R-42 Office of Disaster Recovery quarterly update

1:12:35Okay. Okay. Takes care of the consent. Thank you, Mr. County Attorney. You're welcome, sir. And I'll go to R 42, Office of Disaster Recovery Sources. Quadly update.

1:12:56Uh thank you. I'm Chuck Lane, uh Director of the Office of Disaster Recovery Resources. I'm joined by Tim Lagudi with IEM International. Both of both of us will be available to answer questions following my presentation. So this will be uh my second quarterly report to the board to update you on the status of the Better Future program.

1:13:19How do we

1:13:19do it?

1:13:22Thank you. So this is how the funds were budgeted in our action plan. Uh and the amounts have not changed. The hopeful launch dates have shifted while we're working hard to get these programs up and running. The one program we've launched is the individual housing program. Our volume in that program is accelerating, and I'll provide more detail on that in a moment. We will be launching the planning program later this month. This will include county efforts surrounding our infrastructure and mitigation needs. I will uh it will also provide an opportunity for some county departments and our nonprofit

1:13:52partners to evaluate to evaluate pathways to build capacity in their organizations. Our action plan budget is $100 million for construction of affordable housing. Last week we launched a very limited solicitation for housing projects that are shovel ready. This is an effort to get much needed housing under construction and available for occupancy as soon as possible. The application period closes on April 28th and we'll launch a broader solicitation for housing projects in May or June. For small businesses and nonprofit recovery, there'll

1:14:23likely be several components to this. We hope to begin accepting applications in the spring to fund repairs to damage suffered by business owners. Infrastructure mitigation will be one pot of money totaling $206 million. We've made a great deal of progress working through. Through a list of potential projects. This program will have the hardest impact on our ability to meet the compliance, e. D. 70%, the requirement that we fund spend 70% of the funds on low to moderate income folks. Right now we're gathering data

1:14:53on potential projects to help the board make informed decisions.

1:14:59I hope to have more concise information for you later this month or in or in early May. We'll launch our public services program over the summer. Some of our county departments and our nonprofit partners.

1:15:15One combat? I guess.

1:15:19Thank you. I think I'm okay now. Thank you. So next slide please.

1:15:28So how have we done so far with the individual housing program? We've calculated awards totaling $46.8 million. We're four months into the program and we're approaching the 25% mark of the $205 million that were originally budgeted. Looking at the graph on the left, the blue bars represent the number of awards shown on the left column, and the green line shows the dollar amounts corresponding to the right column. The volume we're seeing is still accelerating and we're getting more and more applications uh to the construction phase. I think uh we'll be at peak volume when I present

1:15:58my next quarterly report in July. Next slide.

1:16:03So this is a graph showing applications we've that we have that have been submitted in our system shown by each district. We can't do a whole lot until an application is submitted. Even when an application is submitted, it's almost never complete because we need additional information. And these types of applications are shown in the blue portions of the bar. The orange shows denied applications plus duplicate and withdrawn applications or any applications that aren't gonna move any forward, move further any forward. We've denied 69 applications, and three of those have been

1:16:34converted to approval upon denial. That all happened last week. 300 applications shown in green have been approved. Next slide, please. So looking at application data countywide, you can see that more than half of our applications in our queue. Have not been submitted yet. Uh one of the biggest challenges to a program like this is people give up and and don't complete an application. But access for a lot of information uh in our application and pe people get overwhelmed by it. We're required to to compile this application.

1:17:04This uh information. Our case managers have been reaching out to applicants who seem to have stopped progressing with their application and we're helping them get to a submitted status. Of the submitted applications, we've processed 74% of them. That's up, that's up from 40% a few weeks ago. And next slide. So this is a map uh that has a pin for the location.

1:17:30One second.

1:17:33I didn't even touch it, it's on my lap.

1:17:35That happened to me at a at at a funeral, Doctor Gilswice's funeral, three times.

