Everybody and welcome to the June 18th, 2026 Committee of the Whole.

I am Commissioner Shekaira Johnson, District 4 Commissioner and Presiding Officer.

We will get going with our agenda today.

I do believe Commissioner Masaya is joining joining us virtually.

So we will start with the committee reports.

Commissioner Terry, are you ready?

Madam Presiding Officer, we didn't have a FAB meeting.

So no report, but we will look forward to getting back together on next Tuesday, June 23rd at 2 p.m.

for that.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Ummissioner Patrick.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer.

Uh PWI had a very lengthy agenda agenda.

The last time we met, it was uh 16 pages.

I believe we had over 20 agenda items.

Um the important stuff, and everything we do is important, of course, but some of the really big items were over three million dollars.

And uh those items, several of them just came back from audit from Mr.

Labwa Campbell's department has completed his review of those, and those will be coming back to PWI this afternoon.

So as always, please tune in at about 3 30 and we'll have that conversation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Patrick.

Commissioner Marita Davis Johnson.

Thank you, madam presiding officer.

Uh good morning, everyone.

I am Marita Davis Johnson, and I chair the uh county operations committee, also known as the ops committee.

My colleagues who serve on that committee with me, uh Commissioner Robert Patrick and Commissioner Ladina Bolton.

The uh ops committee met on Tuesday uh June the second, where committee members was joined by Commissioner Ted Terry.

During that meeting, we approved the minute, the meeting minutes from the May the 21st ops meeting.

There were uh five new agenda items, uh facility management items were approved, uh innovation and technology items were approved.

There were two previously heard items, innovation and technology items 26071, a change order of Oracle Cloud Services Contract was recommended deferral, facility management item 260781.

A change order, uh on call roof maintenance services was recommended approval as supported by audit.

The committee held a discussion on child review and discuss section 15.

We've gotten appointments to public office and 20 we got in contracts.

Committee members uh continued the discussion of standing procedure rules, which items on presiding officers sections E and H being reviewed by the Law Department.

The ops committee will meet again uh this afternoon at 1 p.m.

Join us live on uh DC TV for the greatest show on her.

And thank you and I move back.

I thought I would take that from uh PWI didn't since he didn't think he didn't state in this uh comment.

You gotta say it.

It's always implied.

It's always implied.

We we go by dollar value.

Okay.

Commissioner Messiah, are you on?

I am on.

You ready to give your report or I am young?

Thank you so much.

Great morning.

So I'll thank you, Madam P.O.

I'm Commissioner Nicole Messiah, and I have the honor of serving as your pet here along with the members of Commissioner Robert Patrick from District 1 and Commissioner Long Spears from District 2.

Our last regularly scheduled meeting was held June 9th, 2026, where those in attendance were myself, Commissioner Patrick, Commissioner Longspears, Commissioner Johnson, and Commissioner Terry.

There were 17 agenda um items due to the time constraints.

We reviewed nine of the items, nine of which were recommended for approval.

The remaining eight items will be moved to our next PECS meeting to be held next Tuesday on June 23rd.

And I'm finally getting a uh to enjoy myself a half of a second.

You all so please forgive me for not being there in person, but um did need to take a um a bit of a breather.

So thank you so much, madam PL, the rest of my colleagues for allowing me to um join via Zoom, and that concludes my PECS committee report.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Massia.

Um, Commissioner Bolton.

Good morning, everyone.

I am Ladina Bolton, your super district seven commissioner, but also the chair of employee relations and public safety.

And on our last meeting, which was June 2nd.

Um, in attendance, we didn't have Commissioner Marita Davis Johnson and myself, but also serving on that committee was Commissioner Nicole Massia.

We did have a pretty full agenda on that June 2nd meeting.

Uh, one of the items, which was 20260903, an item that was approved.

This was for the fire station 16 and 27 at those locations, a lease agreement for street lighting.

So I know a lot of folks will be excited about that.

Also, for approval of what we approved out of committee is item 0687, and that was to obtain inspection care maintenance and cleaning of PPE personal protective equipment for our fire rescue team.

Also, for approval item 0303.

This was to purchase and repair their SCBA equipment, and this is self-contained breathing apparatus.

Item 0683 was an item out of district three, and you guys have heard about this before.

This was a resolution for a egregious littering and the illegal dumping of scrap tires.

So, as you know, we did have to hold that in committee, but we do look forward to going ahead and moving that through.

Item 2026 0596 was deferred, and this was an ordinance to regulate the restraint and transportation of animals.

We had our first discussion on that.

We had some guests to come in and uh give their expertise.

Really good discussion.

So we're looking forward to the next opportunity.

We have to talk about that item.

Also held in committee uh was a resolution requesting the administration to establish an independent civilian oversight and audit committee, and this would be for the digital shield initiatives that was held because we had not had an opportunity to discuss that item.

But a really big item on our agenda from that June 2nd meeting was item 2026 0941.

And you guys know we talked about the home rule ordinance.

This was to amend the pension so that any DeCab County employee who was killed on duty or in the line of duty, their families would continue to benefit through pension from their service to the county.

So we were really excited to discuss that.

Looking forward to approving it.

Just had a few tweaks that we needed to go through, but that item will be one of the most championed items that we will have this year in 2026 in the ERPS committee.

And with that, I yield back.

Thank you so much.

So now we will move into review of the proposed executive agenda.

Good morning, Mr.

Williams.

Good morning, madam presiding officer and members of the board.

I'd like to begin the review of the proposed executive agenda for June 23rd with proposed public hearing items.

There's a total of three.

The first is item 1045, which is the advalorum tax millet rate budget revision for public hearing.

Next is 0995, application director of planning and sustainability for a public hearing to consider approving a resolution to accept the planning process and development of the 2055 United Unified Plan Udate.

The last public hearing is uh 0943 traffic calming petition, Terry and Drive between Clifton Springs Road and Terry and Way at no cost to the county.

Next, we have under proposed preliminary items.

There's a total of uh looks like six items for the airport.

Item uh 2026 1004 standardized tea hangar space lease agreement with Jonathan Ebler, no cost to the county.

Consent consent.

Next is uh 1016.

Approve a ground leaf estoppel certificate and consent to assignment to the CAB County contract number 2025 uh 100 118 by the maintenance group LLC consent consent.

Next is item 1017, approved ground lease estoppel certificate and consent to assignment to the CAB County contract number 2025 100117 by the maintenance group LLC consent.

Under the CAB County contract number 2025-100118 with Arrow Center PDK West LLC.

Consent.

Last our next is item 2026 1019 approved consent to leasehold mortgage and security agreement under DeCab County Contract 2025 100117 with Arrow Center, PDK West LLC.

Consent.

Consent.

And then the last of the airport items is item 1020, lease agreement extension with Federal Aviation Administration at no cost to the county.

Consent.

Next, under the chief executive office, we have uh two items.

The first is resolution approving the issuance of housing authority of DeCab County Taxable Revenue Bonds, housing investment program series 2026 and the aggregate principal amount not to exceed 25 million dollars for the purpose of funding the housing investment bond program and authorizing the execution delivery of an intergovernmental housing cooperative or cooperation agreement between the county and housing authority.

We like this in PECS or FAV.

I think for this one it's uh a bond, so Fab FAV.

Yeah, the next one probably is PECS.

Yeah.

Next item is uh item 1044 resolution authorizing initial implementation of the count county housing investment bond program by approving the creation and implementation of the multi-family acquisition fund, the CAB housing catalyst multifamily gap financing program, the CAB Home Start Down Payment Assistance Program, the CAB Brighter Home Ownership Occupied Rehabilitation Program, revived the CAB multifamily blight redevelopment program, transitional housing and homelessness program, and housing capacity seed fund program collectively the HIB initial programs.

Resolution further approves the initial allocation of affordable housing fund resources to support these initiatives, authorizes delegated approval authority were applicable to the primary program administrator and designated sub-program administrators for administration and project approval approvals consistent with adopted guidelines regarding the HIB initial programs and authorizes initial expenditures from the Affordable Housing Fund to support operational capacity, systems development, technical services, legal services, advisory services, and homeless service necessary to advance affordable housing production, preservation, neighborhood stabilization, and homelessness response efforts throughout the county.

I know there's a lot.

I know, Madam.

You know, Mr.

Wilson.

I know, I know.

We've been working this is I promise you this is the shortened version.

Um there's no way.

But uh I guess this would be a PECS item.

And Dr.

Ferguson.

And then just to if we just very briefly can go back to the previous item, because we've heard um we've heard bonds related to housing in PECS before, as a matter of fact, when it came to the uh bond that we passed for 155 million dollars, that just went through PECS.

So to my colleague, if he would like it heard it in FAB as well, that's fine, but I would like it to uh to go through PECS as we've dealt with and had come through our PECS committee bonds before related to housing.

Yes, I'm okay with that.

Um, and maybe just to the same uh sort of comparison, I think, because 1044 is also discussing approving a bond program.

Uh we could take that one in fab as well.

All right, yeah.

They're their companion items.

Okay, so we'll put these both in fab and PECS.

That's what we're saying.

Yes, please.

Next item uh the bottom of page three as 0948 update to the 2024 through 2028 consolidated plan for Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD programs, including the 2026 annual action plan, federally funded at no cost to the county.

That'd be PECS.

Yes.

Next at the top of page four, item 1023 to declare 15 county owed and vacant properties surplus and transfer the county's interest to parcels of real estate to the regional land bank authority.

We have that text.

Yes, please.

Next, under transportation item uh 1022 to allocate 500,000 of category B3 bicycles, path lanes, multi-use trails of SPLOS two funding for the Laredo Drive Bicycle Facility, PWI.

PWI, please.

Uh next we have purchasing and contracting items.

We begin the middle of page four.

There's 10 items for uh ERPS.

Madam ERPS chair, are you good with your item?

Worth it on our next we are on uh towards the bottom of page six under ops.

There's a total of seven items for ops.

Is we're good.

Ops is good.

The middle of page eight uh for the PECS committee, there's a total of five items.

Uh for the PECS committee, there's a total of five items.

PECS is good.

PECS is good.

And then we have a total on page nine towards the middle.

Uh we begin, and there's a total of 15 items for PWI.

Uh PWI is good uh just to confirm one thing.

I know we had I forget the agenda item, but uh it was the 325 million dollar uh agenda item.

When it comes to PWI this afternoon, staff has uh uh I guess a narrative, a description, sort of showing what we're getting explaining how this overall works towards consent decree objectives, um, and sort of that also provides an explanation on what we're doing with that much money at one time.

Well, and it'll show that it's over multiple contracts for multiple years, but yeah, we'll be able to articulate that.

Perfect.

And I see that there's another one uh in the 200 million range.

Um hopefully uh you guys are working on getting a story narrative put together for those as well as it goes through the case.

Scott handler, yeah, clear wells and such, yeah.

Absolutely.

Okay, PWS good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And just to confirm there was no um contracts for FAB.

Right.

Right.

I didn't believe there's any contract that we'll have those items that we just mentioned would go to PAB, and then uh there may be a millage discussion in PAB.

I'm not sure.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

So now towards the bottom of page 12.

Yes.

Uh there are two items.

The first one uh for parts recreation, uh 0901.

Echo addendum, green space restoration cohort, stewardship invasive remove removal training program.

Uh total donation value is $33,884.

So that'd be PECS.

Yes.

It would be PECS.

Thank you, ma'am.

The next item is 1012 2026-1012 to approve an agreement between how big is your dream foundation, Inc.

and DeCab County for 135,000 dollars to conduct youth workshops with music, arts, diversity, and equity at Porter Sanford Performing Arts Center.

Program will take place April 6th, uh 2026 through December 31st, 2026.

And that would also be PECS.

Yes.

Yes, PECS as well.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer.

I have nothing further until there's an opportunity for one walk-up.

All right.

Thank you.

So now we can do our review and recap, or do we want to do the walk-on now?

Let's go ahead and do the walk-on.

I'm allowing one walk-on.

Thank thank you, uh, Madam Presiding Officer.

And we're we'll hand out this item.

I think this would be a PECS item, and it's for an agreement between the county and uh St.

Vincent De Ball.

Uh I'll just hand it out.

Okay, thank you.

And this is uh for the North De Cab Day Center.

And so if we can have this walked on and we'll put it in PECS.

Yes, please.

Okay, thanks.

May I make a request, please, Madam Presiding Officer?

Yes, ma'am.

