May 3, 2023 Minutes

Weld County CDBG Advisory Committee Minutes

Weld County Public Works (1111 H Street, Greeley, CO 80631)

1. Call to Order: Nicholas Wharton, Chair, called the meeting to order at 3:03 pm. Other Advisory Committee members present were Dean Moyer, Jodi Hartmann, AJ Krieger, Janet Meisel-Burns, and Deb Lewis-DeMille. A quorum was present.

2. Chair Wharton asked for review of the April 5, 2023, minutes and if there are any amendments. Seeing none, Committee Member Krieger motioned for approval of the minutes as presented and was seconded by Committee Member Hartmann. The motion passed unanimously.

3. Ms. Relford let the Committee know that Cynthia wouldn’t be here because she is attending HUD’s Environmental Review training and therefore, she was presenting the project update spreadsheet, which was attached to the meeting invite. Elizabeth went down the list with specific project updates.

4. Ms. Relford informed the Advisory Committee that the Commissioners agreed with the Committee’s recommendation for the 2023 project allocations and approved the five projects at their regularly scheduled Board meeting on April 24, 2023. Staff will bring back the two waitlisted projects to the Committee at their June meeting.

5. Staff drafted a waitlist policy for discussion with the Advisory Committee. The Committee agreed the word, “waitlist” needed to be better defined for the policy. In addition, they agreed a more appropriate name for this policy would be “unallocated funds,” rather than waitlist. Staff will make those changes and provide a revised definition for waitlist to better describe how projects waiting for funding will be prioritized. A revised policy will be provided at the next meeting.

Commissioner Ross joined the meeting during the policy discussion. After the Committee concluded their policy discussion, Commissioner Ross expressed his gratitude to the Committee, on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners, for their service to Weld County. He also handed out challenge coins and thank you notes as a token of the Board’s appreciation.

6. CDBG staff expressed appreciation for Commissioner Ross attending this meeting and being able to update the Committee on our most recent conversation, as Public Work’s Commissioner Coordinator, on discussions to conduct a work session with the Board to utilize CDBG Admin funds towards a Housing Needs Assessment for unincorporated Weld County. The Committee felt it was an important tool that is needed to assist decision making efforts. Committee Member Krieger made a motion to recommend the BOCC utilize CDBG administration funds for a housing needs assessment in unincorporated Weld County. The motion was seconded by Committee Member Meisel-Burns with the motion unanimously being approved.

7. Other Business – The Committee asked about the summer schedule and what staff is anticipating for meetings? Some of the Committee members would like to take tours of the

CDBG projects. Staff agreed and said we would coordinate a field trip. In addition, if there is not a lot on the agenda, we could also conduct a remote meeting or cancel and move the items to the next month. The Committee knows we will meet in June to review the two waitlisted projects, so we will further discuss the summer schedule at the June meeting.

In addition, the Committee thought it would be good to revisit the bylaws, since that may be the more appropriate location to incorporate the new policy; therefore, amending the bylaws will also be a discussion item for the June meeting.

The CDBG Advisory Committee meeting adjourned at 3:48 p.m.

The next meeting is scheduled for June 7, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. at the Public Works, main conference room, 1111 H St., Greeley, CO 80631.