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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-08-1996 Meeting I I I ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES COMMITTEE COMMITTEE ROOM - July 8, 1996 3:00 P.M. PRESENT: Hons. Larry E. Sconyers, Mayor; Beard, Chairman; Bridges, Vice-Chairman; H. Brigham and Powell, members; Linda Beazley, Interim Administrator for Administration; Charles Dillard, Interim Aqministrator for Operations; John Etheridge, Human Resources Director; Gayle Scott of the Human Resources Department; George Patty, Housing & Neighborhood Development Director; Sirena Rogers and Keven Mack of the Housing & Neighbor- hood Development Department; Jim Wall, Attorney; Kip Plowman, Interim Internal Auditor; Lena Bonner, Clerk of Commission- Council and Nancy Morawski, Deputy Clerk of Commission-Council. Also Present: Sylvia Cooper of the Augusta Chronicle, George Eskola of WJBF Television, Gale Mino of WBBQ Radio and Hon. Jerry Brigham, Commissioner. The Clerk: We have a request for one addendum. It concerns a brief update on the insurance program. Mr. Bridges: I move it be included. Mr. Brigham: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. Communication from the Attorney regarding approval of the subordination of the UDAG Security Deed to New First Priority Security Deed to SouthTrust, was read. Mr. Doug Batchelor: This project for the Riverfront Center was originally financed with a first mortgage loan from First Union and a second mortgage loan which was a UDAG grant for the City of Augusta loaned to the developers as a second mortgage. The documents provide that the during the first seven years the project developers can refinance that first mortgage loan as many times as they choose. This is the first time they have chosen to do this and they are paying off the loan to First Union and replacing it with a loan of similar size by SouthTrust. In order to do that, we need a subordination of the UDAG loan security deed to the SouthTrust security deed which will be the first deed to go on record when the First Union deed is cancelled. We are seeking your approval to have that subordination agreement executed so that we can go ahead and close the refinancing. We also need to execute a document that reflects the new due date on the UDAG loan which will be the same 12-year term as the first loan term. After a short discussion, Mr. Brigham: I move that we refer this to the full Commission. Mr. Bridges: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. I Communication from the Interim Director stating the attached 1996 Revised Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) budgets were approved by the Commission-Council on June 4, 1996. The advertisements have been published in all area newspapers informing cit~zens of these changes. The Housing and Neighborhood Development Department did not receive any written comments. However, there was one citizen inquiry by telephone. The citizen was interested in knowing how to apply for CDBG funds. We informed her of the application process and mailed her a sample CDBG application. The HND staff, therefore, recommends approval of the revised 1996 CDBG and ESG Budgets and authorization to amend the 1996 final statement, was read. Mr. Brigham: I so move. Mr. Bridges: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. Communication from the Interim Director stating the Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star is planning their Banquet at the Riverfront Radisson Hotel for Saturday, March 14, 1998. They are requesting to lock-in on a daily parking fee for their group I on that day. Since there is no concrete way of knowing what the daily parking fee will be in 1998, we are asking this Committee to grant the present rate, which is $1.75 per car, for this group. The anticipated number of cars is five hundred to seven hundred for this event. We recommend that Committee approve this request. If approved, the attached agreement will be forwarded to McLaurin Parking Manager for execution, was read. Mr. Powell: I move for approval. Mr. Bridges: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. Communication from the Interim Director stating the U. S. Department of HUD has informed the staff that Augusta-Richmond County must designate a nonprofit housing organization to use the 1994 and 1995 HOME Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO) set-aside funds as soon as possible. The amounts available in CHDO funds are as follows: 1994 CHDO funds $ 88,950 1995 CHDO funds 94,500 Total $183,450 The staff has been working with the Antioch Ministries, Inc. organization for the past two years to qualify them as a CHDO. I Antioch Ministries, Inc. has attended all the HUD sponsored workshops and has met the requirements to become a designated CHDO. They have also prepared a Preliminary Feasibility Study I I I that outlines their plan to implement the development of 20 new homes in the Florence Street area in collaboration with Augusta- Richmond county, NationsBank, Allied Bank and First Union Bank. Staff believes the proposed development is feasible and that Antioch Ministries, Inc. has shown the desire to become a partner with Augusta-Richmond County in our effort to provide more decent, safe, sanitary and affordable housing for low and moderate income persons. Also, HUD is very impressed by the commitment that Antioch Ministries, Inc. has shown in providing affordable rental units to low and moderate income persons. Because of their commitment to providing affordable housing to low and moderate income people, this letter is to request approval for staff to designate Antioch Ministries, Inc. as