Judge Welsh Hearing Room
Members Present: A.J. Alon, Elaine Anderson, Catherine
Brouillet,
William Dougal, and Molly Perdue.
Members absent: Joe Carleo (excused absence)
Staff: Matt Mulvey and Maxine Notaro
Others: Howard Burchman, Michelle
Jarusiewicz, Sharon Lynn,
Ted Malone, Pam Parmakian, and John Ryan.
The meeting was called to
order at
Meeting Agenda
Meeting with John Ryan
John Ryan, the Housing
Consultant, said that the Town Manager had asked him to prepare a memo
assessing the importance of things the Community Housing Council (CHC) should
focus on accomplishing. He then
proceeded to list them in order of importance:
1. Key Issues for the CHC to consider,
2. Proposed Scope of the
3. Proposed Use of Remaining Consultant’s Time
Molly Perdue asked, “How many
housing offices are there in the state?”
Mr. Ryan didn’t know – only that he had interacted with some of
them. It was also determined that both
Bill Dougal said he really needs
an update on where we are strategically.
“We should take a breather to find out where we are financially – and
therefore – what is our role? Are we
going to have an officer for the housing authority – or what? We have to decide what is going to be the
model of where we are going to go.
Because $50K is not going to get you the kind of person we’re looking
for. We need to sort it out.”
John Ryan said that his sense
is that there is a substantial need that has to be addressed. There has to be a person to answer the phone
and know the answers that people may ask.
These are the needs! The townspeople
want to see something done – to hire someone – in fact – the CHC should begin
thinking about how you build more support – and trying to work with the state
to get more funding to move this project along.
Shankpainter has the most involvement – but it is not the responsibility
of this group to move this along. This
group should be setting the direction.
Molly Perdue had several
questions regarding local preference; it was passed in 2003 and we need a
clearing house to have this information available. We need a person who can start to put all
this information together and a staff person would be essential. We need this and we have to be consistent. Molly thinks regionalization would be great
down the road but not now.
Elaine Anderson thinks maybe
we should be looking forward and seeking a staff person.
We do have a fund – it might not be full time position – but we have to
start somewhere. Why should we wait any
longer?
Cathy Reno said that we need
to have Procedures and Policies in place; that should be our priority.
Bill Dougal agreed with Cathy
Reno and stated that we are a newly formed council and we have to do
introspection, what will be our strategies?
We have a disconnect in this community.
It’s up to us as a council to bring something forward to educate the
populace. Questions the general public
will have are: 1)What does it mean to
me? and 2) What does it mean in terms of
local preference. We’re building
community confidence. The housing person
will – more or less - be our marketing person.
Molly disagreed – there has
to be a symbiotic relationship and her conception of a housing office – we need
to have information and a housing office.
People have to have a place where their questions can be answered,
i.e., “accessory dwelling” is only a
buzz word unless it’s explained.
Cathy said that we have to
have a mission statement regarding - who we are - what do we want to accomplish.
John Ryan – referring to Bill
Dougal’s statements – said that a mission statement with key goals is necessary. One crucial element for this housing office
is that we’re trying to preserve this community. That’s an essential piece for anyone you’re
hiring to understand. And by spring you
have to have someone on board to handle all questions – and there is a real
need for that. So he’d be cautious about
taking too much longer.
Molly said that the town
would like to see some kind of momentum happening. The office would have to be able to answer
questions.
Mr. Ryan said that it’s
important that there be a phone number associated with the Town where people
can call and say – I have a need – and that person will be able to direct
them.
Michelle Jarusiewicz said
that every project is going to be different.
You could have a list of interested people. You should have a list to hand out to
people. She further said that if you
start advertising today you couldn’t hire someone fast enough to fill the
tremendous need out there..
Bill Dougal said that
ultimately we’re talking about community need i.e., if we’re trying to put a
policeman on board……….. example……. There’s
a need here and these are the kinds of decisions that have to be made. We need a community office to make these
decisions. John Ryan agreed, there are
some things that can be addressed by this committee, i.e., local
preference. That is one element that
should be on your “to do” list. There’s
a need for someone to guide people.
Elaine Anderson floated a
motion which spawned a discussion.
Motion: Accept John’s offer to put through the first
draft of a mission statement.
There was no second and Mr.
Ryan said he couldn’t possibly draft a mission statement for the Council; it
had to come from them.
Bill D. said that he’d like
to see the whole picture and then the mission statement will come forward. More importantly, he would like the CHC to embark
on some form of community education. A J
Alon said that some people make way too much money to buy an affordable
home. Bill countered by saying that we
have to have some clear direction for local people.
After a whole lot more
discussion, the following motion was made by Elaine Anderson.
Motion: Accept John Ryan’s offer with the option of a
working paper document identifying organizational structure, funding plan,
goals, local preference, and report back to the Council.
Motion: Elaine Anderson Seconded:
Cathy Reno Vote: 5-0-0.
John said he’d get back to
the CHC in about two days to firm up timing of this request and the group also
needs a concerted effort to identify usable land.
Bill Dougal said that he’d
like to start with J. Ryan’s report and condense that into some form of
strategic work plan or focus. We must focus on a work plan and recommend some
sort of organizational structure. Bill would
like a breakdown. “What should be our
strategic focus?”
John Ryan replied that there
are 2 different ways; he could try to look at the issues, i.e., financing plan and organizational structure. Another approach would be to facilitate a
discussion – so that you have two choices.
John Ryan continued by saying
that there are 3 things the CHC has to juggle:
1. If and when the ownership issues about the
Shankpainter property are settled, then you have to push for proposals to go
out.
2. The group accepted a grant from the Cape Cod
Commission to commit people to year-round rentals. That was supposed to be completed by the end
of September. Someone must finish that
and you have $3,500 to do it.
3. The money you have available to you – people
in the community are going to be thinking about all of this.
Matt Mulvey said that maybe
the group would want to work up a job description
with a sub-committee. We should be able to pull a job description
down. We can start working on that.
Policy and Procedures for
new Housing Council
This had already been covered
in the meeting.
Public Statements
Howard Burchman, chair of the
Planning Board, announced that they are working on a couple of
initiatives. He had many things to say
regarding the presentation of conflicting by-laws that both his committee and
the Local Housing Partnership had championed.
Now he would like to work together with the CHC for the good of the
community.
The Cape Cod Committion is
developing a draft for the Planning Board – and on July 17th they’ll
have a version of 40R smart growth. It
will have to do with 2nd floors along
Matt Mulvey said he’s involved
in the Public Works Dept. relocation.
Other Business
Cathy Reno announced that she
has a conflict for next Monday’s meeting.
The poor woman has to go to a Red Sox game in
Minutes
It was agreed to wait for
next week.
The agenda for next week was
discussed but it was decided to wait for next week to see if the chair agreed
with it.
Adjournment happened at
Respectfully submitted,
Approved by
_____________________________ on ____________, 2007.
A.J. Alon, Vice Chair