COMMUNITY HOUSING COUNCIL
Members present: Arturo Alon, William Dougal, Joe Carleo, Elaine Anderson, Molly Perdue and Cathy Reno.
Staff: Matthias J. Mulvey, Building Commissioner and Maxine Notaro, Permit Coordinator.
Election of officers.
Motion: Arturo Alon moved to nominate Molly Purdue as chair.
Molly said she was going to nominate AJ because it is important for permitting and he has a good grasp as how affordable housing works.
Bill Dougal felt that Joe is unique in his experience – he has national connections, longevity in the field, knowledge of mass housing and funding.
Motion by Bill Dougal to nominate Joe Carleo as chair.
Seconded by Cathy Reno.
Joe Carleo said he would be willing to chair but felt that AJ has expertise. He is fairly new to town government.
Voted unanimously for Joe Carleo as chairman – 5 to 0.
Joe Carleo moved to nominate Arturo Alon as vice-chair.
Seconded by Elaine.
Voted unanimously 5-0.
The mission and authority was to absorb duties of the
Bill Dougal said there is the John Ryan report that has 10 items.
What should he be doing? What are our next steps?
The outgoing selectmen set up a priority action list that is a structure list. The newly elected/appointed Board of Selectmen should reaffirm the list.
Next scheduled meeting for the Council will be Tuesday, July
10th at
John Ryan will be present at this meeting.
Arturo Alon said the final approval for Bissell’s
Bill Dougal said he would like to discuss bylaws and how they are defined.
The Council should pay attention to the Ryan report because we have invested so much in it.
Meeting with John Ryan to discuss and establish a mission packet.
Bill Dougal said on-going community education is important. There are a limited amount of resources in land, water and money and priorities will need to be established.
The role of the Council is to bring everyone together. We are lacking in the need for housing for firefighters, teachers and shop workers. We need outreach with different organizations, i.e. firefighters, teachers, etc. The conception is that there has to be a Community Housing Plan.
Elaine Anderson said there is the need for a Housing specialist. What do we envision for this person? What is role of the Housing Council for middle income?
Does it only mean we deal with Affordable Housing and/or Community Housing?
Molly Perdue said 58% of households are second homes. How do we educate people including to help fund it? We are in desperate need of housing and we need to educate the public.
Bill Dougal said the two major issues he sees are:
These are the two drivers.
What is the direction of it and financing of it? It’s not so much about need. The first thing is the Eligibility and the second is the Financing Mechanisms.
Molly Perdue said the Local Preference bylaw is 70% because we are geographically situated and local people usually house the 30%.
Joe Carleo said there are three things:
Use Community Housing instead of Affordable Housing.
Look into moving forward on the housing office.
Look at funding possibilities.
Bill Dougal said the people want to see a plan for Community Housing.
The question is how many units, where and who is eligible? You won’t get a buy in at Town Meeting. What is the start and completion? To piece meal it is difficult to get approval from Town Meeting.
Arturo Alon said the housing office is definitely needed because this is where people could go to get the information.
4) Housing office.
5) Exploring new funding opportunities.
6) Develop an overall plan.
7) Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
The Affordable Housing Trust Fund has approximately $200,000.00 in it.
The Council should develop a working relationship with Community Preservation Committee.
The question of possible conflict was discussed due to certain members of the newly appointed members to the Housing Council serving on other committees.
Arturo Alon moved to accept the first five bullets as priorities.
Seconded by Elaine Anderson.
Voted unanimously.
Cheryl Andrews said she is now on the Housing Authority but Housing Authority is very rigid.
There have been too many groups pulling in different directions. She looks at the Housing Council, as a strategic thinking body advisory to the Board of Selectmen but with strong will.
She suggests the newly appointed Council meet with the selectmen but keep it short.
The Staff should do the permitting. The Town Meeting body voted $50,000.00 for housing. How are you going to use that? People will be looking very closely on what that is used for.
The Land Bank has 10% that is assigned for Affordable Housing. The Council takes over that roll and the funding is not in place as of today unless you make it so. The Council needs to vote it.
Also, there is still 75 hours left in the John Ryan Contract.
$2,000.00 was kept for rental subsidy (Interfaith Council).
$20,000.00 was spent on the Housing Summit.
$3,000.00 for additional travel.
There is 75 hours left on his contract.
$4,000.00 +/-
$15,931
Housing $229,299.00
There are invoices for John Ryan that is possibly outstanding.
The Housing Authority turned over its trust fund
Cheryl Andrews said she keeps hearing people want a diverse income level community.
Some people left because of housing but some people left because they could make a large profit and not have to work anymore.
Peter Page said the construction industry is the second largest industry in town. They feel left out on the Affordable Housing discussions. The firemen and police and teachers are always mentioned and the contractors feel left out. It’s Tourism, Real Estate and then Construction.
The local contractors want to start being included in the construction of building. A percentage of contractual agreements should be looked into for local contactors. The local workforce should be included in the local work. None of the work on these large projects goes to the local contractors. The contractors are all from out-of-town.
Peter Page started to discuss the
Arturo Alon recused himself.
Peter Page said the
For future applications, if they are not complete, he will not vote for it.
Bill Dougal said the 6 Sandy Hill project was rushed but people felt it was for a needed cause.
Patrick Manning said Community Housing is the goal of this Council.
Conflict of Interest could be a concern at times for some.
Elaine Anderson moved to extend John Ryan’s contract for 1 week.
Seconded by Molly Perdue.
Voted unanimously.
The Council members discussed the possibility of conducting a joint meeting with other boards to find out their missions.
Elaine Anderson moved to adjourn the meeting at
Seconded by Bill Dougal.
Voted unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Maxine Notaro, Permit Coordinator