the CHDO for the 1994 and 1995 set-aside. Within the next 30 days, we will present our recommendation about how the $183,450 is to be repaid, was read. Mr. Chairman: They have done a good job renovating some houses out there. Ms. Rogers: We will disperse these funds through Rev. Martin and his organization and will set up a repayment schedule for them to pay at least a portion of the funds back. We will bring that back to the Committee. Mr. Bridges: I move for approval. Mr. Powell: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. Communication from the Interim Director stating during November, 1994 Johnny Findley and Donald Reynolds applied for a $60,000 facade grant for the structures located at 1038-1044 Broad Street. On December 19, 1994, the former City Council of Augusta approved the owners' application for said facade grant. Since the approval of the grant, the owners' have expressed a desire to forfeit the facade grant and perform the construction on their buildings with a contractor of their selection. This would allow them to alleviate the formality of the bidding process in which the contract would be awarded to the lowest most responsive bidder. Therefore, we request that this Committee rescind the application of Johnny Findley and Donald Reynolds' $60,000 facade grant for 1038-1044 Reynolds Street, was read. Ms. Rogers: They want to use their own contractors. Mr. Bridges: I move we approve it. Mr. Powell: Second. Motion adopted unanimously. Communication from the Director submitting a proposed contract between Tigan Consulting and Development, Inc. and I Augusta-Richmond county. Jim Wall and I have reviewed the contract and believe that it fairly represents and protects our interests. Note that provision #1 allows the County to terminate at any stage for no reason. The only scenario under which I see that happening is if the tax credits investigation is not favorable. In that case we might want to go back to the original plan and sell the properties off a few at a time, starting with the ones in the poorest condition. For the reasons expressed at the June 17 meeting of this committee I recommended that the contract be authorized for immediate execution. The funds can be drawn from the Olde Town Program income on hand and CDBG uncommitted funds, was read. Mr. Patty: This man has done some initial investigations and I would recommend that you approve this contract. Mr. Powell: I so move. Mr. Chairman: Where is he from? Mr. Patty: Rhode Island, I believe. Mr. Chairman: Is there anyone locally who could do this within the state? Mr. Patty: I don't know of anyone. but I don't know. We would be paying his as hotel and airline travel. There may be someone expenses as well, such I Mr. Wall: I believe George has made an effort to try to locate someone closer. We can terminate the contract if we feel it is not going anywhere and we could limit the number of hours to those determined by the Commission-Council and that would be a cap. Mr. Powell: I move that we approve it. Mr. Bridges: Second. Mr. Plowman: I'm on the State GHFA Board and we looked at this a little bit last year. I could work with Mr. Patty on this and try to coordinate with the State, make some contacts and have them make some other recommendations in case this doesn't move along. Mr. Wall: Do you think you could determine between now and next Tuesday if this individual would be the right way to go? Mr. Plowman: Yes. I can talk to the GHFA and get some recommendations from them. I I I I Mr. Bridges: Why don't we just send it on to the full Commission? Can we make an amendment to your motion to recommend approval to the Council subject to the findings of the Internal Auditor? Mr. Powell: I have no problem with accepting that as an amendment but I want to make a decision on it because it has been going on too long. What was the amendment again? Mr. Bridges: We would recommend that the Committee approve George's recommendation subject to the findings of Mr. Plowman. Mr. Plowman: I can call them and ask them about this man and have them check into it and see if there are other people out there and what they are charging. The State can maybe do some of this work. Mr. Powell: I'll accept that as an amendment. Motion adopted unanimously. The Committee next heard an update on the insurance program. Mr. Etheridge: We are in the process of completing the RFP for the new insurance package. We have the best features incorporated and have looked at enhancing some benefits in certain areas. We have not looked at reducing any type of benefits and most will be left the same or enhanced. We want to come up with a program where our employees have a choice. Mr. Wall is looking at the RFP and when we get that back, we will proceed. Mr. Chairman: How do we treat comp time in administrative offices? Do we pay people for comp time? Mr. Etheridge: We have. If someone builds up comp time, they take the time off at some point in time. We have paid some comp time but it is not a general rule. Mr. Chairman: Who would decide this? Mr. Etheridge: It would go from the department head to the Administrator. Ms. Beazley: Some people request to be paid for their overtime while others prefer to be given comp time. Sometimes the comp time builds up and the employee is paid for it because he would never get a chance to make it all up. Ms. Scott: The former City did not pay for comp time. Mr. Etheridge: In the policy manual there is a maximum you can accrue. Maybe we need to look at this. Mr. Chairman: I think we need to revisit that issue. I ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Lena J. Bonner Clerk of Commission-Council NWM I I