1:17:41Uh this map has a pin for the location of each application that we have in our system. It serves as a as a heat map that really closely represents where we saw the the the significant damage in the hurricanes. And next slide. So if you look closely, this map shows the locations of the homes where we've calculated awards. Similar to the previous map, obviously less volume.

1:18:04I um can I ask a question on this real quick? Yes. I'm curious these ones like Quail Ridge and Sun Coast Lakes. And Moon Lake. I mean what So Helene was flooding. And Milton was I mean was Storm surge. Correct. Milton was heavy rain on the east side. So what happened on the Sun Coast?

1:18:25Well this this is us responding to the applications and we do a very thorough job at reviewing them to make sure that they do qualify, that they did sustain damage from the storms. I can't speak to these specifically. There

1:18:36was riverine flooding in that card.

1:18:38Yeah, there was in Milton. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

1:18:43Okay, next slide. So, our major accomplishments so far, we fast-tracked our first award and uh and completed it in 22 days. As far as we know, this is the fastest uh award from program launch in the history of C D B G DR programs. We did this uh to host a media event and create awareness of our program, and it worked. We really got a strong spike of applications that. week we probably created some unrealistic expectations by pushing the award out so quickly. But it was certainly worth the effort. We've completed

1:19:13the onboarding of 17 contractors and we're quickly moving projects into the construction phase. I want to thank Tambri's team and Media Relations and Communications for their help with our public outreach. We've held 46 in-person events to create awareness and help people with their applications. And this doesn't include webinars we've conducted. podcasts, media interviews. We've really taken every opportunity and we've sought out opportunities to get in front of people to create awareness of this program. Our program has been available to residents

1:19:44with incomes over 80% of area median income and up to 120% of area median income for folks that are still displaced from their home. Just last week, we expanded that criteria to include households with a child, five and younger, a senior, 62 and older, or a person with a disability. So we're helping more people on that higher income bracket. Hopefully, we can expand that even further in the coming weeks. Policies and procedures for each program are due to HUD by September. I believe, and we're well ahead of this deadline.

1:20:15And as I mentioned earlier, we have an active solicitation for housing projects that are shovel ready. For next steps, we'll continue to focus on launching the remaining programs as we continue to press forward and maintain the fast pace of the individual housing program. I'm constantly focused on our process and trying. Trying to find ways to reduce our cycle times and get funding out the door as quickly as possible while remaining compliant across the board. People have been waiting a long time for this level of assistance. So that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions. anything

1:20:46again.

1:20:47I have a quick question. So after the person's home has been in inspected after um when they've come out, how long is it? What's the next phase of that and then how long does it normally happen till after the inspection till the funding actually happens.

1:21:01So I'm I'm gonna ask Tim to come up and help with that question. Tim is mired in the process of each step that it takes. And we're we're getting a lot of calls from folks and and you know questioning the timeline of it. Um each of these steps has a great deal of work that we need to do that to help us make compliant, and it's really hard to translate that with people. People are

1:21:24I'll let Tim talk to the sp specifics.

1:21:28Thanks, Chuck, and good morning, everybody. Uh just in terms of timeline, after an inspection occurs, uh at that point we've calculated their duplication of benefits and we have their prospective scope total. And so if they are a positive award, they move into the environment process. Uh that typically takes 60 days, it can take more or less. Um Is older than 45 years old, it has to go to historic review, where it goes to the state historic preservation office for consultation. So that extends the timeline, and we

1:21:58have quite a bit of housing stock that meets that criteria. So about two weeks, and then after that environmental review is completed, we go ahead. And vet the project, we update the scope totals if there's any environmental mitigation required, and it would be assigned out to a contractor. That contractor stage, it's dependent on homeowner availability to do the walkthrough, but it's about two to three weeks.

1:22:19So the environmental review process um did you say was three months or two months?

1:22:25Uh sixty days on average. But it can go up to 75 or it can be done as quickly as 30.

1:22:31Thank you.

1:22:32So is uh is it unusual for a C D B G program to have that forty five year review by the state?

