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WEST MICHIGAN REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
January 16, 2009
9:30 a.m.
1. Call to Order. T. Cochran, Vice-Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:35 a.m. Board members in attendance introduced themselves and new members were welcomed to the WMRPC.
Roll Call:
Linda Howell – Allegan County
Gregg Yeomans – Ionia County
Julie Calley – Ionia County
Paul Bullock, Treasurer – Mecosta County
Ray Steinke – Mecosta County
Leslie Anne Wood – Montcalm County
John Johansen – Montcalm County
Tom Lindeman – Montcalm County
Dan Massy – Osceola County
Donald Disselkoen – Ottawa County
Chris Larson – Ottawa County
Tim Cochran, Vice-Chair – City of Wyoming
Lillian VanderVeen – City of Wyoming
Regina Davis – At large
Howard Hansen – At large
Staff:
David Bee – Director
Paul Leitelt – Planner
Nancy Murphy – Administrative Assistant
Guests:
Judy Barnes – Home and Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids
Eric Van Dop, Brickley DeLong
T. Cochran expressed appreciation to the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan for hosting this month’s meeting. He said that we have been trying to move our meetings to different locations in order to accommodate all members around the same table. We met once at the Wyoming offices last year and might meet there one or two times this year. The location for the next Board meeting has not been determined yet.
2. Approval of Minutes
A MOTION WAS MADE BY R. Steinke to approve the minutes for the December 12, 2008, Board meeting as presented. SUPPORTED BY C. Larson. MOTION APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.
3. Public Comments
None.
4. Guest Speaker – Judy Barnes, Home and Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids
Ms. Barnes said that right now we are in the midst of a serious housing crisis at all levels (national, regional, states, cities, and counties). She attended a recent economic summit that included a discussion of the housing situation.
Nationally, the numbers of vacant houses (6.2 million) is up substantially and 1.5 million too many. Annual sales are much lower (400,000 last year compared to 1.2 million in an average year). Ten percent of homeowners are in distress and 59 percent of homebuilders are not making a profit and have been cutting both prices and production, which has resulted in the lowest production of single-family homes since 1960. Although the prime and mortgage rates are the lowest they’ve been since 1960, people aren’t buying homes because they can’t get a loan and/or they can’t sell their current homes and/or they are concerned that the value will fall after they make a purchase.
In 2008, we lost 2.6 million jobs, three-quarters of that in the last four months of the year. This quarter, job losses are expected to continue at a similar rate. People are saying that the recession probably won’t end until the third quarter of 2009, and many believe that is an optimistic forecast.
There is no activity in the construction of large multi-family buildings (apartments, condominiums). House prices typically average five times household income, but now in Grand Rapids, that average is three times income, so prices are pretty even. Areas of the country that had the biggest housing bubble (like California) are the places that have experienced the biggest drop in prices.
At the recent economic summit, George Erickcek said that the most recent stimulus package was not successful because banks were holding the money instead of spending it because they are not confident about their portfolios. He also said that the big concern in Michigan is the auto industry. Annual auto sales went from 16.0 million in 2007 to 13.3 million in 2008, with a projected 12.2 million in 2009. Employment will be flat and probably won’t recover that much, partly because employers have adjusted and learned to do better with fewer workers.
Car sales are the worst they have ever been (since we first had cars). In Michigan, it is not a harsh winter, but a never ending situation. There have been job losses every year and that will continue. In our region, there has been a 0.2 percent decline in jobs within 12 months. Grand Rapids manufacturing has seen job losses. Housing prices are down 4.2 percent in Grand Rapids. Office furniture production is down and continues that trend. There are 240,000 empty chairs. The Holland area has been more negatively impacted. Future growth is more likely from the inside than the outside.
The National Association of Home Builders reported that three million jobs in housing have been lost since the 1995 peak of the housing boom. This is a good time to buy a home; we just have to get people to feel more confident. The Home and Building Association of Greater Grand Rapids has 600 members now, compared to 1,600 in 2005. Staff is also down, from 24 to 6. Their focus now is on membership. Most of their income comes from the annual home show and the Parades of Homes. There are fabulous craftspeople in West Michigan. Her organization tries to focus on what we can do and not on the problems and what we can’t do.
5. Board Member Orientation Materials
Board members received copies of the 2009 version of the orientation packet and D. Bee reviewed the contents. He said that the included list of Board members was based on the information we had at the time the booklet was put together. The packet also includes 2009 meeting dates, the WMRPC mission statement, historical information, the 2008-09 budget, goals and objectives, personnel and other policies, bylaws, and a broad overview of planning.
