City of Peoria Human Resources Commission met February 16.
Here is the minutes as provided by the commission:
Call to Order
The Regular Meeting was held by the Human Resources Commission (HRC) in Room 404 at City Hall, 419 Fulton St., Peoria, Illinois, on February 16, 2018, at 8:30 a.m. Chairperson Jessica Zobac called the meeting to order @ 8:32 a.m.
Roll Call
Roll call showed the following Commissioners were present: Jessica Zobac, Shandra Bond, Wayne Cannon, Brittney Ferrero, Judy Oakford, Janice Zagardo, and Meiosha Zobac – 7
Absent: Mark Brown, Farrell Davies, Amr Elsamny, Patrick Kirchhofer, Brett Kolditz, and
Rachel Reliford ‐ 6
Council Liaison Present: Councilwoman Moore
City Staff Present: Kathryn Murphy, Dakota Reed
Others Present: None
Minutes
The minutes for the November 17th meeting were reviewed.
Motion:
Commissioner Oakford moved that the minutes be approved; seconded by commissioner Cannon. The minutes were approved unanimously by viva voce vote 7 to 0.
Old Business
A. Status of 2017 Subrecipients
Staff Member Murphy presented the status report from the 2017 grants. The report outlines the number of people that were served and the expenditures of each organization. Children’s Home did not spend their entire budget. They were allocated $7,250 of the CDBG Public Service grant, but only $940 was spent on their program. Their letter of explanation for the lack of spending stated that their program intended to provide emergency crisis counseling, but problems with the coordination and contractor availability prevented them from providing this service.
Upon receiving this update at the end of the year, Staff Member Murphy informed Children’s Home that it is their responsibility to inform staff of any issues as early as possible. In 2018, Children’s Home is required to submit financial quarterly reports to track progress going forward.
Councilwoman Moore asked for clarification on how the reaming funds will be spent. Staff Member Murphy explained that due to the cap on public service expenditures, this money cannot be used on public services. The funds will go into the City’s CDBG general fund to be reallocated to other CDBG projects.
The total amount of unused funds from the 2017 CDBG Public Service grantees was $27,591.56. This amount will go into the CDBG general fund.
New Business
A. Status of 2018 Subrecipients
Staff Member Murphy informed the Commission that before the 2018 funds can be allocated, Congress must first pass a full budget. After the budget is passed, HUD will have 60 days to create the CDBG Public Service allocation. At that time, the staff can confirm the grant amounts for the 2018 subrecipients.
Staff Member Murphy also informed the Commission that all new grantees attended the required quarterly report training session in January. This session was not required for organizations that have received the CDBG Public Service grant in the past, but most organization representatives were in attendance.
B. 2019 Application and Evaluation Criteria
The Commission discussed the 2019 application and evaluation criteria. Referring to the termination of Common Place’s 2017 grant, Chairperson J. Zobac recommended implementing a set of evaluation criteria in situations where organizations fail to comply with grant requirements. This criteria would serve to protect the commission and prevent any potential bias in decision making.
The Commission discussed the expectations of the organizations, and how the organizations should be held accountable if they fail to comply with HUD’s guidelines. Commissioner M. Zobac suggested different tiers of punishment, depending on the severity of the offense. Commissioner Zagardo was in favor of that idea and reinforced Commissioner M. Zobac’s justification by reminding the Commission that Staff Member Murphy is available to provide guidance to all of the organizations.
Councilwoman Moore agreed with Commissioner M. Zobac’s and Commissioner Zagardo’s statements. She also suggested that Staff Member Murphy could email the organizations “tips and hints” on occasion that might help them stay in compliance with HUD’s guidelines. Chairperson J. Zobac agreed with Councilwoman Moore’s statement and mentioned that this additional contact will let the organizations know that they can go to Staff Member Murphy with questions. She reiterated that the Commission always wants to offer these groups grace, but they also have expectations.
The Commission continued to discuss improving the evaluation criteria. Staff Member Murphy will present a framework of new guidelines for the Commission to review and discuss at the next meeting.
Staff Member Murphy informed the Commission that the evaluation questions and criteria have been updated. These updates were made to make the evaluations more structured and to give guidance to the commissioners on properly scoring the organizations. Commissioner Zagardo believes that the application questions add more value and emphasize what the Commission is looking for in the organizations. Staff Member Murphy added that more details can be included in the application instruction guide for additional structure and clarification.
C. 2019 Priority Discussion
The Commission decided to save this discussion for the next meeting, on Friday, March 16, 2018.
D. Other Business
Staff Member Murphy informed the commission that some meeting times have been adjusted. A 2018 meeting schedule was attached to the agenda packet.
Adjournment
Motion:
Commissioner Zargado called to adjourn the meeting; seconded by Commissioner M. Zobac. The motion was approved unanimously viva voce vote 7 to 0. The meeting was adjourned @ 10:04 a.m.
http://www.peoriagov.org/content/uploads/2017/10/HRC-Agenda-Packet-March-16-2018_1520860717_add.pdf
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