HomeMy WebLinkAboutHousing & Redevelopment Authority - Minutes - 05/19/2022HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
OTTERTAIL
COUNTY -MINNESOTA
The Otter Tail County HRA Board of Commissioners
Met for a regular meeting on May 19, 2022 at 2:30 pm
At the Otter Tail County Government Services Center
Board Members Present:
Wayne Johnson, Chairperson
John Lindquist
Robert Maki, Secretary
Kurt Mortenson
Betty Murphy
Leland Rogness, Vice Chairperson
Others Present:
500 W Fir Ave, Fergus Falls, MN
Barbara Dacy, OTC HRA Executive Director
Paula Grunewald, OTC HRA Administrative Assistant
Amy Baldwin, OTC CDA Director
43 members of the public signed in
Donna & Pete Piekarski, 16907 River Oaks Blvd., Fergus Falls
Marlene Wi lde, 1704 Aspen Lane, Fergus Falls
Suzy, not provided
Tammy Ziegler, 35157 Cty. Hwy 41, Dent
Dale Meis, 12121 165th Ave., Fergus Falls
Mary Ann Seifert, 246 1st Ave S., Perham
Cathy Collins, 509 E Channing, Fergus Falls
Paul Langseth, 542 Guttenberg Heights, Fergus Falls
Pat Steeves, PO Box 184, Ottertail
Teresa Parrish, 418 3rd St. NW, Pelican Rapids
Jean Varholdt, 36265 Cty. Hwy. 14, Richville
Duane Dornbusch, 2128 Woodland Ct., Fergus Falls
Robert Seifert, 46739 Cty. Hwy. 23, Pelican Rapids
Irene Petersen, 15409 Cty. Hwy. 116, Fergus Falls
Debbie Smith, 1009 Circle Lane, Fergus Falls
Dennis Aksamit, 122 Main Ave. E., Rothsay
Becki Hexum, Dent, MN
Craig Winters, 30973 Cty. Hwy. 1, Underwood
Gwen Smith, 711 S. Sheridan, Fergus Falls
Ron Aksamit, 37593 Long Harbor Road, Frazee
Barb Aksamit, 37593 Long Harbor Road, Frazee
Brian Aksamit, 29489 160th Ave., Elizabeth
Frank Richard, 38894 Harvest Ave., Perham
Marcia Huddleston, 34226 Sybil Lake Rd., Vergas
Bud Nornes, 22195 River Oak Dr., Fergus Falls
Rosalie Davenport, 11854 Cty. Hwy. 15, Campbell
Lynette Dornbusch, 2128 Woodland Ct., Fergus Falls
Eric Hanson, 39228 Beaver Dam Rd ., Dent
Jeff Swenson, 27550 330 Ave., Underwood
218-998-8730 ® OTTER TAIL COUNTY IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
LIVE YOUR best life HERE.
Government Services Center
500 West Fir Avenue
Fergus Falls, MN 56537
@ ottertailcountymn.us
Bernie Steeves, 40470, Ottertail .
Marv Hexum, 34112 390th S., Dent
David Helgerson, 32996 Mac Circle, .Dent
Erv Wickham, 36256, Richville • • •
Nathan Miller, 15617 385th .Ave.; Battle Lake
Debbie Holmen, 212 Two Rivers.Rd., Fergus Falls . .
Barb Dohrer, 728 Lincoln Ave., Fergus Falls
Betty Staebler, 40668 430th Ave.; Perham
Cindy Skogen, 23156 Rus Die. Circle, Fergus Falls
Maurice Skogen, 23156.RusDi<;Circle, Fergus Falls
Steve Golberg, 23161 Rus.Dic Circle, Fergus Falls
Diane Donley, 43290 Long Lake Lane, Ottertail
· Mr. Vaglor, address not providei:I
Via Teams
Tanya Westra, OTC HRA Project Manager
Kelly Miller, OTC HRA Housing Assistance Coordinator
Two additional unidentified participants from the public . . .. .
1. Call.to Order
Chairperson Johnson called the.me·eting to ord.er at 2:30 p:m.
2. Approval of Agenda .
Motion made .by Morterison, secorid by Murphy to approve the May 19, 2022 Agenda with no changes noted.
Motion passed unanimously. •
. • 3. • Public Hearing .
A. Revision to the PHA Five Year Plan 20-2024 and the 3023 Annuai Plan to Dissolve the Otter Tail County
Housing and Redevelopment Authority and to Transfer the Assets and Obligations of the Housing Choice .
Voucher Program, the Public Housing Program, and the Capital Fund to the Otter Tail County Community
Development Agency by January 1, 2023.
