Meeting of 2002-3-5 Special Meeting

1. Conduct a consolidated planning workshop, receive a briefing on the consolidated planning process, consider requests for funding for the Consolidated One-Year Action Plan for FFY 2002 (1 July 2002 thru 30 June 2003) and provide guidance for development of the draft plan. Exhibits: Funding Requests for FFY 2002.

Baker said Lawton will receive approximately $1.7 million in Community Development Block Grant and Home Funds for next fiscal year. A consolidated one-year action plan must be submitted to HUD no later than 15 May, and the deadline has been pushed in the past causing decisions to be made very quickly. He said Council will have an opportunity to hear from some of the agencies and this item may not be concluded tonight but it will be a good start; information was distributed Friday that should be very helpful. Mayor Powell said an hour and a half should be enough time to conclude this task.

Shanklin asked the amount of last year's total entitlement. Tom Aplin, Acting Housing and Community Development Director, said it was $1.17 million. Shanklin asked if the City received $600,000 new dollars. Aplin said it will be $1.163 million this year. Shanklin said the Council previously directed that organizations requesting funding show their total budget and all sources of funding, whether it was from United Way or MacCasland or private contributions.

One or several of the national objectives must be met in allocating CDBG funds. Those objectives are: 1) it must benefit low and moderate income persons; 2) aid in the prevention of slum and blight; and 3) to address urgent needs. The first objective may be met by providing a direct benefit to an individual or family group, or by providing a benefit to an area by making improvements to infrastructure, such as parks, streets, sewers, or waterlines. In order to be eligible, these types of projects can be planned and scheduled only in areas that we can demonstrate have a 51% population of low and moderate income individuals or families. Shanklin asked if 2000 census information was being used. Aplin said they were still working with data from the 1990 census, and the map shows the low and moderate income areas from that data.

The slum and blight category can fund elimination or prevention of slum and blight on a spot basis, such as funding demolition of homes that are dilapidated and unsafe for people to live in. Next would be projects in a designated area; if at some point the Council chose to, in accordance with State law, designate specific areas as being slum and blighted areas, then these funds can be used to help conduct projects in that area to eliminate the slum and blight and to reinvigorate that area of the community.

The urgent need category deals with things like tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes. To be able to use CDBG funds under this criteria, the City must certify that there are no general funds available with which to address the disaster. This could include a situation of a very bad ice storm that causes tremendous damage.

A slide was presented showing the requests by category for this cycle of consolidated plan development. The total requests are in excess of $2.5 million for the CDBG program only. A slide showed the HUD expenditure limits of 20% as an administrative cap, amounting to $239,177, and 15% as a cap on public service expenditures, amounting to $179,380.

Purcell asked if there was an error in the figures and said he got $360,626. Aplin said he had found some applications he was not aware of when he put the figures together, and he hoped they had been corrected on the next sheet. Purcell said he was referring to the sheet showing proposal one and proposal two.

Aplin presented a slide showing $569,000 is to be received for the Home Investments Partnership Program for housing projects. Slides were presented showing activities eligible for funding, funding requirements and certain limits on expenditures. The minimum set aside required for the Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) is 15%; these funds can be used solely for the development of housing, and there is nothing to prevent allocating greater than 15% in this area. Next category is CHDO operations, and no more than 5% can be allocated for this purpose, which is to help support CHDO operations that help to carry out the development process in housing. There is a 10% administrative cap, which is a standard cap that cannot be exceeded.

Aplin said there is a 25% match requirement under the Home program, although Lawton had a reduced match of 12.5%, which will likely continue. We currently have banked in excess of $700,000 of Home program match so that is not a concern and we do not anticipate requesting the City to provide matching funds for this program year.

A spreadsheet was presented providing basic information on the requests that have been received. The spreadsheet distributed tonight contains minor revisions but the most important change is the addition of Proposal One and a Proposal Two as to how the funds could be allocated. Proposal One provides a 5% contingency and allocates public service and economic development funds based on our past history and allocations, while remaining under the $179,380 PS cap, and funds other projects as shown in the Consolidated Plan and Community Needs Assessment. The attachment highlights project priorities recommended by Parks & Recreation and Engineering.

Proposal Two (column K) all funds were allocated based strictly on the priority needs outlined in the Consolidated Plan and Community Needs Assessment; the other criteria in developing Proposal Two remain the same as those in Proposal One, so the difference in the proposals is that Proposal One tried to conserve the current funding relationships that have existed for the past couple of years. Proposal Two takes a different look, strictly from the standpoint of the priorities that we have outlined in our plan that establishes the criteria for development of this plan, from the five-year consolidated plan.