That this item be heard in PECS on Tuesday.

Have y'all had a chance?

Um, Madam PEX chair, are you on?

She is on.

All right.

Would you consider this item being heard in PECS this coming Tuesday?

And I I can give a little context.

I don't know if the chair is seeing it.

Sure.

Yeah, the chair may not have seen this.

Right.

And so what we what we have is an item to create a north day center like we've just created at New Life.

Um, and the implementation uh with a board's approval, we can get started, quite frankly.

So that that's why we it has a time sensitivity.

Yeah, no, so I'd like it to go um normal course through um PECS.

Absolutely.

And so yeah, I want to I want it to go through um you know normal course and make sure it goes through PECS, please.

Absolutely.

Yes, that is the actually that is the request.

So we're walking it on so that it can't get to PECS as soon as possible.

But just to reiterate my request, madam chair, is I'm requesting that this item be heard in the PECS committee this coming Tuesday.

Is that acceptable?

Um I don't believe that it will be just giving our our PECS um agenda items and the things that we need to make sure that we resolve.

I appreciate your sense of urgency and the fact that we have one now that was just open in South to CAB um area and your desire to um be more immediate now for um opening the same in North to CAB, but similarly to the process we went to cab wanting to make sure we um vetted the organizations that are gonna provide the services and right now just the level set agenda items in PECS committee right now.

I don't see that's doable.

I will definitely as chair ensure that we get it on as soon as possible, but I cannot commit to us hearing it uh during our next uh PECS committee hearing on Tuesday.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and I know you put you don't have this in front of you right now.

There is some time, Commissioner Longspears.

Is we don't have a lot of time, so there is some sensitivity to this, Madam Chair.

If you'll get with Director Alan Mitchell to brief you on this, I know you have not had a chance to see it yet.

Um, and then we will respect your decision to move forward.

Commissioner um Marita Davis Johnson had a question, and then Commissioner Patrick.

Okay.

Yeah, my question is for um Director Mitchell Mitchell.

And I guess it could be for um Zach also.

Is this a time sensitive issue?

And um what is this time sensitive and is there a need now for the Senate to be open?

Uh Commissioner, thanks for answering that question.

The answer is yes.

Uh and the logic is that um it's 10,000 square feet, has been renovated, and uh, we're trying to get this done immediately.

The current schedule is to conclude before Thanksgiving.

So as we wait, uh it would push it past Christmas.

Uh, and that's critical, and it gets to be uh protracted.

We'd like to uh get a contract done to initiate the construction of this facility.

Uh it's property owned by St.

Vincent Nepal, the reputable organization.

Well known, they just got five million dollars from Jeff Bezos.

So Bezo would not give money to uh an organization that's not worthy.

So we think it's urgent to get started.

And if I could, um I have my hand up, I guess they didn't see it.

No, we can't see it.

Is it okay, Madame Pierre?

Yes, go ahead.

Yes.

And so um I think that one of the critical points in using New Life in deciding a partner and that end and provider was them having the infrastructure in place so that the county wasn't incurring um additional expenditures and resources, and to be quite frank, there would be no service um delay to the constituents that it was already in place, and that was the beauty of New Life from all of the ancillary services.

So my suggestion would be to the extent extent that St.

Um Vincent DePaul does not have those immediate infrastructures in place, including the need for additional renovations.

That you know, that's not something we would expect, of course, the constituents to um to incur and have to resolve just to be able to get those ancillary services.

So we might want to similar to what we had to do when it came to what's being provided as a day center in South to Cab that we actually consider um looking at other locations, and so could appreciate um Jeff Bezos and what he is uh attributed, um, but there still needs to be just that direct service um provided as soon as possible.

So let's look at other locations.

If I may yes, and then Commissioner Patrick.

Madam Chair, if we if we could if the board would agree to send this to PECS, I think we can have an opportunity to meet with the PECS chair.

Um, and then that may help to inform her decision making.

Yes, that would be my request that we will walk it on, it'll head to PECS, we'll have the conversations um and then move forward with that.

Thank you.

Commissioner Patrick.

Uh thank you, uh, Madam Presiding Officer.

Yeah, to the to the chair.

Um if we could add this on to the agenda, I realize that time uh and the agenda itself is packed, but uh this is something I think that is critical.

Uh I've been working with St.

Vincent DePaul for several years since coming to office.

We've worked on everything from the motel to home to showers for the homeless uh to uh food distributions.

Um so these folks work in this environment.

This is the sort of their area specialty, and I do think that um it would be worth having that conversation uh this coming Tuesday if if uh if we could please do that.

Okay, so uh I'm just concerned again about the schedule, and then the other piece of it is, and I understand now that what it's being communicated as a sense of urgency, uh to be quite frank, we've gone through um the day center and what was expected to happen and the particular location as it exists now, and that sense of urgency did not um provide itself um and was not communicated, and I think that to now try to um flush it on to an already packed agenda is gonna be um a bit of a challenge.

Um if there was an opportunity to have the discussions prior to that may be something that would have been in consideration.

And um it has been shared that you know, because of the critical nature of PECS and the items we deal with, we don't get through the PECS agenda, and that's something that I've been openly criticized um by you know colleagues about, and I want to make sure that when people sit down and watch the agenda, we actually get through it.

So um again, we also have certain we have items from last PECS agenda that we did not be able we weren't able to address uh either.

So I just don't want to make that promise and not be able to um properly vet things.

I think thank you, Chair.

Uh Commissioner Terry, then Commissioner Vaughn Spears for a follow-up.

Yes, thank you, Madam President Officer.

Um so it looks like the last so if we don't do it on next Tuesday or if we did it on next Tuesday's PECS, um, we'd have come back to July 7th, but then after that is July 14th, and then we have a a month break.

Um so uh Zach, I mean, is if we get it if this we could get it heard and or decided upon either on July 7th or 14th, would that keep us on schedule?

Yes, this is the sooner we get it done, the sooner we move.

So if it's July 7th, great.

If it's the following okay.

It's just it it will allow us to give them the green light to start renovation.

Okay.

Well, I guess if if it's possible if we could just aim to have this um the hopefully the um this come back by at least July 14th, I think.

So maybe we can board meeting on the fourth.

Yes.

Yeah, that's our last one before.

Yeah, we don't have any.

Then we have a month until August.

So I think that's the issue is just trying to, and I know we were sketch trying to get us a FAB meeting scheduled on July 9th so that we could have a meeting before the that last July meeting.

Um so if we if we if we can work it out with a special call PEX meeting, it seems like that would be fine.

But if we're if we need to like come back, we haven't done it yet, we can still present to the full board on the 14th, right?

On on this agenda item.

We'll be prepared to present whenever the board would like.

But so that that you know, we send it to PECS, and then we will work with the chair to see when we can get it on as quickly as possible.

Okay.

You still had your follow-up.

I do.

Okay.

Um, I just really want to emphasize the time sensitivity of this agenda item.

I met with St.

Vincent DePaul earlier this week, and they were unaware of the recess that we are taking, which in effect we're not having any meetings for four weeks.

So we can't take any action on any item.

We it is it is critical that we move this item, advance this item forward prior to the recess.

The reason is is that Director Mitchell is really shooting for this Nordicab day center, which I am very very much in support of, but he would like to see this open around Thanksgiving.

So when it first starts getting cold, I don't know that St.

Vincent DePaul can pull that off.

They were looking towards early December.

So some but but who knows?

I mean, they could probably do it.

But during that time frame, if we punt this, if we kick the can down the road to after recess, what they stated is that they're going to be unable to get the um permits, prepare for the renovation, do the renovation, you know, build it out, bring the partners in and open it bot before it gets cold.

Otherwise, it will be punted into February.

So that is that is a massive delay.

So commissioners, I hope that y'all will please please please consider the time sensitivity and how important this is.

We continue to see our unhoused numbers go up.

I'm so excited and proud of the South to Cab Day Center.

I also believe though, because we have such a dense county, it took me 40 minutes to get from where I live in Brookhaven.

I don't know how long it took Commissioner Patrick to get to South DeCab's Day Center, but having one up in out in in the North to Cab area will really help us provide the resources and supports that we need to our unhoused neighbors and a safe place to be during those cold months.

So again, I'm just hoping that the commissioners recognize the time sensitivity.

Thank you.

Yield back.

I think it was Commissioner Patrick for one follow-up, and then Commissioner Davis Johnson.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Presiding Officer.

Um following what uh Commissioner Spears says, the urgency of this is you know uh district one has homeless folks that are living under bridges.

Uh we were able to get a property that's owned by UPS cleaned up.

They had three separate large encampments with uh I think took a dumpster to clear out all of the trash that was there.

The homeless folks left that location and literally went across the street and and essentially built up the same encampments again.

Um we see homeless folks literally everywhere from Doraville to Shambley to uh Dunwoody.

Uh even Tucker has had uh issues with homeless folks.

Um it would be very wise, and I guess if there's a way to encourage or motion that this at least makes it onto the agenda for next Tuesday, I would like to do that.

Um again, this is a district one location, and uh we are as uh equally affected by the homeless crisis as any other district, and I think that um uh the idea that we're gonna have one homeless shelter to sort of handle all of the needs in DeCab County is is not a reasonable expectation.

Uh I know another commissioner in the past has said, you know, sort of sensitivities of so setting the problems to uh South DeCab is not what we want to do.

Um this is really something at the end of the day that I personally feel we need to have a shelter in each of the five districts, so the supers have multiples within their jurisdiction as well.

Uh and this is one step along the way to getting to that.

So again, I would encourage um my colleagues to support the idea that this does end up on next Tuesday's agenda.

Um, and uh we will uh we'll make it happen.

So thank you.

Thank you for that follow-up.

Commissioner Davis Johnson, your second opportunity.

Yeah, I I would just hope that the administration can uh speak with our chair.

I've um gone shopping at uh perimeter and um I've seen the many many tents uh under that bridge.

And in fact, I came back and I talked to Robert and Michelle.

I think I spoke with you too uh about that.

It's like tech uh tent city.

And so hopefully uh I know that we have a lot on our agenda, but I hope that we can prioritize uh items on the agenda and uh address crucial urgent uh matters that affect uh citizens of DeCab County.

So I yield back.

Thank you so much.

So again, the item is walked on, and we will work through the chair and the administration to get it heard as soon as possible.

If we would like to do a review and recap.

Good morning, Mr.

Mayor.

Good morning, uh Madam Presiding Officer and Commissioners.

Um to that point, um, I think if you look at your um agendas, committee of the whole agendas and and all of the work that are going into the committees, um just keep that in mind as we can operate as expeditiously as possible to get to the the prevalent uh issues at my uh at mine as well.

Um and also one other thing the um the item on page three, the item dealing with the house uh with the housing um items.

You have those um both item 1043 and 1044 going both to Fab and PEX.

I would recommend, if at all possible, that uh as much as can be um the committee members of both maybe sit on each other's committee at least for those agenda items so that you know as many questions can be answered in the midst of the committees as well.

If we can't decide to put it in one committee over the other, if it's gonna be in both, uh I would just ask commissioners as much as you can, those who have interest in it, um, to sit in both committees to be able to add uh have any questions answered that you may have.

Okay.

All right, uh, let's go to the review recap of the new items for the BLC agenda.

Yes, sir.

Um, under board of commissioners, uh item 2026, 1026, Commission Districts all approval of minutes for the June 18th, 2026, Committee of the Whole meeting.

Consent.

Consent.

All right.

Um in District 2, we have items 1031, uh uh allocation of $50,000 from District 2 American Rescue Plan Interest to status, uh home for housing and wraparound services for the CAB residents affected by HIV and AIDS.

Consent.

Consent.

Item 1034, allocation of 30,000 uh of District 2 reserve for appropriation to Jane Goodall Institute to support routes and shoots program at Firm Bank Museum.

Consent.

Consent.

Item 1035, appropriation of 10,000 from the 2026 District 2 Reserve for appropriation for the boys to men and girls to Pearl Summer Camp.

Consent.

Consent.

All right.

Under Super District 6, uh one item 0999.

Resolution to create an independent salary commission to review and make recommendations regarding future compensation of members of the DeCab County Board of Commissioners.

That'd be ops.

Ops, okay.

Um next section, clerk to the board of commissioners and CEO, item 0699, approval of the minutes of the board of commissioners, meeting of June 9th, 2026.

Consent.

Consent.

All right, now we're in superior court.

