Community Housing Council

Meeting Room A

July 30, 2007

4:00 p.m.

 

 

Members Present:         A.J. Alon (arr. 4:43p), Catherine Brouillet, Joe Carleo,

William Dougal, and Molly Perdue.

         

Members absent:          Elaine Anderson (excused)

 

Staff:                              Maxine Notaro (arr. 5:05p)

 

Others:                          Michelle Jarusiewicz, Sharon Lynn, Ted Malone,

and Pru Sowers.

 

The meeting was called to order at 4:05   p.m.

 

Joe Carleo told the group that A.J. Alon had requested having the Shank Painter Project put on the agenda first because he has to recuse himself from the discussion and could thus arrive later at the meeting. 

 

Meeting Agenda

Discussion on Shank Painter Project

Joe Carleo said that the Council was given some information to read and he doesn’t have too much more to say about it.  Molly Perdue talked about it at the Provincetown Housing Authority (PHA) and they had discussed some kind of subcommittee.  The PHA  liked that idea.  Molly P. voiced her concern that if the CHC weren’t involved in planning at the onset – then they’d have to evaluate an idea they didn’t have a hand in.

 

Bill Dougal asked a question that he had asked before: “Who is going to develop the Request for Proposal (RFP) criteria?”  Bill said we’re providing Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding and the Shankpainter project is meant for community housing.  Bill wants to know the income mix for this project.  “We want to be sure that all income groups will be represented.” 

 

Sharon Lynn said that Susan Connelly has been involved since the very beginning; she and her colleague are putting together the RFP for Shankpainter.  They’ve been involved and were originally recommended by the housing group.  Bill Dougal said that this is the first plan that will involve town funding.  Bill continued saying that this project has to be perceived in the community – as having been right and it has to meet the community needs.  We have to look at what we’ve done so far i.e., income sectors, certain job areas in the community and others that are critical – and somehow folks are going to be able to have access to these units.  Until he hears that he will not be comfortable with the project.

 

Joe Carleo said that what he reads is 40 units with local preference – Bill needs to know the salary levels of the people who will become eligible.  Some people may be eligible and some may not.  That’s the credibility gap.  Sharon Lynn restoring calm said, “Why don’t we see what the RFP looks like.”

 

Bill D. said there’s a way certain sectors of the community have to be recognized.  Since the Board of Selectmen (BoS) stated the last local preference.  Bill D. wants to talk to the fire chief and ask – “does this meet your needs at all?”  Sharon L. felt that by the end of August the RFP will be ready.   Michelle Jarusiewicz said that in the past the RFP would make the rounds and then - after feedback – it would be rewritten and then submitted to the BoS.

 

Bill D. said that if we find it’s not going to accommodate most of the firemen, policemen, healthcare personnel, Town employees, and teachers - We have to know and it has to be a community policy decision.  Cathy B. said that we’re so desperate for moderate and medium income.  Joe C. said so it seems as though once the RFP is written then we’ll see who will be accommodated.

 

Sharon L. felt the focus of the BoS would be to have the Community Housing Council (CHC) on top of housing.  Molly P. would like to invite the fire chief, the police chief, etc. in to a meeting to discuss this problem and gather what is needed.  This would be a place to start BUT – because the fire department is volunteer – there are many incomes in the fire department.  Joe doesn’t know many in the community so Bill D. volunteered to ask the previously mentioned to attend one of the meetings; the group may also want to talk to Patrick Manning, etc.  When Ted Malone was asked about his lists of people in need of housing, he said that he can give totals of people on his list and their needs, i.e., 1, 2, or 3 bedroom but cannot share names on the list.  He doesn’t have a list of the median-income group.  

 

The main needs would be for the recruits to the care campus, teachers, etc.  Sharon L. asked, “Are you looking for salary ranges?”  Ted M. said that as a potential bidder on that project, he’d have to know what was going in there and if there is a market for whatever is projected.

 

Minutes

Motion:  Approve the minutes of the July 23rd meeting as written.

Motion:  Cathy Brouillet             Seconded:  Molly Perdue          Vote:  4-0-0.

