Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutRDA Min 2003-10-27 9-22-03 / 10-27-03 AGENCY ITEMS No Agency items were presented. ADJOURNMENT It was the order of the Chair, with consent of the Agency, to adjourn the meeting at 6:50 p.m. -IJ~ Chai;man - I Seal Beach, California October 27, 2003 The Redevelopment Agency of the City of Seal Beach met in regular session at 6:45 p.m. with Chairman Yost calling the meeting to order. ROLL CALL Present: Chairman Yost Agencymembers Antos, Campbell, Doane, Larson I Absent: None Also present: Mr. Bahorski, Executive Director Mr. Barrow, City Attorney Mr. Whittenberg, Director of Development Services Mr. Danes, Director of Public Works/City Engineer Ms. Yeo, City Clerk APPROVAL OF AGENDA Antos moved, second by Campbell, to approve the order of the agenda as presented. AYES: NOES: Antos, Campbell, Doane, Larson, Yost None Motion carried PUBLIC COMMENTS Chairman Yost declared the Public Comment period open. Ms. Joyce parque, Seal Beach, requested that the Redevelopment Agency meetings be televised, the taxpayers are not aware of what the Redevelopment Agency is and how it works, if televised they would then realize how much debt there is, the City is responsible for the Seal Beach Redevelopment Agency debt. Ms. parque said she does not know why things have to be so secretive, it is said things are noticed when they are going to be on the agenda yet the people are working in order to pay their bills, pay their taxes, the utility tax, user fee tax, they are not paying attention to the agendas. She made reference to the agenda packet, documents labeled confidential, attorney/client privilege oi"'a~torney work product, the memorandum suggests '. I . " 10-27-03 I an independent investigation of the status of the bonds, the subject of an independent opinion of counsel, yet does not want to pay independent counsel, the City Manager was not here yet he is going to provide this report, the public needs to know what is going on, this should be televised. Ms. Par que inquired why the Manager says the Redevelopment Agency can not be closed down, it can be closed down in 2004 when the bonds are paid, the City is responsible, most of the documents say City of Seal Beach, the taxpayers have a right to know how much debt is piling up, the reason the City does not want them to know is because a two-thirds vote is needed to pass bonds, and how can taxpayer money be given away without notifying the taxpayers, $2 million was given to the Trailer Park/Line deal, the taxpayers do not know that, this needs to be on television. Mr. Paul Jeffers, Trailer Park, said he was wondering how the Agency feels about the MPROP loan, he understands that a settlement is being worked out with Line Housing and those involved in the lawsuit, he also believes that there is a movement in the Trailer Park that would like to see the MPROP go through, possibly a letter could be obtained from Line that they are going to work with the residents to get a settlement, he was wondering if the City would be interested and maybe contact Linc to help get the MPROP loan from the State. Mr. Jeffers said he was not certain if an extension for the MPROP is available, the group that he has worked with has about eighty signatures that could get the MPROP approval moving. There being no further comments, Chairman Yost declared the Public Comment period closed. I APPROVAL OF MINUTES Larson moved, second by Antos, to approve the minutes of the September 22nd, 2003 meeting. AYES: NOES: Antos, Campbell, Doane, Larson, Yost None Motion carried I REVIEW OF TRAILER PARK ISSUES The Executive Director noted that most of this report was based upon questions posed by Agencymember Antos, staff reviewed the files and obtained answers to as many questions as possible, the Trailer Park transaction resulted in many documents, many have to be read or re-read to make sense so any confusion by the public is understandable. The Director mentioned that the first issue dealt with was the Covenants and Deed Restrictions, an attachment to the report was a copy of the Covenants which set forth that one hundred twenty spaces were to be maintained for low and moderate income, the new regulatory agreements were then looked at which state that twenty percent of the units must be set aside for low and very low income units, sixty percent for moderate income, as an assurance that those targets are being met the Agency receives a report every quarter, at this point there are more moderate income units than is necessary, it is important to recognize that that is the status of the regulatory agreements and in meeting the goals, there continues to be a debate over the Covenants but they are over, the regulatory agreements are here and now. The second question was whether the Trailer Park was complying with the income requirements and if it was audited, review shows that in the past audits were spotty, there was an audit in year 2000 as part of the acquisition, audits in 1990 and 1997, it appears that they were somewhat tied to rent increases, there was no indication that an audit was conducted each year, at present the auditing is done through the oversight agent, Rosenow 10-27-03 Spevacek, they monitor all documents, regulatory