Uh item two items.

First item is 1027, criminal justice coordinating uh council grant to the DeCab County Adult Felony Drug Court and Veterans Court for $70,688.

Fab.

Is that Fab?

Uh yeah.

Court.

Um actually, Madam Chair.

Just because the these three items are grants, and we might have a like it wouldn't come back until July 7th.

Uh could if there's no objection, let's add these to consent.

Um the next three.

All right.

Consent.

All right.

We're fine with those consent.

Okay.

Um yes, that's items two 1027.

Oh, yes.

Commissioner Patrick.

I was just gonna ask the chair if uh sending it through consent, but maybe having some type of a presentation or discussion just because it is uh collectively, they do add up to a large dollar amount.

Might be good just for the for the benefit of the whole okay.

Yeah, let's um let's just presentation.

I'm not asking for a or can we get um something in email?

An extra report on it or you want it.

Okay and we could still um have we could still talk about it at fab um that afternoon.

Um so in this, I think it's these are standard annual grants.

I think we approved these in the past.

Okay, uh, but why don't we just have them present on what the grants are paying for in fab?

Um just sir, once aware um, but expectation that we would approve it that morning.

Okay, so keep it consent, but there'll be a presentation in fab.

Okay.

So those are items 1027, 1028 is criminal justice coordinated counsel grant to the Cab Felony Mental Health Court, 97,811 consent and going to Fab for a presentation, then final item 1029, uh Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities grant via the criminal justice coordinating council to the DeCab County Felony Drug Court for 197,500.

Consent going to Fab, am I correct?

For presentation, all right.

That is it for the recap.

We have the two presentations, both uh decide the cab is here as well as the advancing housing affordability presentation.

All right, thank you so much.

Thank you.

So confirming the record Mr.

Maine, you want to recap what administration brought forward.

I'm sorry.

Okay, um let's with the CEO's office uh proposed uh public hearing item 1045 uh 2026 ad valorum tax millage rate budget revisions okay, public hearing?

Yes, yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Because I was not uh on this particular yes, thank you.

All right, and uh then we have item go ahead.

And um, so that is the is that the second is the second public hearing or the first one.

That is the first one.

There's one that evening.

Okay, second.

And uh we'll just we'll I mean just because we'll be talking out here, but let's keep it on the fab agenda as well, just for just if we need to have any further discussion.

Gotcha.

All right, public hearing uh item 2026 planning and sustainability 0995, uh application of the director of planning and sustainability for public hearing uh to consider approving resolution to accept the planning process, development of the 2055 unified plan update.

Yes, okay, and that's public hearing.

Third public hearing is uh the public works transportation item uh 0943, commission districts three and six, uh traffic calming petition, Terry and Drive between Clifton Springs Road and Terry and Way, no cost to the county.

That's public hearing as well.

Yes.

Okay, so in uh uh proposed public uh uh proposed preliminary items for the airport.

We have three six items, item uh 10 uh 04, uh standardized T Hanger space lease agreement with Jonathan Ebeler.

Uh we have uh item 1016, approval of ground lease estoppel certificate and consent to assign the deCAB contract, uh number 2025 100 118 by the maintenance group.

So Mr.

Mayor, I think we can do just the agenda item.

Said again, just read the agenda item.

Okay, uh item save some time 1017, 1018, 1019, and 1020, all airport uh items uh for consent.

Consents, all right, CEO's office.

Um item 1043 to Fab.

And PECS and PECS, that's right.

Item 1044, both to Fab and PECS.

Correct.

Uh Community Development Uh 0948 uh to PECS Item 1023 to PECS.

Item 1022, PWI.

Then looks like we have 10 items going to ERPS.

Um 0132 0766 0775 0935 0936 0938 0965 1001 1007 and 1014.

Okay.

Uh all items going to ops now.

We have seven items uh 0764, 0893, 0942, 0953, 0954, 0996, and 1003.

Okay, now we have five items going to the PETS committee 0800, 0802, 0856, 0900, and 1015.

Yes.

Okay.

Items to PWI.

There are 15 of those.

Um items 0197, 0524, 0581, 0644, 0676, 0821, 0845, 0854, 0861, 0874, 0888, 0919, 0922, 0950, and 0951.

PWI.

Okay.

And uh then we have two items under Rex Parks and Cultural Affairs.

Both of them will go to PEX.

Uh 0901 and 1012.

And then we had our walk-on item that will also go to PECS.

Yes.

One item that will go to PECS.

Yes.

And so I just want to take a moment to level set with my commissioners.

There will be a total of nine public hearing items next Tuesday.

So it will be a long day.

So we added three today, and if you look back at what was already scheduled, that's already on the agenda.

So there will be nine public hearing and a couple decision only.

So we're gonna have a long day.

So be prepared.

Yes.

And then um, so we need probably need to think about that for our committees um next Tuesday as well.

So just preparing everybody.

All right, thank you, Mr.

May.

So now we can have our presentations.

First up is decide to cab quarterly update.

Good morning good morning, sir.

How are you doing?

I'm great.

I'm great.

How are you, madam presiding officer?

Doing good, good to see you in person.

Good to see you in person as well, and also member of the decide to cab development authority board of directors.

First meeting was yesterday.

First meeting, and it was a good meeting.

So again, good morning, madam presiding officer, as well as members of the board.

My name is Dorian Dabar, president and CEO of Decide to CAP Development Authority, and I am here to provide your Q1 and Q2 economic development updates from Decide CA.

All right, so first, uh, I think the most important highlight here is that uh this year my board of directors decided to um approve our strategic economic development plan.

And so backing up a little bit.

If you recall, this is a um year-long effort that we decide to cab engage with KB advisors.

KB advisors did a lot of uh community engagement, a lot of conversation with stakeholders across the CAB County, including yourselves, actually.

So thank you all for your input there.

As a result of that, there was engagements as well as the data that they received from various sources around DeCab County, synthesized all of that into a very comprehensive and robust strategic economic development plan that we carried to CAB County forward for the next five years.

This is our third strategic economic development plan, and we are incredibly excited about the results of this.

And if you would like to take a look at it, I'll be happy to share that with each of you.

And it is also available on our website.

A few things.

We're getting started on this at the side to Cab Development Authority, and I want to highlight four initiatives and what we're working on now.

Housing, redevelopment, workforce, and also entrepreneurship.

First, let's talk about housing, supported housing awareness, access, and long-term community investment.

So I do want to pause and highlight and congratulate Chief Housing Officer Alan Ferguson for being a great leader with respect to housing across DeCab County.

Under his leadership, we've done a lot of great work at Decide to Cab already, and we're just getting started.

We're looking at programs, and I don't want to get ahead of them because I know there's a presentation I think following me, but down payment assistance, housing rehabilitation, multifamily gap financing, and capacity funding, capacity building seed fund.

Redevelopment continues to be a key pillar at the side to cab development authority as well as for DeCab County, and I'm incredibly thankful for the leadership of Madam CEO with respect to highlighting redevelopment as one of the key pillars for DeCab County and its advancement.

DeCab County has tremendous opportunities across the board with respect to redevelopment and just seeing existing assets turn to a higher and better use.

Just want to congratulate all involved with respect to the $951,000 approved TAD funding to support the South Peach Street Creek Trail expansion here in DeCab County.

Next, I just want to highlight again.

We had a phenomenal and amazing groundbreaking last week with respect to Countler Crossing.

This is a great development at the intersections of Glenwood and Candler Road.

Close to $30 million development anchored by a published grocery store.

Thank you for Commissioner Patrick for being there and other county commissioners as well.

And just want to thank again, Madam CEO for our leadership with respect to getting this across the finish line and for allowing us to see this as well as the Decide DeCab board of directors.

Through TAD funding, which made this deal possible, we provided a 3.8.82 million dollar TAD funding grant.

Workforce development, again, incredibly important.

When we're talking about economic development, we need widget makers.

We need a very robust workforce, and we have that here in DeCab County.

We have the citizens, close to 800,000 folks call it DeCab County home.

Let's make sure they are upskilled and trained in those industries that are important to DeCab County and those industries we are attracting.

And one important piece of this is ensuring that our students, especially those that attend our public schools at DeCab County School Districts, as well as Georgia P.

My Technical College and the like, that they have access to opportunities and they are aware of the opportunities.

So we are we are highlighting a few things that we are doing and leading here at Decide to Cab.

Members of the Decide to Cab Technology Advisory Council.

This is a phenomenal advisory council that we hold.

And they speak with students across the board about careers that are available.

How can those students enter those careers?

Access opportunities and exposure, those are the three things that we want to make sure that we do.

Graduates of the 2025-2026 Made in the Cab cohort, which just closed, and we're not actually about to start our next cohort.

As a reminder, made in the Cab is a very intense program that we started at Decide to Cab maybe five years ago, and it's incredibly successful.

And it's how do you get the folks that are teaching the curriculum to have communication and contacts directly with the folks that are employing on the back end?

Again, exposure opportunity and access, and it creates all of those three.

Empowering entrepreneurs, as a reminder, most of our folks here in DeCab County are employed by a small business owner.

And that is not true only in DeCab County, but across our great nation.

About 99% of our folks are employed by small and local business owners.

And entrepreneurship is incredibly important to our growth as a county in terms of economic development.

So how are we supporting those folks?

The strategic economic development plan that we just updated highlights that tremendously, but I do want to highlight some things that we are doing already at the side of the Cab Development Authority, which I think brings a focus with respect to the importance.

We recently launched the women-owned business guide for DeCab County.

I would tell you that has been really well received, and folks go to our website constantly to look at that list.

DeCab Small Business Resource Guide.

This is important.

As a small business in DeCab County, you want to know A to Z, where are the resources?

What are the steps to take?

And we are excited to have launched this in collaboration with the DeCab Chamber of Commerce.

And again, together these resources expand access to information, opportunity, and a supportive network for entrepreneurs in DeCab County.

And this is just the beginning of our efforts.

And also, when we tie all of this together, we must do a great job of telling the story of DeCab County.

From June through May, we've had 106 earned media placements.

We've also had a lot in public value for those media placements.

And then the biggest highlights were the South Peach Creek Trail Expansion, Lula Hills, Calvin Cross, and Women Owned Business Guide again a great resource.

Economic Development Week and the Small Business Loan Fund.

So what's ahead for the next two quarters for the to close out the year?

Again, housing redevelopment workforce entrepreneurship.

Cottages at Midway, we look forward to that another groundbreaking, representing more economic development and growth in South DeCab.

Workforce next made and the Cab cohort is beginning now.

Entrepreneurship veteran owned business guide.

So we're we're going to continue to highlight our businesses here in DeCab County.

Continue and giving them the resources that they need and also the opportunities and access.

So with that, that concludes my quarterly report, and I'd be happy to field any questions or comments.

Any questions, Commissioner?

Commissioner Terry, see you first.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um thank you, Dorgan for the clock on.

Thank you for the update.

And um the only thing I wanted to uh just check in on is uh related to the uh Kensington tax allocation district, and just wanted to see what opportunities uh we can uh I guess like schedule really for the board to get kind of the full analysis of the Kensington tax allocation district, sort of its history and what we've been able to accomplish there.

Um, but maybe also just and I think this was part of the um economic development strategic plan is that you know some of the TADs might have been you know created years ago at a certain point in time, but they've they've kind of things have changed since then and boundaries or even uh purposes of the TATS might have changed.

And so I'm curious about uh opportunity for whether in the PECS committee or just at the board of commissioners to get a little bit deeper into what y'all's uh strategic thinking is about uh Kensington in particular.

Um that one seems to be the one that sort of is ripe for kind of a reset.

And I know because the the tax allocation districts really rely on you know when they begin uh in the tax year of when they are you know become functional.

So I'm I'm very interested in having that discussion about sort of sunsetting the existing Kensington TAD, you know, embarking upon an uh an expanded economic development strategy um for an expanded TAD and hopefully something that we could accomplish uh before the end of the year.

Okay, thank you for those comments, Commissioner.

Uh I would tell you briefly that as your redevelopment agent, we're always looking at and assessing the vitality of our TADs, all right.

And we want to make sure that our TAS are doing what they intended to do.

Um, and the Kensington TAD is actually coming up on its expiration date, so that that is a timely conversation we actually need to have with the board of commissions with respect to the future of their TAD.

So we'll be happy to have that conversation.

Great, thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone commissioner Bolton, I think you were in next.

Good morning.

Good morning, good morning.

