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Housing Officer Annabel Yurutucu presented the staff report. Housing Officer Yurutucu noted a correction to the table on page 21 of the staff report under the category “Friends for Youth.” The staff recommendation should reflect $12,813.
Councilmember Howe inquired as to whom represents City staff on the Housing and Human Services Commission and Housing Officer Yurutucu stated she was the representative on this commission.
Councilmember Howe inquired as to how many commissioners are on the commission and Housing Officer Yurutucu stated there are currently eight, but at the time of the ranking there were nine commissioners with one absent, as he was out of the country.
Councilmember Howe inquired as to how many of the eight commissioners at the meeting provided ranking. Housing Officer Yurutucu stated five commissioners provided ranking and that was reflected in the staff report.
Councilmember Howe asked why the other three commissioners did not provide ranking and Housing Officer Yurutucu stated she does not know why the others did not provide rankings. Councilmember Howe inquired if it would be fair to state that the three commissioners chose not to participate, and Housing Officer Yurutucu stated they did participate in that they attended the meeting but did not submit or prepare the scoring used in the overall ranking. The commission chair did ask the commissioners (who did not provide specific rankings) if the rankings were consistent with their feelings toward the agencies. Councilmember Howe asked how the commissioners responded to the chair’s question and Housing Officer Yurutucu stated they did not respond that they had a differing opinion.
Councilmember Swegles verified with City Manager Amy Chan that should Council wish to make recommendations different than the commission’s recommendations, this should be identified within Council’s motion. City Manager Chan stated that Council can change the allocation of funding to the groups, but the overall total should be the same because there is a set amount of funding available. Should Council decide to increase the funding to any organizations, they will need to decrease an equal amount of funding from another agency. If Council exceeds the amount of available funding, they will need to include in their motion where the additional funding will come from.
Councilmember Moylan inquired as to how the commission did their rankings, because the table on page 21 of the staff report is very different between staff and the commission’s recommendations. Councilmember Moylan stated Attachment E, page 5, of the March 28, 2007, draft minutes, identifies that the chair asked the commissioners to review the evaluation form they received in January 2007. Councilmember Moylan asked if the evaluation forms were the forms the commission was supposed to use to list their rankings, or were actual ranking forms presented at the March 28, 2007, meeting (which would not have allowed for the absent commissioner to perform his ranking). Housing Officer Yurutucu stated the ranking sheets were included in the commissioner’s binders which were delivered February 5 or 7, 2007. Councilmember Moylan verified that each commissioner had received a binder and the necessary forms for ranking in advance, yet only five actually did the ranking, and the consolidation of those five people is considerably different than the staff ranking.
Housing Officer Yurutucu stated there was one new commissioner at the meeting when the recommendations were made. Councilmember Moylan inquired if the new commissioner was one of the five who completed the ranking. Officer Yurutucu stated that was correct, but the new commissioner did not receive the binder in early February since he was not part of the commission at that time.
Councilmember Hamilton inquired what the CHDO funding (required 15 percent) on page 11 of the staff report represented. Housing Officer Yurutucu stated CHDO stands for the Community Housing Development Organization, and an example of CHDO funding is for nonprofit housing development agencies that are of a smaller nature. Director Paternoster stated the City does not get applications from CHDO organizations every year and when no applications are received, funds are set aside and accumulate over time.
Public hearing opened 8:12 p.m.
Sheila Badon, representative from the Support Network for Battered Women, stated reasons for assisting in funding this organization. Badon thanked Council for consideration of their application. Mayor Lee inquired if Badon had any comments about the amount staff is recommending ($18,747) and what the commission is recommending ($25,496). Badon stated she would prefer the $35,000 that they requested, but whatever the City can give to this organization would be greatly appreciated.
Badon commended the Sunnyvale Police Department for their assistance with resolving issues at the shelter.
Councilmember Chu inquired if the activity at the shelter has increased over the last few years, and Badon stated activity has remained fairly consistent, that the shelter is full all the time with a waiting list. Badon stated statistics are changing as more people are reporting incidents, which keeps statistics higher.
Mark Johnson, member of the Housing and Human Services Commission but speaking on his own behalf, stated he is aware of two ways to divide funding in a more equitable manner. Johnson informed Council that the commission was aware of the staff recommendation at 7 p.m. the night the commission was to vote on funding.
Johnson stated he questions if Council meant to put 60 percent of funding as a priority toward identified gaps in service, and suggested 40 percent instead, with 30 percent toward other priorities. Johnson stated staff had something positive in mind with their intentions, but they actually distorted what Council intended.