1:22:40It it's actually it's actually fifty and and it is, yes. We're we're forty we're saying forty five because of the length of the of the grant. It's another five years on the grant. But it is common. Shippo is a very common thing that we have to deal with.

1:22:51I I would think on a on a shorter term Um I mean let's say track housing, etcetera, that's development that would be done that wouldn't have the same thing, but so be it. Question for you. The gentleman from that spoke this morning at the Red Cross, I know Kathy, you get to talk to him. Um have you guys did you guys get a chance to talk to my sorry Chuck, you went out there. Um did you have a con conversation with him about what his program is different from yours between requirements. Exactly.

1:23:22They they have limited funding. They have about a half a million dollars. But if we can find gaps in our programs that they can fill. That's what we want to explore because I think we can find some. There's some people we might not be able to help that they may be able to help.

1:23:33And I I think there's some probably that some some people have even had smaller repairs that didn't get covered, uh weren't taken care of. And I I know I know a couple of folks right off the bat that that come to mind that I want to get with you, but I want to find Because part of the thing is you take the program, get the money, now you're responsible to make sure you're gonna cover the insurance with the NFIP. So if you've got a $2,000 or $10,000 repair, it's not covered because you don't want to go through the process to have that coverage, those

1:24:03are the people we can actually help that that get hurt.

1:24:13If it's another opportunity, like you say, for some of the people that got denied or people that didn't even apply because They they knew what the rules were gonna be. That I think there's a lot more help we can give to these people, and I'd like to make sure we take a shot at that. Yep. Um question, I know we had one gentleman, uh young man, lower income, wants to be a firefighter. You've got you're looking at his process, and I appreciate you jumping in with that. Um but it seems like a lot of those older homes that are on the ground that when we look

1:24:55Yeah, we're we're gonna see the the raising the home really um along with new construction more than anything. Um we're um We're not raising homes unless it's required by code. And that's really a matter of making the funding go further so we can help more people. And if it's required by code, it's substantially damaged. And most typically that's going to be a demo and rebuild.

1:25:16Alright, so I know. And Mike helped me with this. I know we when we working with the state we put a lot of money into the Elevate Florida program. I don't know if we got a full return back on that, but maybe if we combine that money to go with this money it may be something if there's a way to do that because if we're not getting that return from what we gave them. But this would help elevate the programs without depleting as quick as you're you're you're afraid of, then it's something we should probably look at and kind of put it as well.

1:25:43Yeah, let me speak with emergency management on where we are with the Elevate Homes program. I know we put a significant percentage of dollars into that program. I know there were a lot of applications. Um I'm not Sure where the state is because basically we were the funding arm and the state was the execution piece of it. But I'll I'll check into that and report back to you.

1:26:02Okay.

1:26:06Any thoughts, questions, Commissioner Starkey?

1:26:08Oh yeah, I've got six.

1:26:11Okay, um but I'll jump on this one first. On the uh did we give ten million dollars? Is that the number that sticks in my mind?

1:26:19I'm not certain.

1:26:19No, tell me.

1:26:25That makes me think it was ten million.

1:26:27Which it could have been ten to fifteen.

1:26:29And we better get ten million back now. Well I mean did we have to

1:26:33participate? That was the deal. And my understanding was that that would be for Pasco residents. The idea was was that the state through their Elevate Florida program would be a little more efficient at allocating those dollars and getting those Those pushed out.

1:26:47Yeah, we definitely want to report on elevate floor defense.

1:26:49Yes.

1:26:51Okay, a couple of questions, starting with I I noticed in your report last week there are a lot of non-compliant with FEMA flood requirements. Can you I mean, so what was going on there?

1:27:02So when when someone gets help, like if someone get help from uh Adalia, for example, and they're in a floodplain, they're required to carry flood insurance. If they don't carry flood insurance and they get hit by Helene or Milton, We're not able to help them. FEMA FEMA funds can't be used in that prop on that property. Our funds can't be used on that property.