Purcell said Proposal One, Column J, Public Service, there were $360,026 of requests, Line 13, that is the total request for Public Service. Aplin said that was correct or right at it. Purcell asked if everything from Line 14 to 24 was under Public Service. Aplin said yes, although the projects on Lines 21 and 22 are exempt from the Public Service cap, so when we look at meeting the cap, we are looking at funding above and beyond these two projects. Purcell asked if the $80,000 from Proposal One, Column J, was included in the total of the proposal and Aplin said no.

Aplin said these were funded last year as economic development projects; the new HUD representative last year took a different view than the previous representative and we were directed to change those to public services, which is what they truly were. He said the way we are able to get the exemption is that these two projects are done under the auspices of the Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area Plan that was approved by Council last fall, and because they are done under that plan, they then are excluded or exempt from the public services cap, which gives us an out.

Mayor Powell said Proposal One is done according to past history, and Proposal Two is only for the things in the Consolidated Plan. Aplin agreed and said you could call Proposal Two an unemotional look at allocation of the funds because it is based strictly on the priorities as established in the Five-Year Consolidated Plan and in the Community Needs Assessment without any consideration of funding that an organization may or may not have received before, and somewhere between those two extremes might be the right answer for the Council and for the Plan. Aplin said each applicant and sub-recipient were informed of this meeting and encouraged to attend to answer questions.

Baxter said Column J was based on what had been allocated in years past and Column K was based on the five-year plan as to what the community actually needs. He said he disagreed with that when it comes to teen pregnancy because it was an item of higher concern to him given the problems. Shanklin said they reduced it 45% last year and Baxter said maybe more could provide more help. Aplin said there is a change to the plan which will restore some of the funding that was reduced from the Wichita Mountains Prevention Network and that will be on the March 26 agenda. Purcell said we are short $96,020 in being able to fund all of the Public Service category requests.

Bob Carter, 701 NW 36th St., Meet the Needs and MedTrans, requested $37,500 for Meet the Needs; they were given $28,000 last year and received $4,972 from churches and businesses. He said they were able to distribute $495,579 in food, $17,920 in school supplies over $101,000, 500 new coats, $3,700 in furniture, for a grant total of $468,000, so they took the $28,000 they were given and gave back to the City over $460,000 in goods. (Note: Numbers are written as were stated)

Mayor Powell asked how much of that was donated to their organization. Carter said about 80% in the food, cars, labor and so forth; they used the money to pay rent and utilities that was in their budget and gave out those services, over 15 cars to single family ladies who needed a car to go to work and to take care of their children. Carter said $101,000 was given to Title I Schools in school supplies.

Jeff Henderson, 7108 Woodland Circle, Hospice of Lawton, said last year Hospice served 168 members who had a terminal illness and quite a lot of them, without Hospice, would have either spent their final days in a hospital or nursing home; 100% of them would have been in pain and would have died without dignity. He said of the 168 members, 23 had no way to pay for treatment, and there is never a charge with Hospice to the patient or the family for any services; Hospices covers the pain medication to keep them completely out of pain and medical equipment, as well as nursing and home health aides, and assisting the family taking care of the patient and taking care of details at the time of death. Henderson said their service saves the government quite a bit of money; recent studies show a terminally ill patient in a hospital will cost over $2,000 per day. It costs Hospice patients $121 per day, so there is a tremendous savings.

Lisa Stein, 1318 SW Lee, said there has been a reduction in the teen pregnancy rate since their project began; at the beginning they had 91 per 1,000 females, and last year that dropped to 81.1 and this year it has dropped to 78. Teen pregnancy rates are going down nationally due to teen pregnancy prevention programs. Their programs are based upon those which have been researched and proven statistically to prevent the problems being targeted. Through the Not Yet Project, they target exclusively low income young people from mid-grade school to senior high, and their parents. These youth and their families live in north central, central, or south central Lawton. There is a growth in opportunity to be able to do more programs; things like the Marriage Initiative through Governor Keating and today there was a meeting of the Fatherhood Initiative, we will be able to continue this work and go into more areas to reduce the numbers further.

Stein gave the following statistics from the 2001 Lawton Public Schools youth group behavior survey of 10th, 11th and 12th grade students: "in the past month have you been hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend" and 10.4% said yes, and not 100% have boyfriends and girlfriends. Another was "have you ever been forced to have sexual intercourse", which is called rape, and 9.9% of the students responded yes. Another was "have you had more than four different sexual partners"; 59% have had sex and of that 59%, 39% said they have had more than four partners; the national average is 16% and in Lawton we have 39% and this is a very difficult, dangerous health problem. She said they are trying to prevent this by working with girls and boys, teaching them skills on how to resist sexual pressures and save face, which is important to them, and teach them about the media and the things they are being told that influence their judgment. They work with parents to teach them how to address sexuality issues with their kids.