I want to start by commending you guys on your and on your empowering entrepreneurs initiative.

I love that you have the women-owned guide, the small business resource guide.

Um, but in particular, that you're working on the veteran-owned.

I think that's exceptional.

And I I believe that that is a great model for what I would like to see when it comes to our arts council or our arts initiative having a guide for that as well.

But I did want to ask with respect to the veteran-owned, is that something that you guys notice other counties or jurisdictions are doing, and we're emulating and adapting it to fit the cap or would we be the first in the region?

I like to consider ourselves trails blazers, so yes, we are we are doing this on our own.

We're not following or emulating other counties, not to my knowledge.

Wonderful.

And was there a request for it?

Did you see a specific need or a gap that you were looking to address?

Right.

Again, we're always looking at assessing what our landscape looks like.

And as you all know, we have a very robust BRE program where we actually go out and talk to local businesses all day, every day.

Um, and so as we look at these and talk to these local business owners, we actually have a BRE report that I'm going to actually share with you all at a later date.

Um, and as we had those conversations, it really comes with top of mind or makes it more abundantly clear where the gaps are.

And so that those conversations actually led to the conversation around this veteran-owned uh business guide.

Do we have stats on the number of veteran-owned relative to maybe women-owned or some other this is uh this is an initiative that we're launching in Q3 or Q4, and so once that data comes becomes more um more evident, we'll be happy to share it with you with respect to the number.

Wonderful.

Well, I'm proud of it and thank you guys for thinking of it and being forward thinking about the project.

Uh, but that was it for me, and with that, I yield back.

Thank you so much.

Commissioner Patrick.

Uh thank you, Madam Chair.

Um as a trailbill laser uh Dorian.

Um we do a lot or decide to cab does a lot that's uh out in the forefront, and that's why a lot of initiatives from the Board of Commissioners have gone to you guys.

Uh so thank you for what you guys do.

It's much appreciated, and it it shows that when you put attention and effort into your moneymaker, which is the side to cap, um, it comes back and it helps the community grow.

So uh thank you for for your service and thank you for today's presentation.

Um and I just want to acknowledge that uh I guess Vice President Willis uh will be meeting with my office, and we're gonna be having a conversation about opportunities within district one unincorporated area.

Um, and uh looking forward to those conversations because I think there's a lot of opportunity.

We are literally in the process of wrapping up our small area plan.

So to the commissioners who are considering a small area plan or think there's a place in your district that something could happen or ought to happen, I would encourage you to reach out to uh planning staff to look into that and look at things more as a continuum.

So you have your um small area plan, it will come up with a lot of select suggestions, some of which will be economic development drivers, and then of course we've got uh Mr.

DeBar's team after that to engage with.

So um thank you very much.

Thank you.

Commissioner Terry for a follow-up.

Thank you.

Um, and I agree with what Commissioner Patrick said about the small area plans.

And so I think Dorian, I think we are engaging decide to cab when we do some small area plans, but I think it would be good to the extent that some of them have you know economic development goals for y'all to be stakeholders.

Um I think y'all participated in the Stone Mountain Trail one last year.

We've got two happening, um, one at Starlight, uh, which you know is in the tax allocation district, and then um one over around the corner at Decatur Terrace, um, which is not in the TAD but is near you know a redevelopment area.

Um and then um if I can uh Madam Chair, just ask Zach Um has the administration whether it's Chief Development Officer Valow or Chief Housing Officer Ferguson had a chance to uh uh you know speak with the side to cab about the Kensington tax allocation district and you know the goals for you know, really Memorial Drive.

And I'm thinking Kensington, Indian Creek, and really Memorial Drive from Candler right at the city of Atlanta, you know, limit all the way out to Stone Mountain, and I think there were some other potential areas that would be included.

But have y'all just because it's because those studies do take like three months at minimum, right?

Um, there is a time a time sensitivity to it because if we wait till like the fall to decide, we might end up just pushing it back into 2028.

So do y'all have any um thoughts on or any um input that you can provide everyone here on trying to accomplish that exercise of doing that economic development study before the end of the year so that the board would have an opportunity to decide on whether we would um create the TAD in an expanded area.

Yeah, so we'd be happy to come back and share kind of the efforts and the thoughts on exactly what you're you're talking about, but on an ongoing basis, uh Dr.

Ferguson and Mr.

Valow and Dorian are in constant conversation on the revitalization of Memorial Drive and the efforts and what's what's needed.

So we'd be happy to come back and share maybe in PECs or at a committee of the whole.

Okay.

Um and Dorian, can you just remind us because uh how long does it take for the um the study?

What's the uh a standard time period to expect that full study to be completed?

So we can move really quick, but let's back up a little bit.

So there are two studies I do want to share with you with respect to what you're asking.

So um a few years ago, HRA did a study around all of our county tasks to understand if they are still um viable and how do we move forward and leverage those tasks.

So I'd be happy to share that with you.

And it speaks a lot to a larger vision for the Kensington Task Allocation District.

Two, in order to refresh that plan, uh we engage with the Urban Land Institute to take a look at our Kissing to tax allocation district and a reimagining of that.

And so right now to Zach's point, we've been in constant communication, myself, Tiffany Wheels with Jacob Valor, as well as Allen Ferguson, uh, how do we um position this new tax allocation district?

And also timing is really really important.

And I want to remind everyone when you create a tax allocation district, it immediately you can complete your thought.

He can't ask any more questions, but you can complete your thought.

And so when we create it, let's not create it because we're speculating on what could happen.

But we'd like to have some real projects in the pipeline that can leverage this tool immediately.

You start generating the increment, and then it just creates a snowball effect with respect to economic development.

So those are the conversations we're already having.

And so again, we'd be happy to share these recent studies with you so you kind of see the direction we might be taking.

Thank you.

So Commissioner Davis Johnson for your first opportunity.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you for your efforts with uh decide the cab.

Um I have a question around the umbrella mountain area.

Are you working with um Discover the Cab to market and promote that area?

Uh because we haven't really talked about uh Arabia Mountain.

I would think that there's great possibilities there.

Absolutely.

And we talked to Commissioner Discover the Cab quite often about a lot of initiatives that they are leading on and how we can be supportive, whether that's uh pushing up narratives through our storytelling, which I spoke to earlier.

Um, but more importantly, I did take my entire team to Arabia Mont not too long ago to because I think to your point it's an incredible asset in DeCab County, and I needed my team to experience that asset for themselves so that we could do a better job of telling that story um personally and individually.

So I totally agree with you.

We're working closely with Discover the Cabin.

We'll definitely strive to do more.

Okay, and we'll talk offline also about that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Davis Johnson.

Commissioner Bolton had a follow-up.

Um, and I did just want to piggyback really quickly.

When you guys went out and did that visit, that included Flat Rock and Lions Farm and some of those other areas.

Okay, wonderful.

Glad to hear that.

Um, so District 7, you know, has been meeting with you guys uh for I guess a couple of months now, trying to work through the read in 101 plan that the planning department came up with.

And some of the business owners in the area would really benefit from the guides that we just kind of talked about.

So outside of the chamber, and I believe you alluded to this, but we don't have the presentation to go back and see.

But for the businesses that are not members of the chamber, how are we giving them access to these resources and promoting it in those communities that could benefit from it most, including an area like the reading Harrison Corridor that we're working on?

Right, so that's a joint effort.

So when our business guys go out, we not only send it out through our newsletters, uh we also communicate with members of our stakeholders as well to say release these business guys.

It is not a chamber only function.

We just worked in collaboration with the chamber to develop the guide.

Um, and so you don't have to be a paying member, and in fact, I want every single business in the CAP county to know that exists.

But that does take a team effort because we're not in constant communication with all of those businesses.

Um again, we have a very strong BRE function, we get it out of that way.

Um we talk about it when we have public conversations around decide the cabin economic development, and again, we're just leaning on our partners to help spread the message about it.

And is this a PDF that you would email to us potentially as commissioners, or is it a link on the link, and then I can get that to you on the website.

Okay, gotcha.

Thank you, and I yield back.

Thank you so much.

I just had um a couple follow-ups with the resource guides.

How often are those updated?

Or because we do we try and keep them as current as possible.

We do so as a reminder, the first guide we developed was the uh black-owned business guy.

All right, and so we've been constantly refreshing that and updated that once a year.

And the resource guide, I I envision that we will update that on an as needed basis, it's pretty robust, but as new um tools and initiatives come uh that we think requires to be entered into that guide, we'll definitely enter in at that time.

I think that's important to note that it's not just a stagnant document as a living document.

As businesses come and go, they're you know that's being updated.

I think that's really important.

And then um with the Kensington TAD discussion.

I know there are discussion on some critical projects that might be in the pipeline for funding.

So I just want to make sure that we're taking all of that in consideration before we make any changes to that TAD.

Absolutely.

All right, that's all I had.

Anyone else?

We're good.

All right, thank you.

All right, I'm sorry, Commissioner Messiah.

That's okay.

That's what happens with that hand up there.

Yeah, we just we see nothing.

No, I completely understand.

And so I just want to thank President Dabar and VP Willis.

We actually had a great conversation this week about some of the additional opportunities to serve South Decap and District 3, including potential additional TADs.

But I think it is a key point to consider as a commissioner in that it should be in surrounded current projects so that it's not something that is sitting stagnant and there's a maximum benefit to the community.

And then also my home faces Memorial Drive.

And I'll tell you, you know, the resetting and expansion of that Kensington TAD is critical for Memorial Drive, as even with some of the City of Atlanta initiatives have been, you know, things like reimagining Memorial Drive.

And so that will be in lock step as a county to ensure that we're doing uh what we can to make sure that that corridor um you know shines bright like it needs to.

So thank you so much, um President Dabar and uh VP Willis for all of the work that you're doing.

Thank you, Commissioner Messiah.

Are you you yield you had any other questions?

No, I I yield back to you, Madam P.

L.

Thank you kindly.

Thank you.

Thank you, President Dabar.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer and Board.

Thank you.

Next, we have our second presentation, advancing housing affordability.

Dr.

Ferguson, good morning.

All right.

Good morning.

Good morning.

How are you?

And it appears.

Thank you.

So uh uh good morning and uh thank you.

I appreciate the opportunity, presiding officer board members, to once again uh come before you and talk about some of the great work we're trying to advance here in DeCab County.

So we started off this year, 2026 with a vision for housing here in DeCab County that includes more access, uh more choice, and stronger communities.

Essentially, you know, those are the things that we're trying to drive in 2026, you know, given all of our activities and all the momentum that we've really already created and generated in the housing space.

And today's discussion is about the housing investment bond, which is really going to provide you know that fuel to the fire to help us keep going and continue to grow and advance the momentum we've already gained.

So, yeah, I certainly don't have to you know tell the board of commissioners, but definitely you know, for advising of the public on why housing uh matters to the CAB County.

You know, first and foremost, housing stability uh is extremely important to health, education, and employment opportunities, you know, here in the CAB County.

I think that you know it's kind of widely accepted that housing is one of the fundamental pillars of the social determinants of health uh when it comes to the great work that decide the cab is doing uh in regards to economic development, you know, the availability of uh housing uh at afford that it's of high quality but as well as affordable essential uh to advancing economic development.

Um but also here we recognize in the CAB County we're facing a number of challenges and headwinds in regards to rising housing costs, and that is uh rising housing costs, both in terms of the rents uh that people pay in respect uh to their incomes as well as the cost of home ownership.

And many of our households, as the data is indicated time uh time and again, are cost burdened, meaning that they are paying more than 30 percent of their income, their household income towards housing costs.

Uh and as you move down the uh economic spectrum, if you will, that percentage that they're paying towards the housing costs gets higher and higher, and that percentage of households that are cost burdened increases as well.

Uh and so you know, overall, you know, housing uh challenges here in the county impact our quality of life as well as the strength of our community.

So really we've kind of organized uh around expounding housing access and supply, and that includes you know, increasing uh housing and affordability through uh production and preservation activities.

Um you're going to hear more about how we're trying to activate our county-owned uh assets and underutilized properties, uh investment, and that's where the housing investment bond comes in, and also our preservation activities to prevent loss of our existing housing stock and to maintain that quality.

So it really kind of be you know begins with this.

Our housing investment bond.

So the goal is to eventually get to 155 million dollars in capital investment that's sponsored by the county in order to fund our housing activities.

