MERAMEC COMMUNITY ENHANCEMENT CORPORATION
ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Call to Order:
President Wayne Langston, called the September 14, 2010 Meramec Community Enhancement Corporation meeting to order at 11:54.

Members Present:
John Hewkin (Crawford), George Gruendel (Dent), Darrell Skiles (Dent), Wayne Langston (Maries), Byron Baker (Osage) and Russell Scheulen (Osage)

Members Absent:
Warren Brown (Crawford), Ed Worley (Crawford), Marcus Maggard (Dent), Heather Avery (Gasconade), Ron Jost (Gasconade), Ray Schwartze (Maries), John Petersen (Phelps), Larry Stratman (Phelps), Randy Verkamp (Phelps), Don McCulloch (Pulaski) and Bob Reed (Washington)

Staff Present:
Connie Willman, Bonnie Prigge, Chuck Cantrell, Patti Adams, Lucia Flaim, Maria Kardon, Jodie Branson and Lisa Warnke

Approval of Minutes from June 8, 2010 meeting:
George Gruendel made a motion to approve the June 8, 2010 Meramec Community Enhancement Corporation meeting minutes as presented. Russell Scheulen seconded the motion. Motion passed .

Business:

• HSOC Memorandum of Understanding: Connie updated the committee on the rental of the MCEC rehabilitation trailer to Homeland Security Operations Committee (HSOC). She explained that several months ago MCEC agreed to lease the trailer to HSOC so a contract was drawn up. HSOC wanted to draw up its own memorandum of understanding (MOU) with more specific information using a determined dollar figure instead of a maintenance list. The MOU will be updated yearly to establish the most current and accurate dollar amount for upkeep on the trailer. Staff requested that the board approve the MOU from HSOC for last year and this year.

John Hewkin made a motion to approve the HSOC Memorandums of Understanding as presented. George Gruendel seconded the motion. Motion passed. Darrell Skiles abstained from the vote since he serves on the HSOC committee.

• Election of Officers: According to the bylaws: officers of the corporation are to be elected at the annual meeting. Current officers are: Wayne Langston, president, Byron Baker, vice president, John Hewkin, treasurer, and John Petersen, secretary. The officers have each served three terms in their current positions except for John Hewkin who has served two years. The maximum term limit is three consecutive terms.

George Gruendel made a motion to have all current officers move up a position and rotate Wayne Langston to Secretary. Darrell Skiles seconded the motion. Byron Baker agreed to serve as president for one year. Motion Passed.

MCEC Board Officers for 2010 – 2011 are as follows:

• Byron Baker, President
• John Hewkin, Vice President
• John Petersen, Treasurer
• Wayne Langston, Secretary

Annual Staff Reports:

A. Housing Counseling Program: Maria Kardon reported on the Housing Counseling Program. Maria provided the following information:

1. The HUD 9902 Report was submitted on July 15, 2010.

a. Quarterly report: staff provided housing assistance to 122 families for the region.

b. Fiscal Year 2010-11 to date: staff provided housing counseling assistance to five families located in Washington and Crawford Counties on budget counseling and loss mitigation.

c. Next quarterly report will be submitted to HUD by October 15, 2010.

2. Staff Trainings/HUD Certification

a. Maria attended a NeighborWorks training, funded by a HUD scholarship, in Philadelphia. Training was on Homeownership Counseling 101.

b. Maria submitted and was awarded another scholarship in August to attend training on Homeownership: Principles, Practices and Techniques, Part I. The training will be held September 20 – 24 in Minneapolis, MN. Maria also was awarded a scholarship to participate in an online course, Foreclosure Basics through NeighborWorks Training Institute. After completion of these courses, Maria will be certified as a HUD Homeownership Counselor.

3. Marketing Materials

a. Staff will develop a handout in the near future on resources available to the region to families and industry professionals to distribute on pre-purchase, post-purchase and foreclosure counseling. The flyer will be a part of the PHA counseling sessions that occur semi-monthly.

Maria stated that current marketing efforts include press releases with the homeownership program and the listing of MRPC as a counseling provider on the HUD website.

John Hewkin suggested providing a link to member cities and counties for their websites.

• Grant Applications: Connie Willman informed the committee that Kelly Sink-Blair has recently submitted a grant application for Housing Counseling funds of $38,000. She reminded the committee that MRPC was recently audited by HUD and at that time HUD was informed that MRPC had never received any grants and were providing resources for a non-funded program.

• FHLB/MHDC/Mapleshade: Chuck Cantrell reported on the FHLB and MHDC projects and give an update on the Mapleshade property.

Chuck stated that the Mapleshade property was still listed for $58,900. The house has been shown six times since January. The property is listed on the realtor’s website where it has been view 401 times and on a webcrawler where it has been viewed over 9,000 times. With the new lending regulations, and the recession, there have been limited home purchases for the very low income in the region.

Chuck has contacted MHDC about renting the house but the response was unclear. There is interest in renting the house and MRPC has had several inquires about the possibility of doing a lease/purchase. MRPC would probably rent this house for approximately $400 with deposit. Byron Baker suggested dropping the asking price of the house. The market is down and the current price is too high for the lending regulations and MRPC needs to determine what the price needs to be in order to sell to the very low income guidelines. Staff will determine the workable amount and will call a phone conference to discuss the price.