Mayor Lee clarified with Johnson that he is speaking as an individual this evening, not as a commissioner.
Councilmember Moylan stated that he does not expect Johnson to be speaking on behalf of the commission since he is not the chair. Councilmember Moylan stated there were several groups with large discrepancies between what the commission and staff recommended, and inquired if Johnson could explain why those discrepancies occurred. Johnson stated the commission did not have much time, so they quickly figured out a formula to apply and did not have enough time to discuss individual agencies. Johnson stated the commission went off past performance. Councilmember Moylan stated it appears that Council gave direction to look at gaps in service, but did not give direction on how much more that issue should count than any other criteria, which caused the commission members to come up with their best guess.
Councilmember Swegles inquired of Housing Officer Yurutucu if the formula that staff used is a new process. Housing Officer Yurutucu stated in terms of the staff recommendations, this was a base line year and staff followed Council’s action in December 2006 and April 2007. It was clear based on Council’s actions that a weighted score would be more relevant; however, in the past recommendations were based on the performance of agencies and staff did not provide a specific recommendation amount for funding.
Johnson stated another way to deal with this issue is to keep all the numbers from the prior year, and any new applicants would be at the end of the line. This would keep the numbers which will be used for precedent in the future accurate, and they will not be reduced due to the new agencies coming in.
Iris Ann Nelson, Sunnyvale Community Services board member and representing Nancy Tivol, shared her appreciation to the Housing and Human Services Commission for their high ranking of their proposal and performance. Nelson also thanked staff.
Nelson requested when Council adopts the budget, they fulfill the commission’s request for the full amount of general funds to be allocated to Sunnyvale Community Services. Mayor Lee inquired when there has been a dramatic drop in funding in the past, how did that affect services, and Nelson stated it did not affect services because as board members, they increase their efforts to collect private donations.
Kim Ferm, Cupertino Community Services Housing Department Director, spoke in favor of funding the same as they received last year for Cupertino Community Services.
Erin Stanton, Emergency Housing Consortium, spoke in favor of Council approval of funding for their programs.
Kenneth Frasse, Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, thanked the commission and City staff for their recommendation of capital improvement funds for the Blind Center. He requested consideration of increasing the funding for their service needs so they may receive $25,000 in funding, which is greatly needed.
Councilmember Hamilton asked staff where the funds are coming from for the capital improvement project. Housing Officer Yurutucu stated the funds will come from the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) allocation, but because it is a capital improvement, it does not fall under the limit for public service funding. The City will receive $1.2 million in it’s entirety from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for items other than service-related, and the $40,000 for the Blind Center capital improvement will come out of those funds.
Charles Keeler stated he is a Housing and Human Services Commissioner, but this evening he is speaking as a member of the community. Keeler stated he is hopeful the general budget will be able to supplement the needs of these organizations. He would like to have filled all the service agency funding requests, but the commission could not do so with the limited funds they had to distribute. Councilmember Moylan stated Keeler was absent from the March 28, 2007, meeting, and did not turn in an evaluation form. Keeler stated a second meeting was held to discuss the funding decisions, and he was able to weigh in at that point. The decision was made to keep the funding decisions as they were decided at the March 28, 2007 meeting.
Libby Tait, long-term care ombudsman with Catholic Charities, thanked Council for their support.
Public hearing closed 8:43 p.m.
Councilmember Moylan inquired if Council were to give staff different weighing priorities, could staff refigure the numbers. Housing Officer Yurutucu stated there would not be enough time to bring a revision back to Council. Councilmember Moylan inquired if Council were to offer to different weighing priorities to the categories, would staff need to bring the figures back to Council. Housing Officer Yurutucu stated that appears to be possible since the figures were derived at through a formula.
City Manager Chan stated staff could take Council direction and not return to Council for further action, rather supply the information back to Council. However, the end result could change and it would be important for Council to direct staff as to the total allocation they would want to make.
Councilmember Hamilton stated all the agencies are being effective or Council would not be funding them and that it is more important to cover a particular service.
Councilmember Swegles inquired if the staff recommendation of $238,455 for funding is an actual number to use and if it is not all allocated, would the funds be lost? Housing Officer Yurutucu stated that if this amount was not used in its entirety, there would be unbudgeted funds in the total CDBG allocation. The funds available (listed on page 17 of the staff report) of $238,745 represent the maximum that the City can budget under the restrictions that HUD provides for funding of public services. Housing Officer Yurutucu stated if the funds were unspent for public services, they could then be used to supplement other activities. City Manager Chan clarified that if Council does not spend the maximum amount, then that amount of unspent funds can be carried over into next year or applied to other projects as Council chooses.