But it begins with the agenda items that are coming up that we'll hear in upcoming FAB and PECS committee, uh, as well as hopefully uh make it to the board of commissioners on the first issuance of those drawdown bonds, which will be a 25 million dollar uh bond.

And what it's going to do is uh provide us the funding and the resources to launch a number of different programs.

So, you know, the getting to the headline first, if you will, the request that we're gonna have and put forth before the board of commissioners, and those are in agenda items 1044 and 1045, I believe, is an approval to proceed with the intergovernmental agreement and the bond resolution with the housing authority of DeCab County, which is also serves as our primary program administrator, um, and the approval to launch the initial set of programs and activities that'll be supported by the housing investment bond.

So we have several programs that we are uh advancing uh with this bond issuance, and with the approval of the initial drawdown, 25 million dollars.

We are looking to launch uh seven uh of these programs.

And I'll you know highlight the programs that we go forward, but we think we've really kind of developed a very robust and strong platform of activities that not only support housing production but housing preservation, uh, as well as really provide and open up opportunities for our residents to become homeowners as well as our legacy residents to remain in their homes to age in place and again to enjoy a great you know quality of life.

So just really quickly, uh and I've shared this uh with the uh board before, just a review of the transaction structure.

Uh DeCab County is essentially the sponsor, so DeCab County takes on the responsibility for the debt service.

We provide the strategy and the oversight uh through my office, uh, Office of Housing on the Madam CEO.

And uh the funding source is the affordable housing fund.

That is the affordable housing fund that the board approved back in November 2025, and this year funded with uh a $12 million uh allocation.

But the anticipation is that funding is going to be ongoing uh starting in 2027 with roughly about $15 million in annual allocation.

So that provides uh the funding source that supports uh the bond issuance.

Our bond issuer, as I mentioned, is is a conduit issues, the housing authority of DeCab County.

They also serve the roles of primary program administrator, and then we have subordinate sub-program administrators, uh decide the CAB development authority, the CAB Regional Land Bank Authority, as well as the Housing Development Corporation, which is an affiliate of the housing authority.

And also mentioned, you know, there'll be other partners involved along the way, the Department of Uh Human Services as well as our community development department.

Uh so this just provides just a quick snapshot of the various programs and the sub-program administrators in which we're tasking them with implementation.

One of the things that I'm uh really uh want to reaffirm is that we're not trying to create a whole new kind of operational infrastructure.

We're trying to leverage the operational framework that we have currently in place with uh within the CAB and to you know enhance that and implement these programs you know through these partners.

So when it's all said and done, when we reach you know, kind of you know the pinnacle of uh our investment, we anticipate that this 155 million dollars in total is going to advance well over a billion dollars uh in investment and you know throughout the county in terms of you know production and preservation, as well as going to deliver well above uh 10,000 units, you know, produced or preserved uh here in the county.

So it's gonna generate tremendous uh impact both in the housing space, but also you know, when we talk about you know that investment, you know, we're getting a significant amount of leverage uh from the county's investment from private equity, philanthropy, uh, and other federal and state resources, you know, to really advance our goals.

So it puts us in a very attractive position, you know, to get that third-party capital we definitely need.

So just I wanted to provide you know some quick overviews of the programs uh that we're starting.

We had a series uh decide the cab and our office of uh my office chief housing officer, uh several information sessions that we provided uh to the public.

Those information sessions are housed on Decide the Cabs uh YouTube channel.

And so you know, for the public, if they're interested in viewing those, you can go to Decide the Cabs YouTube channel and see those sessions.

But one of the programs that we're going to launch is a new down payment assistance program here in DeCab County for first-time homebuy.

We've kind of expanded the definition of first-time home buyers kind of still within market constraints where a first-time home buyer is defined as a uh homeowner or prospective homeowner uh that hasn't owned the home in the last six months, um, and they have no other ownership of residential property.

So if you got a house in the mountains but you want to buy a house in the cab, you got to sell that house in the mountains in order to participate in this program.

Uh, and if you do own a property, the requirement is that you sell that uh existing home or property, you know, prior to a new purchase.

And we wanted to include that feature as well for to really provide opportunities for some of our legacy residents to downsize in their homes, as well as opportunities for some of our young families to you know have a chance you know to grow to buy a larger home to accommodate you know their growing families.

So we're really focused in terms of defining those parameters.

So the assistance levels are we feel are really strong.

We're going to provide up to 20,000 in down payment assistance to those prospective households that are earning less than 100% of area median income, up to $15,000 in down payment assistance if you fall between 100% AMI and 120% uh area median income.

And then for county employees, we're providing a $5,000 down payment assistance uh support that goes up to 140% of area median income.

So that uh county incentive uh we feel is not just uh advancing the platform that Madam CEO uh has set forth in terms of really showing that we care and we want to support our employees, our county employees and their quality of life, but we really want to emphasize that if you work for the Cab County, we want you to live in the Cab County and we want you to participate in the community.

So that $5,000 comes with a retention agreement, you know, that's uh we're gonna structure as a three-year retention agreement.

So as long as the uh and it also serves to the benefits of the county, let me say that in supporting retention and that we really invest a lot of dollars in recruitment and training and development in our employees, and we don't want to just lose them, you know, to other restrict uh jurisdictions, uh, they may try to recruit from us.

So it provides some stickiness, if you will, you know, to our staff.

So all in uh if you meet all the parameters, you could possibly get up to 25,000 in down payment assistance.

And we're structuring this program so it works in concert and can be paired with other programs to increase the total amount of available down payment assistance available to those prospective homeowners.

We're also looking at launching our owner-occupied rehab program.

We're very excited about this, as you know, we've got an aging housing stock here in DeCab County, and so we're gonna provide up to $30,000 in down payment, excuse me, not down payment assistance, $30,000 in rehab assistance to our legacy homeowners in order to keep their homes safe, warm, dry, and accessible.

Uh so it's really really focused on legacy residents and it's a housing uh preservation, uh, not just in terms of keeping them housed and currently in their place of residence where they can afford, uh, but also in terms of making sure that we have stability and retain residents you know within our communities that want to age in place.

And the eligibility uh criteria uh we can you know kind of outlined uh above.

We're looking for a minimum of tenure ownership and residency requirement, meaning you have to be in the home as your primary uh residence.

It's targeted towards household incomes at a that are 80% AMI and below to be eligible.

Um, and then you also you know, we don't want to kind of double dip and have homeowners that kind of triple dip in resources.

So if you've received your previous assistance within the past decade uh from the county, you can't reapply if it's within you know that 10-year period.

It kind of keeps us from you know, it keeps us in the position of trying to serve new applicants, you know, for these programs rather than serving the same applicants over and over and over again.

And of course, the property must be located uh within the cab county.

So with this particular program, we have preferred service categories, and those preferred to have a service categories that essentially will help us identify those residents that are most vulnerable.

So our most vulnerable are residents who are most vulnerable to potential displacement of serve first.

So households that are 60% area median income and below.

If you're a disabled head of household, if you're a military veteran head of household, if you're 62 years or older, if you've been in the home for 15 years or longer, and also if you have a will or an estate plan in place, those are preference points that you get so that those most vulnerable residents are served.

And I know we'll get questions around you know will or estate's plans.

One of the reasoning, you know, some of the reasoning behind that, uh, kind of first and foremost, you know, owning a home is an opportunity, you know, for generational wealth.

And we want to make sure our legacy residents have a plan for their home and transferring that asset over to their area so we can maintain that generational wealth in hand.

Another benefit from that is that just last Friday, uh, our director of code compliance talked about the difficulties uh they have in identifying the proper and appropriate owner of properties because they have these existing properties and just that are blighted, some are vacant, uh, that they try to cite for code compliance, but they can't identify the appropriate party uh that own that owns the home.

So having a will or estate plan establishes who's those those appropriate parties are and it enables us to do a better job when it comes to addressing blight and enforcing code compliance within our neighborhoods and communities.

Next program is our multifamily gap financing program that we're calling the CAB Housing Catalyst Program.

This program is really focused on supporting our multifamily uh developers and investors to help them increase the amount of affordable workforce housing supply here in DeCab County.

You know, the uh eligible uses of funds, obviously gap financing, the capital stack.

It can be used for hard construction costs and some uh soft uh costs and pre-development.

And uh on a case-by-case basis, we've outlined some parameters where it can be used for acquisition uh support as well.

The key features of a GAP financing program and what makes them so appealing in terms of advancing the ecosystem is the flexibility and the financing features.

So uh these funds can are come in as loans, they come in as subordinated loans, and the terms uh can be negotiated for up to 45 years.

That allows them to work with other types of funding in the capital stack that have requirements around the terms of funding and you know how long their loans can uh stay out, uh, and it allows for that flexibility uh to match with other forms of capital.

Um, and then there's you know some flexibility and structuring as well to make sure that we can pencil out deals that actually work uh and get done.

Our housing capacity kept our housing capacity seed building fund uh is really an effort to uh really create more community-based and neighborhood-based uh local development and development capacity here in DeCab County.

Um right now, if you would go out into the marketplace, we've got a limited pool of experienced uh developers.

Uh, there are barriers to entry for nonprofit uh developers as well as uh small-scale uh developers, and we've got uh a number of properties, existing properties out there in DeCab County that quite frankly are underutilized and you know, land and provide opportunity.

So the key takeaway you know from this particular you know exercise is that you know we can't meet our housing goals without expanding who can build and also where we can build.

So we come up with a uh framework that we think you know serves you know a variety of different stakeholders, nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, small and emerging developers, uh, residents and community groups, our municipal partners where you know figuring out a program to roll out to municipal partners as well as anchor institutions uh here in the county.

And some of the uh key activities we're looking to launch uh under the housing capacity fund is a program we're calling DeCAB Land to Legacy Initiative.

This is our faith-based development cohort.

We have a number of faith-based organizations within the CAB County that own excess land, have you know property that's underutilized, and we want to work with those organizations to help them build their capacity, provide them training, you know, access to professional services, mentoring activities, and even some matchmaking going on to help them advance their plans for developing their underutilized property.

And if they successfully complete the cohort, we're going to be in a position to provide pre-development grants so they can turn those plans into reality into real projects that contribute to helping us solve the housing challenge.

We're also anticipating launching an initiative we call Inside the Cab.

Inside is an acronym for neighborhood scale incremental development education.

And so this is a program that's targeted towards small and emerging developers as well as residents.

I'm sure all of us know at least one person, you know, in our friend circle network or whatever, who not only owns their home, but they may own a vacant lot or a couple of vacant lots, you know, somewhere else in the county that they're not doing anything with and don't know how to activate.

And so we're going to make this type of education and support available to those folks who want to activate a what we call a neighborhood scale uh type of housing project or a development.

And again, we're going to be there, you know, providing technical assistance, support, you know, some mentoring and guidance, and uh we'll make some pre-development grant funding available uh to those cohort participants as well.

Uh and then um I'm really really excited about the progress uh that's happening over at the CAP Regional Land Bank Authority under the leadership of executive director, director Tamika Churchill.

Uh just uh the other day, they had their pre-bid conference for uh qualified developers, builders, and contractors uh because they're beginning to ramp up their disposition activity of county owned properties uh and assets.

And so we want to work with the CAB uh land bank authority, help build their capacity so they can increase the the frequency and the pace and the volume of those uh dispositions so we can activate those underutilized properties that some cases have been sitting on the county's books for years, if not decades, activate those properties for productive use uh in the housing space.

So we're really really excited about the momentum we're gaining there.

And then last but not least, and we'll um have some additional conversations where we're going to more details about these activities.

Um, but we're working with our housing authority on a multifamily acquisition program.

Um many of you are familiar with the investment that the county made with the housing authority you know to acquire Park 500.

Um, you know, that provides an opportunity to both preserve uh workforce housing but also to incorporate a you know 60 units of transitional housing.

So we think that's a model that we can you know quite frankly rinse and repeat, and we're gonna look uh forward to doing more of those activities in the coming months and the years ahead.

So that's really kind of the focus of those activities.

And then we'll go into some additional details later when we uh talk about the revived the CAB program.

That's a program focused on addressing multifamily blight uh within the county, and then we have uh some discussions uh we'll have about our activities in regards to transitional housing and our homelessness uh program as well.

Uh but the you know, again the focus is to you know really try to address you know our housing challenges on a variety of different fronts and the housing investment bond and the programs where we'll be able to initiate uh with those uh proceeds, you know, is really the key, is the lunch pen in terms of getting us started.