 

Discussion on policy & procedures

Mission Statement:

Bill D. had one change in the mission statement.  He wants to add “socio-economic diversity” instead of just plain “economic diversity.”

 

Job Description:

This provoked a long discussion.  Bill D’s viewpoint is that it’s better not to hire anyone if the right person cannot be found.  Our needs may change after a year or two.  We may find that our needs are much greater.  Even if we bring a good person on – we still need a job description.  “What are the 5 key things we’d like a person to accomplish?”  (A.J. arrived at this point.)  Molly P. felt that it would make sense for us to move ahead and keep readjusting as we go along, i.e., is Shankpainter to be our #1 goal?  We haven’t set these up as priorities.  Who will assume the interface between the developer and this committee? – maybe the part time person?  Is this person going to be a lead person reporting to the town manager?  These are the things that you have to put on the table.  What is this person’s role?!

 

Joe C. said that the job description would have to discuss the parameters and then clearly identify the most important things.  “As we continue to hammer this out then maybe we could state the 5 main things and this will be on the agenda for the next meeting.”

 

Motion:  Approve the adjusted (see above) mission statement.

Motion:  A.J. Alon                  Seconded:  Molly Perdue       Vote:  5-0-0.

 

Motion:  Approve the job description.

Motion:  A.J. Alon                  Seconded:  Molly Perdue       Vote:  5-0-0.

 

Housing Inventory

Michelle Jarusiewicz provided the group with a CH 40B housing inventory, as requested.  They were all low and moderate but some were subsidized.  Some restrictions were for perpetuity and some have limited timeframes.  Each member of the council received a comprehensive list of the housing.  There was a bit of discussion from members of the council and questions addressed to Michelle J.  She was thanked for her input.

 

Discussion on TAP Grant

Molly P. will be meeting with professors and they said they’d probably be able to find a student to fill our needs within the confines of the grant.  Molly P. will report back to the group next week.

 

Public Statements

There were none.

 

Other Business

There were two articles from newspapers that were handed out by Bill D.  One was entitled “No quarter for snob zoning” and dealt with efforts to remove Chapter 40B – Massachusetts’s anti-snob zoning statute – from the books.  The other was entitled “Revisiting community preservation” via the CPA fund which was referred to as taxing the poor to benefit the rich.  It was not a flattering article.   

 

Molly P. said that when the transfer tax didn’t pass, she realized that if it had, we don’t have any way to deposit it.  When planning the transfer tax the phrase “in lieu of” was used and there has to be a place to put the money.  It’s something to think about.  We need a lot of discussion on how to secure this money.  Bill Dougal said that when David Nicolau was on the BoS, he had set up a trust fund, he thought, for the transfer tax. 

 

Maxine Notaro joined the meeting to add to the current affordable housing inventory.  She said that the Race Point Road project was done in two phases.  Phase 1 had 12 units with units 1, 3, 7 designated as affordable.  It was a Ken Weiss project. 

 

The Bissell tennis court project will have to have a new plan which will then go before the ConCom for wetland approval and then they will have to meet with the Fire Chief regarding turn-around radius for emergency vehicles.  They will present a new plan eventually. 

 

Bill Dougal felt that we should request a look at the new proposal.  Also he thought Chuck Silva should be asked about the commitments he made when he was allowed to put in his laundromat which turned out half the size he had promised.  Also there was an affordable housing component as part of the original plan.

 

Molly P. will talk to Howard Burchman, chair of Planning regarding by-laws.

 

On October 18th the Economic Development Countil (EDC) will have a business summit from 6 to 9 p.m.  The reason for the summit will be to essentially get the prospective of the business community. 

 

The next meeting will take place on August 6th.   There will be no meeting on the following week (August 13th) due to Carnival.  (As a point of information – on Monday, August 20th, the Pilgrim Memorial Monument is celebrating its Centennial.) 

 

The CHC will meet with the BoS on Monday, September 10th in order to update them.   

 

Adjournment happened abruptly at 5:35 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

E. Rogers Gaudiano

 

Approved by _____________________________ on ____________, 2007.

                   Joe Carleo,  Chair