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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20220906 Hybrid CRA Board Budget Workshop MINUTES OF HYBRID BUDGET WORKSHOP DANIA BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2022 — 5:00 P.M. 1. Call to Order/Roll Call Chair James called the meeting to order at 5:03 p.m. Present: Chair: Tamara James Vice-Chair: Marco A. Salvino, Sr. Board Members: Joyce L. Davis Lori Lewellen Lauren Odman—via virtual attendance Executive Director: K. Michael Chen City Attorney: Thomas Ansbro CRA Secretary: Thomas Schneider 2. Budget Presentation Director Chen noted the budget process this year was different from last year and he reviewed the information included in the agenda packet. The total CRA budget this year is $3,030,000, which is a decrease of$419,000 from 2022. 3. Budget Discussion Chair James said she wanted to know what the miscellaneous seafood revenue was. Frank DiPaolo, Chief Financial Officer, said $667,000 of the budgeted revenue is for the Celeste project. He is not sure why it is comingled with the Arts and Seafood Celebration as it has nothing to do with it. Chair James asked about the Celeste/Trion accounting. Director Chen noted the $667,000 remaining obligation will be claimed. He explained the line- item accounting. Chair James asked about the reserves for 2023. She commented we have no reserves; it shows zero. Director Chen explained he relied on Finance for the revenue/reserve accounts to be filled out. The first column is the 2022 budget. Under 2023, it ranges from interest and other earnings and miscellaneous revenues and transfers from the General Fund. Board Member Davis said the only clarification she needed is the differentiation of roles between what the CRA and the City are investing for the Arts and Entertainment District. Let us define the roles for each entity so we are clear. Director Chen responded he did not have a line item specific to the Arts and Entertainment District; however, he included anticipated expenses that would go toward the district. He addressed the line item expenses for this purpose. Regarding the City allocation of CDBG funds and allocations specifically identified for the Arts and Entertainment District, he has spoken to City Manager Garcia to develop strategies together. There is an anticipation of the CRA sharing ideas with the City. Board Member Davis noted if we could know ahead of time, it is prudent to have the information in advance to see what the line items are going towards. Director Chen said he will try to develop more detail on it. He has included in this budget the Complete Streets design, which is what they discussed regarding a collaborative outcome. Chair James asked how much money is allocated for the Arts and Entertainment District that Director Chen put in other places. Director Chen explained in total, it looks to be approximately $150,000; District Stimulus Incentives of $70,000, Business Attraction and Expansion Grants of $55,000, the Complete Streets Engineering of $50,000; Incubator Cost and CRA office of $60,000 for rent and an additional $15,000 for operating expenses to set up a strong Arts and Entertainment District. Chair James asked if there was conversation about the incubator with the City and with duplicating efforts here at City Hall and at the incubator. Director Chen noted he worked with Chief Financial Officer DiPaolo, on this. There is not a duplication of effort; the additional IT support is for a secure interne connection. Chair James said she is not on board with the satellite office. Vice-Chair Salvino commented he thinks the incubator would work but it is how we approach it. He does think about the Arts and Seafood Celebration, the PATCH, and developments we are doing in the City. He felt there should be admission for the Arts & Seafood Celebration and questioned why, with such a great program, we do not charge admission and instead fund the program from the City. The funds coming back from that could be put for other programs. Regarding the PATCH, we could use the undeveloped lots for more affordable housing in the area. There are a lot of things we do in the CRA that costs us a lot of money. There are so many different ways we are spending money; we could put those funds to the betterment of the City. Board Member Lewellen noted she has been saying for years there should be a fee for the Arts and Seafood Celebration; a minimal fee, maybe $5.00 per person for adult admission. Regarding Minutes of Hybrid Budget Workshop 2 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. the Complete Streets and the Arts and Entertainment District, she asked how the arrangement is with the City. Director Chen responded he has had some conversation with the City; he understands the City has two target streets for the Arts & Entertainment District. The City's priority right now is the NW 1st Street corridor. Basically, that is one side of the corridor; the other is the West 1st Avenue corridor. Board Member Lewellen asked if there had been discussion, for example, of the certain aspects of the street, whether it is going to be the arts component or the street improvement aspect. We are all trying to understand the breakdown. Director Chen said he sees the Complete Street program; Community Development and Public Services have handled all the activity to date. It is the NW 1st Street corridor. As the CRA, he is looking to the West 1st Avenue corridor as the economic development aspect. The CRA has a more active role there because of what we would be bringing there. Board Member Lewellen felt it would be good to have a CRA presence on US-1 as opposed to coming to City Hall. City Manager Garcia noted she was present virtually. Chair James commented we are getting ARPA monies for the City of $500,000; she is uncomfortable with the CRA spending $150,000 without a plan. City Manager Garcia explained she met with Director Chen, Business Attraction & Investment Manager Harris, and Deputy City Manager Sosa-Cruz last week to be ready for this meeting. With the $500,000 the City set aside, we are focusing on the area from Grampa's to Dania Beach Boulevard, over to Nyberg Swanson. We are working with Community Development regarding zoning and will be working with Parks & Recreation regarding green space on that campus; also, with art in public places. We will be working with Public Services to look at the street from Grampa's to the Post Office to make the street