So this is an outline of uh next steps.

I'm here today, obviously presenting at Cal.

Uh we'll go through our committee meeting process, and we're uh hopefully we'll be in a position to present at the July 7th Board of Commissioners meeting asking for approval on 1044 and 1045.

And once we get that approval, we are literally off to the races.

Um everyone is gonna be working, you know, with their heads down and uh really grinding to you know finish up all the final details so we can get these programs ready for a launch at the end of third quarter, early fourth quarter uh of this year.

So it's gonna be some exciting times and a hard working summer uh for us uh in the housing uh space.

And hopefully, if everything goes according to plan for wishing, we'll have a bond closing in August.

So again, uh you know, the final request approval for 1044 and 1045 that approves the intergovernmental agreement and the bond resolution 1044, I believe it's 1045 approves the launch of the initial programs.

And I'm more than happy to answer any questions that you may have and um again we'll go into detail and separate conversation around some of the other programs.

Thank you, Dr.

Ferguson, Commissioner Terry.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Cock up, please.

Uh thank you, uh Dr.

Ferguson, for uh your time and briefing uh myself uh last week on all the details, so I don't have too many questions, but I'll just um tick off a few here just for clear clarity.

So for the county employee incentive, it was five thousand additional for county employees, but county employees if they're to cab residents could apply for the 20 of that 20,000 as well.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

So uh if county employees are eligible, you know, if they meet the incurrent requirements of all the eligibility requirements, they are able to apply for the 20,000 in down payment assistance or the fifteen thousand dollars in down payment assistance, depending upon their eligibility requirements.

Okay, the five thousand uh dollars that we're offering for county employees, that's really kind of a separate standalone program.

So as long as they meet the um income eligibility, which goes up to 140 percent of AMI, and then some other conditions, they'll be able to apply for that five thousand dollars, even if they're uh not eligible to apply for that one, the 20 or 15,000.

Okay, gotcha.

And then so if a county employee lives outside of DeCab County, would they the incentive would there be the incentive there to them to move into DeCab County if you're gonna be able to do that?

Yeah, so if they're living outside of the Cab County, we want them to move to DeCab County.

Right.

And so we they have to buy their home in DeCab County.

Okay so that's that's the the whole motivation of the program.

We want people who work for the county to live in the county and do be a part of the communities that they serve.

Okay, wonderful.

Um on the rehab assistance program, uh I do want to I would love to get um our new sustainability director uh milagros um input on the potential uh dynamic and savings of energy efficiency and weatherization in those programs and you know if we can um identify homes that you know need vital repairs, right?

Just for structural issues, leaky roof, but also if we identify um weatherization and energy efficiency, we could potentially save folks thousands of dollars on their power bills as well.

So another way to kind of hit affordability with rehab for life and health safety, but also to reduce their power bills.

Yeah, absolutely.

In fact, you must be reading her mind at our uh cabinet meeting on Monday.

Uh she politely advised me that she's gonna be jumping into all of the programs that we're offering, you know, making sure that they can maximize sustainability and definitely energy compensation.

Uh energy and water conservation is a part of that.

Wonderful, absolutely.

Um for the uh just in terms of park 500.

So I do want to um uh encourage us to as we consider the first sort of investments on the plan here to make sure that we've like fully bolstered park 500 before we move on to the next one.

I think Park 500 was a a great program, and because it's new, I think we're still trying to kind of figure out the right, you know, sort of wraparound services and you know the uh the infrastructure needed to support families like that.

Um but will it be an opportunity to uh bolster park 500 first before we move on to another version at another location?

Yeah, absolutely.

Um I was just using that as an example of how we could potentially execute, but probably the more appropriate way to describe it is that um the acquisitions are gonna be targeted towards uh you know affordable workforce housing.

Uh a portion of those units will be restricted affordable, probably targeting at some percentage at 60 percent of AMI and below, and then the remaining will be market uh workforce uh affordable.

So uh so that's probably the most appropriate way to describe it.

And there will be instances depending upon circumstances that will you know provide us an opportunity to reserve some of those units, you know, for transitional housing.

But I agree with you.

We uh definitely in within the six months, you know, that we've uh experienced you know with Park 500.

Uh we've had a a very steep and a and a very strong learning curve.

And one of the things that uh has kind of come out of that is really kind of you know digging into the circumstances of the families uh on the front end.

And so um, you know, uh CEO uh Pete Walker, you know, he's not here today to speak to it, but he can talk about um how we're changing some of our uh vetting uh opportunities with the family in terms of you know eligibility uh to move into the transitional housing because one of the things that we discovered is not all of the families are ready or prepared to be in those types of environments, which kind of goes back and reinforces the need from a previous conversation that we had around uh an opportunity to try to create non-congregate family shelter uh here in the county.

Great thank you thank you commissioner Bolton thank you Madam P.O.

and Dr.

Ferguson I commend you on the work that you're doing this has been one of the most um clear direct and reasonable attainable programs and projects that we've seen in in the CAP County with respect to housing in a really long time so we really do appreciate that I will say however one of my concerns is that um the idea behind this is that we're we're communicating in order to make housing more affordable we have to charge homeowners more for their property essentially which all almost sounds counterintuitive unless the numbers um communicate that this would be reasonable a reasonable approach to move forward with and by that what I mean is have we estimated how many folks um that we would have or families we would have the potential to help with the um I think you said there would be 12 million by the end of this year and and then maybe 15 but by the end where the one point I think the number was four billion dollars is expected to be generated out of it is there a goal or um some benchmark that we're looking to attain and which helped us to calculate that these are the numbers that we need in order to support whatever that number of families or individuals are.

Yes absolutely so uh I didn't share with the board but I'm more than happy to share with the board all of the analyses and the projections around um you know how these dollars are leveraged and the estimated uh number of uh homeowners and households and renters you know we could potentially uh serve um and I can actually send that out uh later to uh later today uh to the board of commissioners but you know assuming we you know reach the you know the full amount if you will of a hundred and fifty five million dollars in investment we're probably going to generate some you know produce or preserve somewhere in a neighborhood of around a lot you know 11,000 to 12,000 units I couch it as 10,000 uh units because with the current state of the federal government and market conditions we just kind of don't know you know exactly how you're gonna pan out but um I feel ris reasonably confident in those numbers and that those numbers are attainable over you know the time period that we'll execute on uh these programs and I'm more than happy to share that analysis uh and those projections uh with the board of commissioners that would be great and if you if it's not included already maybe a summary to say these are our benchmarks or this is the goal so it's clear to us when we're looking at the numbers and digesting the data what we're trying to attain.

Absolutely yeah I can definitely uh provide that information for you I can provide it on the initial 25 million as well as the overall you know plan.

Gotcha and how are we tracking the success of the our I should say these programs because there are several things that you did communicate that we're looking forward to doing.

Yeah absolutely so as a a part of uh all of this effort one of the things that we're gonna really establish is an integrative uh framework for monitoring uh compliance and reporting and we're going to establish and it kind of dovetails into some of the work that we're doing with the comprehensive housing plan we're going to establish a platform where not only we gather the information on how we're affecting the housing ecosystem with these investments so we know where the dollars are going for what projects and you know who's being served at what income levels and even going a little bit deeper into you know household demographics in terms of uh you know our residents and stakeholders that are served uh but then also it will have a public facing element uh to it as well so that we can be very transparent uh with the public in terms of you know here's the housing investment bond here are the programs they are launched here's the impact and the outcomes you know that we're generating uh with this investment uh from the county I really really believe uh in transparency uh you know transparency not only builds you know confidence you know between you the board of commissioners and us uh as the administration but transparency with the public I think is incredibly important because I don't think that this housing challenge is going to end you know within the next decade.

in terms of uh you know our residents and stakeholders that are served uh but then also it will have a public facing element uh to it as well so that we can be very transparent uh with the public in terms of you know here's the housing investment bond here are the programs they are launched here's the impact and the outcomes you know that we're generating uh with this investment uh from the county I really really believe uh in transparency uh you know transparency not only builds you know confidence you know between you the board of commissioners and us uh as the administration but transparency with the public I think is incredibly important because I don't think that this housing challenge is going to end you know within the next decade so there's a good chance we will be coming back at some point in the future to ask for commitment for additional resources to do additional things and so I want to make sure that we're being very transparent uh with the public on how their tax dollars quite frankly are being used uh and deployed to really make a difference here in DeCow County she can come back for her follow-up thank you Commissioner Fulton Commissioner Longspires thank you very much um first I just want to thank you so much Dr.

Ferguson this is excellent I'm so pleased with the breadth and the depth of the programs that you are suggesting so thank you thank you thank you my next point is um I do appreciate our time together earlier this week to talk about this presentation we were cut a little bit short I did have a chance to review and I do have questions on the last half of the presentation we didn't quite get through so I will spare the board today of asking those questions right now but I have sent you an email just requesting some time together next week if that would be acceptable.

All right um another comment slash question that I wanted to make is during our conversation that we had there were two big points that I was able to to lift up to you.

The first one is related to the trust fund the housing affordable housing fund itself and one concern that we had is that some of that funding would be used on paying staff and personnel.

And so can you just confirm to me that um that is not your plan to allocate any funding to paying for personnel that it really is a more traditional affordable housing fund.

Yes it's a more traditional affordable housing fund um and and thank you you know for the question the uh affordable housing fund does not support you know me or my activities in the Office of Housing and we're using existing infrastructure through decide to cab the CAP regional land authority uh the housing authority uh so they have staff they have people you know in place now there will be some infrastructure investments in terms of you know investments in systems and um and funding of some services uh you know to support uh the activity but it's not intent to the intent behind the affordable housing fund and this bond is not to you know support salaries excellent and just confirm to me as well this year year one it was 12 million and when you began your presentation you used the word anticipate 15 million moving forward starting next year yes is there any concern that you have about that 15 million any concern about it right when you said anticipate I flagged it okay so you're feeling real good about it.

Yes yeah no um you know so really you know this this whole you know plan this whole strategy um is built around you know the affordable housing fund and you know the commitment on an annual basis you know that the board of commissioners would make to provide the resources for the affordable housing fund so if you know that mechanism you know kind of fails then you know we can't support you know the you know future bond issuances so um you know one is kind of tied to the other uh I would say that uh some of our ha housing activities would not proceed others would be dramatically reduced in scope if we you know kind of didn't follow you know this housing investment plan um but um I would say I'm not so much concerned about it uh you know per se although I am flagging it as you know you know something that is needed in order to make this work.

All right very good you kind of threw me the softball my next point and question is again I think this is a great proposal I really do.

Thank you so much for bringing it forward.

I also recognize that it does hinge on us um passing the new millage rate.

So would you share with us um what happens if that new mill rate does not pass through this board and what programs at that point you'll be able to offer and continue I I certainly don't want to stop progress but I I do understand that the breadth and depth of the program she discussed with us today does absolute is tied to that increase in millage rate.

I I certainly don't want to stop progress, but I I do understand that the breadth and depth of the program she discussed with us today does absolute is tied to that increase in millage rate.

Yes, absolutely.

So with the with the passage of the millage rate, you know, that really provides us, you know, kind of overall budget capacity to make sure and ensure that you know the funding for the affordable housing fund would continue.

And I should also mention there are some other things that would also be supported uh by the millage rate.

Um I was just in conversation earlier this week with uh Chief Development Officer uh Jacob Vallow, and you know, he's coming up with some ideas around programming uh where that millagery could support some of the economic development activities uh that he's you know trying to pursue.

So I I imagine you're gonna hear more uh about that and more of those ideas, you know, a little bit later.

Um and then there's also uh you know the provision of you know some services and some infrastructure, from my understanding that's also kind of included encapsulated uh you know within you know that millage rate.

So housing is a big piece of it, but it's you know, more it comp the millet rate increase um includes more than just uh specific housing uh specifically housing.

But let's say that the millage rate you know doesn't pass, then um what it really would occur is it just becomes quite frankly a math game uh that uh and an exercise in terms of what are the projected you know resources for the county and how much can be allocated to the affordable housing fund on a regular basis.

It would take away, quite frankly, because there is no reliability or certainty of funding for the affordable housing fund.

So it would take away kind of the big aspirational plan of getting to 155 million dollars.

We'll have to approach it on a case by case basis on an on an annual basis, and we'll have to quite frankly come up with frameworks and plans that would vary from year to year.