Stein said they do not have money to target low-income Lawton; they have some money to target county-wide and region-wide but this is funding that is greatly needed. She said they served 6,900 people last year through this money, meaning they spent $2.30 on each person who went to a workshop or course, so that is a great return on the investment, and they should probably spend about $15 per person per year. Stein said we cannot spend that, we are not a rich state, and we are still trying to get foundation dollars and other sources and it is very hard to get money for Comanche County.

Purcell said Column H shows funding for 2001 of $30,000 and asked if another $20,000 will be allocated for this project, assuming the Council approves it, so it would be $50,000 for 2001. Aplin said that is correct, and that will be coming as a change to the current year's Action Plan. Purcell said they are getting by this year with $30,000. Stein said they cannot do the teen training and staff has had to move to other projects meaning they cannot provide the services being requested, particularly to Title I schools. Purcell said when they get the $20,000, by the end of this fiscal year, they will have spent the $50,000 in funding for 2001, and asked if that was correct. Stein said yes, they would spend it by June 30 if it is received. Purcell said the true figure for them for 2001 will be $50,000. Aplin agreed. Purcell said Proposal One would be to fund $50,000 which is the same as 2001, and Proposal Two would be to drop it to $40,000. Aplin agreed.

Dr. Charlie Baer, 7621 NW Lancet Lane, Executive Director of the Christian Family Counseling Center, said since 1997 the City has allowed them through funding from this program to provide over 3,000 hours of professional counseling services to 246 families and to directly impact 600 people. 36% of those are minorities; 30% are single parents and 99% are low and very low income. He said in Proposal One and in Proposal Two they are shown as receiving $30,000, and he appreciated that. Baer said he requested funding the same as the previous year at $36,000, which would allow them to serve approximately 50 families, 150 people directly, 400 people indirectly. It will cost them $63,570 to provide those services and they leverage these funds with both United Way donations and individual donations to be able to provide these services. Baer gave statistics and a presentation in support of their funding requests, emphasizing the importance of the services they provide. He said copies of their budget had been provided and the funds they receive from the City of Lawton accounts for about 15% of their total donations, about 1% of the total budget, and provided about 40% of the no-fee counseling. Baer said there is not a week that goes by that they do not turn someone away because they do not have enough funding to accommodate all of the requests they receive.

Shanklin asked if anyone knew of any reasons Lawton had severe problems with teen pregnancy and mental health. Baer said he did not know but encouraged continuing the multi-pronged attack through programs such as his and the teen pregnancy prevention project. Mayor Powell said Governor Keating has promoted developing related programs and the Teen Council had a booth set up at Tomlinson Junior High relating to things such as this.

Sam Moyd, 1108 SW Tennessee, Zoe Need Program, said last year they were in public service and went through an extensive approach to do a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy to take them out of the public service area and put them in a separate area, and he appreciated that being approved. He said they revised their programs to match the Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy and combined two programs into one with the same dollar amount requested as last year. Moyd said their first funding was actually in 1999 of $20,000 and then the next year $48,000, and then $56,000 but they did not receive funding prior to 1999, which is contrary to the information provided.

Mrs. Moyd said since 1999 these funds have allowed them to redevelop seven lots in the Rose Hill, Lawton View neighborhood; seven low income working families who have never owned homes are now homeowners. Over 150 residents have received homebuyer readiness counseling; over 200 low income youth and adults have received basic literacy and work readiness skills; 30% of those placed in jobs have retained them. She further explained the extent and details of their program.

Odell Gunter, Great Plains Improvement Foundation, 325 C Avenue, said the volunteer health clinic is a new program; a local physician asked GPIF to participate in a volunteer clinic that would be free for all individuals and medication would be provided at a reduced cost. This is a start-up request; no funding will be requested after this. Gunter said information on un-met needs shows a health clinic as number three, so that shows there is a need and it is a medium level need, which supported the request. Gunter said they are not included in Proposal One but with this high of a priority of need, they should be given some consideration; Proposal Two includes funding for this in the amount of $10,380 and that would be beneficial to them, although they need $15,000.