pedestrian friendly. From discussions last week, Director Chen's $150,000 would focus on complete streets and connectivity. Director Chen having money in his budget to focus on connectivity was what we discussed the CRA money would be focused on. Director Chen noted the money he put in the CRA budget was to try to fill stores and tie them to the West 1st Avenue corridor; that was his intent for CRA money. Regarding the Complete Streets project, we have the same concept of Phase I and he addressed it. Chair James said so Director Chen not doing connectivity. We are not on the same page; City Manager Garcia said connectivity and Director Chen said it is not connectivity. She questioned where the connectivity is. Director Chen responded the connectivity he is working on is to bring the traffic to the West 1st Avenue corridor. Minutes of Hybrid Budget Workshop 3 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. ommunity Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. Board Member Lewellen noted part of it is bringing the whole City together and she feels this is something being missed completely. Chair James said we can create a project for them to do and asked Board Member Lewellen what she is asking. Board Member Lewellen commented she wants to use the money for connectivity. Board Member Davis agreed with the connectivity project but does not want to cancel out the incubator project. Chair James questioned if it leaves us with$90,000. Director Chen explained nothing he said suggests the CRA is excluding themselves from NW 1st Street; those two corridors are intercepting each other. It is the way to connect the north/west business district as well as the east/west business corridors. It needs to be done in phased projects. Doing 2-3 block segments is the connectivity he thinks the Board is looking for. Chair James suggested keeping the incubator, but everything else for the Arts and Entertainment District should go to connectivity. Board Member Odman said ever since we had the CRA Board meeting with the arts people, it is not crystal clear to her what these projects are. She does not understand. She hears what the City Manager said and understands it; then Director Chen says something different. Usually, after enough time, she gets what the City Manager says, and she can explain it to someone else. She does not get that from Director Chen. She is lost on what Director Chen explained about connectivity and not fully understanding the projects. City Manager Garcia explained the City's piece. The City is focusing only from Grampa's all the way to Dania Beach Boulevard, to where the Post Office begins which is at the end where the Women's Club is; with this $500,000 from Grampa's to the Women's Club, including the City Hall campus. Board Member Odman asked what part of the connectivity the CRA is doing. Director Chen responded that segment of corridor is also critical to the CRA plan. Part of that is to create an environment that is walkable, café space, and event space; we are talking about very much the same thing. The piece the CRA can bring to the table, such as the incubator, has a very good chance to get federal funding. It will leverage everything we want to do. One thing we want to do is the burying of the overhead power lines in this corridor; we are talking about the same corridor. City Attorney Boutsis said if she understands it correctly, the CRA is not investing in infrastructure but using the grants to focus on this area. Minutes of Hybrid Budget Workshop 4 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. ctor Chen responded the connectivity he is working on is to bring the traffic to the West 1st Avenue corridor. Minutes of Hybrid Budget Workshop 3 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. ommunity Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. Director Chen noted that is correct with one exception; he did put money in the budget to accelerate the engineering to make the application for funding. Chair James said she wants to be clear when saying using those funds for the businesses. She had a conversation with Director Chen about giving one of the businesses $50,000 to move to Dania Beach. She is not in favor of paying businesses $50,000 to come here. Director Chen addressed a Business Attraction and Retention Grant Program he intends to bring to the Board. He has funding in the budget to fund the growth of businesses along the corridors. Regarding the $50,000, there are catalyst type of businesses that would help Dania Beach create the identity. He did not make a specific proposal. Chair James commented if it is something we are going to fund, Director Chen said he has another grant program, and they are not very successful. She wants to know specifics of what the money is for. Director Chen is having the Board approve money in placeholders. He told her $50,000 is going to some business; our own businesses are being turned away. We are in a place now that we do not have to give money to anyone to come here. She wants to be clear on what she wants to support. She wants to know exactly where it is going. Right now, there are very little plans of what Director Chen is asking for. Chief Financial Officer DiPaolo noted to be clear, there is $50,000 in Complete Streets Engineering, $70,000 in District Stimulus Incentive and $55,000 for Business Attraction funding, for a total of$175,000 available for this discussion. Director Chen said he does have a draft of the business incentive program. He is confused as a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the incubator, and it did not make sense to talk about it without the budget discussion. He does have a draft program for a business expansion and incentive grant and has asked for $50,000 to support that. Chair James commented it did not make sense to make a financial decision on whether we wanted the incubator when there are still questions. She asked what the hours of the incubator program will be. Director Chen responded he has the information, and it will be on the agenda next week. Chair James said Director Chen is not prepared; we should not decide financially without the budget discussion first. Vice-Chair Salvino noted we are going back and forth. He recommends we approve the funding Director Chen is asking for, then when he brings the programs to us and if we do not like it, we deny it; for each individual item that comes up. We should approve the funding and if it is not