And uh it's you know kind of hard if you're on the outside, if you're outside of the county to try to plan and anticipate on, you know, if you were a developer or investor, you know, your future investments in the county, especially in the housing space, if you don't have any certainty that the programs will be there and the funding sources and the reliability of those funding sources will be there.

So um it'll just put us in a various precarious position.

Um there we won't be able to, you know, plan in the near-term space, the three to five year space around executions, everything will be reduced to you know what happens over the next 12 months, what happens over the next 18 months.

Uh some programs would start and some prime programs would stop, you know, when funding uh ran out.

And so we wouldn't we wouldn't have that recurring source of revenue to support our ongoing programs.

So it just put us in a very you know difficult position.

All right.

I look forward to our follow-up meeting next meeting.

We thank you so much.

I yield back.

Thank you, Commissioner Patrick.

And then before you start, Commissioner Massaier, are you gonna have questions?

Yes, I do.

After Commissioner Patrick.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam Uh Presiding Officer.

Uh Dr.

Ferguson, as the commissioners have said, thank you for taking the time and walking us through this presentation in advance.

Um couple points that we talked about during our meeting.

I just wanted to hear you say it out here to the public for the rehab uh repairs.

Um those fundings could be made available to cover uh leaky sewer lines on the private side of the property.

Yes, which uh would work to address uh our sanitary sewer overflows, which puts us in a better standing when we're dealing with the federal courts regarding compliance uh with the consent degree.

Yes, that's a loaded statement, but but yeah, yeah, it's a it's a little statement.

Yes, we've yeah, we've had that discussion around making sure that um one of the eligible uh activities, you know, for you know, when there's water leaks um, you know, on the private side that we can make some of those repair funds available to address those homeowners who you know you know quite frankly are suffering because they don't have the funds or resources uh to fix the water leaks, um and you know, as a result, you know, they're facing exorbitant water bills.

So I think that is an eligible activity.

And then we also um you know have had the some discussion around you know addressing you know the you know sewer issues, especially in residential neighborhoods where addressing those sewer issues could you know really support maintaining and preserving the quality of those neighborhoods and the housing stock uh in those neighborhoods.

Absolutely.

uh to fix the water leaks um and you know as a result you know they're facing exorbitant water bills so i think that is an eligible activity and then we also um you know have had the some discussion around um you know addressing you know the you know sewer issues especially in residential neighborhoods where addressing those sewer issues could you know really support maintaining preserving the quality of those neighborhoods and the housing stock uh in those neighborhoods absolutely so those are you know kind of two lanes that we're visiting on okay in that district last room uh the next item I want to follow up on that we talked about is uh the employee incentives um now district one is I think about 80 percent municipalized with the Dunwoody Shamble Doorville and Tucker um and uh when I asked if if these incentives could be extended or would be extended to the cities you had suggested yes uh I suggested you know having the cities partner with us if they want to start working because we're really trying to to advance uh this whole concept here in uh the Cab County around a poor employer assisted housing and we figure one of the best ways to advance that to get private employers involved is for the CAP County to step up and demonstrate how we're trying to support employee employer assisted housing.

So we're very much so interested in seeing if there's opportun if there are opportunities to partner with the cities on employer assisted housing initiatives where you know if they're providing some funds and some resources towards down payment assistance we can probably look at matching those funds towards down payment assistance you know so that we have a collaborative and uh program and partnership.

Perfect and then um we didn't talk about this but a question that I I think I've heard some of my colleagues here get around the issue but I just want to put it directly to you so the rate increase um is is uh is gonna be on the property taxes uh but as I understand it's gonna be offset by e host is that correct yes yes uh absolutely I think that you know with the you know with the rate increase um you know that we're you know that's currently you know under discussion um it is going these are dollars that will be and resources taxpayer resources that will be put to good use we've got you know quite frankly a housing ecosystem in the Cav County that has lacked significant investment uh especially you know from you know the municipal level um and we're in a position where we're not as competitive or not um uh as well positioned you know within the marketplace to attract you know investment uh within the county especially within the housing space um so it with the programs that we're trying to launch and what we're trying to advance you know that really positions us uh you know as a county in a different place in a different space uh we'll be able to attract that investment that adds to the overall prosperity and economic development uh within the county and I think over the time it's going to create a situation where you know a rising tide lifts all boats and so in the grand scheme of things even though I'm very very conscious um you know as a DeCad County homeowner myself um I'm very very conscious of you know tax burdens um I'm also a very very strong proponent of good policy and responsible use of those taxpayer resources when it's called for Dr.

Ferguson thank you I've got 20 seconds left on the clock I just want to add the notion that um we have done a lot of work towards addressing homelessness within the county your housing plan incorporates a lot of those initiatives and provides funding for those programs and so um uh the consistency is what would be necessary in order to actually see the benefits materialize from what's being proposed um and so again uh e host would cover the cost of any increase thank you thank you Commissioner Patrick Commissioner Messaya and then Commissioner Davis Johnson thank you so much madam PO Dr.

Ferguson uh I'll just reiterate the great work um that has been shared from my colleagues and the thankfulness of you coming in hitting the ground running and being very comprehensive in terms of providing us these details I know that my office we are going to catch up again um at the end of this month um as expected to be on vacation even though clearly not working now but um just briefly um if you could just um speak to the the AMI um of some of our programs or better yet um the one of the programs that will have the lay lowest um AMI requirement would be fantastic um as folks have heard me say there's a different affordable housing housing that's affordable and it's really just uh based on capacity for you know the folks that we're creating these programs for to be able to afford it so I heard um a hundred uh am I 120 is there any other programs um that have a lower or what's the lowest AMI to qualify for um some of the programs that were running out rolling out uh yes so as far as like the lowest AMI for the the programs I would probably you know kind of you know flip the question around which is um or maybe flip my response uh to the question around is that when we target um you know providing housing at you know 60 percent uh of median income and below you know that below means you know anything that falls below um you know that you know that income threshold so if you think about uh the you know the population that is served

Yes, so as far as like the lowest AMI for the programs, I would probably kind of flip the question around, which is or maybe flip my response to the question around is that when we target providing housing at you know 60% uh of median income and below, you know, that below means you know anything that falls below that you know that income threshold.

So if you think about uh the you know the population that is served by the housing authority, uh the housing authority typically deals with uh you know persons, households that earn 30% of area median income and below.

And so when we advance a strategy uh you know, working in partnership with the housing authority to uh acquire existing properties and we reserve some of those units uh targeting 60% of area median income, uh one of the first source of uh referrals or occupants of those units comes through uh the housing authority uh because uh and you can probably you know have uh CEO Pete Walker you know check me on these numbers.

I want to say the outstanding waiting list for the housing authority is roughly about 17,000 uh persons, I could be mistaken.

Um, but you know, the demand uh for their services grossly outstrips supply.

And one of the challenges in serving more people is that they're not a sufficient number of units available to serve those lower income populations.

So this is a way for us to actually bake in uh an opportunity to serve those you know, lower income uh populations and put them in mixed income uh environments uh as well, which you know all the research shows is very supportive to you know enhancing economic mobility and building stronger, you know, more resilient uh communities when you have a diversity of incomes uh and uh a surrounding area.

And and I could appreciate that.

Um you know, some folks are just really concerned about particularly in you know, generally the underserved areas that for instance where we're eliminating blight and we have concerted efforts in and around that.

And there are demolitions that are taking place in rebuilds, particularly where we have developers inquiring and specifically asking for a rebuild opportunity in um in district three, for instance, then when those houses are being resold, they're being sold, you know, typically at a higher uh AMI in spite of the fact that it may have been um acquired at a reduced rate.

So just curious um as to you know, in terms of qualifying, yes, it could be um you know, a 60 or 65 percent, or we even have some programs with some private developers and other areas of the district that have you know it's a at a 30 AMI.

But I'm just as we are embarking on this as a governing authority, um, and we are requiring and gaining possession and interest in properties and they are being redeveloped.

What are we then turning around and requiring as the lowest AMI for an individual or at what AMI you know is possible for an individual to be able to that you know part of the community be able to take advantage of that program that we're offering?

Yes, uh absolutely.

And so it's it's actually kind of part of you know, kind of the grand, you know, puzzle and um you know that we're putting together in terms of trying to you know serve populations at a lower AMI.

And from listening to your question, you know, it sounds like you may be referring more to home ownership.

So as a part of you know, the activity that we're advancing with the uh DeCAP Regional Land Bank Authority, putting those properties out to disposition, one of the focus or actually one of the primary focuses is creating affordable home ownership.

And affordable home ownership really kind of you know starts in that window between 100 and 120 percent of area median income, but um it also takes you know kind of a combination of of resources coming together in order to create that level of affordability.

So there were will be instances I'm certain of uh and there will be instances where the land bank authority will you know dispose of property that's at or near you know transfer cost in order to take those land costs out of the uh bases, uh those uh you know developers or builders participating in that program would likely come to our you know revolving construction loan fund that we're looking to stand up so they can get access to lower cost, more flexible uh construction financing.

So there were will be instances I'm certain of uh and there will be instances where the land bank authority will you know dispose of property that's at or near you know transfer cost in order to take those land costs out of the uh bases uh those uh you know developers or builders participating in that program would likely come to our you know revolving construction loan fund that we're looking to stand up so they can get access to lower cost more flexible uh construction financing um and then when it comes to uh the actual end user the home buyer um they'll be in line to get access to our down payment assistance products um as well as you know a number of different lenders that we intend on partnering with where they can get an affordable and attainable mortgage you know NACA uh comes to mind as one of the partners that we recently engaged with that actually you know provides an opportunity for a very low cost uh fixed rate mortgage to help people attain home ownership so it's really you know kind of bringing all of the pieces of the puzzle together uh to you know support uh home ownership at you know lower income levels well below that hundred percent AMI threshold thank you commissioner masaya commissioner Davis Johnson thank you uh Dr.

Ferguson I think that um everyone has reflected on stated on what I was about to say but thank you for your presentation and uh knowledge and understanding of a housing crowds crisis and uh showing us um some of the avenues and addressing uh this crisis uh you are the quarterback to what everyone has talked about um doing these discussions and so we needed uh that one person that expert that had the expertise and the knowledge to implement uh what we all thought uh were moving parts and so we can appreciate that and appreciate the uh CEO's vision of bringing such a qualified and let's say humble uh person to the cab um to deal with this situation so I just wanted to you know I had questions I was writing down but every time I would write my question that would be forthcoming so uh Hank has always told me to listen marina you may learn something so I've listened uh to you uh this morning and I appreciate that presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Follow up Commissioner Terry did you have a follow-up too anyone else okay thank you madam chair um I only got three minutes so keep your answer short um uh but I'll start out with just with that point in mind um because the housing issue now in this decision is a very big one but even probably more important is how we uh check in with the board of commissioners and the public as the program is going so um I would like us to consider you know basically some version of a housing committee or a committee the whole that talks about housing issues like on a regular basis um just so there's um a way for us to uh get like more detailed reports like this um maybe not have a time limit necessarily on it just because like these issues like you pointed out had like eight different planks and we could spend an hour talking about each of them and still have more to talk about so um I would like um us just to consider sort of if this is approved moving forward how you interface with the whole board at one time in a public meeting where we can you know just basically go through all the things that are happening which is a lot and they're all really important um things they are an investment so the investments of tax dollars I think is crucial to seeing that economic development you know realized but then ensuring that there's transparency and accountability moving forward so is that something that we can work on and if you could propose any ideas to the board yeah absolutely so um you know right now I I would probably say that the you know the current avenue for me to do that is to you know come through PES committee you know to provide you know quarterly report which I was anticipating you know doing anyway for our housing investment bond uh activities and then if it's you know the board's desire you know to you know establish a separate housing committee or things of that nature I'll be more than happy you know to report to that body.

I will say, however, that um as a part of the comprehensive plan uh development, uh there are going to be you know some ideas you know proposed uh in regards to establishing you know some type of public facing body uh to you know provide you know an avenue for you know community engagement, you know, public oversight um and conversation and dialogue around housing uh issues, uh that's going to be something that is going to come out of the you know comprehensive housing plan, and I think that will provide an opportunity for the board of commissioners to also work with the administration in terms of you know what that's filibustered me there.

Um and this is my point because you have a lot of knowledge, and but if I got three minutes or five minutes, then we're gonna get one thing and I got 10 things.

Um I really think we that need to we need to prioritize that so we have plenty of time to talk about these issues.

