Live reporting by
Nathaniel Eichenhorn
DHC board approved a contract extension and funding increase for ongoing environmental services at their properties, approved a contract with MHT Housing for property management at Gardenview Estates, and reestablished the Parkside Development Company board.
Nachum Eichenhorn
@NachumDetroit
Hello #Detroit ! I will be live tweeting the DHC Board of Directors meeting today at 10am for #DetroitDocumenters @DetDocumenters media partners: @BridgeDet313 @chalkbeatDET @freep @media_outlier @metrotimes @MichiganRadio @PlanetDetroit @wdet @wxyzdetroit
08:05 AM Sep 26, 2024 CDT
Aaaand they're off! The meeting was called to order at 9:59 and roll was taken Unfortunately, I couldn't catch the roll because they're wired so poorly for sound. The agenda and minutes were approved one small, non-critical correction.
There's going to be 2 periods of public comment; they're moving on to the first one now.
Turns out, no public commenters right now. First off they are considering a change order for a contract. The house in question was found to have termite damage and blight tickets. They want $44,000 and change for it.
3261 is basically just an extension of a contract with Michigan Consulting & Environmental michenv.com
michenv.com
Board says they're a good firm that works well with the City and is very strong in the science side of environmental remediation.
Sorry guys, having trouble hearing the person who's speaking. I know I've said this before, but wiring a conference room for sound isn't a new concept since the lockdown. There are people who can do it.
Ok now there is a presentation going on about resolution 3262. Unfortunately, the presentation is faced AWAY from the camera. So I'll catch what I can.
The presenter's got jokes and patter, they're really selling.
This is fun: the agenda for this meeting is actually cross-referenced to the board packet (not provided).
Presenter pointed at a board member, saying "I've worked with this thunder cat (or Thundercat?) and keeps emphasizing he wants to move fast "like NASCAR".
Theyre going to buy the houses and sell them at cost in partnership with DHC (it's their land at the moment) and they say they have agreements in place to get people into the homes with assistance from DHC
The project will be funded by section 18 funds. That refers to Section 18 of the Housing Act of 1937. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_A…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_A…
Section 18 of that act (also known as the Wagner–Steagall Act: hud.gov/sites/document…
hud.gov/sites/document…
The motion passed without discussion and the board is moving on to Resolution 3262, which officially appoints the members of the Parkside Development Corporation Board
Some background on the Parkside development outliermedia.org/villages-parks…
outliermedia.org/villages-parks…
I noticed on the agenda they only set aside 5 minutes for each public comment period, which speaks to their expectations vis-a-vis public awareness/participation.
The agenda says "for the properties stated below" and there's nothing.
They're going to use non-union labor for the contract, but a board member said that it's just to "supplement" existing labor. Which 🙄
One board member is expressing real annoyance with the DHC staff, saying that they are not serving residents and that performance in terms of recertification, resident communication, etc is terrible.
The board is moving on to discussing Choice Neighborhood Initiative detroitmi.gov/departments/ho…
detroitmi.gov/departments/ho…
It's difficult to hear the update because the speaker is pretty muffled.
The next update is about the transfer of properties between the Detroit Land Bank Authority and the DHC. The Land Bank wants to get reasonable prices for the properties they are transferring for DHC use
Now moving on to monthly departmental reports, the Executive Office reports that they are working on utilizing social media to publicize Commission matters.
We are five short months out from the resignation of Sandra Henriquez: outliermedia.org/sandra-henriqu…
outliermedia.org/sandra-henriqu…
Friends of Parkside has called in and reports that they have been short of funds and had to cut some of their programs, but are still providing resident meetings, sending residents info by text, taking senior residents shopping, and other things.
Well folks, this closes my coverage of the DHC Board of Directors meeting for September 26. Learn more about our coverage of local meetings at documenters.org
documenters.org
‼️IMPORTANT: If you believe anything in the coverage today is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@outliermedia.org with "Correction Request" in the subject line
Sorry, that was supposed to be 11:23am when the meeting adjourned