MOTION: Councilmember Howe moved, and Councilmember Hamilton seconded, to approve staff recommendation:
· Council approves proposed amendment to the Consolidated Plan FY2005/10; and
· Council approves Action Plan for FY 2007/08 appropriating $2,873,319 in CDBG funds and $1,408,719 in HOME funds.
Councilmember Swegles stated he has many changes to the allocations, which would save almost $12,000 for future funding.
Councilmember Moylan offered a friendly amendment that for next year; Council will decide the weighting of categories prior to staff running any numbers.
Councilmember Howe asked staff what the funding cycle is, and how much time is there before the funding cycle starts for the Housing and Human Services Commission for the next year. Housing Officer Yurutucu stated the City is on a two-year cycle. One year proposals are requested, and the second year staff considers the performance of the agency and the amount of funds available via the grant.
Councilmember Moylan revised his friendly amendment to state that Council will identify priority percentage weights for the next two-year funding cycle prior to staff running any numbers.
Councilmember Moylan stated the intent of his amendment is for Council to better define the direction to staff than they did this year.
Councilmember Howe inquired if it would be better for Council to do this in the off-year and develop a policy, or would it be better as a study issue.
Councilmember Moylan stated it would not require a study issue and could be done at a Council meeting two years from now so as not to disrupt the process next year.
Councilmember Hamilton inquired if this will be a new procedure or will the priorities be reviewed every two years. Councilmember Moylan stated this review would occur with every two-year cycle.
Friendly amendment accepted.
Councilmember Swegles inquired if the maker of the motion would like to hear his proposal.
Councilmember Howe requested a five-minute break to review Councilmember Swegles proposals.
Mayor Lee agreed and called for a five-minute recess.
Mayor Lee reconvened the meeting at 9:10 p.m.
Councilmember Swegles gave an explanation of his proposal for changes to the funding and revised his estimate to reflect an $8,000 savings.
Councilmember Moylan stated both the staff and commission recommendations were derived by some type of consistent standard, and if Council were to start taking a recommendation from each column (staff and the commission), the funding then becomes completely arbitrary. Councilmember Moylan stated there is no justification for using this method. Councilmember Swegles stated he looked through all the reports, and that is how he arrived at his recommendations. Councilmember Moylan stated he still does not understand how Council could justify Council approving staff recommendation for one group and the commission’s recommendation for another.
Councilmember Moylan questioned if the net effect would be to take some of the grant money and defer it to next year. Councilmember Swegles stated that the unused funds could be used for an ongoing project, such as the Columbia project.
Mayor Lee confirmed that Councilmember Swegles was presenting his changes to the funding as a friendly amendment.
A discussion ensued between Councilmember Howe and Councilmember Swegles regarding his reasons for the changes he proposed.
Councilmember Howe stated he wished to vote on the staff recommendation first, and if it does not pass, he will accept the friendly amendment at that time.
Friendly amendment not accepted.
Restated MOTION: Councilmember Howe moved, and Councilmember Hamilton seconded, to approve staff recommendation:
· Council approves proposed amendment to the Consolidated Plan FY2005/10; and
· Council approves Action Plan for FY 2007/08, appropriating $2,873,319 in CDBG funds and $1,408,719 in HOME funds.
with:
Council will identify priority percentage weights for the next two-year funding cycle prior to staff running any numbers.
VOTE: 4-2 (Councilmembers Swegles and Chu dissented, Vice Mayor Spitaleri absent)
Councilmember Hamilton stated there are additional general fund recommendations from the Housing and Human Services Commission, and inquired if that will be looked at during the upcoming budget process. City Manager Chan stated that was correct and that Council will be receiving the information in a few weeks with the public hearing in June.
Councilmember Chu inquired if the motion included the procedures proposed by Councilmember Moylan, and Councilmember Howe verified that it did.
Councilmember Howe stated he did not want staff to be held by a date as to when they bring the priorities forward for Council to weigh. Councilmember Howe stated it is extremely important that Council continue to review priorities and direct staff as to how much weight each priority should be given.
City Manager Chan stated each time staff brings this back to Council requesting Council’s priorities that at that time staff also ask Council for their rankings.
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