Housing was once again the main topic of discussion at Tuesday’s Hillsboro City Council meeting.
In a follow-up from the Dec. 6 meeting, the group voted and agreed to transfer six acres of land to Mennonite Housing for a workforce housing project.
Mennonite Housing will be applying for tax credits to pay for a 24-unit project that will be located near Dollar General and Carquest. The plan is for the housing to be made up of 12 Duplex buildings and would include a clubhouse maintenance garage. Duplexes would be two and three-bedroom units—each with a garage unit to fit within the requirements of the program.
The units will be constructed in an energy-efficient manner and include a range, refrigerator, space saver microwave, dishwasher and washer/dryer. The furnace and tankless water heater will be gas. The air conditioner and appliances will be electric. Residents will be responsible for all utilities except trash. The clubhouse will have a manager’s office, community room, kitchen, restrooms, computer room and a covered rear patio. Free WIFI will be available in the clubhouse. Outdoor amenities include a playground and basketball court.
The requirement for applicants to be able to be residents and live in the tax credit property is that their gross household income needs to be below 80% of area medium income (AMI). The annual gross household income amounts would be based on the number of people that are in the household.
A limited number of units are available at lower monthly rent amounts for households with annual gross household income below 30% or 50% of AMI. There are also a limited number of units available for households with annual gross household income between 60% and 80% of AMI.
The next step for the project is for Mennonite Housing to submit an initial application in January to Kansas Housing Resources Corporation. If that application goes through, the next step will be to submit the full application which will be due in May.
The hope is for residents to be able to move in by the fall of 2025.
City Administrator Matt Stiles also told the council that the Planning Commission met on Dec. 14 and approved the AH Alternative Housing application for a shipping container home on 3rd Street. There was no public comment on the issue at the Dec. 15 meeting. The council will discuss the topic and vote on it at the next meeting on Jan. 3.
Stiles asked the council to approve a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of 4% per hour for eligible full-time and regular part-time employees for the 2024 fiscal year.
“During the 2024 budget process, we included a total of 6% for each employee’s pay adjustment to be divided between a COLA and Merit-based increase. Last year we did a flat $1.00 per hour increase which averaged out to a 4% increase for employees. At the time that did not cover the actual cost of inflation which was 7.1%. Over the last year the Consumer Price Index has risen 3.1%. Thankfully inflation appears to have slowed down some, but we have not been able to keep up totally,” said Stiles.
He asked for a 4% COLA for employees considering the current inflation and the gap from previous years.
“The remaining 2% budgeted would be used for a potential merit-based increase after evaluations in the summer,” said Stiles. “There are some positions that need to be adjusted in lieu of the COLA. We have several positions changes in duties and a few market changes that we need to make.”
The group met in an executive session to those specific changes and employees. No action was taken from the executive session.
The council approved the adjustments which will be applied on the Jan. 11, 2024 pay date. The estimated impact of the COLA increase is $48,435.30 considering the base salaries. Those costs are spread over the General Fund, Industrial Fund and utility funds.
In other business, the council:
* agreed to adopt the 2023 budget amendment as submitted.
*approved yearly Cereal Malt Beverage (CMB) license renewals for Casey’s, Coop/Ampride, Dollar General, Pizza Hut and Pueblo Viejo.
* met in executive session to discuss personnel matters of non-elected personnel for 15 minutes. No action was taken.
* agreed to cancel the 2023 encumbrance of PO 28846 for the purchase of a HVAC unit from Appliance Parts Specialists for $11,555. The expenditure will moved into the 2024 budget year.
*learned that KDOC awarded the city $25,000 for the Strategic Economic Expansion and Development (SEED) 2.0 grant. The grant is for Dale’s Supermarket to repair and replace flooring in the building. The $25,000 is roughly 1/3 the cost of the project with the remaining costs being paid by Dale’s.
* heard from Stiles that the city had an outstanding year in bringing in outside funding for various projects.
“We have been awarded over $2.4 million in grants and forgivable loans in 2023,” said Stiles.
* learned that the Planning Commission also decided in their Dec. 14 meeting to move forward in creating a specific district for hospitals in response to Hillsboro Community Hospital’s request. Stiles told the council that it will likely be March or April before it is before them for approval.
