Citizen Comment:
Three people spoke.
Main topics:
- There are lots of rumors of inconsistency and favoritism in city politics, like which nonprofits get extensions for paperwork, and which people get on boards and commissions.
- It was upsetting when the river was getting destroyed and trashed at Rio Vista, but the idea of charging admission is also upsetting.
- Great job at the 3 pm meeting. Keep remembering that you’re in charge of of taxpayer money.
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Item 13: $740K in CDBG money
“CDBG” stands for Community Development Block Grant. This is money that San Marcos gets from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development.
Local nonprofits apply to San Marcos for the money. Today is a rough draft of how to allocate the money to the nonprofits. The final decision will be in July.
Because it’s federal money, there are a bunch of constraints on how it can be spent.
First is Public Services. This is capped at $111K.
These are all the nonprofits that applied, and the amounts that staff is recommending:
So there are definitely some weird ones, right?
Business and Community Lenders: apparently this is a brand new nonprofit. City staff said that it was all or nothing. If they only got a partial funding, they wouldn’t be able to get up and running. Since we couldn’t do the whole $100K, they got stuck.
HOME Center: HOME Center does great work. They do extremely intensive case management work to find stable, longterm housing for chronically homeless people. They navigate severe mental health issues, addiction, physical health, you name it. They find long-lost birth certificates needed for paperwork. Etc. It’s weird to give them only $5K. (This has been a flashpoint before.)
Here are the other two categories, Projects and Administration:
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A few other details:
- this presentation was planned around $740K, but we’re actually receiving more like $770K. So there’s some breathing room here.
Jane: Yeah, we’ve been getting $770K since the 90s.
2. There are actually two pots of money: CDBG and HSAB.
“HSAB” stands for Human Services Advisory Board. This is city money, given out in grants to nonprofits.
It’s always been a mess, having two separate pots of money that overlap in purpose. So they’re trying to align the two processes. Next year, it will be more like a single process, but we’re not there yet.
3. CDBG money requires a LOT of paperwork and tracking by the nonprofits, because it’s federal money, so there is federal reporting. HSAB money is much simpler.
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What does Council say?
Alyssa: Is there a scoring matrix? Outcomes? Deliverables? Survey results of people who are served by these nonprofits? Public opinion of the CDBG process is not good. Are there metrics on how many nonprofits can’t navigate the application process?
Answers: Yes on scoring matrix. Yes on outcomes and deliverables. But we don’t require the nonprofits to survey their participants. They do submit quarterly reports, though.
Amanda: Why is HOME center so low?
Answer: We tried to prioritize immediate need versus longterm need.
Lorenzo: We’re asking HOME to do a lot of federal paperwork, for only $5K.
Here’s the summary of the HOME application:
Amanda: Can we cover transportation and medical needs, at least? Can we bump them up to $12,200, out of that extra money that is showing up?
Answer: Yes. But not tonight.
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Jane: We’re spending $60K to light the plaques at Dunbar on the History Walk? Shouldn’t that come out of the Arts fund?
Answer: It’s considered a park amenity, to light the path. And this is coming out of the Projects category, not Public Services.
Josh: Does the applicant list stay stable over the years?
Answer: No, the number of applicants has increased. More nonprofits are willing to deal with all the massive paperwork for CDBG.
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There’s no decision tonight – this is just giving staff feedback on this first draft.
In July, Council is going to see the HSAB money and CDBG money side by side. So then they can say things like, “Ok, HOME asked for $35K from one and $30K from the other. What if we give them all $65 from HSAB instead?”
That’s the goal – to be able to divvy up both pots of money using one united big picture of all nonprofit applications.
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Item 11: Time for a digression!
This item was in the consent agenda, and was approved without discussion.
I just want to share with you some gnarly photos in the packet:
Pretty cool, right?
Weirdly compelling!
I see you, structural steel elements of Clarifier No 401 at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. You look tired.
What a composition.
In this triptych, we ask ourselves, “Who is really the rusty one? This wastewater treatment plant …or ourselves?”
Who among us is not threaded by decaying bolts?
Hey, soldered plate with tiny cobwebs: me too.
These photos are part of a larger collection that can be found at this exhibit:
Disclaimer: do not go visit that exhibit!
End of the art tour. Let’s go back to the council meeting!
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Item 5: Entry fees at Rio Vista:
They finalize this fee structure for Rio Vista park:
And they brought up entry bracelets!
They’re looking into ordering non-digital entry bracelets for locals. First one would be free, but you’d have to pick it up in person.
Thanks, Parks Department!
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Item 16: Salvage from Demo Sites
I am not sure what’s getting built here, but the Pennington Funeral Home is getting demolished:
This is on Comanche, one block up from Little HEB.
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Let’s take a quick field trip! That isn’t the original Pennington building.
That’s right!
It’s ye old Rogers Building, on the corner of Hopkins and LBJ! Right now it’s some bar called Bazaar.
It changes hands so often that you can date yourself, according to what was there when you moved to San Marcos. I personally moved here during the All Nighter Diner era.
After that, it was the Gray Horse Saloon for awhile, I think? It’s been the Wine Bar, and Vodka Street, and maybe something else.
Back in 1986, it was a sporting goods store:
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ANYWAY. We were talking about the Pennington Funeral home, on Comanche.
They moved out, and the fire and SWAT team used the empty building for training purposes:
After all that, Mayor Jane and Matthew Mendoza decided to see if other nonprofits could repurpose parts of the building. Like: take a ceiling fan! take some filing cabinets! Use these beams in your home rehab project! Etc.
It sounds like some organizations were able to salvage some good stuff.
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Which brings us to tonight: what if all demolitions were scrapped for parts, first?
Sure, why not?
Lorenzo: As long as this doesn’t get bogged down in red tape.
Note: yes, this is a real danger. You don’t want to delay things by a week for some dusty 30-year-old ceiling fans.
Matthew: maybe we can offer a discount if the owner lets others salvage building parts!
City Lawyer: As long as this isn’t the dangerous buildings.
So city staff will bring something back.
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Item 17: Community Partnership
Back in 2018, the city formed a committee with SMCISD and Hays County. It’s been a LONG time since the committee has done anything.
Alyssa has been on the committee for years, and they’ve never met.
Today’s item is to brainstorm agenda topics for the committee, to justify firing it back up again and scheduling a first meeting.
Ideas:
- Trying to acquire vacant lots up for sale. (I assume this is referring to the land next to Centro.)
- Use of equipment and facilities during extreme weather events and emergencies
- Joint planning to formalize resources and planning
Matthew: Can’t we just meet and plan topics?
(That is my question, too! This seems unnecessary.)
Jane: But what if the topics are only relevant to TWO entities?
(I don’t know why Jane is overthinking this. Surely adults can handle that however they want.)
Josh: What if we invite Texas State to join?
Answer: Back in the day, President Trauth turned us down. We hadn’t re-extended the invite under President Damphouse, but I guess we could.
Lorenzo: that would just be the Core Four all over again.
Answer: Sort of yes, sort of no.
Jane: Hays, SMCISD, and the city are all elected officials. Whereas if Texas State joins, it would be an appointed official.
Bottom line: They’ll reach out to Texas State, and maybe someday there will be a meeting.
The San Marxist 