First off, Nate Randolph, architect for Edward Tucker and chairperson for the Huntington City Council became chairman of the renewal authority, replacing Marshall University Professor Phillip Carter. Brandi Jacobs-Jones, director of administration and finance for the city, was voted vice chairman. Psychologist Diane Mufson was voted secretary and newer member Herb Stanley, chairperson for the Huntington Municipal Parking Board was voted treasurer.
Immediately after elections, Carter stepped down from his seat as chairman and exchanged seats with Randolph. Carter turned down other nominations by Jacobs-Jones and Randolph for various positions during the election. Carter appeared to be surprised and somewhat upset at the nomination of Randolph to take his place.
When Randolph stepped in as chairman, he brought up unfinished business concerning the authority's previous bank.
Jacobs-Jones explained a mishap with the renewal authority funds. The authority received a statement from a former bank totaling in excess of one million dollars said Randolph. After further investigation, Jacobs-Jones found out the money is insurance on the money the group had in the former account and not available funds.
While on the topic of authority funds, Mufson suggested moving the authority's savings and checking accounts from Chase bank to a locally owned bank, such as First Sentry Bank. Chase charged the authority's savings account a small fee for little or no activity on the account. By switching banks, the authority hopes to avoid that fee. Jacobs-Jones suggested sending a Request For Proposal for banking services to several local banks, that way to not rule out one over another. The motion to move accounts to another bank carried. However, since they have not contacted other banks as of yet, they are not sure if local banks might charge the same type of fee for no activity on accounts.
Next, there was a motion to revisit new business, which led to a discussion over which group would take over the land bank authority, the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority or the Huntington Municipal Development Authority. Randolph said the renewal authority dealt with more residential properties whereas the development authority deals with commercial properties. Jacobs-Jones pointed out the renewal authority would have to hire either part-time or full-time staff or contract labor services, also have lengthy meetings and more responsibility to deal with.
Carter made a suggestion to have a workshop for the renewal authority so the chairpersons could gain knowledge about implementing a land bank. Jacobs-Jones pointed out again a workshop would cost money for stipend and travel accommodations to bring in experts on the subject. The question was brought up as to which board would foot the bill for the workshop since neither the Huntington Urban Renewal Authority nor the Huntington Municipal Development Authority had jurisdiction over the land bank yet. Jacobs-Jones said all city of Huntington funds were already used or directed toward other projects and money is "tight."
The meeting was then adjourned. Jacobs-Jones and Carter left the meeting quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment