the Congressman’s anticipated schedule. Congressman Price said his Raleigh office would be managed by Joe Goode while his Washington office would be headed by Billy Moore. He stated that Jean-Louise Beard would handle transit-related matters. Mr. Horton said he hoped the Congressman’s staff would call on Town staff when necessary. Congressman Price said Council Members and other interested parties were welcome to stop by Congressional offices in Washington, D.C. Mayor Waldorf said she might stop by on Sunday, March 9^th or Monday, March 10^th, while attending the National League of Cities meeting. Congressman Price noted that representatives of the Triangle’s chambers of commerce would be visiting Washington in April.

Council Member Capowski said he was delighted that Congressman Price was in office again to serve the residents of the 4^th Congressional District.

Council Member Wiggins inquired about the status of welfare reform in the Congress. Noting that transit matters would focus on the local level in the future, Congressman Price said the same focus would apply to welfare reform. He said that in North Carolina the “Work First” program was focused on moving welfare recipients from welfare to work. Congressman Price stated that funding for child care and transit assistance were vital parts of the “Work First” program. Noting that a lot of rules about welfare reform would be made at the State level , a lot of actual program implementation relative to welfare reform would wind up in local government’s hands.

The meeting concluded at 8:44 a.m.