6. Administrative Matters
FY 2008 Audit Report
Eric Van Dop, from the accounting firm of Brickley DeLong, presented an overview of the WMRPC’s audit for fiscal year 2008 (ending September 30, 2008). He said that the opinion letter is usually the item of most interest to Board members. That letter states that the WMRPC’s financial position conforms to generally accepted accounting principles. The opinion is an unqualified, or “clean”, opinion, which is the highest possible determination.
Mr. Van Dop reviewed financial statements from the audit report, including Revenues and Expenditures, changes to Fund Balance, and the Balance Sheet. The presented information showed comparisons with 2007. He said that revenues were down about $7,400 from last year, but that was due primarily to recovered Hazard Mitigation revenues that had been written off in FY 2006 and received in FY 2007. State revenues were up, particularly Asset Management. Direct costs, those charged to programs, are down and indirect costs, overhead, were up. The organization still has a six-month financial cushion, which is good.
Mr. Van Dop also reviewed the letters that were included with the Financial Statements report. The first letter provides a summary of the audit process and lists selected findings, along with a statement of the auditor’s responsibilities. The second letter addresses internal accounting controls related to the preparation and review of formal year end financial statements. In their opinion, the WMRPC should appoint an individual who has the technical skills and experience necessary to thoroughly understand the year end financial statements. This situation is common for smaller organizations with limited resources and personnel; two-thirds of their clients receive this comment.
Financial Statement
The Financial Statement was included in the meeting packet and covers the Fiscal Year 2009 through November 2008. D. Bee briefly reviewed the Financial Statement. He said that because the statement covers only the first two months of the Fiscal Year, there haven’t been many grant revenues received. Expenditures for MDOT are at 35 percent. The EDA grant covers that calendar year, so it is at 100 percent. There is not much Asset Management work performed in October and November. Investments show that we have a good cushion. Overall expenditures are probably lower because we didn’t have a planner for several months at the end of 2008.
D. Disselkoen asked what expenses grants pay for. D. Bee said grants pay for expenses like salaries, rent, and mileage. Our biggest income sources are grants, especially Asset Management, EDA, and MDOT, along with membership dues. We changed our dues formula for 2009, putting a cap on the dues for each member. Previously, there was some disproportion in terms of our effort for some members and the dues they paid.
D. Disselkoen asked what is the Asset Management budget? D. Bee said that some Asset Management funds are pass through to the counties and cities, for training and preparing reports. P. Bullock asked what “assets” are managed? D. Bee said that we are in our seventh year of rating roads.
P. Bullock asked about EDA and what is the product? D. Bee said that EDA wants viable economic projects presented to them, which we identify and develop through the CEDS process. The most time and funds-consuming effort is going out to communities and refining the projects. P. Bullock said that EDA is using us as the local entity to gather projects.
P. Bullock asked about the Coastal Management project and D. Bee responded that we were approved for a new grant. We worked on projects for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for four years in the past. MDEQ projects are just for communities along the Lake Michigan shore, in Allegan and Ottawa Counties. In past projects, we looked at the coastal communities’ plans and goals. We initially applied for the current project four or five years ago and last year the MDEQ asked us to resubmit our proposal. In the new project, we will look at the same 14 communities related to farmland preservation and wind energy.
A MOTION WAS MADE BY J. Johansen to accept and place on file the Financial Statement for the period of October 1, 2008 through November 30, 2008. SUPPORTED BY T. Lindeman. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
7. 2009 Goals and Actions
D. Bee said that the goals and objectives were distributed at the December Board meeting. In the past, they were called “focus areas”, but “goals” are more in line with the CEDS process. There are a few new goals this year.
D. Bee first reviewed the progress made toward 2008 goals. He commented that our work with and for EDA has expanded during the past few years. Previously, EDA had a staff person in Michigan and he was more available to work on projects and meet with communities. Now the EDA staff is in Chicago and they are no longer as actively involved with us and projects. So we have been working with communities to develop and promote their projects.
Related to Goal #3, D. Bee said that we have been doing a good job with private sector involvement, but we still need to enhance their involvement.
D. Bee then reviewed the proposed goals for 2009. He said that many goals are the same as last year, but there are a few new goals. Goal #6 is new and was generated by meetings with EDA where they gave us a few new challenges. Goal 6 says that we will revise the CEDS project evaluation criteria.
