Lenox Affordable Housing Committee & Trustees Joint Meeting
April 1, 2013
Minutes
Committee Members present: Kate McNulty-Vaughan (KMV), Ellen Jacobson (EJ), Debbie Burke (DB), Olga Weiss (OW) and Jo Anne Magee (JAM) . Trustees present: Kate McNulty-Vaughan (KMV), Ellen Jacobson (EJ), Debbie Burke (DB), Jo Anne Magee (JAM), Jackie McNinch (JM) and Olga Weiss(OW).
Also in attendance: Mary Albertson (MA), Town Planner.
JM served as Chair. The meeting was opened at 4:07PM.
Minutes
DB made a motion to approve the February 4, 2013 minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Housing Committee and Trustees. EJ seconded the motion and the vote was 4-0 to approve. JM and JAM abstained because they did not attend the meeting.
DB made a motion to approve the March 4, 2013 minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Housing Committee and Trustees with corrections. JAM seconded the motion and the vote was 5-0 to approve. OW abstained because she did not attend the meeting.
Sub-Committee Reports:
Public Relations
KMV and EJ did not have any new information to report. They will continue to work with Claudie Duby to finalize information for the website. JAM will prepare a description of the mortgage program for the website.
Mortgage Program
JM said that the New England regional received $3 million for the mortgage program and to date $240,000 has been used. Three Berkshire County banks are participating in the program and each bank received $150,000. The 3 banks are: Hoosic Bank, Berkshire Bank and Lee Bank. Marge Pero is the contact for the Lee Bank program. JM will contact the other banks and provide the contact information.
MA talked to Town Counsel regarding fair housing marketing requirements and mortgage closing documents. She has not received information from Town Counsel. She will follow-up with Town Counsel and she hopes to have definitive information regarding the fair housing marketing requirements by the next meeting.
Sawmill Brook
KMV said she attended the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative Conference. Aaron Gornstein, Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development, participated in the conference. She talked to Mr. Gornstein regarding housing needs in Berkshire County. She is hopeful that funding for ownership projects will become available in the next couple years.
Open Session
DB announced that there will be a Gov. 101 interactive event on April 11, 2013 @ 6:30 PM at the Lenox Library. The event is being organized by a group of volunteers that have been meeting over the last several months to strategize on ways to get citizens more involved in local government. There will be an information scavenger hunt to encourage members of the public to learn about local government. DB encouraged everyone to attend. Each board and committees is preparing a data sheet for the event. She will prepare the Affordable Housing data sheet.
The next meeting will be Monday – May 6, 2013 @ 4:00 PM. OW will serve as Chair.
KMV made a motion to adjourn at 5:10 PM. EJ seconded the motion and the vote was 6-0 to approve.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mary Albertson, Town Planner
Approved: May 13,2013
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