##VIDEO ID:2kVOuh32GrQ## welcome to the monthly meeting of the C County Housing and Redevelopment Authority Wednesday November 20th uh 2024 first note that I have is that this is the third anniversary of the first meeting of the board of the HRA which was November 17th of 2021 and so here we are uh three years three active years later and glad to be here uh I also note the attendant of a quorum in Commissioners uh Olson Hansen O'Brien and gaer and with thanks to the County Board we've got a new commissioner approved for uh Nick LaMore will was not able to be at this meeting he's out of town but will be at our December meeting so we will welcome him at that time approval of the agenda any comments or thoughts or is there a motion to approve the agenda I'll move approval of the agenda just noting the typo and resolution authorizing the hounding and Redevelopment Authority yes chair gaer caught a couple of those apologies those have been corrected for the formal spell record uh apparently no I'll second it's been moved and seconded any discussion all those in favor of the agenda say I I approval of the October 2024 meeting minutes uh any comments or thoughts or a motion to approve those minutes I'll move to approve those minutes second it's been moved and seconded any further discussion if not all those in favor say I I I opposed we have opportunity for public comment next on the agenda that gives us a chance to introduce Heidi Fritz the new executive director of The Cook County Economic Development Authority uh we're excited that she's here and uh she's spent 5 and 1/2 years recently at kabic County in the same type of position so uh Heidi would love you to get to the microphone and tell us a little bit about yourself either one please I'm not going to be on camera am I oh here I am back your head interrogation okay uh yeah I'm Heidi Heidi krampitz I um all I do or all I've done my whole career is economic development uh i' love it um continue to to love love it in general um I did take a two and a half year break just up until now after my last position in kabic so I was there uh uh that was my last position same thing and it was um uh very similar to um uh this Eda is I was the only staff person for the Eda and um and so very very similar um um much different communities of course um the county seat for kabic county is Mora Minnesota if you're familiar with Mora at all um but uh my background is um I just have a a a little arts degree from stcloud state in Community Development and um most of the kids who uh received that degree uh back in the day became stud planners um but I was one of the few who was interested in Economic Development so um and I stayed in it ever since um and uh uh most of my experience was uh in suburbs of the Twin Cities and then um kabic was actually my first more smaller town rural experience and economic development so uh that's what I bring here and um I I'm just excited to get back into the field and um bring some fresh eyes and some um just whatever I can do to help the community is is what I'm here for um just because I I believe in Economic Development and and what it can do for you know the a community for years to come so we're glad you're here yeah we thank you for being here and uh we're going to be embarking on a process of a new director ourselves and we would hope and expect that that director will work closely with you and vice versa supporting each other because the community needs all the help it can get and that uh that would include both of our agencies so but I look forward to working with um whoever you find and um I was looking forward to working with Jason um for sure um but uh I think there's always that it has to be that very very close partnership between Eda and HRA um for a successful thriving community and once the job is posted feel free to refer people I will I'll do that for sure well thanks a lot appreciate it uh on the new business we have three resolutions here to consider Jason you want to would you take us through those sure chair uh resolu 2416 is a resolution authorizing the Housing Development Authority of Cook County Minnesota to enter into an agreement for Professional Services with ERS Inc so before um obviously before I depart I want to make sure we just tie up the loose ends as much as I can uh and the both this and resolution 2417 uh are to renew our existing contracts with our uh with others for financial services and then with um fryberger Law Firm for for our Legal Services um our existing contracts expire at the end of the year so this is just to um renew them with up to amounts that include what we requested from our budget so and it's obviously it's a pay as you go service so we pay for what we receive well and I think you've done a really judicious job of using those Consultants uh and it shows up in their billing and well within our budget so thanks for that but uh is there a motion on resolution 2416 to retain illers again for financial service Consulting I'll move to approve second been moved and seconded any further discussion if not all those in favor say I I I opposed resolution 2417 uh with regard to services from the law firm fber Fried Burger bu Canon uh is there a motion to approve that agreement also I'll move approval it's been moved second and it's been seconded any discussion if not all those in favor say I I I opposed resolution 2418 Jason use your help again sure um sorry I'm just typing the minute notes here quick uh so resolation 2418 is uh authorizing the theth HRA to operate uh Section 8 rent uh subsidy program within Cook County so just a reminder for the for the general public this has come up in my two and a half years quite a number of times because we have uh been able to help projects like Birchwood and harbor view um the Deluth H manages Section 8 uh vouchers and programs for the entire Northshore um Lake County HRA two Harbor H are just so much less the the Cook County H are small enough operations where um we all uh basically it's it's similar to the Grand City of Grand maray authorizing the county H to operate within its jurisdiction we're authorizing the delthia to operate in Cook County jurisdiction for this program uh so I um we haven't seen this before um my colleague and counterpart Jill keer is the director of the Lu H reached out and said hey HUD is just requesting that we do this for 20124 and 2025 um so it's a newer thing for them to to to get it reup or renewed so this is pro fora just to make sure that we uh give the thumbs up for them to continue doing that I highly recommend it you do not want the the C County H managing SE program in Cook County uh they have 55 or 60 employees so I think it's great a question um so so I understand it if we take Birch Park as an example um will they I mean up to this point we've been the primary interface with the property owner but and and am I understanding correctly that they would be the primary interface for the Section 8 tenants what what's the how does How would how would the scope of responsibilities differ or break down for a project like apprach Park between the H County and the the H great question commissioner uh really the distinction here is so on the front side where we have been involved has been helping with Rehabilitation or bring dollars to encourage affordability or maintain affordability that's still going to be the cook County's purview really all this is saying is HUD uh HUD who provides the section8 programs and vouchers uh they need to ensure that we are okay with not managing that program in Cook County so theth is that like where the line stops for them is they work with building owners and with tenants to enter into Section 8 contracts for their units so that's that we're Outsourcing that gratefully in my opinion to makes sense thanks uh I'll move to approve resolution 2418 second been moved and seconded any further discussion all those in favor say i i i n none uh at this stage we're going to item d uh executive director transition uh I think uh we've been given a letter of resignation by Jas Jason hail and uh he's been very generous in his offer to stay in help uh now is our discussion has gone through the end of the year stay as executive director Jason I'd like you to confirm that that I'm not just thinking wishfully commissioner I don't know what you're talking about had a change of heart yeah yeah just