Minutes, August 20, 2019
Minutes from the August 20, 2019 Clarksville CDC Monthly Meeting
Board members in attendance: Aly Byatt, BJ Friedman, Paula Hern, Mary Reed, Chris Thomas, Gregory Tran
Others in attendance: Rose Gabriel
Approved minutes from July meeting with amendments. Aly made the motion and Gregory seconded. All ayes.
BJ reviewed the financial statements and finance committee report. We are in the black for the first time in several months. Total assets/liabilities = $883,689.78. Net income = $213.67. Mary wants clarity on ice cream social costs. She also asked why loan costs are considered “other assets”. Rose said that she would ask the auditor. Minutes from the Finance Committee meeting are at the end of these minutes.
Rose deviewed property management report. One tenant is late on rent. They are on a rent increase plan; they owe about $550 in back rent. New tenants move into 1720a on August 23. Lots of maintenance in July – several A/C motors went out and had to replace 3 stoves.
Mary discussed the funding applications submitted to the City of Austin. We completed the application grant for the affordable housing bond funds for construction of a new CCDC house – it was a lot of work. Total construction costs are estimated at $197k. We are asking the city for $104,650, we are looking to get $20k from American Youth Works, and the CCDC plans to foot the remaining $73k. We also completed the grant application to the COA's Office of Economic Development to get Heritage Tourism money for Haskell House repairs. We have asked the city for $48k. To get the funds the HH must become a “tourism destination”. Mary noted that a number of board members have agree to become HH docents.
Pamela Hill (CCDC auditor) presented the results of the CCDC's draft audit. Overall there were no surprises. The “auditors opinion” was that everything presented fairly and everything was in accordance with GAAP. There were several questions about how depreciation was calculated – based on rebuild cost (not fair market value) – depreciation is 40 years for the structure and 20 year for improvements. The auditor noted that the CCDC finance committee should review and document the monthly bank reconciliation statements monthly and approve everything. Auditor also made the following points: 1. Important that the CCDC adequately insure its properties; that it's extremely important that the board pay close attention to the CCDC's financial statements and the organization's overall operations in order to minimize risk; and that the CCDC needs to have a system in place to track by property, the organization's compliance with all loan and deed restrictions.
Mary presented information on the land use code. Lots of work will likely go into this; Aubrey, Mary, and some OWANA people working on a multi-layer map. We expect given the current position of the city council that getting it to change its proposed new land use code will be a challenge, but we are doing everything we can to prepare. Kathy Tovo’s office is organizing a District-wide meeting to educate residents about the proposed land use code, which is important because right now most people don't have a clue about it and the code is likely to have huge ramifications for them. Mary also noted that she has learned that: 1. the City of Austin has not connected with AISD at all regarding the land use code even though it will have a big impact on the AISD; 2. the City has given no consideration to date as to who will bear the cost of infrastructure upgrades; and 3. although there is a lot of concern that more multi-family housing will lead to more illegal STRs, the City has done nothing to plan for this eventuality. Mary is going to a screening on Monday for a movie about CodeNext.
Mary briefly discussed the ice cream social. Overall it went well and was very well-attended. Gregory won (again).
In “Other Business” - Mary got an email from the Elm Group (owns 24 Diner) – 24 Diner having a 10 year anniversary party; they originally planned to call it “Clarksville neighborhood party”. Mary successfully persuaded them to change the name.
No executive session
Actions taken via Electronic Vote:
· On August 1, 2019, the board voted to authorize Rose Gabriel to submit an application on behalf of the CCDC to the Austin Housing Finance Corporation for up to $175,000 for affordable housing bonds to construct a new CCDC house to be located at 1611 W. 10th. The action was approved unanimously.
· On August 13, 2019, the board voted to approve applying to Frost Bank for an unsecured line of credit in the amount of $50,000. The action was approved by more than the 2/3 majority required by the CCDC bylaws.
Both of these matters were time-sensitive and could not wait until the August meeting.
Minutes from August 15, 2019 CCDC Finance Committee Meeting
In attendance: BJ Friedman, Mary Reed, Rose Gabriel
1. Everyone reviewed the July financials. There were no corrections needed.
2. Rose noted that the CCDC’s income for the year to date was $11,525.00
3. Mary asked for an explanation of the Loan Costs line item under Other Assets on the balance sheet and mentioned that she had never seen that item before. Rose did not know what it was and said she would ask the auditor.
4. Rose also noted that the balance sheet looks a little different this month because of adjustments the auditor made.
5. Rose said that she thinks that once construction begins on the new single family home she can reduce the CCDC’s total contribution to less than what is on the application we submitted to the COA for affordable bond fund money. We have asked the city to give us $104,650. American Youth Works is contributing $20,000 and as of now, the CCDC is contributing $73,300.
6. BJ reviewed the July bank statement and compared invoices and receipts to checks written and debits made asking questions when she did not understand something.
7. Rose indicated that she is beginning work on the CCDC’s new operating budget and said that if we are awarded the bond fund money and the heritage tourism grant money, she will need to increase her hours.
8. She also noted that the amount of rent income we will be receiving is going to make things tight because the new tenants living in CCDC housing are not paying as much as the tenants they replaced. We will need to be very careful with our spending therefore.
9. BJ suggested that maybe we should consider a capital campaign to raise money for an endowment. Mary said that she knows a couple possible sources of assistance planning and managing such a campaign and will tap them in order to find out what’s involved.
10. All agreed that having a Line of Credit as well as access to the Home Base money will provide the CCDC with nice safety nets.