Executive Committee Meeting
Newport, Rhode Island
September 9, 1999
A regularly scheduled of the NCDA Board of Directors was slated for Thursday, September 9, 1999 at The Inn at Newport Beach in Newport, Rhode Island. Because a quorum could not be reached, the Executive Committee met with Board members present.
I. Roll Call
NCDA President, Para Rosario, Deputy Director of Housing and Community Development for Bridgeport, Connecticut, called the meeting to order. The following members of the Board, NCDA members and staff were in attendance:
Para Rosario
Bridgeport, CT
Steve Gartrell
Newton, MA
Chris Mazauskas
Perth Amboy, NJ
Emory Counts
Daytona Beach, FL
Willie Day, Jr.
Anderson, SC
Leona Plaugh
Columbia, SC
W. Thomas Utter
Corpus Christi, TX
Barbara Ross
Denton, TX
Anthony Covacevich
Hidalgo County, TX
James Vaughn
Kansas City, MO
Michael Hilliard
Aurora, CO
Cressworth Lander
Tucson, AZ
David Thompson
Richmond, CA
Steve Young
Sacramento, CA
Pamela David
San Francisco, CA
NCDA Members and Staff
Scott Stevenson
Los Angeles County, CA
Jan Shapin
CDTI
John Sasso
NCDA
Chandra Western
NCDA
Vicki Watson
NCDA
Karen Means
NCDA
Romulus Johnson
NCDA
Carla Sauls
NCDA
II. Approval of the Minutes
Following completion of the roll call, a motion was made and seconded to accept the minutes of the previous Board of Directors meeting, held on June 4, 1999 in Washington, D.C.
III. Organizational Issues
Audit Report and Financial Status for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1999
The audit report was submitted for review. Chandra Western stated that the was still in draft form, however the bottom line figures would stay the same. Chandra also note that due to the lateness of the audit, the FY 2000 budget numbers would arrive with the minutes for this board meeting.
David Thompson, Community and Economic Development Director for the Richmond (CA) Redevelopment Authority, made a motion, and it was seconded, to accept the draft audit report and financial statement.
1999-2000 Work Plan
A copy of the 1999-2000 Work Plan was forwarded to Board members to review prior to the scheduled meeting.
Leona Plaugh, Assistant City Manager for Community Services, Columbia, South Carolina and NCDA's Past President, recommended that we try to increase membership by 5% instead of 10% .
Anthony Covacevich, Urban County Program Director for Hidalgo County, Texas, also made a motion that he would like to see NCDA move forward on training provided for certification of community development practitioners in the work plan. Barbara Ross, Community Development Administrator for Denton, Texas, recommended that members be polled to query their interest before a lot of work is put into it. John Sasso, NCDA's Executive Secretary, suggested NCDA put a poll on the website.
There being no further questions or discussion, the Board approved the revised work plan.
Annual Conference Selection Process
Chandra Western, NCDA's Executive Director, informed the Board that information on the selection process was enclosed in their packets. She asked the Board what they thought of this as a formal process. Mike Hilliard moved to acept the package, Emory Counts seconded and the motion was passed.
IV. NCDA Membership Issues
Membership Report
Karen Means, NCDA's Office Manager, provided the Board with a brief update on membership. She reported that as of today, NCDA had collected over half of its membership dues payment.
She reiterated the fact that membership dues were down this year. She explained that last year NCDA collected 18-month dues from members who were not on the July 1-June 30 fiscal year. Currently, all of our members are on the same billing cycle.
She also reported that the additional $250.00 for members receiving the newsletter via mail has worked out well because communities are willing to receive the newsletter via regular mail and the internet.
Finally, Ms. Means mentioned that the NCDA membership directory would be going to print on September 30th and requested that all corrections be sent to NCDA as soon as possible.
Michael Hilliard, Community Development Manager for Aurora, Colorado, expressed his concerned regarding the Rocky Mountain members dropping out of NCDA. He stated that it seems that our members are moving to NAHRO. He suggested that we link up with NAHRO to do conferences.
Ms. Western said she would talk to NAHRO about greater coordination.
Mr. Hilliard also said he would like to see more roundtable discussions at our conferences.
Chris Mazauskas, Executive Director of the Perth Amboy Housing Development Corporation, pointed out that Mr. Hilliard can use NCDA's chat room to do that.
Optional Entitlement Communities
Ms. Western provided an update to the Board on this issues. Many members were opposed to expanding the number of entitlement communities in the fashion that has been proposed by HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo. Some of the concern focused on the manner in which the initiative was proposed. The discussion centered on why this was being proposed in an appropriations bill? How does Congress feel about the issue, and could we be "guaranteed" that the firewall around the 70 percent of funds around the entitlement program would remain forever.
The basic proposal is to increase the number of entitlement communities, called optional entitlement communities, that would have populations of 25,000 to 50,000 and urban counties with populations of 100,000 to 200,000. CDBG funding for these new optional entitlements would come out of the 30 percent share now reserved for states.
The following is a list of concerns that were raised during the discussion:
- Will Congress alter the CDBG formula?
- Will the optional entitlement communities have the choice to go back to urban county if they feel they need to?
- NCDA should not take a position on this issue until we have the language.
- Does a community of 25,000 in population have the capacity to administer the CDBG funds?
- How will HUD monitor these new entitlements when they don't have the capacity to monitor their current number of entitlements?
The board took a position that required the Association to wait and see how the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities address this issue. Until then, NCDA would take a neutral position.
Technology Issues
Romulus Johnson, NCDA's Legislative Assistant, gave a brief report on NCDA's technology status. He reported that 56% of NCDA's members have chosen to receive a hard copy of Washington report, the web site is averaging about 800 hits per day, there are new additions to the web site include the staff photos and descriptions, and NCDA have not received any new bids to the yellow pages.
David Thompson stated that the "Coming Events Page" needs improvement. He also asked if NCDA could link its website to its members' web sites, and, if possible, would NCDA help members develop their web sites.
Scott Stevenson inquired about developing a regional list serve. Ms. Western informed them that NCDA will look into it.
V. Next Meeting
Ms. Western informed the Board that the next meeting would be held on January 26th at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. during the 2000 Winter Meeting
There being no further discussion, the Board went into Executive Session.
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