1:27:19So they didn't ask FEMA for help and get that money and that re that pays for their flood insurance for three years? These people? Did they not know that was available to them?

1:27:29I I think that's probably the case. Is that what you're finding? Correct. Yeah.

1:27:33The they did not know that FEMA would come in and pay their flood insurance for three years. That's mind boggling because you had s have so many. That so we need to make sure. You know, if this happens again that they know that they c that program is out there, right?

1:27:48Yep.

1:27:48Um on the businesses, you know, one of the One of the big projects I hoped that we would do is fix non-conforming signs that that busted. I still see some. But I had asked staff to go out and make a Uh digital recording of signs that got busted in the storm. Did that ever happen? Did we ever get a record of Signs on nineteen that were busted. We had one on Little

1:28:19Road too. They've already repaired it but They're all over. Yeah, it needs to be county wide. Yeah, and and I saw some on I drove on three oh one the other day. I'm just asking If anyone from code ever did that documentation? Because I asked for it quite a few times. Um And so there's no answer, so we don't know.

1:28:41I

1:28:41don't know, and

1:28:42I'll find

1:28:42out. Um how many do you know how many businesses are interested in this program? Have we have they started reaching out to us or

1:28:52I've had some. Um not not a ton not a ton of people have reached out to me on with businesses but prior to our prior to launching a program and what we want to do first with the businesses is is help repair damage and science can be part of that. There will be an outreach component. We will get in touch with as many businesses as we can to let them know that opportunity is coming.

1:29:09I just don't know, uh at least in my district and I'd love to know about the other commissioners district since Since most of the damage in my district was Helene Storm Surge. I don't know of very many businesses that had had any issues because they were Not right on the edge. Um And then in Milton. We had river flooding of the encloped. My house got flooded but Um Again, I don't know of many businesses

1:29:39that in again just my district that had issues from milking. Um Uh on the trailer parks. We were talking about buying some of them out. What what has the evolution been in that?

1:29:53So of the hundred million dollars that we have budgeted for for the housing program, housing construction program, I'm gonna recommend uh communicating with the county administrator that we pull out twenty million dollars for a a potential bio program. Now bio programs can very be very complicated with this funding. Funding because we buy automobile home park or even an R V park, we're required to make sure that those people are relocated properly. And that oftentimes can cost three, four times the cost of the land. Um so we'll have to really evaluate that. But I think pulling that money out at the beginning

1:30:23is the wise thing to do, and then if we opt if the board operates. not to go to a bio program we could spend that money on we could repurpose that funding.

1:30:31I I again just speaking in my district which I know better than all of yours there is a a travel trailer park on County Road 54 that I have visited many times with many governors. in a heavy rain event or a hurricane where it goes underwater and I think J J P might have seen the photos. um where they're they're underwater. It's a travel park. And it's in the Ankl River basically. So Um I'm hoping that we

1:31:01really can do something with that one. Um do you have An estimate of what it costs to live lift houses? Do do we know What you're allocating towards that? I've been asked this a lot.

1:31:14What we're our program allows us to put up to an additional hundred thousand dollars towards a home that needs to be elevated. It's much less costly when you're doing it with new construction than when you're raising an ex an existing home.

1:31:27Well, that depends on if you're in the Limois line or not. Um

1:31:32I think it's a couple hundred thousand. I know that we we have some limits of two to three hundred thousand dollars on some programs to to do

1:31:39elevations.

1:31:40It's expensive.

1:31:40I think it's more than that. Personally, but um We got a bid on ours that was ridiculous. My house is sev seventeen, eighteen hundred square feet. Um Okay, I think those were my questions. I think Commissioner Weightman has.

1:31:59So I think everybody's having a hard time getting customers in the door because the there's an income

1:32:08discriminor gris discriminatory factors in all of this.

1:32:12Yeah.