to show up today yeah uh no I I I confirm that I I've talked to talk to you about um it if I'm if I'm going to if the board would like me to help with the transition is inter room in any capacity really I was just hoping to squeeze in a couple weeks of vacation and I just don't think it's going to happen this year so uh so I just said it made more sense to just continue through the end of the year and then we can obviously talk about if interal makes any sense or not but I offered to do that um except I'm taking a couple days offer on Christmas so just to be clear well could uh someone offer a motion that would accept gratefully and and but with a lot of regret the resignation of Jason Hill effective through the end of 2024 as executive director if we don't if we don't move does he have to stay yeah right ask the same question I don't that's a really good question I'm not really sure how that works well we ilal talk to our legal coun I don't want to find out I I'll make the motion with extreme regret thank you commissioner uh it's been moved seconded I'll seconded with regret and gratitude all right thanks thanks uh any further discussion all those in favor say I I opposed nothing uh I'd like to just take a few seconds here talk about uh the process that we hope to use to use uh we do need to review the job description from the first go around that we've had and uh I'd like uh the Personnel committee which would be commissioner O'Brien and commissioner Sullivan representing the County board at this stage and and me uh to provide that look at those issues uh redraft the job description and uh then proceed with getting a job posted uh we would expect and hope the county will be posting the job for us uh I'm also going to be in touch with Minnesota Housing Partnership to helps us guide that process they were very instrumental the first time around and uh they know us and U I think that we can get uh very reasonable help from them in in this effort so that's my uh expectation at this point but but I think it would be helpful if we found a date for a special meeting possibly to then adopt the uh job description and and authorize posting the job uh I think that really should be a separate item so looking at the calendar uh our next formal meeting is the 18th of December but I'm hoping that perhaps somewhere the Thursday December 5th or Friday December 6th might work for the members of the committee anyway well actually for the full board because we need to do a formal action so if one of those dates both those dates work for me I would be available if you want me included as a member of the Personnel committee um I'd be available between 10 and 12 on that day which day fth fifth okay uh well could we set 10:00 uh the fifth yeah and Jason if you could make sure we get the proper notice posted of the special sure I want to double check this chair this so what time is this supposed to be at 10:00 on the 5th Thursday the 5th okay that's right I guess you'd be an important I was going to well I'm trying to so this is not a Personnel closed meeting of course this is an open and special meeting it's an open this would be a special meeting okay and the I just want to be clear even with opposing the intent is to give Commissioners time to review and the Personnel committee to maybe redraft the job description or make edits or well yeah I guess my my comment would be that I I think that the job description is going to require very little editing from what from what I've seen so unfortunately I'm I'm not available unless we could do it by email not available for meeting next week but uh um but I you know you know I could we meet as early as this Friday if we wanted to we could do that but maybe a zoom well yeah we could do a zoom for the Personnel yeah yeah for the purposes of redrafting or making any edits well I was thinking just to to approve it because I I think that I don't think it's going to take a lot of I think if any comments are you know need to be made we could make them in an email I mean just the committee members we're keeping the committee to two board members so that doesn't require a a formal meeting at this point you'd have and but we can do it by email can appr in me can we approve the job description by email and and and authorize publishing okay let's let's let's do that because it's I don't I think we can we should check your bylaws the Personnel committee can recommend it but I think you need to look at your bylaws I don't believe you can vote by email no the the committee could the bo but the bo so the Personnel committee will meet and develop a recommendation and then we'll actually meet in person to on on the fifth yes okay okay I I was thinking we beel that's great and I'm going to check to see if this is room is available right now or we can meet part of part of the reason I'm asking is because I'm just cognizant of the clock ticking yeah um and if if we want to get over we could meet sooner than the fifth too it's okay we meet can we meet this Friday sure I'm open Friday well I'm not sure that you need to vote on the job description at all is I guess the point it's it's it's more of a back of house document it's not a resolution it's it's not a formal policy it's just a you know what I mean it's more of an administrative document so my point is if you have edits uh maybe you could set a deadline for people to provide edits by X date uh and then that can be you know the final draft and that way we could post it sooner good um I I like that if you want to have more of a robust conversation around the job you're certainly welcome to I'm just thinking if there aren't a lot of edits to make and we updated it last year right uh then maybe we'll only take a kind of a cursor r view I can aggregate any changes you have and then and then my question is just uh again if if I don't want my my intent is not to rush it it's just to understand like I want to be able to if there's any overlap or ability to get someone in sooner that's ideal um so if if the board if uh you could talk about where you want to post it when you want to post it that could be a separate meeting as well um just what's the most expeditious way to get the ball rolling and things posted would it work if we had let's just we could meet this Friday which you suggested yeah or or we could we could have um uh comments due by say no noon on Friday and and you and I could meet on uh Friday afternoon have a Personnel meeting um and then it's done yeah do we do we really need a special board meeting then then we probably don't I think Jason say we don't we don't need to be formally voted on well then that works let's let's leave it like that yeah by Friday uh comments to through Jason Yeah by by noon and then and you can set up is there what's your schedule look like on Friday Friday I'm pretty flexible so you want to meet at one or something like that sure that works well so just to be clear the is off is off okay is off well let's just assume that the personel committee is able to make those edits by Friday um so that I have a finished document on Monday the 25th of November we can post then the question is then then my next question for the board is where would you like me to post it um and when well I hopefully the county the county would post it um and that goes on the AMC website as well as our own website but I really think think that Minnesota housing is a key place they are and uh I'm sure we can get their their involvement I'll make sure I think those would be make sure we can you know I'll shake the bushes in my my own sort of personal Housing Network um I'm wondering uh who so having gone through this process very recently uh with the Eda uh I'm wondering you know what was helpful is to have uh someone who's like coordinating and managing any interviews or like that whole process it'd be probably a little irregular for me to do it as the existing current director so I guess um we would need to have as part of that posting who the questions and and resumes Etc go to and maybe we can't answer that tonight but I think that's important to default I would suggest that the default would be to the chairman I think that would be that's reasonable so in the in the uh posting of the uh uh you know submit resumes and any questions to William Gable your email address or what have you yeah um so forgive me I'm doing being