County Program To Bring City $140,000 Over Next Three Years

The has joined with a Washtenaw County program that could provide the city with nearly $50,000 annually for low-income housing rehabilitation and other projects.

At Monday’s meeting, Saline City Council voted 4-1 to adopt a resolution authorizing Mayor Gretchen Driskell to sign a cooperation agreement with Washtenaw County and to participate in the Urban County Program. Councilor Glenn Law voted against the motion. Councilor David Rhoads abstained to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest. Councilor Pat Ivey was absent. Driskell and councilors Brian Marl, Dean Girbach and Linda TerHaar voted in favor of the motion.

The program promises about $139,000 in funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2012 to 2015.

Mary Jo Callan, director of the city of Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County office of community development, spoke to council at Monday’s meeting. She said the community block grant funds are often used by cities to help low-to-moderate income homeowners bring property up to code or to take care of safety issues that the owner can not address alone. She said the program works with homeowners to inspect homes, identify the most pressing needs, and then bid out the projects.

“Essentially, we’re doing project management for the homeowners,” said Callan.

Municipalities can also use the community development block grant funds for public infrastructure projects that serve low and moderate income neighborhoods. A portion of the funds can be accessed by non-profit organizations to provide services such as transportation, dental care and childcare.

“Some cities use it to make sidewalks more accessible. Some have used funds for the senior center or to make a township hall more accessible,” she said.

Callan told council that one of the benefits of joining the program is that the county receives the full allocation of federal block grant funding, which is then divided among the communities based on population of low and moderate income residents. Without the county umbrella, communities would have to compete to receive the funds from the state.

The catch to joining is that the city may no longer apply for the block grant funds on its own, according to Callan. According to finance director Lee Bourgoin, the last time the city requested money was in 1998 for the Sauk Trail business park. Bourgoin said that some of those kinds of projects could still go forward, but with a business, instead of the city, as applicant to the state.

Councilor Brian Marl said he enthusiastically supported the motion.

“I see profound benefits to the city as it allows us to access federal capital that can be used to keep seniors in their homes and assist citizens with special needs,” Marl said.

Mayor Gretchen Driskell voted in favor of the motion but cautioned that with the federal government looking to cut spending, block grant funds are likely to be cut.

The Washtenaw Urban County program was created in 2002 when seven local townships signed cooperation agreements with the county. The county’s office of community development provides staffing support.

Other communities in the program include the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti and the townships of Ann Arbor, Bridgewater, Northfield, Pittsfield, Salem, Scio, Superior and York. Each participating community is represented on the Urban County Executive Committee, which meets the fourth Tuesday of the month.