MINUTES

LAWTON CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING

APRIL 20, 2010 –  5:00 P.M.

WAYNE GILLEY CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBER

Mayor Fred L. Fitch                    Also Present:

Presiding                        Bryan Long, Assistant City Manager

                            Frank Jensen, City Attorney

                            Traci Hushbeck, City Clerk

Mayor Fitch called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Notice of meeting and agenda were posted on the City Hall notice board as required by law.   

ROLL CALL

PRESENT:                Bill Shoemate, Ward One  

Michael Tenis, Ward Two

Janice Drewry, Ward Three

Robert Shanklin, Ward Five

Richard Zarle, Ward Six                    

Stanley Haywood, Ward Seven (Arrived @ 5:07 p.m.)    

                    Doug Wells, Ward Eight

ABSENT:                Jay Burk, Ward Four

1.    Hold a workshop to consider the Consolidated One-Year Action Plan for FFY 2010, receive input from subrecipient organizations, and provide input for development of the plan.  Exhibits: A copy of the Draft Consolidated One-Year Action Plan for FFY 2010 is on file at the City Clerk’ s Office.

Tim Libby, Acting Assistant Director for Housing and Community Development, stated HUD requires them to hold public hearings to gather input from the citizens and part of that process is a workshop to allow the subrecipients to come forward and provide input. The public hearing and final vote by the Council will be held at the City Council regular meeting on April 27 ^th.  This will allow citizens to come forward and provide input for the plan.

Libby distributed a workbook to the Council and presented slides on the consolidated one year action plan.  He stated they have received final word that they will be receiving $932,540 for CDBG funds.  They were told that next year they can expect a 10% across the board cut in funding.

Wells questioned how the funding cut would affect the loan repayment.

Libby stated this would just affect how much money they spend on housing programs. The loan repayment will be one of the first priorities.

Wells questioned if the City of Lawton would be responsible for that $148,000 loan payment if HUD cut our funds.

Libby stated yes.  If they cut CDBG funding from the federal budget, the City of Lawton would be required to make that payment.  He stated our allocation is directly tied to the population of Lawton-Fort Sill.

Tenis questioned who established the parameters for the economic development projects.

Haywood questioned how many people were hired with the funding of the 2 ^nd Street project.

Libby stated that project requires a contractor to meet certain marketing and advertisement requirements if he hires new people for that job.  The last quarterly report showed that no one had been hired.  If new jobs become available, that contractor is required to advertise in the low and moderate income areas that are affected by the project.

Haywood stated he was told that hiring from the low/moderate income level should have been done.

Libby stated that policy is in place with the contractors that they will follow those guidelines.  They have not had to hire any additional employees.

Haywood questioned how they would know this information.

Libby stated the engineering department and Housing/Community Development division compliance officer tracks this information.

Haywood questioned what kind of report is sent to HUD.

Libby stated they send a quarterly section three report that shows the hiring and how much money they have spent on advertising.

Haywood stated the Council was told that the contractor would be hiring from low income areas.

Libby stated that is exactly what has been done.  All of our companies are complying with that.  He stated if they don’ t lose anyone then they don’ t hire anyone.  They are not going to hire more people just to complete the project.  They bid with what they have and they understand that if they have to replace any people they have to follow the section three guideline.

Zarle questioned how we would know that.

Libby stated the contractor would have to send us a copy of their wage sheets.

Zarle questioned what the penalty would be if they don’ t fulfill this obligation.

Libby stated we would report them to HUD and then HUD would fine them.

Mayor Fitch stated this is an issue between the contractor and the federal government, it has nothing to do with the City.

Libby stated staff would try to fix the problem locally before they had to get HUD involved.

Wells questioned the use of the $208,000 for housing rehab.

Libby stated that pays the salaries of three individuals as well as all of the related costs to deliver both CDBG and HOME programs.  He stated in Oklahoma he has to spend all of his administration money in one year.  He can continue to use the delivery costs to deliver these programs over the years because it does not pay just salaries, it does pay the entire cost of delivering the housing program which includes testing.  There are three people whose salaries come from this money.

Mayor Fitch requested some examples of delivery costs.

Libby stated some examples are lead based paint testing which includes the equipment and recertification, any training costs which helps staff administer programs and vehicles used to inspect contractors.

Shanklin questioned who checked for lead based paint.

Libby stated he has two inspectors.  He stated it is cheaper for staff to do the testing rather than contract it out.

Mayor Fitch questioned how many tests they do a year.

Libby stated last year they tested a minimum of 50-60 projects and they have to test at the beginning and at the end of the project.

Libby presented slides on the HOME Program.

Haywood questioned how many CHDO’ s they had.

Libby stated there have three CHDO’ s which are Great Plains Improvement Foundation, Lawton Fort Sill Habitat for Humanity and Lawton Support Services.  

Haywood questioned how much they are receiving.

Libby stated they are recommending that they give Habitat for Humanity $110,000 to build five houses over the next two year.   That is the only funding request they have received.  

Dr. Kristie Taylor, Roadback, Inc. stated that Roadback has never applied for CDBG funding.  They are proposing to develop a case management system where recovery coaching will take place on individuals who come through their treatment program.  She stated 90% of state dollars for substance abuse treatment in Comanche County are paid to Roadback.  They have detox, residential treatment programs, halfway houses and sober living apartments.   She stated she does have $5,000 in federal money that will be used as an in kind supplement for this program.

Haywood stated this is a good program and is very worthwhile.

Wells stated they are getting about two thirds of what they are asking for.  He questioned if city staff was expecting any additional funding like they did last year.