militant about it but these are the things that I want to make sure we get while we have an open meeting and we have to talk about an an open meeting um then the next question is going to be uh any changes to so there's an employee contract uh we don't we don't give you know we don't show that ahead of time that's after you know negotiation but how do you want to post the salary range uh let us talk about that in the Personnel committee but basically I'm thinking roughly the same as the Eda and uh go from there but uh and then the the contract itself needs to be finalized after we've got somebody identified rather than before but if uh just for clarification the salary range is posted in the job description that's correct mhm it's not yet no but it should be correct that's what I want to make it so right now the job description doesn't have one right no that so what what uh would be helpful for me from a process perspective is someone could make a motion to uh authorize the hiring or Personnel committee to finalize the job description and uh the salary starting or you know salary range um so that the board is giving that so that we can issue it right away does that make sense y yes so I'll move to authorize the Personnel committee to um uh develop a a final draft of the job description including a salary range I'll second that it's been moved in seconded any further discussion on the question of proceeding at this stage if not uh all those in favor of the motion say I I I opposed thank you we're rolling thank you we're rolling uh also the Personnel committee will have an exit interview with Jason uh December 10th I think it's we said it and uh or is it I think it's the fifth the 5th it's at 10:00 on the 5th and so uh we'll be sharing that with other Commissioners as well but keeping it to just the two two of the board members so that uh we can do that get the benefit of Jason's U opinions on what's going on what's the location for that that's here but uh speaking of opinions of what's going on I'd like to give each commissioner a chance here to comment uh on a couple of aspects one is Jason and his service the second is uh the HRA itself at this stage and any thoughts about what where we might be going that we should be considering and thinking about in relation to even the job description at some point but um I think it just be incumbent to share a few thoughts each one of us on on where we are as well and where we're going so uh anyone want to start obrien sure no I think that um I enjoyed your uh reflecting that this was the third year of the of the H which is you know pretty much created out of whole whole cloth and I think that uh you know it's a very um A lot's been done over the past three years I think that you know think the committee deserves credit for getting I think the ball rolling and I think Jason deserves credit for um exceeding our expectations in terms of um how in terms of getting building a pipeline of projects and and getting seeing several of those projects through to uh beginning of construction um I I think that there's a personal quality that I'd like to highlight that I think has been a key part of his success in his you know I think you came into an environment where there was a Tailwind of support for housing in the count in the county and that was to your favor you came in with um tremendous amount of experience and much more knowledge about housing than anybody else in the county and and you could have been kind of arrogant about that and you weren't um I think that you part of what made what I think part of what made Jason very effective in the position was he was um I think you just took great pains to be respectful of and and professional in with dealing with all of the stake all the political stakeholders and and the others in the that that were involved in business and I think that paid dividends in terms of maintaining the Goodwill that the that that we had um and helping us to continue to maintain the support that um uh for the HRA um at this point I think that you know we're at a um I'm not too worried I mean I think that there's a lot of momentum for the h um I think that there's a lot of good potential candidates um um I you know totally understand your reasons for um for for changing and and you know wish you the best on that in that um I think that it's a good moment to uh at some point in the once the new director is on board to kind of take a pause on uh and really just make make sure that we're uh take a moment to Circle back I think I think to that um to the Strategic plan that we put together back in 2022 with in Partnership with the Minnesota housing project we've had new Commissioners since then we've had new you know and so we'll have a new director I think that's that'll give us a chance to work together to to develop some clear ideas about what goals ought to be for the next one two three years um and I think that the other you know we're going to learn a lot over the next year about um the housing shortage in county and we're going to see we're going to watch the take up rate for the housing units that are being developed we're going to see what happens with the market rates that are being you know so so I think we'll we'll know a lot more uh about the market you know eight months from now than we than we do right now and I think that's going to be important data to track and to take into account in terms of our plans for what going for the coming years so anyway that's a mouthful but thank you for all than thank you um just so that I don't have to turn beat red um I'm just going to assume you all are very generous uh so thank you you don't have to say anything else about me what I am curious about um based on what the Commissioners and thank you I I have endeavored to do that so I'm glad that that was carried out in scene um I I I think something that commissioner O'Brien just said that's really worth contemplating and I I mentioned this I think in my email is simply there are there is a question about absorption of what's going on right now and we don't know all of the projects that will won't start like one is making actually really good progress I just went by again today I was gosh that's like a thing that's really happening holy cow the garages are up um roofs will be done today yeah totally uh and they got lucky with the weather and they know it lucky um but the you know the heights uh is poised to start uh in the spring um and and the projects that we have you know set the stage for essentially all of the H work for those aside from monitoring um in disp urements is done like our Agreements are and that was the Endeavor here the reason I mentioned it is just I think as you're preparing to hire replacement and and I'll be as involved or not as you see appropriate I think um you know as even getting ready to post this I think it's important to to maybe think about what skill set you're looking for in the next director um because there may be a little bit of a pivoting uh at least pause or pivoting moment so I I'll keep it at that just to say again as we're before we start before you and the whoever is going to be interviewing this candidate candidates uh to know maybe more particularly what what you're thinking uh you need in in the next director um that reflects a strategic plan but before you hire that person if you get another me and they're like all right let's do some more multif family or bigger project you're like well actually we might want to you know pivot a little bit um that would be my encouragement maybe think through that maybe the personel committee can talk about that uh when you're looking at the job description on on Friday yeah so that's it thanks for the thought Jason there uh Mr Hansen well I am going to talk about you Jason and go ahead and blush but um you know you've done a fantastic job and I kind of goes without saying but I think these it's important to say these things out loud um yeah just an amazing job which which leads me to be dismayed but not too surprised that you have other opportunities because obviously you have the horsepower to do pretty much anything you want want to do in this field or any field that you choose so I wish you of course the best of luck and can't thank you enough for I mean the the accomplishments and and I wasn't even on the board for most of them so I can't take credit