MERAMEC COMMUNITY ENHANCEMENT CORPORATION
MEETING MINUTES

Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 11:30 a.m.

Call to Order:
President Wayne Langston, Chairman, called the Tuesday, June 8, 2010 Meramec Community Enhancement Corporation meeting to order at 11:48 a.m.

Members Present:
George Gruendel (Dent), Marcus Maggard (Dent), Darrell Skiles (Dent), Wayne Langston (Maries), Byron Baker (Osage), John Petersen (Phelps) and Don McCulloch (Pulaski)

Members Absent:
Warren Brown (Crawford), John Hewkin (Crawford), Ed Worley (Crawford), Heather Avery (Gasconade), Ron Jost (Gasconade), Ray Schwartze (Maries), Russell Scheulen (Osage), Larry Stratman (Phelps), Randy Verkamp (Phelps) and Bob Reed (Washington)

Staff:
Linda Hollandsworth, Linda Loughridge, Lucia Flaim, Chuck Cantrell, Kevin Beaver, Maria Kardon, Bonnie Prigge, Richard Cavender, Kelly Sink-Blair, Patti Adams, Connie Willman and Lisa Warnke

Approval of minutes from March 30, 2010 meeting:
Darrell Skiles made a motion to approve the MCEC March 30, 2010 minutes as presented. Don McCulloch seconded the motion. Motion passed

Business:

A. PETRA Bill (Preservation, Enhancement & Transformation of Rental Assistance): Linda Hollandsworth, Housing Program Manager, discussed the PETRA Bill, which might affect Section 8 Housing . The goals of PETRA are to:

The PETRA ACT of 2010 will promote resident mobility, which would give the resident a right to move after residing in a property for a period of 24 months or more. The PETRA ACT will also promote the rehab of a residence instead of demolition or starting from the ground. The program will still be based on income. The inspection rules will probably have a few changes as well. This program will be on a voluntary basis and the resident will receive a voucher to convert.

Linda stated that this bill, if passed, will have very little affect upon our PHA.

B. MHDC Home Repair Program: Chuck Cantrell presented information on the past and current Home Repair program. Chuck gave a brief history on the funding received and the number of houses that were repaired since 2003, stating that funding was received from Missouri Housing Development Commission, Community Development Block Grants and Division of Health and Senior Services. Chuck informed the committee that total grant funding from 2002 - 2010 is $4,723,528 and 153 homes have been repaired from 2003-2009.

The committees discussed the possibility of requesting a letter of reference or bond from the contractor’s lender when there is a contract in excess of $50,000. Staff will look into these options as well as others to protect the grant money that is used on the MHDC and FHLB rehab projects.

Staff Reports:

A. Introduction of New Staff: Connie Willman introduced Kevin Beaver, a new Planning and Development staff member. Kevin is the new Information Technology person at MRPC and he will also be working with grant administration.

B. Housing Counseling Program: Maria Kardon reported on the Housing Counseling Program. Maria mentioned that Housing Counseling Training was one of the requirements for the HUD recertification. MRPC has no funding for the Housing Counseling program and MCEC offered to provide financial assistance so that a staff person could attend a training course. Maria informed the committee that since the March meeting MRPC has been awarded a scholarship for one staff person to attend NeighborWorks Housing Counseling training in August. The scholarship will cover the three day course registration, hotel and air fare. MRPC will be able to send an additional person to the training using the funds from MCEC. Maria updated the committee on calls that she has received from people requiring assistance or counseling. She said needs include information regarding reverse mortgage or loan modification, how to talk to lenders, or budget counseling. Maria informed the committee that staff have participated in some free webinars and counseling training.She also stated that a report was sent to HUD on April 15 and a second report is due soon.Bonne Prigge reported that an official Housing Counseling sign has been posted with the other HUD Housing sign which was needed to bring us to compliance. Maria was asked if there were any eligibility requirements for people to receive the counseling service. Maria informed the committee that there are no specific requirements but she does have to track information such as income, size of the family and other items, unless the person receives one-on-one counseling in the office.

The committee suggested that a brochure be created to help advertise this service and MRPC should register on the United Way 211 so that people will know that it is available. Staff will work on these suggestions.

C. FHLB/MHDC/Mapleshade: Chuck Cantrell reported on the rental of the Mapleshade property. He stated that the property is still on the market and has been shown. He has found someone to maintain the yard and exterior. Chuck stated that he has contacted MHDC regarding renting the Mapleshade house, possibly for a Section 8 client but he has not heard back from them at this time. He will report more on this at the next meeting.

D. HPRP: Lucia Flaim reported on the HPRP funds. She informed the committee that we are nine months into the program and the majority of the funds have been depleted. Phelps County, Pulaski County and Washington County have basically used all their funds. Maries County, Osage County and Crawford County have some funding left. Gasconade County still has the majority of its funds as it is being serviced by MOCA located in Vienna and most of the people that are applying for assistance have no transportation so they are unable to drive to Vienna on the days the office is open to apply for the funds. Darryl Skiles reported that Dent County has spent most of its HPRP allocation.

Most of the money that has been used from this program has gone to pay rent and utility arrears so people can stay in their homes.

E. MHDC/FHLB Administration: Patti Adams reported on the MHDC and FHLB project administration.

FHLB: Staff will be completing 25 homes this year for FHLB. There are 11 homes in different phases. Seven of the homes are completed at this time.

MHDC: Staff will be completing 10 houses this year for MHDC. One of these houses will be done in conjunction with the FHLB funding. Six houses are in different stages of the process.

MHDC - Hermann: Staff will be completing three homes in Hermann this year using MHDC funds. This will be the final year for the Dream Community funding in Hermann.

CDBG Disaster Relief Grants: Patti stated that she has made contact with Osage County for administration services for the CDBG funding for the senior housing complexes in Linn, Hermann and Rich Fountain. She has also contacted Pulaski County to start the administrative contract process with them for the rehab of the 15 single family units and she will be contacting Crawford County soon to start the process with them for the Sullivan senior housing complex.

F. Grant Applications: Kelly Sink-Blair state that she is not currently working on any grant applications for MCEC but she is waiting for the HUD announcement for Sustainable Communities and Housing Counseling grant funding. Kelly said that these two grants notices should be posted in June and she is checking them daily.

Approval of financials: Linda Loughridge presented the MCEC Statement of Revenue and Expenditures for the month ending May 31, 2010, and the MCEC Balance Sheet as of May 31, 2010, and the Homeowners Capitalized Asset Worksheet as of May 31, 2010.

John Petersen made a motion to approve the MCEC Statement of Revenue and Expenditures for the month ending May 31, 2010, and the MCEC Balance Sheet as of May 31, 2010, and the Homeowners Capitalized Asset Worksheet as of May 31, 2010 as presented. Marcus Maggard seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Linda Loughridge presented the MCEC Proposed Budget for the period July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.

Marcus Maggard made motion to approve the MCEC Proposed Budget for the period July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011 as presented. John Petersen seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Comments for the Good of the Order:

Adjournment: Being no further business Don McCulloch made a motion to adjourn the June 8, 2010 MCEC meeting at 1:08 p.m. John Petersen seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Approved by the board ______________________________, 2010

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Wayne Langston, President