Libby stated last year they received additional money through the recovery and reinvestment act and they do not anticipate anything this year.

Zarle questioned if any of their other funding was cut.

Dr. Taylor stated they have received a significant cut from the department of mental health last week and they are looking at a 10% from the state.  She stated they did receive some federal funding this year.

Shanklin questioned if Dr. Taylor is satisfied with this funding amount.

Dr. Taylor stated yes.

Charlie Baer, Executive Director of Christian Family Counseling Center, stated they provide outpatient professional counseling services for depression, suicide and divorce. He stated they use a sophisticated outcome measuring tool to measure their scores.  Their clients are scored at the beginning of treatment, during treatment, and at the end of treatment.  Their success is clear when meeting the needs of the residents in Lawton. They requested $30,000, but they are very pleased to receive the recommended $20,000. They use these funds at a rate of $50 per session, and it costs them $74 to provide that session.   

Shanklin questioned the amount of their total budget.

Mr. Baer stated it is approximately $500,000.

Drewry stated she has heard from people who have had great results from Christian Family Counseling.

Virginia Spencer, Executive Director of Great Plains Improvement Foundation, stated one of their programs is the C. Carter Crane homeless shelter.  They are requesting money to help operate that shelter.  They are the only shelter that takes families as well as single people.  They help them with benefits and help them gain employment.  This year they had to pay over $44,000 in rehab expenses due to a mold problem.  She stated they do get other funding from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and United Way.  

Zarle questioned how long someone could stay at the shelter.

Ms. Spencer stated normally it is a five to six week stay, but they can extend that time if they are trying to get a job or housing.

Zarle questioned if the clients participate in household chores.

Ms. Spencer stated they do have chores at the shelter.

Mayor Fitch stated their annual funding is approximately $164,000.  

Ms. Spencer stated most of their funding comes from United Way.

Diane Owens, Executive Director of Marie Detty Youth and Family Services, stated New Directions Women’ s Shelter is one of Marie Detty’ s programs for women and children. In the past fiscal year they have provided services to over 1,000 clients.    They provide assistance with protective orders, housing assistance, job assistance and counseling. Clients continue to come in for after care counseling.   She stated they receive funding for the Attorney General’ s Office and also BOCA, but they do not meet the total funding needed for the program, they come about $50,000 short.  They use the funding for program expenses and maintenance repairs.  They are the only shelter in the Lawton Fort-Sill area that provides these kinds of services to women and children.  They also collaborate with Ft. Sill.  

Mayor Fitch stated their budget is $384,000 and donations of $50,000.  He question wither the donations had increased or decreased during the last several years.  

Owens stated they received a lot of outside donations.  

Tim Libby stated Marsha Frazier from Teen Court wasn’ t in attendance.  She would be appearing at the Public Hearing.  

Lisa Barnes, Wichita Mountain Prevention Network stated there was a quote in the Lawton Constitution stating they were doing a teen pregnancy prevention program and they were no longer doing this.  At this time they are doing substance abuse prevention. Their decisions are based up statistics in the community.  They are located in Lawton View because there is a bigger impact on low income families.  The agency received the Martin Luther King Planning Committee Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.  Our budget runs between $500,000 to $700,000 a year and approximately 95% is grant funding.  We also targeted marijuana use for Lawton Public School kids.  Our marijuana use is off the charts compared to other communities.    We have served over 1900 kids in the first three quarters of this year.  We kids go with the Lawton Police Department and do compliance checks for alcohol and tobacco.  We are getting ready to launch a prevention program in Country Club Heights.  

Tenis asked were your statistics about the drop in tobacco sales or alcohol to minors.  

Barnes stated tobacco.  We have not had the success with alcohol sales.  

Tenis stated we seem to have a problem with the sale of alcohol to minors and it has been addressed poorly by this Counsel.  

Barnes stated our agency is going to pilot a program called “Retail Beverage Service Training” and it will offer workshops to retailers and their employees on how to recognize a fake id, how to cut people off and basically the law as to what is involved.  

Zarle stated he rode with the police in regards to this program and it is a very good program.  We have been lucky that someone hasn’ t been killed by selling to under age kids.

Barnes stated that is correct.  One of the misconceptions of the program is people believe it is entrapment.  

Zarle stated he didn’ t believe it was entrapment the way the police department has handled the situation.  

Haywood stated since our discussion about training I have noticed that retailers are better about asking for id’ s.  You can give tickets and citations all day long, but that will not solve the problem.  People have to work together to solve the problem.  

Barnes stated they would like for the retailers to work with them to solve the problem rather than it being a law enforcement issue.  

Wells stated in defense of the Council he believe they have come up with a good program that complies with the state law and have taken Council out of the decision making.  

Barnes stated she had followed this issue very closely and it was a good solution.

Jensen stated the stores that violated the code are under settlement agreement with the City of Lawton and are required to be seller certified, pay their administrative fines. There is a schedule of penalties for the 1 ^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th violation.

Fitch stated thank you.    I want to thank each and every one of you for your preparation and your presentation tonight.  It is very eye opening to see the many entities within this community that are doing so good for this community with so few dollars.  It is great to see those who volunteer their time and work with you.  

There being no further business to consider, the meeting adjourned at 6:42 p.m. upon motion, second and roll call vote.

                                ___ /s/ Fred L. Fitch______________

                                FRED L. FITCH, MAYOR

ATTEST:

____ /s/ Traci L. Hushbeck___________

TRACI HUSHBECK, CITY CLERK