but uh I give you all and especially you Jason credit for really getting a lot a lot going and getting housing headed in the right direction after after many years of talk and not not much action so uh thank you again and congratulations on that in terms of the future I think your point is well said that um that we might need a slightly different skill set and I think to that regard even though you are really good at reaching out to the community and being public and explaining things to people um I do still sense in the community there's a little bit of misunderstanding generally about what the H does and a lot of people think we do low-income housing like really cheap low-income housing for really poor people m exclusively MH and that anything other than that is a waste of time and I think that's that's unfortunate because that's not our our our portfolio and it's not what the county needs frankly I mean it it does need that but it needs a lot more too so it's a spectrum of needs so um I would just say that the next person needs to be outgoing and fourth uh forthright in in conveying the vision of the H and the mission of the h to the larger community and the Commissioners as well I need to do that that's the only comment I have otherwise uh otherwise I'd happily accept a clone so I have a twin sister but she's not a housing person I don't think I would probably can handle it though she's great she's interested no she's not interested uh no I don't think so oh okay I I just want to Echo what everyone else has said and uh you you will be greatly missed and uh good luck thank you won't be gone entirely so I'll be still yeah I don't know if I had well I can share what I'm planning on doing if you great sorry I forgot I thought I already did that uh yeah well actually uh of course uh Joe Fredericks reached out to me instantaneously after the press release so I have a a interview with him right after this um so I'm actually uh I used to own my own brokerage 5 years ago had it until recently I let I go because I wasn't using it because it was one at n the time uh and two there's just too much potential conflict of interest in this work it's such a small Shore that I didn't want to do with it so I think I in five years I helped two sales uh with friends um so it's just an expensive hobby to keep that going um so but I I've also had an LLC that I established about two and a half years ago and I before I came up to Cook County I contemplated uh I love this work and I and I love the whole Northshore region and the Northeast Minnesota region and uh my after trying to postpone it as long as we could to get things you know on the right position and then you know of course the County administrator left and then Teresa I was like oh gosh there's never a good time um I am actually uh starting my own uh development consultation practice um and so I'll be helping communities across the region uh with getting housing and other projects done that's very good news yeah I I'm excited there's a lot of need and uh I'm hopeful that I can help other communities just like this and if things come up I'll still around so we be so you won't will not be relocating to be able to work remot correct I'll be still living where I live now um yeah so that's R so a uh you might see me a couple of the developers we've worked with have' said great so now you can come help us get stuff done you know might table good that's that's a frightening Prospect I have had a few people reach out to me and said do you know what Jason's doing because we'd be interested in humbling uh yeah so I have some at the beginning of the year which does lead me to a question that is we can get to it but I just want to remind the inter room question so if after assuming you're done Richard yes okay um well I'll let commissioner Haw or johnon do I get to share all I was trying please no no we're we're we're going right right around the horn I want to reflect on my very first conversation with Jason which was over Zoom it was an introduction to him by Doug Sanders because I as running for County Commissioner kept saying we need an apartment house we need an apartment house I didn't know how to make that happen and there were some in the community say we need an HRA and I was resistant to another government organization so Doug introduced me to Jason and we had a very nice conversation not about being an HRA necessarily it was about what can I do to help and I learned so much in that conversation and just really appreciated your passion for your work you do and then we left and I called up Doug and I said do you think we could hire him ever how would that work and it still took some time for us to get this process going so I'm excit honored that um 3 years ago we had this very first meeting and I am so grateful that Jason did apply and we did hire him and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you have done for our community you're making me regret my decision to decide to I hope so be here I had breakfast with Doug this morning cool great nice yeah thank you Stacey I appreciate wish well and to continue with the connection with Doug Sanders so before the HRA was formed we had a community leadership group and we had a subc commity that was focused on housing and it was out of that group and Doug Sanders and Mary Sanders sat on that Community leadership subcommittee we talked about housing and Doug and I were doing a lot of reading and research and this name Jason hail showed up in the duth News Tribune and um Doug made a call to Jason and um similar to what commissioner Johnson said um you know that was the beginning of a really good thing for Cook County and in addition to all the expertise and experience that you brought here the other thing that really um I feel really proud of is that you have demonstrated your knowledge and your understanding of finance of policy procedures processes working with the ITR working with our state and federal Partners which is a huge part of how we get housing in communities like ours and you keep a breast of all the critical Trends and the practices and conditions kind of inside and outside Cook County to help us and you've just demonstrated a commitment to continuously enhance your Professional Knowledge by working with professional organizations so I thank you on behalf of Cook County and all the other places that you've touched during your career thank you much um I think it should be mentioned that Doug Sanders uh reached out to me a year before the H was in existence yeah as a sort of pen pal during covid and I had a couple of Zoom meetings with him over several months he was just trying how do we get housing in Cook County uh and one day my wife and I came up to be tourists in grar for the weekend and I told him we were going to be up here if you wanted to grab coffee and he said great and so I thought we were just going to get coffee um he took me on a tour I met Kimber r i met I met James I met everybody in the community it was a 4-Hour tour of Cook County uh and it was a whirlwind my wife said that was the most interesting coffee I've ever seen you have uh and you really uh convinced me that Cook County would be a great place to to be and to work and he was right and uh so I all the optimism in the world uh that things will continue to go in the right direction if this board continues to lead it and you'll find a fantastic uh second uh second director so thank you I'm super humbled and I'll still be around if things pop up unless they're really hard things then don't call me I'll take a fishing right well I'll finish up uh on this section of the meeting um as we all found out after after Jason's review last April five Commissioners I think uh filled out evaluation forms with 10 checked uh pieces of rate one to five uh in each one of those categories and there there was not a single point missing on any of the reviews I've never seen that before in my own experience but it is a testimony to uh what Jason brought to the table with us I I as I say it he got the Train on track and uh the community had really a groundwell of support for doing something about housing and the Commissioners are referring to that a lot of work was done but through the Eda as well a lot of housing study there were a couple housing studies done so there's plenty of data and there was plenty of uh kind of a CO coalesence