Chairperson Johnson read.the rules and opened the hearing. Director Barbara Dacy presented slides on ttie
history, process and purpose of the Plari Amendment. Sl"le also stated that the purpose of the Five-Year Plari an.d.
Annual Plan is to inform the public, participants, and business partners of-the HRA that the organization is
• proposed to be dissolved, and assets/obligations transferred to the CDA, and to merge existing operations into
one agency. She stated there is no request for expanded funding associated with this Amendment. Approval of •
this Amendment will start the process to dissolve the HRA as an organization and if it is not app_roved, the HRA
will· continue to exist as it is currently organized.
Public Hearing -the following persons testified at .the hearing:
• 1) Marsha Huddleston, 34226 Sybil Lake Rd., Vergas. She wanted to know ifhigher salaries will be removed. She
asked if AFFH is non-mandatory, why do we have to certify that we are following it?
2) Joan Varholdt, 36265 Courity Hwy 14, Richville. She stated it is dangerous to take away two boards to make
one. She stated that the Big Build serves low income, very low and extremely low income. She stated we will need
more police, new jail system, valu_es will go down; houses can't be sold, more theft, carjacking, intimidation. There
should be two boards so not all decisions are made at one level.
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3) Frank Richard, 38894 Harvest Lane, Perham. He is agairist. .Elimi~ate local control, becomes non-elected
officials, HUD takes control, brings socialism. Referred to .Baltimore I Portland program. HUD has strings attached.
Severe consequences -destroys our communities. Where, who, race integration. Bring social justice warrior riots
in 2021. Loss of our liberty. •
4) David Helgerson, 32996 Mac Gire, Dent. What is the mission of ODA? HUD is dangerous. Would be sacrificing
independence to HUD.
5) Nathan Miller, 15617 385th Ave., Ba):tle Lake. He stated he is a landlord in Dalton, Bankers are leery when people
_do not pay. Renters feel entitled, people are months behind. Will this be a bureaucracy?
6) Teresa Parrish, 418 3rd St NW, Pelican Rapids.
City gave away land in Pelican Rapids and now problems with .residents -sliowmobilers tear up lawn, window
broken.
?}Cathy Collins, 509 E Chan'ning; Fergus Falls. Is Agenda 21.a concern? Agenda 2030? Wiffpe~ple be itie poorest
of the poor? Equity? Sustainability? Will this change the face of who we are in Otter Tail County. Will we have
control?
8) Debby Smith, 1009 Circle Lane, Fergus Falls. What.happens to communities? AFFH -HUD lawsuits, do your
research. Please read more. The road to hell is paved with good intentio.ns. . . ' . '
9) Craig Winters, 30973 County Hwy. 1, Underwood. Clpposes the plan. Although saving money it consolidates
power and then there's fewer people make decisions. We don't know who is making the decisions at that point.·
10) John Vaglor, Vergas. Who wanis to bring the cities up here? Are we giving power to bureaucrats? Do you want
to keep giving power away?
11) Dennis Aksamit, 122 Main Ave. E., Rothsay. Objects. It would give power away from us, the voters. It gives
power to organizations that consists of unelected officials. Can't throw these people out of office. We have no power
over them. Agreeswith Frank Ri.chards·statement.
12) JeffSwenson, 27550 330th Ave., Underwood. Strongly opposed .. No sense in it. Wants to hear from both sides.
How does HRA feel about it? Doesn't feel anything is right.
13) Gwen Smith, 711 South Sheridan, Fergus Falls. And I know that we have already addressed what unfortunately
the type of residents we would be bringing to Fergus Falls. I have compassion for .poor people, but it is not the job
of the government to take care of them_, it's the church. It's the word of God says, "He who doesn't work shouldn't
emt". And also saying let's take a _look at the economical things from the standpoint of what brings in money into
Fergus ·Falls. We have been considered an area that brings in a lot of tourists to the lakes and they probably enjoy
coming to Fergus Falls too and boost our economy during the summer if we become a community that allows low
income people to overtake the city.will we have problems with tourism which affects our economy and then our city
·will go downhill because then nobody wants to come into out community because its run down.
14) Tammy Ziegler, 35157 Cty. Hwy 41, Dent. I agree with everyone who talked before me. I carry flags on my
truck. What will you dowheri p·eople start moving out?Tired of raised taxes. Not in favor of it.
15) Pete Piekarski, 16907 River Oaks Blvd., Fergus Falls. Agree in concept with what people are. saying. When .it
was said that there would bl:l no answering questions, this is a demonstration of why we don't want to go farther
away with government and farther away from local government because even here we can't address you with
questions and get answers. Will there be any subsequent meetings where that's going to happen? If we can't get
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answers from the people, it's pretty hard to have faith in what there doing and that they have a good understanding
of the impact of your decision. •
· 16) Duane Dornbusch, Fergus Falls. Is there a possibility that you would bring conversation back as to us a group.