used, it should be put it in next year's budget. Chair James asked how much is in reserves for the CRA. Director Chen said we do not have any reserves this year. Minutes of Hybrid Budget Workshop 5 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. er 6,2022—5:00 p.m. Chief Financial Officer DiPaolo noted the budget before the Board is using all the available CRA reserves to support the budget this year. Vice-Chair Salvino questioned if something comes up down the road and we do not use the funds, if there is a way we can take from our General Fund and add that to it later. Chief Financial Officer DiPaolo explained CRA funding is just a transfer from the General Fund. If an initiative comes up, the Commission could allocate additional funding. Chair James said the CRA properties have become highly polluted or trashed and she would like to fence in those properties. She would like money in the budget for that. Vice-Chair Salvino suggested perhaps we should put a list together of things we want done and submit them to Director Chen. He would not be content deciding on each property without knowing the complete status. Chair James noted typically, we would bring projects to a budget workshop that we want to see done, like signage. As for fencing in those properties, we cite other people, and we are not doing a good job of keeping up with our own properties. She is not sure how we are to maintain the properties we have; at least we could put a fence around them. Vice-Chair Salvino said if the CRA cannot handle them, they need to return them back to the City. Each lot should be put up on the screen and we need to decide what we are going to do with them. We need to make a decision on what to do with each parcel. He is not opposed to fencing them in but does not think it is going to get us anywhere. Chair James addressed the lot on West Dania Beach Boulevard; she sees tents on it, it is nasty and is a representation on us. She is not opposed to selling a property, as long as it is not only market value; we need to give opportunity to people living in the CRA. If we can sell those properties and put a restriction on them, she would not be opposed but she would not want to sell a lot to keep the market rate. We have to look at who we are serving and where these homes would be. City Manager Garcia agreed with Chair James; with buildable lots we could sell them with a caveat of affordable housing or an RFP for affordable/workforce housing. With the unbuildable lots, we could do community parks or dog parks; we can augment our green space footprint for parks. Director Chen said the CRA Board needs to have a discussion on all the lots. At the next meeting, he has a discussion item on the CRA properties. He wants to do a publication; this is a discussion that needs to happen. Board Member Lewellen noted she is listening and not sure if these are good ideas. She is not opposed to a publication, but perhaps it would be a good idea to have a workshop about the properties to discuss, then determine which ones we put in a publication. Fencing the properties Minutes of Hybrid Budget Workshop 6 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. .m. er 6,2022—5:00 p.m. is not a good idea; we should workshop it and put this on the back burner now. We should look at them individually and not put them in as a budget item now. Director Chen said we will step up monitoring on this; we do drive-bys and we have a lawn service to cut these properties. We will step that up so it will be less of a community nuisance. Chair James commented she does not understand how the CRA does not have reserves. Now we have no comprehensive plan for anything, and we are filling the budget up with money that we cannot account for. She does not see why the incubator cannot be virtual. We are giving money and we do not have clear answers. She cannot in good faith support the budget. Vice-Chair Salvino noted we have to get the budget done; we pass the budget and vote on individual items when they come up. If we are not happy with the program, we deny it. We should allow it to go through the budget. He would not approve anything without an explanation. Chair James asked if she comes back with projects, whether there will be an issue with where the money is going to come from. Vice-Chair Salvino said we either get it from the General Fund or sell properties to fund it. Right now, we do not have any answers. Board Member Odman commented she agrees it is not the best way to do this, but as Vice-Chair Salvino said, it is the way to go now. She suggested going forward with the budget, and as Director Chen brings items forward for Board approval, we vote on them, but fund them now. Board Member Davis noted she agrees with her colleagues; we need to look at the process for the future. She wants to see documentation on each project brought forward, a comprehensive plan in writing with documentation. She agreed with Board Member Odman's comments about questions from our residents. We need to move forward where we are going now, but in the future, we need documentation and justification. Chair James asked if there will be a comprehensive plan for the incubator. Director Chen said yes and addressed his understanding of the budget process. Money is budgeted, then he brings forward specific projects. Chair James noted she hopes there is more organization and thought to what Director Chen is bringing to the Board and reminded him that he is accountable to them. Minutes of Hybrid Budget Workshop 7 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. ion item on the CRA properties. He wants to do a publication; this is a discussion that needs to happen. Board Member Lewellen noted she is listening and not sure if these are good ideas. She is not opposed to a publication, but perhaps it would be a good idea to have a workshop about the properties to discuss, then determine which ones we put in a publication. Fencing the properties Minutes of Hybrid Budget Workshop 6 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m. .m. er 6,2022—5:00 p.m. 4. Adjournment Chair James adjourned the meeting at 6:15 p.m. ATTEST: COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGEN Y UlThut4L(Z1--- THOMAS SCHNEIDER, CMC TAMARA J E CRA SECRETARY CHAIR—C Approved: October 11, 2022 �+ DANIA BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY Minutes of Hybrid Budget Workshop 8 Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, September 6,2022—5:00 p.m.