around housing as the most important issue in Cook County for the time being you know it just had to be the priority and so out of that came the H eventually thanks to uh a lot of people really in the County Board especially who had to authorize this but uh then commissioner O'Brien mentioned the Minnesota Housing Partnership session that we had where we talked about strategies and long-term plan and whatever what I remember about that was we set we we voted on three the three top values as an organization values action integrity and uh inclusive and those three I think Jason has just uh done a great job to demonstrate that those those values are took hold and we've been acting on on that uh we had a couple of concerns one was was being transparent and the other was communicating and honestly I can't think of an organization that's been more transparent and communicated it thanks to Jason uh who did a great job with the different media sources and and in the community and and uh and what impressed me about Jason was he wasn't hard he wasn't uh going to duck hard questions he was absolutely able to express uh you know what the what the reasons are and why we're making these decisions and I just think it was the total package is what I'd say and so I think Jason for what you did what you brought to Cook County um you brought the got the Train on the track but I'd also be remiss if I didn't thank Kristen his wife who a designed our logo B got our website set up and see put up with Jason's hours and and all that and believe me those are that's a I I I I said when I first met her after all this stuff started going on that I nominated her for sainthood and I'm pretty sure she's made it by now so anyway please thank Kristen because she's I know she's part of your team and I will she deserves it thank you uh yeah I'll show her this little this little clip of you saying that and she'll she she'll call you and say you're right um no you you I will say I'm the only director you've had so just wait you know you'll have you'll have future ones you'll be like oh okay never mind what were we talking about so thank you um interim what what are the board's thoughts about that and and and again we have we have a planed meeting on the 18th um and I there were there were a couple of resolutions I should mention this the County Board Commissioners you know this there's some remaining slrf funds state and lo local fiscal recovery funds part of the cares act funding the County Board is determining hopefully next week potentially the third and then at the last would be the 17th I think M um what to do with those remaining funds I've been in communication with auditor Powers because he reached out and said hey we have some of these monies and those are funds they have to allocate right by the end of the year so it's pretty close to the wire here um and some of that could go to the H and I've told him the three different buckets I think that would make the most sense we could allocate it or designate it immediately um so I have a couple of resolutions drafted in the event the County Board decides to allocate some future amount I wasn't sure how long I didn't know I was going to stay through the end of year but now that I'm here through the end of the year um we have two resolutions that are ready if the County Board decides to do that and I just wanted to because it'll be a quick turnaround again we'll have one one chance I wanted to get your sort of Nod that this is what we would allocate them for and it depends of course on on the amount but uh auditor Powers mentioned there's two approximately $200,000 that they had that could be could be decided to contribute to HRA product projects I think there was another chunk that they were looking at other things there's a whole bunch of things that you could spend on money on but that was the number between $100 $200,000 so I was advocated um in my mind uh one would be to provide some match dollars from nor North scogan when we submit the I application we don't have any match dollars that we were planning on that because that kind of came in sort of later in the game we had already committed the arpa funds we have two was to provide an additional amount of seed money for the envelope and energy Improvement program uh the second project was done successfully they're very excited about it we have a pipeline of eligible folks we just don't have any money and then the third was um if you recall the the Gunflint view has broken up into two tranches of affordability 60% and 80% Ami the 60% Ami units were tied to the the state's Saha funds if remember all these acronyms uh Statewide affordable housing aid which was part of the 2023 big package at the legisl legislature um that amount the county has already approved for 10 years ago the h that's that affordable housing aid was $85,000 a year and the state said they were going to reduce it in 2025 by some amount and then that would probably be the amount to continue for until the legislature changes it if they ever did that has been changed from 85 to 35 so a significant drop uh more than anyone expected so our agreement with this developer is uh with a gont view is is $40,000 a year for 10 years to keep those 11 units it was a wash it's a math wash we just calculated how much you know does it cost in rentch for him to do this and that's within it so obviously there's a little bit of a Delta that $5,000 a year basically so my thought was if the County Board approves another allocation we hold some of that reserves just to make sure if there's a shortfall that it can it can continue the agreement that we that we are in with them says if we don't have the full amount we can negotiate iate how many less units that could be or they have the right to say well never mind um but they would have an interest in I know them they would have an interest in negotiating like maybe a couple less units or something like that I would love to not have any reduction for 10 years um so my proposal would be some 50 to 75,000 or something would be in reserves just to in case for the next 10 years we need to supplement Saha but I also have uh with our current budget I have money set aside um in case for some of that and of course in future years you the H could ask the county for some supplemental $5,000 or whatever it is right M so those are the three things that came to mind immediately that we could uh dedicate the funds to and I wanted to get your sort of litmus test to see if that passes the smell test any comments certainly sounds to me like those are directions we want to go in I love the energy envelope program and you know the idea of finding more money for that it's one of the big needs that we really are just putting a little tow into the water with uh but fixing up some of these older houses to especially to get uh Energy Efficiency is is really it's a key thing uh the nor stogan I I would hope would be you know able to uh come to fruition here in the reasonably near future and uh yeah the with regard to the Gunflint view um I like the idea of having a little Reserve pot to make sure we're able to fulfill what we'd like to fulfill whether they they're concerned about it or not I I think it's some great uses so any other thoughts you need board action on this or is it just to get a sense no I have the resolutions drafted um because I thought we might have to do it at this meeting but if if you wanted to Pivot it all or think about other things I didn't want to I would change it basically but you could we we could address this in the December meeting yeah yeah yeah if the County Board again the County Board has to determine where they want to what they want to do those monies yeah if they decide that they want to allocate any amount of that to the hray those are the three uses that I thought made the most sense um that are also don't take a lot of like we can we can allocate it right away uh and make sure we hit that time that timeline the deadline um one other thing that I want to remind the board about is um if Temperance Trails closes and it looks like it's supposed to be on the agenda for the 11th December 11th uh if they close there's $440,000 coming from that I say if I don't even know what the odds are um I've given up on giving odds to projects um if they close there's $40,000 there and um One Roof uh I encourage them to take