As in, to share your views and opinions? I know that hasn't been the plan, but we are here, left our work to be
concerned about our community. We would like your input. Speaker's points are valid and would like to hear there
• are open minds.
Commissioner Johnson commenis: What you said is being heard·. No mind is made up. We want to hear your
comments. The Public finds things that we may not find .
. 17) Bob Seifert, 46739 County Hwy 23, Pelican Rapids. Sense of distrust. 5-year plan and amending in middle of
it, there's a reason why it's being down. Against the plan. Being open is a good start. Nobody cares in government
if it saves money. Rings untrue.
18) Erv Wickham, Richville. Strongly oppose. Looks at what the media is showing us ... that hundreds and thousands
of illegal immigrants coming across the border. And I know they will find homes. I surely hope this is not why we· are
doing this. Strongly ·opposes.
19) Irene Pederson, 1~409 County Hwy. 1.16, Fergus Falls. In. Ott.er Tail County with the possibility of increased
population do we have the infrastructure in place to accommodate that in a healthy way: Medically, education wise,
law enforcement, childcare, transportation. That would be my extrapolation. in regards to increase population here
in Otter Tail County. Secondly if there would: be possibility to consider another a public meeting prior to June 16 ..
20) Eric Hanson,. 39228.Seaver Dam Rd., Dent. It would be nice to have dialog with their employees. Not sure why
we don't. Big no. So tired of having to be at all kinds of meetings, all the time, from schools to here, to everywhere,
we have jobs to do but we have to keep an eye on everything that every government agency is doing. Very opposed
to this. We have to stop the crazy spending in big government and to me this is just more government involvement
that we have to continue to watch and go to meetings constantly. I hope you are hearing; I know you are hearing
from the people a lot in the last year. I hope it's affecting you.' Please whether it's this and other things we need to
rein in the spending from. government. People are .tired of it.
• 21) Lynette Dornbusch, 2128 Woodland Ct., .Fergus Falls. I am ari Air Force veteran. I served 27 years to protect
my. country, my father taught me you pay your own way, and you believe in American and that's what I'm asking
you to dot<:> keep our.little town safe. I watched my buddies that are· still serving, and they have to pack up and. go
to Minneapolis to defend and fight these people that want .to protest. We have people going down into the border to
protect our country from them coming across but I'm against this and I'll do anything I can to fight for this to not be
approved. • •
Chairperson Johnson -close~ the. Public Hearing at 3:30 and called for a brief recess. The Board of
Commissioners reconvened at 3:55 pm.
4. Approval of Consent Agenda Items
Motion made by Lindquist, second by Maki to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion passed by John Lindquist,
Robert Maki, Kurt Mortenson, Betty Murphy. Leland Rogness was absent at this time.
5. Old Business
A. Resolution 181 Authorizing Execution of Joint Powers Agreement with Otter Tail County.
Resolution 181 was tabled at the January 2022 HRA Board Meeting. Motion was made by Rogness, second by
Mortenson to remove Resolution 181 from the "table" for additional discussion. Motion passed unanimously.
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Director Dacy reported stated that the advantage of the Joint Powers Agreement enables two enties to be
considered as one entity for liability. She stated that the language in the·insurance provision of paragraphs 8 needs
to be amended to remove the word "officers•. The County is indemnifying the HRA, except that it cannot indemnity
the "officers"/Commissioners. She stated that additional changes will need to be made prior to County Board review
regarding indemnifyi_ng .the County with regard to the HRA the properties. She recommended approval subject to
further modification and review and approval by the Board Chair and Secretary as specified in the Resolution. Motion
was made by Mortenson, second by Lindquist to approve. Motion passed unanimously.
6.
2021 Audit
Executive Director Report
Director Dacy reported that the auditors have started the 2021 audit. She also reported that the 2020 audit cost
totaled approximately $30,000 .
. Community Updates
Director Dacy has received a draft of the preliminary platfor the City of Dalton subdivision.
MN NAHRO Conference May 24-26 • • •
Commissioner Mortenson and· Project Manager, Tanya Westra, will be attending. An affirming motion was made
by Rogness, second by Maki. Motion passed unanimously.·
7. General Discussion
The Board suggested that staff prepare· a press release or "frequently asked questions• document to respond to
the comments made during the public hearing.
Commissioner Johnson reported that he was contacted by a representative of the Brady Martz audit team as part
_of their work on the 2021 audit. :
8. Adjournment
At 4:30 pm a motion was made by Maki, second by Lindquist to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed unapimo1,1sly.
~/cl__:_
Robert Maki/Secretary/Clerk Date
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