Gunter requested $25,000 to keep the homeless shelter on Texas open, and said anything they could receive in that regard would be appreciated. Gunter said they closed the shelter on Summit because of lack of funding but they do have one on Texas that is open and they want to be able to keep it open. He said they will apply for an Emergency Shelter Grant for additional funding, and they have United Way funds already, and the ESG would give them additional dollars to operate.

Mayor Powell said the health clinic shows funding of $10,000 and their budget shows $15,000, and another place shows $10,380. Aplin said there is a discrepancy in their application so staff went with the higher amount on the assumption that they intended that to be the request. Gunter said they showed a $15,000 budget and have received donations of about $107,000.

Moeller said the unmet needs section, item 10, shows grades 1-12 and asked what that meant. Aplin said he would have to refer to the book, but the survey was administered by Cameron and based on their analysis of the responses, that item came up as 10 and he thought it had to do with improving the quality of education and maybe getting people into head start to get them prepared to start school. Aplin will provide additional information in this regard.

Annette Dawkins, Executive Director of the Northside Chamber of Commerce, 910 E Avenue, said there are three columns, one showing their request, and Proposals One and Two, and she had heard it said that Proposal Two has no emotion. She said they are included in Proposal One and she had some emotion in that regard, and when we start making decisions we have to look at what is truly the best thing for us to do for the City.

Dawkins said three funding sources feed into the Minority Business Development Center; one being CDBG, one from the State Department of Commerce, and a program they coordinate for GPIF. The State Department of Commerce provides an $81,000 grant but only $25,000 is actually given and the remainder must be earned, meaning if their center does not produce, they get no money, so they can only count on $25,000 from the State. She said the State also requires them to only help ethnic minorities and it has nothing to do with the income bracket. The State also requires them to help the entire area of Southwest Oklahoma so those dollars are not just set aside for the City of Lawton.

Dawkins said the Seeds Program (GPIF) requires them to help individuals in Grady, Caddo and Comanche Counties, and those funds are only for low to very low income individuals. She said there are not a lot of dollars there but when you know your target market, and the individuals you are working with, it takes a lot to see the fruits of your labor from that target market. She said when the small business person comes to the table, they have no incentive for them, nobody puts forth a sales tax, that person brings their savings, their home, their car, or whatever, to get that banker to invest in them, and that is hard work. She said from 1997 to 2001 they had helped 1,191 clients equating to loans for capital in order for them to continue $1,410,000 and these are up to June 2001. Dawkins said they had created 17 full time jobs, and they cannot count the jobs they retain or part time jobs.

Dawkins said we should look at today's economic climate, and Lawton has been very lucky in not experiencing any of our large industries closing down, but our efforts have been in keeping what we have, keeping people employed and it takes dollars to do that. She said she can only count on receiving what the City provides and $25,000, and everything else had to be earned, so she had a small budget and they do everything they can with it and have done a wonderful job. Dawkins asked that funding be provided to fulfill her request.

Purcell said last year funding was provided for MedTrans, knowing that in the upcoming year we hoped to be able to reduce the amount because public transportation would be available; there is still a need but somehow that must be considered. He said he understood why they were asking for the increase but there will also be the possibility of not needing as much. Purcell said the problem is the same, there are more requests than there are funds available and there is a cap.

Pat Paige, Lawton Outreach Center, Weed and Seed, 2502 NW Sheridan Road, said they previously requested $15,000 to start the program and since then they were able to get two grants, one of $125,000 and they had increased that to $225,000 for this year; they have also been allocated in the last two years about $90,000 to $100,000 to the Lawton Police Department to do overtime and that will continue and they were looking to increase it to an additional $50,000 for the coming grant year.

Paige said Weed and Seed is a seed project to leverage resources and they have been successful in that this year to work with some other organizations and ASCOG to provide them with about $69,000 to help youth training; they have been given an opportunity to apply for another grant to leverage their resources once again to bring technology to the Lawton area. She said they have also been able to get another grant for about $40,000 to add an additional computer learning center to bring technology to the community; they have two graduating classes, they started in January and graduate March 8. She said she was speaking of a grant from the Department of Commerce to start businesses and dispatch operators for the new transit system and also dispatch for law enforcement.

Mayor Powell said Council has heard the cases presented and the staff information on Proposals One and Two. He asked that by this coming Friday the members write down what they would like to see and staff would be able to see if there was a consensus and if it could be brought back for approval in that regard, although it does not mean it is a final thing, but simply something to work from, and asked if that was acceptable. Representatives from Roadback and from Wichita Independent Living Center expressed a desire to speak on behalf of their organizations. Mayor Powell said another session would have to be called.