to make sure they take all of the 300,000 that we allocated for Birchwood Apartments because if they take it all and when they close and repay the to 250 the loan that we gave them then that 250 is now recycled and the H can use that for other reasons but I'm fiscally pretty conservative about those things you know I don't want to count the chickens before they hatch so something could fall through uh and it would be great to just have a you know a reserve in case but I just want to remind you there are a couple of other dangling Chads I guess out there of reimbursements for things so so any any concerns any just one question on the Saha shortfall I wasn't sure I followed the arithmetic is that um you said uh is it uh expectation was that they would be 80 85,000 a year and and it's down to 35,000 a year is that correct or might that is a Pere figure yes so the first allocation in 2024 was 85,000 and this we knew that the state was probably going to reduce that somewhat and so when we originally negotiated with them we thought well I think 40 is probably a safe number it's half less than half of what we you know the first wasn't they reduced to 35 so the first uh we have we have reserves for the first year okay uh because I mean they haven't they haven't leased any people aren't living there yet so they don't get any money yet um but once the first year and it's going to be on reimbursement so once the first year of a tent those units being rented at that amount comes to to an end then they show proof of those units being rented at that amount and they get reimbursed $40,000 okay so we're approximately $5,000 a year short for 9 years so 40 45,000 okay okay good so so they didn't budget with the expectation that they were going to get 85 they budgeted based on correct we we were supposed to get 85 year but I told them what about 40 a year got it I was trying to be extra safe I wasn't safe enough apparently um so it's not a huge amount but I just that's clear I didn't I was trying to say the 5,000 that now I okay I think those all I I agree those are three very good priorities okay if you change your minds email me yeah any concerns about this by any of the Commissioners well let's uh hope that the county does uh what we'd like them to do I'm sure there's other people knocking on door as well but uh just remember we're here and we're active we know how to spend money so all key uh okay other business director's report got a few things well just on the we were on the agenda item for the interim and and I guess um I just want to make my thought is that it would be that um if we realistically I'm guessing we end up uh if things go well with somebody on boarding probably late January and um and uh it might be a little bit later than that I think um Jason I think in one of the letters that you had sent you offered that it' be a inter room through as long as the end of February but but I I think in terms of our um planning I think it would be very worthwhile to have an interim director um in place until the new person is on boarded um and then with you know a week overlap or something I don't think it'll take a lot of overlap but just a there some some overlap with the new person just to um hand over the keys well I guess the question is Jason is that still an open possibility you were fairly well documented as to how that might work and with the contract and those kind of things is that still a possibility uh chair at this point yes my preference would be to do again I didn't know that I'd be staying through the month of December um and I do have some obligations start at the beginning of the year um so my preference would be to do interim through through January if if that's needed and then and you know then maybe there's some overlap ideally you're right we're able to and that's part of the reason I wanted to keep the process of hiring and posting moving so that we have effectively two months uh to find somebody and you know and I'm not disappearing if something comes up you can call me or email me whatever yeah um but I I'm conf comfortable saying that I I I'm happy to help through the through January beyond that gets a little more dicey okay well that uh wife little addition little additional pressure on us to keep moving so that's all right too it's still but we'll need to some yeah it's doable especially because I think if a new person came on I think you know again I think the big concern would be that nothing Falls through the cracks and and with no director in place and that um you know and that there's some some connection between them uh which could be informally done you know have to been persons in and there I think we can work it out if there to be clear if we find somebody and maybe there's a little couple week room there I can work with you on that I I'm just I'm comfortable saying through the end of January we'll see you know beyond like saying another month or two months puts me in some hot water potentially with 24 hours in a day limitation so yeah so if you're so if I don't know I would just the board would probably have to make some decision it could be at the December meeting whichever about approving in interim role so I just want to put that on your radar you can do it today you can do it in December I don't doesn't matter to me either way I'd suggest the Personnel committee bring a recommendation on that to the December meeting okay works for me thank you all right um should we continue on now the heights sure uh these will be brief um like I said the heights is I've been continu to work with Mr Latz uh we um right now we're trying to I'm meeting with them in the next week or so to make sure he's on the same page with certified payroll process and all of that they did um of course they issued the public bid for solicitation they got one response they accepted that bid and now they're doing this extra extra pencil sharpening um but it looks like uh they're doing some final negotiating with some lenders uh and I have the signed um development agreement from them and then I'll record that here at the county but really the the sort of decision-making point is just finalizing terms with that lender and then deciding when to close uh and then they'll order their um modules in January or so so I you know I'm not going to give odds again I don't want to do that anymore but uh it's it's looking good and it looks like it would be a completed in in early summer around the same time as gunin VI probably so well I hope that the kind of easing slightly easing of interest rates is helping them uh because I know that was a was really ComEd up a lot of works but especially their project was uh was hurting yes it did help a little bit although rates have not come down as much as people were hoping um the because the treasury or the bond rates are still higher than expected 10-year yield so uh second is just 1800 West um so actually I met with the city administrator today uh and uh Eda director who as a reminder she the Eda is actually technically the applicant um because the H is not uh authorized by Statute to apply for the housing Grant which I think is interesting uh but there cities and counties are and then there's a little asterisk that says oh also joint County city edas of which there's one all of those all of those in the state um so we're also special continue to be special uh so obviously we we received that 1.3 million or the you know the award was announced uh I've notified that that developer um of my transition and we're going to make sure that that continues to go smoothly I just talked to the state before this meeting on a phone call um the manager of this project 16 units uh and the only thing I think worth mentioning is the city the HR is going to have to continue to work with the city on getting you know the it's domino effect of course just because we got the award doesn't mean that the thing's going to get built um but we're going to have to continue to work with the city on securing that property um that they agreed to convey if the a war was granted so there will be some some process there uh um but it's incumbent on the developer to enter into a development agreement with the with the h which leads to my final point about this there were some SAA um again we thought we were going to get 85 Plus a year and so we tentatively said we we could provide uh as match