agreements, so there is now much better management control over the income requirements. The next question related to the Coastal Commission conditions on the project, staff has been unable to locate such document. With regard to a question related to the application for the MPROP loan and the use of the term N/A, the staff reports are clear, the Council did approve the application, the reason for the use of the N/A term is that that was the first application going to the MPROP committee under the changed State law, and as of November, 2003 the Seal Beach MPROP is still up in the air, it is unknown whether or not that loan will be funded due to the signature requirement issue. Staff found some documents relating to the MPROP, one from November 13, 2000 explained how the MPROP would work, the City was merely lending support to that process, a letter from Mr. Gibbs explained that they used the term N/A because the new forms were not printed so they merely used the old forms as necessary. The next question related to the non-profit status, how many members of the board would be on the committee, this is not a City issue, it is between Linc and the homeowners group through the Cooperation Agreement and ultimately the by-laws, however there were a couple of documents that raised a concern from the underwriters perspective with regard to board members that are residents, Mr. Gibbs raised the issue as to whether the bonds would be public purpose bonds if a number of the residents were on the board and out numbered Linc members, that would be a concern of the bond holders. The Director said it is important to note that the bonds are paid off through rental receipts from the Park, neither the City or State or Linc is resppnsible, it is the bond holders, therefore if the bonds were not paid the City has no responsibility, there is some responsibility to the Regulatory Agreement yet that too falls to the Park residents. To the question as to who prepared the-original Covenants, the answer is special legal counsel Tom Parrington who dealt with the Covenants, rent increases, etc. with regard to the question as to the current status of Agency loans and if MPROP does not fund how is the Agency repaid, it is clear in the documents that the MPROP would be converted to a loan, the residents would need to repay the Agency, it is merely converted from an MPROP loan to a regular loan. The Director noted that staff put together a number of supporting documents that covers most of what occurred with the Trailer Park, if one reads the documents carefully this complex transaction almost becomes simple, he would recommend to everyone the reading of the Official Statement, it is written for bond holders, there is a very simple explanation as to where the money came from, what it was used for, it lays out the financial transaction in simple terms. I I With regard to the MPROP, Agencymember Campbell explained that the $1 million will be repaid by the residents, they either pay the State, or if MPROP does not fund they repay the City, they owe the $1 million regardless. Agencymember Doane asked about the availability of this report to the public, is it in the libraries. The Executive Director responded that they can be made available in the libraries and through City Hall. The Agency accepted the recommendation to receive and file the Trailer Park Issues Report. The city Attorney explained that Chairman Yost has a conflict with any decision in connection with the Trailer Park due to his residence location, noted that this was not a decision I I I I 10-27-03 / 11-24-03 / 12/8/03 rather a receive and file item requiring no Agency action, thus there is no conflict. Agencymember Antos expressed appreciation for the report, and said since there was some discussion with regard to the status of the MPROP loan at this point, he would think it would be appropriate, in that the time limit for the MPROP loan is nearing, for the Executive Director to contact Linc Housing to determine where they are with regard to a settlement then have the signatures and paperwork completed by the end of the month because the money that would come back to the Agency from the MPROP loan would then be used for housing, an infusion back into the low and moderate income housing program of the City. He said if there is anything the City can do to push this process along it would be a benefit to the whole City if the MPROP is funded, his understanding is that there is no possibility for extension. Agencymember Campbell noted that the items that were brought up in the settlement hearing have to go before the bond consultants, the ACA, and the IRS, it is out of the hands of the City, once there is an approval rating then the settlement can be approved, it is unknown how long that will take. ADJOURNMENT It was the order of adjourn the meeting the Chair, with consent of the Agency, to at 7:05 p.m. ~~ Ci Seal Beach, California November 24, 2003 The Redevelopment Agency regular meeting was canceled by action of the City Council. Seal Beach, California December 8, 2003 The City Council and Redevelopment Agency met in regular adjourned session at 6:30 p.m. with Mayor Campbell calling the meeting to order with the Salute to the Flag.