Um last request is could we get an analysis from the budget office on how e-host um relates to the millage rate increase?

Because I thought there was going to be some offset just by virtue of it being the general funds.

So just you'll have to answer that, but provide that for maybe Fab to so we understand that dynamic.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Terry.

Commissioner Patrick had a follow-up, and then I think Commissioner Bulton.

Thank you, Madam Presenting Officer.

Uh sort of piggybacking off of Commissioner Terry's questions about uh public facing board.

Um with the interplay with the housing authority, um what's their role gonna be and and since they're already a board sort of constituted to address housing issues, can we rely on them to sort of come back to us on a quarterly basis and give us updates and insights?

Yes, um, you know, as a a part of you know all of our activities with the housing and investment bond, I'm gonna you know provide reporting on all of our activities and with the housing authority as our you know primary program uh administrator, they'll be you know feeding information and they can even come if it's you know the borders you know desired you know to join me to talk more specifically uh about their activities as well.

So it's you know, we're really trying to build you know a you know collaborative um you know ecosystem you know that works here uh in the Cav County when it comes you know to housing issues.

So uh I would you know say that if the board of commissioners you know has any questions around any of the agencies or their engagement in the housing space, we can facilitate those conversations and make sure uh you know that there's some connection uh in terms of reporting or monitoring.

Perfect.

Um and then uh the other point that Commissioner Terry mentioned was the e-host component, and I I too have asked for something like that just to make sure that it we do cover the e-host or the money is there to cover the e-host uh change that's gonna happen.

Um and then I'd also asked uh the administration if they could come back to us, and this will be part of the conversation for the millage rate discussion, uh, give us a uh quartile breakdown of of the dollar amount that we're uh property owners are gonna be affected by.

Uh in the past I've only asked for residential, but if we could also have uh commercial properties uh be part of that conversation as well, since they they also contribute to the uh general fund that we're gonna be tapping into, proposed to be tapping into.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Commissioner Bolton, your second opportunity.

Thank you.

And just the last two questions that I had that were still related to one benchmarks, goals and data.

Um we know that I believe it's about 59% of folks in DeCab County actually own the home that they live in.

And when I was asking for a goal that could have been potentially we like to see that increase to 75% because the data says at that number, and I'm just making this up, crime goes down and stabilizes communities, schools improve, et cetera, or whatever that is.

Yeah.

If specifically we are looking at percentages like that, and I'm gonna go ahead and ask my other question because we don't have a whole lot of time and I don't want to miss the opportunity to ask it.

So um if you could speak to where there is a specific percentage increase that we were looking forward to.

But the other thing is uh with these programs, primarily what I'm hearing is they are to help increase homeownership, and you may have alluded to, but I didn't quite catch it if you did, any strategies for retention of homeowners and home ownership.

And so if you could speak to that, especially considering uh current property owners would have an increase that they would have to absorb in order for us to have new homeowners with affordable housing.

But go ahead, please.

Yes, absolutely.

So when we you know talk about new homeownership, um, you know, I really look at it as you know, you have to affect the supply side as well as the demand side.

So in terms of activating county owned land, you know, for homeownership development and construction, you know, rehabbing blighted properties, you know, putting those back out, you know, for available uh home ownership, uh, and you know, the tools that we anticipate bringing forth in the future, like the revolving construction loan fund, um, as well as you know, some things that we're doing on the housing capacity side, that's going to be on the production side that's going to add you know to the supply of available homes in the Cab County, particularly on the homeownership.

On the demand side, we want to do things that enable homeowners, you know, to actually get in the home.

So that's why we're launching our down payment assistance program.

I kind of toyed with the idea of doing a some type of mortgage revenue bond where the CAV County would essentially originate, you know, a low-cost mortgage for homeowners.

I did not advance that idea because I don't think we want to be in the mortgage uh business per se in the Cav County.

But you know, there are other organizations that we're partnering with that you know offer you know affordable, attainable uh mortgages, and that assists on the uh demand side in terms of trying to get you know homeowners, you know, prospective home buyers, you know, into uh homes as well.

So it's really uh a two-pronged approach.

But when it comes to you know retention uh preservation, uh, you know, there are a couple of different factors that affect you know someone being able to remain in their home.

Uh number one is the quality and the condition of their home.

And that's where we're you know putting forth the brighter home owner-occupied rehab program.

You know, again, you know, we're talking about you know, repairs uh that you know involve being safe, warm, dry, and accessible.

Um, so it's not you know your HGTV, you know, you know, type of makeover, but it's really addressing those critical pair repairs that add to the longevity of the home as well as the longevity of the homeowner being able to remain in the home, uh, especially in their uh later years.

So uh advancing that on the preservation side.

We have had some you know potential discussions around you know creating some time some type of anti tax displacement fund, you know, to support you know those homeowners that may be income constrained, um, but their neighborhoods and their communities are undergoing you know kind of rapid change and you know, increases in home values and so their incomes can't keep up with the you know the property uh tax burden.

Um that's probably going to be you know something that we kind of take on uh as a potential uh activity in call it like our second phase of planning of different resources uh and instruments to try to bring uh forward to the CAB County.

One of the reasons why is because we're gonna need a whole new type of infrastructure uh to do that.

We need to, you know, quite frankly, stand up some type of you know, 501c3 entity or partner with uh some type of nonprofit entity and really try to go out and raise some philanthropic uh dollars uh and capital in order to provide those services, because just as a rule of thumb, uh I've always been told you can't take taxpayer resources to pay somebody else's you know, private property taxes.

And so that's why we need a totally different type of infrastructure uh in place in order to support that type of activity.

But it is on our radar screen in terms of trying to do everything that we can to keep people in their homes, keep homeowners in their homes as long as they want to stay and remain in their community.

Thank you, Dr.

Ferguson.

Anyone else with the follow-up question?

Yes, uh, I do, Madam PEO.

Thank you so much.

Uh Dr.

First Ferguson, just briefly, um, I know that at one point as a part of our um our plan, our comprehensive plan, and in the executive uh executive summary, there is mention of a need for, and it was even in process at one point for a multifamily task force.

And with the um concerted efforts in terms of addressing not just the blighted uh multifamily properties we have, but the anticipation of um you know new developments that take place.

Um have we looked into or done anything to further um research in terms of the impacts of the uh multifamily units are um to the communities here in DeKeb County?

No, no further research at you know at this you know point in time.

Uh the only research that we've done really is around the existing multifamily uh property housing stock and um some research around the you know the quality if you will and the age uh of those properties uh so that we can really kind of determine what's the total pool uh if you will of potential properties that are out there functioning as naturally occurring affordable housing and trying to come up with strategies and plans for how do we engage those property owners, those investors to make sure that those properties are well maintained, they're providing quality uh living environments and they continue to remain workforce and for uh workforce affordable.

Um but in terms of looking at new uh multifamily development, um I agree with you that yeah, it does need to be some type of task force uh approach.

Um, but that involves more than you know, just me and my office and the housing space that involves engagement with planning and sustainability, that involves engagement with um you know, with watershed, uh and public works to know where the infrastructure is going.

So all of those things kind of coming together so we can plan ahead in terms of where we anticipate future multifamily development uh going and then craft some strategies around to make sure uh that to the greatest extent possible, we encourage uh affordable workforce in those areas as well.

Yes, and I think that would be great.

Um and I think that you're you spoke to the inventory piece of it.

And so yes, it'd be great to be able to get that report, but uh in terms of the actual socio um economic and psychological impact.

And so it spoke to um that as well.

I mean, essentially the impact of having um the multifamily units and having a congregate of them in certain communities.

So that's something I think we should look into um as well, and I look forward to getting that report on the inventory at your earliest convenience.

Sure.

Thank you, Commissioner Messiah.

I see no one else wanting um a follow-up, so I just had two questions and a comment.

Um again, thank you for the one-on-one meeting we had last Friday.

We had healthy discussion about the wills and the estates.

So grateful to see that that made it into the presentation and into that consideration.

Um quick questions um for the piece about um the new homeowners or you had to have sold a property, you can't have a property, you'd have to sell it prior to being in the program.

And when it sells prior to, does that mean like can it be concurrent?

Like d do they have to, or did there have to be a a large gap of time before they could purchase or be a part of our program?

So for those, you know, particular type of circumstances we're not requiring like a large you know gap of of time.

Um, you know, however, there are people who are in you know kind of different situations.

Um, you know, they're you know they're not downsizing or things of that nature, and so you know, they just may own, you know, a second home, may not even be, you know, in DeCad County, right?

Maybe you know in another state, but it comes up.

And so we're gonna have to allow some time for them to dispose of that property and and essentially, you know, that that gap in time allows for that.

And I I think I was in my mind thinking about those homeowners who are trying to downsize.

So they're they have a home, they're living in it, they want to sell it and downsize, so just want to make sure there's space for them to do that.

And then my final question, um, I think you alluded to this a little bit for those existing homeowners, um, the programs that include safety, improving the safety and making sure they can stay in their homes.

Would that also include for seniors assessing um the safety for seniors?

So have someone go in, see if they need grab bars, grab bars, ramps, those type of things.

Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

When we talk about, you know, when we use the phrase accessible, that's exactly what we're talking about.

We're to, you know, making sure that you know bathrooms remain accessible, you know, as people age uh in certain instances and where budget allows.

Uh there may be a need uh to lower the countertops in certain homes to make sure that the kitchen is still accessible and use it.

Um I don't know if in your experience if you ever encounter you know seniors who you know are mobility challenged and they're unable to use, you know, fully use their their kitchens, you know, because you know their countertops were built during the 70s, and you know, it's uh you know, you know, they can't use you know their you know their stove top, you know, they can't get you know to certain things and so lowering those countertops uh you know becomes critically important, as well as doing things such as you know, riding doorways, you know, providing ramps uh over stairs if necessary and needed, those things types of repairs and answers would be included.

Thank you for that.

Uh so I was having a a chat with my seniors at um my senior center, and that question had come up, and I was like, I think we have a program rolling out for that.

So thank you for that confirmation on that.

So that is the questions that I had, Commissioner David Shaw, you wanted to follow up.

Okay.

So on to what you just asked about the state.

Um is there and we can talk for that line, but uh based on the um benefit that they would be receiving from the county.

Uh is uh a retention time that they must stay in the house any con okay.

Yes, absolutely.

There's a uh ten-year uh retention period that they you know must remain uh in the house as you know as the you know primary resident.

If they you know choose you know to to sell or to leave, then we'll you know, follow the process and try to recapture the you know, recapture those funds.

And so it's um you know, kind of lessons learned from previous rehab programs.

Some uh some you know, people without a conscience may try to take advantage of this program as a cheap and inexpensive way to rehab and renovate their homes to get in in a position where they can sell for the maximum price.

And so this program is not designed for that purpose, and that's why we have the residency uh requirement, and there are clawback features, you know, to make sure we get uh at least a portion of those dollars back if they decide to sell or or leave the premises within some house.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And of course, that would also go to the heirs if something happened.

Yeah, absolutely.

And that's one of the reasons why we're really encouraging you know the the will and estate pay estate plans to be in place.

Okay.

Um, we obviously we can't force anyone, you know, to take on, you know, those types of uh agreements, but we want to make sure that they're educated and we want to encourage them to actually do it, which is why we have that as uh one of the preferences.

And we'll in our you know, guidelines, you know, because this is a program where we write the guidelines for since it's local funds and uses, we're going to allow for conditions if the property is transferred to the heirs, and hopefully we get one of the areas to occupy the home, um, then you know there'll be measures where that those funds won't have to be paid back.

They can you know just continue on in the residency period.

Thank you, Commissioner David Johnson.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Dr.

Ferguson.

That was a really in-depth presentation.

We always appreciate you coming before the board.

Thank you.

My pleasure.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, Commissioners, we do have executive session.

So if I could get a motion to adjourn the committee of the whole.

So move.

Second.

The motion and second, all in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

And if I can get a motion to adjourn a special call, I mean, convene a special call meeting.

So move.

I got a second.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Thank you.

Now, if I can get a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of litigation in real estate.

So move.

Second.

All in favor.

Aye.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon.

If I can get a motion to reconvene.

So moved.

All in favor?

I we are back out of executive session.

There was no action to be taken out of the discussion.

So before we adjourn the meeting, we will not have time for commissioner comments, but I did want to take our opportunity to congratulate those two candidates who had the um runoff election this week.