dollars some sawah how money um it wasn't a lot I think it was 180,000 over 10 years MH um there are other resources that we and I have them sort of loosely outlined that can help fill the Gap not to mention the one roof Community housing's repayment of the $250,000 So and I've explained this to him um and and I'm not overly frankly overly concerned uh it just helped us get the amount of match we're looking for um but that's going to be a another that's going to be a spring probably actually a summer by the time all the Kinks are worked out in the state funding Etc be a summer project start um if that comes to fruition so I'm just keeping these on the the general radar of the public and of you folks CU it's like we talk about them and then they got to go quiet for 6 months until we get you know money and so any questions about that that project is it still looking same plans that we've seen before the design MH um the only unsurprisingly the only question mark that would change it is the there's a sort of um Lighthouse esque community structure that was proposed um that's not the cheapest thing to build and so you know as they do more drilling down into costs in Cook County I'm sure that that is probably going to change for um which is kind of my suspicion the whole time but uh it's okay if we get 16 units of quality housing at various income levels that's a win so we'll we'll see what the final designs was that going to be phased they had originally proposed using the whole site for two phases but the city decided that they didn't want to do that they wanted to keep one open for other commercial purpose so right now it's just the 16 units yeah y any other questions about that project well one takeaway is we got to be nice to Heidi yeah yes she's going to be the pastor and she has the keys to the the award there so and I filled her around on that and and we'll continue to work with her on great outlining that thanks uh financials were attached unless you had any questions well it's not a question but uh it brings up a conversation I had a little earlier today after noticing that uh the Cascade vacation rental organization has been pulling out 1% of on their rentals as voluntary uh contribution and that total at least through October was now $39,375 which amazed me when I saw the figure and um I was prepared to at the meeting at this meeting give full credit and and admiration to Steve serbo and his group for doing this Steve called me today and wanted to talk because he is um he's he's been happy to do this and but he's now getting uncomfortable that they're the only ones in the county doing this and uh I told him well when it was originally set up my impression was that he would be leading a charge to recruit other businesses and he's now really feeling that he's pretty well tapped out with his time and his his his efforts and um was asking you know could we pick the ball up well I don't think we can because I think the conversations we had legally the HRA cannot go out asking for voluntary contributions from other people so that item sits there uh I mean he's not not suggesting that they're going to stop doing what they're doing but he'd sure like some company and so would we like him to have company uh because that's really you know it's just starting the priming the pump and and that 40,000 for example is potentially another source of making things work on on uh some of these projects and uh it's really helpful so uh I don't know further what to say or do other than I I did tell him that I thought it was not possible for us to take over the program uh I'm sure if anybody's got any ideas of who might be able or willing to to try to spearhead something like that love to and I hear I see a commissioner waving her hand so my my thought is that it might be possible for Steve to approach the Cook County Chamber of Commerce that's what I was thinking to um a lot of our businesses um whether they're similar to Cascade vacation rentals um or not have issues with employee housing and so I would strongly encourage that the chamber would be a an organization to approach for that Jason what do you know about the state housing tax credit program and contribution fund there's just an article in the Star Tribune about that being fairly successful in other communities already it's new where people can get a tax credit for a donation of that sort of this very sort that we're talking about MH well bill I think you know a little bit about that too um and fill in where I'm missing here uh upon my when I research I looked into when it first came out which just last year or so um one of the big questions or concerns a lot of folks had when using it was there was no guarantee the money you contributed would go in your community so like if you wanted to provide donation for the Heights or whatever it is um they would they would try to allocate it for that but that there wasn't a guarantee so a lot of folks um so the state is trying to uh uh what's the word I'm looking for trying to bring bring more awareness to this program because I want to get better utilized and there was there were some donations across the state for sure but a lot of the folks and the folks that I talked to in County were only interested in providing it for a specific site or project and because that wasn't a guarantee that is decided not to now the state knows that that's an issue I've told the state that that was some feedback and so they're talking about how could we is there a way to make sure that they go where they want to go well one answer potentially to that is Minnesota Housing Partnership again now has a website that lists uh a number of projects around the state by community that are uh asking for some of the tax credit uh funds and um I looked at it last year possibly doing something at Gunflint view but um I thought better of that because it seems like that could be a conflict and I don't so that's an issue I had but uh if uh I'll try to I have the website at uh home I'll send it to the board here and you can take a look at it I I I've identified a development uh that I think I'd probably uh my wife and I would probably invest in you make an investment you know $1,000 I think is the minimum and I forget what the max is but uh uh and you you get 85% of that back as a tax credit in the state income tax it doesn't affect your federal tax liability but it does affect your state tax uh and uh so that's about what I know about it but I'll get the website out and so I'm guessing the rationale I'm not guaranteeing that it spent in your area is that if you don't have a project then that money's in limbo forever yeah or the state just allocates it for some other project you you you don't have to yeah you don't have to give it to a specific project you can they have a general fund that you know but you have no idea then what'll happen to it but at least you get the benefit of the tax but I'm assuming there'd be some pressure if if you organized it on a on a community basis say cook countywide there'd be some pressure for them to return some of that here if we had a I would sure hope so I think it's the lack of guarantee unless again they change the like how that allocation Works which they could do yeah um I mean 2023 is a pretty gang Buster year for new programs and they're you know they're building the airplane while they're flying a lot of the time so I'm I'm not trying to bch the potential virtue of the state tax credit program that's just the feedback that I heard um and the one of the challenges is these projects can take multiple years you put it in and like the heights it's taking a little longer to get in the ground well this isn't an investment right this is you give the money it's gone yeah yeah yeah exact that's my point it's not like the community investment fund here exact expecting a return yeah you give the money you hope it goes where the thing is it's a gift yeah right and you get 85% back via tax credit if you have the tax liability to justify mhm that so well might be something to put serba on to she might or the or the chamber maybe that's the route to get people interested yeah the the the when Steve and I first met about two two years ago I don't even know um the we met with a couple of businesses and chair G's right we can't solicit for funding um and I don't think you want to I wouldn't want to do that anyway