1:32:12And I'm not going to belabor that 'cause you all know my feelings towards it. Um

1:32:21So what's it sev seventy thirty or sixty forty split on housing? Of the total, six hundred plus million. What what's what's the question? What w sixty percent of this fund these funds are supposed to go towards housing? Uh we well

1:32:36right now we have over we have fifty-two percent of our funds. There's no requirement. Our action plan is fifty-two percent going towards housing. Okay, so over half of it. Two hundred five million for individual housing, a hundred million towards new construction. Okay, so

1:32:48We voted earlier today to turn down a multifamily project that was going to pay full freight on taxes. Bull freight on taxes. For that level of money that we're talking about putting on taxpayer subsidized apartments, and you kind of see this board's temperament towards apartments, I really like to know How many units are you looking to build, and what's the cost to build an apartment complex complex or per door? because there's enough money here that we could

1:33:18end up having thousands of units put across this county. And so I think we need to be very deliberate in the decision making process when it comes to the housing piece, especially when it comes to apartments. because Chief Back there's gonna have to service 'em on a fire issue. We're gonna have to have Sheriff's Department you know, if they're gonna be subsidized, no different than live local, in my opinion. We're gonna still have to figure out a way to provide services to these places. So I really would like to know and then I I was really it

1:33:48really irked me to see an open cattle call online to have apartment developers for this space to come in. I know there's the rationale behind it. But all it does is create a fent a feeding frenzy and you get all sorts of characters that are coming in going to want to meet with us on selling us why their taxpayer subsidized affordable housing project is the greatest thing under the sun. And so Uh I think we need to be very careful. And we need to have a true plan and we

1:34:18need to know the cost. Because the last thing I'm gonna stand for is have sprawling multifamily development come across this county that's dis that's discounted. We're trying to build fire stations, we're trying to hire officers. We're trying to figure out a way to, you know, manage our tax base. And this could be forced and live local if we're not careful because of how much money's there. So I'd like to know what it costs to build a complex, uh, two, three hundred units, that seems to be what comes before us regularly, and

1:34:49those are on 15 to 20 acre sites historically, what it costs per door, and then what the subject is.

1:34:59Your program could be amended. to add more money into the program. And I don't want to be bamboozled. or have some boondoggle come in and we're caught flat footed on it. So I just want to be very direct and upfront in the in a public setting of my position on this when it comes to the housing piece. Um I'm suspect of the whole program. I don't like how it discriminates against people based on their income bracket. I think that's wrong. We all pay taxes. And you know, the the dual working household, yeah, on paper they might make a good living. But

1:35:29they're living month to month between mortgage insurance, car payments, family, whatever. And so I I really think I wish the congressman was still here. That way he could he's uh his staff's already heard my frustration. I'm very grateful. grateful to them by the way, Congressman Villarrakis's team for hearing us out. But we've got to get government out of the way and get this bureaucratic process out of the way so we can truly help people and not just talk about it. People are giving up because it's taken too daggum long. We're working against ourselves. This program works

1:36:00against ourselves, and I think it discourages people to do it, which is I think probably the intent. That way folks can't get their money back to go to work for them. So generally I'm frustrated with the program. Y'all know this. And uh I hope to see some real changes to it. If not, I'd really like to start seeing some breakdowns on what you all are thinking, especially on the multifamily piece. And then where you're looking at building those, those potential sites. And then who you're gonna be working with, I

1:36:30guess time will tell. So thank you, Chairman.

1:36:32Commissioner Oakley. Um I know we're we're paying to lift homes in different areas, but here on the east side, there's a few homes over here, maybe ten or twelve homes. during a flood area. I've just recently found out that We possibly are not gonna be able to change uh the way the water flows or moves away from these homes that It looks like and they've been flooding for years and years that maybe there's a possi is there a possibility here we could buy out those homes so

1:37:02there would not be homes there where they would continuously flood in the future.

1:37:07Our action plan provides for that we for that activity. We can do that. That's eligible. It wouldn't be eligible at all? It is eligible. Oh, it's eligible

1:37:15activity. Okay. All right. I'll uh I'll talk more with Mr. Kabala and and see if we can get get with you and and talk about it. Okay.

