Return to Minutes Index

FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL HOUSING FINANCE AUTHORITIES QUARTERLY MEETING

Minutes of meeting held March 22, 2007

Present: Gordon Jernigan, President Angela Abbott, Vice President Walt Ferguson, Treasurer/Secretary John Kopelousos, Board Member Patricia Braynon, Board Member Karen Sindel, Executive Director

Others participating: Rodney Fischer, Board Member (via telephone) Mark Hendrickson, The Hendrickson Group (via telephone) Helen Feinberg, RBC Capital Markets Liz Feezor, The Bank of New York Trust Co. Laura Upham, Wells Fargo Bank Marylou Frey, Wells Fargo Jeff Alexander, U.S. Bank Brian Justice, U.S. Bank Debra Dangler, RBC Capital Markets (via telephone) Barry Krinsky, Capmark (via telephone) Ray Popkin, RBC Capital Markets (via telephone) Jeff Kiss, Packer Kiss (via telephone) Ann Kashmer, Fannie Mae (via telephone)

The Florida Association of Local Housing Finance Authorities held a quarterly meeting on this 22nd day of March, 2007. Mr. Gordon Jernigan, President, called the meeting to order at 12:34 p.m., at which time he determined a quorum of the Board was present. Mr. Kopelousos then moved that the minutes from the January 18, 2007 FLALHFA quarterly board meeting, held via telephone conference, be approved. Ms. Braynon seconded the motion which was then passed unanimously. The next item was the presentation of the financial report. Mr. Ferguson presented the financials as follows: checking - $61,122.31; money market savings - $106,931.27; Bank of Pensacola CD - $106,576.66; Gulf Coast Bank Savings - $83,831.12 for a total of $358,461.36. A motion was made by Mr. Kopelousos, seconded by Ms. Braynon and passed unanimously to approve and ratify the financial report. Mr. Hendrickson then presented the legislative update. There has been a lot of activity in Tallahassee with FL ALFHA (through The Hendrickson Group) working in conjunction with other groups to support the repeal of the cap. The Governor has implied that he supports repealing the cap (as stated in various news articles) as this would be a great economic benefit to the State. The construction of more housing would be a boost to Florida's economy. Mr. Hendrickson also reported that he has been meeting with the Senate leadership and believes the Senate will push for repeal of the cap as well as higher funding. On the House side, Mr. Hendrickson noted that we are still at ground zero with their leadership. Several of Governor Bush's staff people moved to key position at the House and are acting in roles similar to lobbyist. Currently, for every $1 the state appropriates for housing, about $6 of housing is actually constructed. The economic impact is actually $11 for every $1 spent. For every $100 million spent on housing, the State received $100 thousand in sales tax on construction materials. Floridians need to get their House members to repeal the cap and place calls to the Speaker of the House demanding action. Ms. Sindel the presented the membership report. A list of current members, as well as those who have not yet sent in their membership fee, was distributed to the Board members. An update was them presented by Ms. Sindel regarding the annual conference in Key West, FL. Conference dates are July 11 - 14, 2007. FL ALHFA will have a display booth at the NALHFA spring conference in Seattle. Ms. Sindel will hand out water bottles, postcards, and sponsorship brochures promoting the Key West conference. The July 11th Welcome Reception will be held at the Customs House. Great Events will serve as the caterer. Dine Around restaurants are: A & B Lobster House hosted by Rodney Fischer; Bagatelle hosted by Walt Ferguson; Café Marquesa hosted by Angela Abbott; Michaels hosted by Pat Braynon; One Duval hosted by W.D. Morris and Square One hosted by Gordon Jernigan. The Friday night sunset dinner will be held on the pier at the Westin. Regarding sponsorship for the Key West event, Ms. Elizabeth Feezor and Ms. Sindel are currently working to secure sponsorships. Ms. Feezor noted that we have not yet secured any developers. Once again it was stated that it is often much more effective to have clients of these firms request their involvement in the annual event. We really need to encourage issuers to be involved in securing sponsorship dollars. Regarding the program for the conference, Mr. Popkin, Mr. Krinsky, Ms. Mary Packer and Mr. Michael Marra are working with Ms. Sindel to develop the topics as well as potential speakers. New topic ideas were discussed. Mr. Jernigan stated he would like to see a panel on ethics and requested someone from Tallahassee serve on this panel. Ms. Braynon noted that the fall NALHFA conference will focus on "sustainable green housing" and that FL ALHFA might want to also consider a panel on this topic." Ms. Feinberg mentioned linking SHIP funds with single family funds and we should consider having SHIP administrators on Key West panels. Mr. Kopelousos suggested "Bonds 101 / Multifamily" as a topic that should be considered while Mr. Jernigan also suggested "responsibility of Authority members." Mr. Jernigan then scheduled a conference call on April 11, 2007 at 2:30 CST to discuss the Key West agenda. Mr. Jernigan then asked Ms. Abbott and Mr. Morris to serve as the Nominating Committee and put together the slate of 2007-2008 FL ALHFA officers that will be voted on at the Key West conference. Ms. Sindel then discussed the issue of moving the 2008 educational conference to a location other than Key West. The Westin has chosen to give away our normal 2008 dates and has stated the only way FL ALHFA can secure reasonable room rates will be to host the conference on Sunday - Wednesday instead of Wednesday - Saturday. Ms. Abbott suggested that we could consider Casa Marina in Key West. Mr. Kopelousos stated that many attendees are tired of Key West and that we might actually see a growth in attendance by moving the event. The entire Board agreed that cost is always a factor and gave Ms. Sindel the go ahead to begin searching for a new location keeping the conference dates still in mid July. Mr. Popkin suggested we consider the Portofino in Orlando at which time Ms. Frey said she knows the manager of that resort. Various other locations were discussed (Destin, St. Petersburg, Sanniabel, Hutchinson Island). Ms. Sindel will report her findings to the Board at the July Annual Meeting as a contract for 2008 will need to be signed as soon as possible. Other new business, Ms. Sindel asked for Board approval to restructure the FL ALFHA website. Mr. Kopelousos moved that Ms. Sindel have the website reworked within a budget of $3,000, Mr. Ferguson seconded the motion which then passed unanimously. The next meeting of the FLALHFA Board of Directors will be the Annual Meeting, on July 11, 2007 in Key West, FL. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 1.52 p.m.

Return to Minutes Index