Goal #7 is also new and also related to past meetings with EDA. Under Goal 7, we will develop a process to expands the role of the CEDS Committee in project selections.
Goal #8 is an ongoing challenge, related to expanding the involvement of the private sector on the WMRPC Board and the CEDS Committee. A few years ago, EDA told regions that we had to get more private sector involvement, but they didn’t tell us how to accomplish that, or how to keep the private sector members engaged in the process.
A MOTION WAS MADE BY G. Yeomans to approve the 2009 Goals and Objectives. SUPPORTED BY H. Hansen. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
8. Round Table / Regional Issues
T. Cochran – City of Wyoming. The City has had its ups and downs this past year. Major hits included the closing of Studio 28 and the General Motors plant. The City Manager is trying to work with GM to find new uses for the facility that will retain the site’s functionality, but they are finding it difficult to work with the company. The City is hoping that the federal stimulus package will include a requirement for auto makers to work with local communities to enable new uses for plants they shut so the facilities are not just abandoned. One good project for the City has been the new Klingman’s in the heart of Wyoming’s downtown district. And they are working on other redevelopment efforts.
D. Disselkoen – Ottawa County. The County is keeping a close eye on the budget. They had a tough time last year.
D. Massy – Osceola County. The Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant will close. Two years ago, they had 225 workers and now are down to 120. The good news is expansion of the Yoplait facility.
L. Howell – Allegan County. Saugatuck/Douglas was named one of the best destinations in the country. Perrigo is still doing well.
T. Lindeman – Montcalm County. They are still working with Dave Bee on transportation. The few projects that they had been hearing about have been put on hold for financial reasons. United Solar Ovonic is still looking for skilled workers.
L. VanderVeen – City of Wyoming. They are working on a transit project that would extend to downtown. Wyoming will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2009. The Metro Health facility continues to expand. The City has little victories.
J. Calley – Ionia County. In Portland, the boardwalk project has had a positive impact on downtown revitalization. Merchants put out tables and chairs in front of their businesses.
C. Larson – Ottawa County. Diversified developers are working on a neighborhood stabilization program to help reduce the effects of all the recent mortgage foreclosures. They are trying to address the problem of abandoned properties. L. VanderVeen said that it is important to promote the use of local craftspeople and contractors.
L. Wood – Montcalm County. Northland-Marvel has completed their new building and will be hiring 100 people. Grand Rapids Community College has a pilot program funded by a state economic job training grant. They will be applying for grant funds for training and retention activities at a regional center.
J. Johansen – Montcalm County. The conflict with the bio-fuels plant in Pierson Township has been resolved and the project is going forward. The County appreciates Dave Bee’s involvement in their two transportation projects. It’s a challenge to get new projects started when many of the people in rural areas don’t plan for future transit and land use needs. The County is trying to be more forward looking on those issues and prepare for the big tasks ahead.
R. Steinke – Mecosta County. The County received help from Dave Bee and guidance from Ottawa County’s wind energy ordinance.
P. Bullock – Mecosta County. The County’s fund balance has been declining and they have had to reduce staff and hours in the building department.
H. Hansen – The Highpoint Flats project in Muskegon will have non-working models by the end of the month; they are still taking reservations. Foreclosures continue to be a problem and should be addressed in the new economic stimulus plan. The federal program should include a way to write loans down to the new home values and help people who are still paying their mortgages. Jobs are important, but empty homes and abandoned properties are a blight on local communities.
G. Yeomans – Ionia County. There has been over $1.0 million investment in an old building in downtown Ionia. The revitalization project will have a positive impact on employment and the whole community.
9. Election of Officers
J. Johansen presented the Nominating Committee’s report. They had submitted recommendations at the December Board meeting. The Committee recommends the following for 2009 WMRPC Officers:
Chair – Charles Mulholland, At-large
Vice-Chair – Tim Cochran, City of Wyoming
Treasurer – Paul Bullock, Mecosta County
10. Staff Updates
D. Bee distributed a Staff Update (copy attached) The Update includes information in the categories of Economic Development, Transportation Planning, Member Projects/
Initiatives, and Other. D. Bee briefly reviewed the bulleted items.
11. Other Business
D. Bee said that two retiring Board members were recognized for their service at the December Board meeting. Since that meeting, we have learned that Shawn Seal will also be leaving the Board.
D. Bee said that Julianne Burns, Economic Development Coordinator for the Cities of Ionia and Belding, had requested a letter of support for the rail trail corridor between Greenville and Lowell.
The next Board meeting is scheduled for March 20th.
12. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.
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