uh except for the County Board we can ask the County board for funding um but we can't ask private citizens and businesses but I think the appeal was and people who initially voed some potential interest the appeal was that then they knew those those funds would go into projects in Cook County and in CV's cases this case study they didn't they added a 1% onto their lodging fees so it didn't cost them anything except for the administrative piece and then you know of course setting up the check system and that was appealing as like well we're passing it through to the tourism Community uh to sort of they don't even know they're helping us with our local housing problem uh so there's more of a direct connection there now for various already said that just we lost Steam on that and we were going to merge and we didn't merge and so the conversation just stopped but I I think the chamber is a great place to stop and say hey look at the example of the $40,000 that CVR has given without question and we can show like that money was used for example to help Hammond and habitat get property or you know we could point to the it's going directly into projects yeah it has to go directly to projects it can't go to our overhead or you that's all covered by the county Levy so anything that CBR has given us has gone for project development purposes so anyway do do what you want with it I suppose but I think it's a it could be a really cool model if we could get more folks on board to be a testament to Cook County like folks deciding to step up and well I think there's a ton of in my opinion you know having spent my life in the Cook County Business Community there's a ton of potential there I mean I can think of six of the ma major businesses off the top of my head that would gladly participate in that it just needs somebody to organize it yeah and it can't be us that's the problem we can go along and explain how it could be used yeah uh and give examples but we can't ask for anything so well I will talk to Steve about the Cook County Chamber of Commerce that's a great suggestion and sounds like that tell him if he needs help I'd be happy to help him okay may I ask a question sure so I understand this board can't go out and solicit if we had an Advisory Board could that board have a subcommittee of donations I think seek donations unless well The Advisory Board could if there was no Commissioners on it that's what I'm saying if you had a board a separate um board that was about housing and was oh I see like a community kind of like theity leadership group that we used to have yeah I just wondered if I don't see why not I mean anybody can go out and say hey you should donate to the H uh as long as you're not you know part of the H but it could be I'm just wondering if it if it comes from yes we recognize this group as a h Housing Organization I just didn't know where that line is of that's a good question I don't know you soliciting or um interacting with the group that is doing that I think you'd probably want to keep it a clear distinction between the HRA and whomever is doing the solicitations that my two cents just to make sure scratch that doesn't mean that there couldn't be an Advisory Board that's not affiliated with the array that is passionate about how like what we connect this that's why I asked about this tax credit think Mak sense if a group wanted to do that and organize around it independent from us of course um yep maybe all of them we could be a beneficiary of that Y and it is a very attractive offer the tax credit is hugely attractive so that uh no questions on the financials okay uh that's all I had unless there are other topics um well kind of a concurrent concern here our audit and uh I spoke with Brady today as well just to confirm what I remembered was a the agreement with uh red path our auditor is they were going to be done by June then uh October came and I think it was October 11th where uh they committed to getting it done by November 1st now it's November 1st and past that and they hope they get it done by Thanksgiving and so and the one of the issues is the eda's got the same thing in the sense that it's the same auditor and our two audits the Eda and the HRA have to be done before the county can finish its own audit um because we're component units and so Brady not happy I'll say it that way and and I think it it's uh I told talked to him about maybe next year for next year we should be doing something other than that I mean we sent out an RFP uh which we need to do uh and really got no other response and the state which had been auditing the county by itself uh you know was encouraged other aspects their very clear that they're overwhelmed uh at their level so uh I just bring it up as something that we need to be pay some attention to uh that we've seen a draft of the audit and the letter and and all that there's nothing of any concern to speak of there in terms of issues that they found with our operations or books or anything else really it's the issue then they're just they're just busy or don't care yeah I think busy because if they're out doing these audits for you know smaller entities which is kind of their specialty it sounds like uh there's a lot of people who need that and that was the state auditor was in town maybe two years ago I think and and just said they were overwhelmed and and that's why audits were taking so long so encouraged governments to reach out to the private audit firms and so that's what we did and uh tagged along with the county as as uh as the they did it as well so I just pointed out as a you know frustrating aspect of of life and and uh it we need to think about some options and I think we can do that with the county and the Eda because we're all in the same boat with the same auditor and uh I think really the promises of being done in June is what kind of concerns me that uh just did say which year right I actually did check that yes it did say 2024 well I think you know obviously if we continue a relationship with them we'll have to have buildin performance benchmarks with penalties yeah based on this experience and if they're not happy with that we got to find somebody else to do the work I think what we you can't you can't contract to do work and just not do it not so they so they have the draft the the sort of confusing thing is there's a principle Andy hering who's the gentleman we've mostly Count's direct we worked with as well he needs to do a final review of that draft that his staff does and he just hasn't had the time or been able to complete that b was on vacation for a few weeks that me yeah June remember though um there's a lot of weeks in there uh I think the the I can say what I I can say what I think that get a matter you can fire me um I think the concern is that we reached out to and I personally reached out to auding firms I knew in the duth metro area and I talked to five myself I know these two gentlemen reached out to a couple as well um the hr's account by itself is so small that a lot of firms just don't want to deal with it yeah same thing with the Eda they have the same issue so if there is a way to for the county Eda and HRA to do a suite and say hey three for one special uh and then these entities reimburse the county you might get more uh competitive attraction there otherwise I'm just my concern is you can do another RFP and then you get you know one response again from the same outfit um so anyway and we expected be charged a little extra this year because they were basically setting up our books I mean we've got uh you know bookkeeper but the the first formal segment of HRA is a standalone entity essentially uh that's what they've done and and and uh that that takes extra effort I get that from what a normal audit would be but uh just a a concern out there so uh but I think you're right I think we really need to play off of the county because otherwise I don't I don't we didn't have much luck finding anybody else who'd uh be willing to audit us or or if they were they were their fee was pretty high yeah so uh okay any other commissioner items here well hearing none is there a motion I'll move to J it's been moved there a second second we've been seconded all those in favor of joury say I I opposed thanks very much thank you jam what is this to I meant to discuss that it's just my notes from the meeting I went