I oppose the use of CPA funds to create or deposit monies into existing reserve accounts. If you approve the CDC and Cons. Com. applications for reserve funds there may be pressure for you to approve other similar requests. In my view the discretion to expend CPA funds should remain with the council proper, as that is where the public accountability is.
That said the council meets for most of the year every two weeks and I’m confident that some alternate mechanism can be established that would allow for the timely disbursement of CPA monies to solve the lag problem.
I urge you to vote NO on requests for reserve funds of this nature and to work toward finding another solution.
Regarding the SRO applications before you tonight, I urge you to NOT take a second reading so that the public has an opportunity to weigh in on the conversation that is to transpire later this evening. There has been very little information made available to the general public regarding these proposals and while I am neither opposed nor in support of these applications, I presently have some concerns and others might arise based on your conversation that has yet to take place.
For instance, I requested information from CPC chair Jack Hornor via email regarding the CDC applications on December 10, asking specifically if there was any other background information besides what is posted on the city website. Mr. Hornor provided me with a little giving no indication that there was other information available. However, the draft minutes of the CPC meeting of December 3, which were not available online until December 15, indicate the following:
VALLEY CDC KING STREET SRO COMMUNITY HOUSING, Item 4.:
Jack Hornor stated Joanne Campbell wrote a letter describing how much it costs to develop affordable community housing. He would forward this letter to City Council.”
While this might seem like a trivial matter, to me this letter constitutes, “background information.” But Mr. Hornor opted not to forward it to me. Obviously he felt it important for you all to consider this information in making your determination tonight and frankly I’m disappointed that he failed to provide it for me also.
Another concern, how will these buildings be maintained and what is the budget for that maintenance? The North Maple Street building in Florence had $750 thousand invested in it 16 years ago and today it is assessed for less than half of that value and is allegedly in need of $2 million in upgrades. We all know that constructing or rehabilitating a building is only part of its fiscal equation. After construction the buildings will need to be maintained and that information is not included in the application.
Between these two proposals you are being asked to risk almost a half million dollars in local funds plus about another $4 million in state and federal taxpayer monies. Leveraging additional funds sounds good in principle, but the leveraging is proposed for a nonprofit organization, albeit a fine one, and not for the city of Northampton proper. The city will have no direct control over the leveraged funds and how they are spent or of the buildings. If history is any indication of what will happen to these buildings, it seems like a multi-million dollar capital investment could depreciate to the point of becoming a losing return. Alternatives may exist as well, for instance, could the funds be used to build two new SRO structures on Hospital Hill?
Regarding the $40 thousand request from the Recreation Department, I would like to know specifically how those funds are to be allocated. Will an RFP process be used? Who will perform this study and how shall the firm(s) be chosen?
I also request formally that you revisit the formation of the CPC so that four members of the public are elected to this committee rather than two.
Finally, I would ask that when you have a full and lengthy agenda that you consider suspending the council rule that limits public comment to three minutes or that you recognize members of the public during the meeting(s) so that they might participate in the discussion(s). For example tonight, if a member of the public wanted to address the council on each of the nine CPA proposals before you that would average out to a mere 20 seconds per proposal, which is not adequate time to weigh in.
In the spirit of best practices I feel that the chairperson of the Conservation Commission should resign as he is no longer a resident of the city of Northampton, and I believe that he may have been reappointed to the committee after he moved outside of the city which may be in violation of the city code.
Thank you.