1:37:28And I'll just add add in. Um and I I say you I share your concerns with these apartments coming in. We had one visit me from New York and they were looking for like a hundred and forty thousand dollars a unit subsidy and be tax free. And tax free. It's like are you kidding me? Yeah,

1:37:44it's crazy.

1:37:45So and and Chuck and I have talked about that, et cetera, but um yeah, we want to be careful what we do there. One of the one of the things is low income areas, so it doesn't have to be a low-income home. I want I want the board to kind of think about this as we go forward as you're trying to get the housing first, which is good. But if we're gonna run short Sure. I think infrastructure in low income areas is probably very, very important to do. Um good job creating things that could should help. But it's gonna be something that in the maybe

1:38:15in a six months time, whatever time it be, maybe we start looking at doing those things because a lot of those roads get worse. Much worse with the water. I know the Hudson Sea Ranch area. Um got some issues. So you may be able to do some improvements that could actually take less uh some of the strain off our great uh you uh the road paving utility that we put in place if we can take some of those houses in low.

1:38:50So as as you go forward and I appreciate all you trying to do. Uh taking all the calls and all the information you gotta look at, a lot of things to look at to try to get these things through. But I I think the next quarter we might have more information about what That may be a better stepping point for us to figure out what we what we may start wanting to change in the

1:39:07par in the plan. I I think we're getting very close on the infrastructure piece to to bringing the board and getting the board involved in that. I think um we made a lot of progress. There's a there's there was a ton of projects at the beginning and we're we're working through that. I've been working directly with the county administrator on that.

1:39:24When when are we gonna look be looking at those?

1:39:28W I I mean I'm I'm hoping within the next within the next month we might have some some really solid information to share with the board. That's that's my hope by the end of this month, early May.

1:39:38And it's it's my understanding we're we want to look at projects that are pretty much shovel ready so that we can get it through the process.

1:39:46Right now that's a housing project that a housing RFP that I have on the street right now. We're s we're soliciting for projects that are shovel rig.

1:39:53But also infrastructure projects. That's what the committee.

1:40:02phase, some are in planning phase, and so we want to make sure that the odds of success on those before we decide to commit any dollars to them are are going to be high probability.

1:40:12Yeah. Yeah.

1:40:14I do have an answer for you on Elevate Florida. It was approximately 11.5 million that was allocated. As of currently, um Pasco County residents put in five hundred and ninety-seven applications. Of those five hundred and ninety-seven applications, fifty-three are moving forward. So

1:40:30how much money is that?

1:40:31I do not know the answer.

1:40:32That that's what that's the magic question. Okay, I just had a question on what what was the last subject that you were just talking about?

1:40:41my head infrastructure on

1:40:42purpose

1:40:44and infrastructure

1:40:45jobs apartments

1:40:48Well on the multifamily um the RFP is out. Correct? Yes. Because I've been asked someone asked to meet with me on a project and I just checked with the county attorney and we cannot meet with any applicants.

1:41:02The question is whether whether your solicitation is being processed under the purchasing ordinance or not.

1:41:09It's not

1:41:10being

1:41:10processed by purchasing but

1:41:13the question. Whether whether you are following the you're following the i if it i if this is a procurement under the purchasing ordinance then and it's on the street, then there is a cone of silence that they shouldn't be talking to anybody.

1:41:28We're personal director

1:41:29here.

1:41:29Yeah, Chairman M that philosophy means it post it. That just muddied the waters a bit for all of us. People call in and want to meet with us all the time.

1:41:38Well now that the RFP is out, let's let's

1:41:41hear

1:41:41what the

1:41:41rules are.

1:41:43While purchasing did not put out the solicitation, it is still under the ordinance, so you should not be meeting with anyone that CONA Silence is. If you have anyone that's bothering you or questioning you, please send them to my office and we'll be happy to address it with them.

1:41:57Uh

1:41:59Uh anything else for Chuck?

1:42:00I I did have something and dang it.