Return to Minutes Index

FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL HOUSING FINANCE AUTHORITIES QUARTERLY MEETING

Minutes of meeting held January 12, 2006

Present: Gordon Jernigan, President Angela Abbott, Vice President (Via Telephone) Walt Ferguson, Treasurer/Secretary W.D. Morris, Board Member Patricia Braynon, Board Member Rodney Fischer, Board Member John Kopelousos, Board Member Karen Sindel, Executive Director

Others participating: Mark Hendrickson, The Hendrickson Company Liz Feezor, The Bank of New York Trust Co. Ray Popkin, RBC Capital Markets Debra Dangler, RBC Capital Markets Jeff Kiss, PackerKiss Securities Tim Hammond, U.S. Bank Kurt Marson, J.P. Morgan Patt Denihan, eHousing Plus

The Florida Association of Local Housing Finance Authorities held a quarterly meeting via telephone on this 12th day of January, 2006. Mr. Jernigan called the meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. at which time he determined a quorum of the Board was present. The first item on the agenda was the approval of the minutes of the October 20, 2005 quarterly board meeting. A motion was made by Ms. Abbott, seconded by Mr. Fischer and passed unanimously to approve the minutes as presented. The next item was the presentation of the financial report. Mr. Ferguson presented the financials for the period of November 1, 2005 through November 30, 2005 and informed the Board of the checking and money market account balances as of November 30, 2005 were $76,418.13, AmSouth Checking, AmSouth Money Market Account, $104,767.42, Bank of Pensacola Money Market Account, $103,121.71, and Gulf Coast Community Bank Money Market Account, $81,706.85 for a total of $366,014.11. A motion was made by Mr. Jernigan, seconded by Mr. Fischer and passed unanimously to approve and ratify the financial report. Next, Ms. Sindel presented an update on the 2005-2006 Membership Drive. Supporting detail was provided in each board member's agenda packet. Discussion regarding membership recruitment included asking those members attending today's meeting to contact those companies that have not yet paid their dues. The Key West Conference followed. Mr. Popkin will chair the Program Committee which will consist of Ms. Denihan, Ms. Braynon, and Mr. Morris. Ms. Feezor and Mr. Hammond will serve as the Sponsorship Committee. Ms. Dangler will organize Dine Around and work with Ms. Sindel on the Welcome Reception. Ms. Sindel will forward a list of last year's sponsors to the Sponsorship Committee as soon as possible. Mr. Popkin noted that it is imperative that we secure speakers that will remain in Key West through the Friday sessions. Mr. Jernigan noted that Board Members can be asked to serve as moderators/speakers on Friday if necessary. Mr. Hendrickson then presented the legislative update. It was noted that there is currently $939.5 million available for appropriation for housing from the State and Local Housing Trust Funds. The hurricane and ongoing housing program requests total $545 million of which $302 million is for hurricane related housing activities and $243 million for ongoing state and local housing programs. This leaves $394.5 million of Housing Trust Fund monies that are available for appropriation during 2006-2007 but are not spent on housing. Mr. Hendrickson will continue to represent FLALHFA in working with the Sadowski/Workforce Housing Coalition members to push for full funding for housing from the Housing Trust Funds. An important fact to note is that the $243 million is being presented as a 26% increase from the current fiscal year funding. The $243 million is only an increase when compared to the reduced funding levels of the past three years. In 2002-2003, funding for ongoing housing programs was $249.4 million. Mr. Morris discussed the fact that Mr. Hendrickson is able to provide packets of information that you can present to you local politicians. FLALHFA will place links on the website to this legislative information for the membership to access. As we have often stated before, "one meeting with your local politicians in your district is worth 10 meetings in Tallahassee." Mr. Popkin then brought everyone up to date on "Hurricane Wilma" legislation. In December 2005, HR4440 created a "Wilma Go Zone". . For the next three years single family "target" areas will be 140% of medium income. Counties which were declared eligible for individual assistance and in the "Wilma Go Zone" can be found on the FEMA website. Each issuer's bond counsel will need to confirm that their county is in the designated "Wilma Go Zone." Under New Business, Ms. Braynon discussed the need for FLALHFA to contact builders to determine is there is anything we can do to encourage them to build affordable housing. A possible telephone conference was considered and Ms. Denihan offered to assist in pulling together a list of builders and their contact information. Ms. Fischer inquired as to what we are actually going to be offering the builders as incentives to construct affordable housing. It was also noted and a move away from the term "affordable housing" to "workforce housing" is being encouraged. The next quarterly board meeting for FLAHFA will be held April 13, 2006 in Orlando, FL. and will begin at 11:00 a.m. due to flight schedule changes for Good Friday. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 2:27 p.m.

Return to Minutes Index