Chuck stated that MRPC has sold the large refrigerator that was in the house, as it was too big for the space allotted. He informed the committee that MRPC will replace ir with a smaller refrigerator when the house is sold.

John Hewkin asked that the income criteria be emailed to him so that he can try to help find a purchaser in Crawford County.

Chuck informed the committee that MRPC recently had a silent bid for the surplus tools and supplies that were stored in the trailer. The equipment brought in approximately $190.00.

• HPRP: Lucia Flaim reported on the disbursement of the HPRP funds.

Lucia stated that at the beginning of August, the state government sent out risk assessments that should be spent by September. The following information is what has currently been spent in our region and the funds that remain and the end of August 31, 2010.

• Total HPRP budget was $528,202
• Year to Date Expenditures are: $486,790.20
• Total remaining in the funds is $91,411.80
• MOCA Budget: $356,980
• Year to date expenditures are: $285,387.22
• Percent expended: 79.94
• Total remaining in the funds: $71,592.78
• CMCA Budget: $28,999
• Year to date expenditures are: $19,373.13
• Percent expended: 66.81
• Total remaining in the funds: $9,625.87
• WCCP Budget: $103,018
• Year to date expenditures are: $99,095.14
• Percent expended: 96.19
• Total remaining in the funds: $3,922.86
• MCEC Budget: $39,205
• Year to date expenditures are: $32,934.71
• Percent expended: 84.01
• Total remaining in the funds: $6,270.29

Lucia informed the committee that the next HPRP meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at the Phelps County Courthouse. The purpose of this meeting is to look at who has money left to reallocate to the organizations that would like to continue disbursing the funds.

Osage County has spent 66.81% of their funding (half of this is for the staff) and has only helped seven families.

Washington County has spent 96% of their funds and does not want to continue in the program at this time. They will not be attending the meeting as they have already closed out the program and it would be too costly to open it again for a small amount of funds. Phelps and Pulaski Counties have spent the majority of their funds with less than .5% remaining. Both counties would like additional funds to continue the program. Crawford County has approximately 35% remaining funds and Gasconade County has close to 45% left of their funds.

Lucia presented a contract addendum for the original HPRP contract that established close out procedures for the program and set up the end of year meeting. She informed the committee that this addendum requires board approval.

George Gruendel made a motion to accept the addendum to the HPRP contract as presented. John Hewkin seconded the motion. Motion passed.

• MHDC/FHLB Administration: Patti Adams reported on the MHDC/FHLB project administration. Patti stated that MHDC completed nine homes in the region for last fiscal year in the amount of $166,874. These homes were located in Washington, Phelps, Dent and Crawford Counties. Hermann was still a DREAM community last fiscal year and had seven home rehabilitated in the amount of $140,535.

Current MHDC projects:

Since July 1, three homes have been rehabilitated in the region in the amount of $37,121. These homes are located in Phelps, Crawford and Washington Counties. There are one more home nearing completion in Washington Count, one beginning construction, another with contracts being signed to begin work in Phelps County, and yet another home in Gasconade for which funds are ready to reserve. These home rehabilitations will $70,563. Staff will have two more homes qualified by October 31, 2010 and funds reserved as that is the deadline for the MHDC funds.

Hermann DREAM projects:

Construction has started on one home and construction is ready to start on a second home. Counting the home that was completed in the last fiscal year, total costs of rehabilitation including soft costs will be $37,947. Approximately $9,100 remains that could be used for a small repair project in Hermann.

FHLB Home Repair Program:

The homes that qualify must meet certain guidelines including income and emergency repairs. Currently, 12 homes have been repaired in the Meramec Region using $61,383 in funds. Six homes are located in Phelps County, one home in Gasconade County, two homes in Crawford County, two homes in Washington County and another home in Dent County. Seven more homes are in process.

CDBG Emergency Relief Funds:

MRPC submitted grants applications for three separate projects with counties being the lead applicant and MCEC being the sub-grantee. These applications were all approved and include the following projects:

• Osage County for three senior housing complexes.
• Pulaski County for scattered, single family rental homes.
• Crawford County for one senior housing complex

Proposals were sent to all three counties for grant administration and construction inspection.Patti informed the committee that the board will need to approve these contracts, if awarded to MRPC, since MCEC is the sub-grantee.

Russell Scheulen made a motion to approve the grant administration contracts and the construction inspection contracts for Osage, Pulaski and Crawford Counties CDBG Emergency Relief Fund projects (pending award) as presented. John Hewkin seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Approval of financials: Jodie Branson presented the MCEC Statements of Revenues and Expenditures, Balance Sheets and the Homeownership Capitalized Asset Worksheets both for fiscal year and as of August 31, 2010.

George Gruendel made a motion to approve the MCEC Statement of Revenues and Expenditures and Balance Sheet for the Preliminary year end for the month ending June 30, 2010, the Homeownership Capitalized Asset Worksheet for the same time period and the MCEC Statement of Revenue and Expenditures, Balance Sheet and Homeownership Capitalized Asset Worksheet for month ending August 31, 2010 as presented. Darrell Skiles seconded the motion. Motion passed.  

Next meeting: The next MCEC meeting will be held on December 14, 2010 at 11:30 a.m.

Adjournment: Being no further business the September 14, 2010 MCEC Annual Meeting was adjourned at 12:55 p.m.

Approved by the Board _____________________________, 2010

_________________________________________________
Byron Baker, President