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Housing Advisory Board Minutes, March 24, 2010 Page 1 of 3
City of Georgetown
Housing Advisory Board
Minutes
March 24, 2010, at 3:30 p.m.
Glasscock Conference Room—Georgetown Municipal Complex
300-1 Industrial Ave., Georgetown, Texas 78626
Members present: Janis Cowman-Arteaga, Betty Craig, Morris Greenburg, Lalena Parkhurst,
Dollene Thompson, Tim Todd, Patsy Williams
Members absent: Debbie Hoffman
Staff present: Jennifer Bills; Housing Coordinator, Candice McDonald, Recording Secretary
This is a regular meeting of the Housing Advisory Board of the City of Georgetown. The Board,
appointed by the Mayor and the City Council, makes recommendations to the City Council on
affordable housing matters.
Regular Session - To begin no earlier than 3:30 p.m.
The meeting was called to order at 3:38 by Todd, Vice-Chair.
Agenda
1. Welcome new members.
2. Consideration and possible action to appoint a board Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary.
Todd was nominated as Chair, Craig was nominated as Vice-Chair, and Thompson was
nominated as Secretary.
Motion to accept the nominations by Todd, second by Greenberg. Approved 7-0
(Hoffman absent)
3. Consideration and possible action to approve minutes from the January 20, 2010
meeting.
Motion to approve the minutes by Cowman-Arteaga, second by Craig. Approved 7-0
(Hoffman absent)
4. Discussion and possible action on future meeting dates and topics.
The Board discussed and decided to keep the meeting date and times on the 3rd
Wednesday of the month at 3:30 pm.
5. Discussion and possible action on the draft Housing Element.
Todd discussed the draft Housing Element with the Mayor the possibility of bring the
draft Housing Element back to City Council for adoption. Todd would like to move
forward with the draft Housing Element to get some elements of it to the City Council.
Housing Advisory Board Minutes, March 24, 2010 Page 2 of 3
The Board updated and reviewed the draft Housing Element with the new members.
Todd and Bills gave history. The Housing Element was developed as part of a paid
study that came out in 2008. The previous board members did a lot of work on
compressing the draft Housing Element to 15 sections. The City Council would not take
action on the draft Housing Element. Bills discussed the background and why the City
has the draft Housing Element. The City has a 2030 Comprehensive Plan, which was
adopted in 2008. The updated and replaced the previous Century Plan. Ultimately the
Comprehensive Plan is to 11 different elements. The city has various elements already
adopted. With the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, a new vision statement, land use and
parks plans have been adopted. The city charter that outlines the 11 different elements
and one of the elements is the housing plan. In 2007, City Council created the Affordable
Housing Task force to address housing issues and made recommendations. From these
recommendations, a Housing Coordinator was hired, the Housing Advisory Board was
created and in 2007 the draft Housing Element was started. The city hired consultants
experienced with writing plans for grant programs and housing plans for cities all of the
United States. There is a lot of statistics and background in the draft Housing Element.
The Housing Board worked closely with them to give them guide them what was going
on in Georgetown and interviewed real estate agents and other groups. This is a guide
on what will happen in the next 5-10 years. The primary concept is to show the City
Council that we have a housing issue.
Todd wants to each member to familiarize with the draft Housing Element and possibly
bring it to the City Council again in the fall. When the draft Housing Element was
brought to the City Council in December 2008, the public hearing on the item was
opened and discussed, but the first reading was tabled for consideration at a later date.
Bills discussed putting the draft Housing Element on the workshop meeting before
going to the actual City Council meeting. Bills will e-mail out previous power points and
research to see the progression of the draft Housing Element. The possible action is that
the new members familiarize themselves with the draft Housing Element and at the next
meeting discuss where to go and what to do in order to take this to present to City
Council by September.
6. Update from staff on current projects.
a. Community Development Block Grants
Bills discussed that the city participates in the county’s CDBG program. This year they
are estimating allocating $1.2 million for 2010-2011 and have to reallocate $318,000 that
was previously allocated to the Housing Authority. The City of Georgetown submitted
four applications. Most of the low-income population is centered in the middle of town.
The city has put in a lot of sidewalks in the area. The first grant was to apply for
$440,000 of sidewalk funds to complete out sidewalk sections where a lot of people walk
and around the hospital, school, and post office. The commissioner’s court
recommended funding $392,000 in four different areas of town. The next grant that was
applied for was for $50,000 to set up a preliminary program for someone who wanted to
develop new affordable housing or currently low-income households that have
Housing Advisory Board Minutes, March 24, 2010 Page 3 of 3
wastewater problems. There is a lot of low-income housing that have failing septic
systems. The program would help cover impact and connection fees. The next grant
that was applied for was for $16,000 to go towards the Good Neighbor Fund. This is a
program that the city already has set up for customers who need assistance to pay
utilities on a one time basis. The one application that they did not recommend is the
Home Repair Program. The city allocates $35,000 a year to low-income households to do
minor home repair. When code enforcement goes out to a house and cites them for an
issue, instead of continually fining a household that does not have the money to fix the
issue, they can apply for the Home Repair Program. Code enforcement officers carry
flyers about the program. There is also information on the city’s website. This grant was
not recommended because the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
guidelines if the house has lead base paint you have to remediate for the lead paint in
the house. In total the county recommended that the City of Georgetown will get
$458,000. Out of the four grants, three were recommended for approval.
7. Adjournment
Motion to adjourn at 4:44 p.m.
__________________________________ _______________________________________
Approved, Tim Todd, Chair Attest, Dollene Thompson, Secretary