When City of Morrison Mayor Roger Drey declared the 30-minute, Special Combined Council Meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m., the room was filled with smiles and applause. Three mayors, three sets of City Aldermen, Morrison City Administrator Jim Wise and City Attorney Tim Zollinger, community members, and representatives of the Northwestern Illinois Housing Coalition shared a unique moment.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012, was a one-of-a-kind collaboration to rebuild Fulton, Morrison, and Sterling, IL.
The projects will use non-Federal, non-State grant money, from the National Attorney General’s Mortgage Illegal Foreclosure Settlement.
A proposal to the National Attorney General’s Office–requesting $23.9 million–will be entered Friday, October 19, or Monday, October 22.
- It seeks $3 million for Fulton to create residential housing and commercial properties, remove blight, and create work force housing.
- It seeks $750,000 for Morrison to create residential housing and commercial enterprises and support housing activities.
- It seeks $2 million for Sterling to continue new construction, stabilize neighborhoods, create residential housing and commercial properties, and remove vacant, abandoned, foreclosed, single-family homes.
Shown left-to-right at the meeting’s end are Mayors Larry Russell (Fulton), Roger Drey (Morrison), and Charles “Skip” Lee (Sterling.)
Why did Morrison request the smallest grant amount? President of “Renaissance Rock Island” Brian Hollenback stated, “This is the City’s first time. [$750,000 was] what they felt they could administer. Fulton’s [$3 million] allows for additional work force housing, due to the opening of the Thomson prison.”
Hollenback led the PowerPoint presentation. He is from Rock Island[, IL,] Economic Growth Corporation. “Consortium members intend to submit a proposal to the Attorney General’s Office to use funds from the settlement, to strategically redevelop and revitalize communities that were hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. This is a real opportunity to see underserved markets [receive funding].”
“It all comes down to economic development.”
In previous grant requests for Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2) dollars, Hollenback noted
- 189 units of downtown housing in one Quad Cities municipality
- 645 Rock Island housing units which have been impacted
- future development of mass transit housing.
He explained the compounded advantage to investment in such housing. “$30,217 in government revenue is generated for every $100,000 spent in remodeling. Every dollar invested in housing generates $2 in local investment.” He cited as examples building permit fees; payment of delinquent bills; lawn care and snow removal; fees for legal work, accounting, appraisals, and architects, all related to housing growth or improvement. Furthermore, people “can bring their mortgages up to par with these fees [by] contact[ing] him.”
“A minimum of 170 housing units are to be funded.”
Morrison Aldermen were the only people to pose questions.
- Sarah Thorndike asked, “What do you want from us?” Hollenback answered, “Nothing. We will be the grant administrator.” She added, “We don’t have to pay you anything?” He replied, “There is no fee, but the grant administrator gets paid.”
- Marti Wood asked about the Environmental Review Process. Hollenback explained this is a statement, prepared by a City employee, stating the specifics of a property, describing its location out of flood zones and away from coal mines, quarries, airports, and highways. The description “would follow zoning ordinances and be enforced.” Wood asked about the “approved proposal [to the Attorney General’s Office.]” This means the grant money would subsidize the building of houses, not pay all of the cost, and leverage loans from banks for the projects.
- Dave Rose inquired if there were matching funds the City would pay. The answer was, “No.”
A Sterling attendee commented, “We’ve had a great impact on blight in Sterling. We’ve had trouble spending the money as fast as they would like us to!”
Hollenback concluded, “There’s nothing easy in administering the program.” They manage 23 commercial properties.
Only one–lengthy–Item for Consideration and Possible Action was on the agenda. It was “Approval to enter into a consortium agreement with Northwestern Illinois Housing Coalition, for participation as a consortium member in the Northwestern Illinois Housing Coalition’s Rebuilding Northwestern Illinois Initiative.”
Wood moved to join the consortium, with a second from Pat Zuidema; the vote was unanimously in favor. Fulton and Sterling Council members unanimously agreed to participate as a member in the RNII. The three Mayors Larry Russell, Roger Drey, and Charles “Skip” Lee then signed the Consortium Agreement.
Hollenback, second from left, joined the Mayors at the meeting’s conclusion.
Previous members of the coalition include Cities of Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline, IL, ARC, and Project Now. Three local Whiteside County communities have joined them.
All are intent on “acquiring and rehabbing more vacant and abandoned properties, demolition, housing preservation, reduction of lead-based paint hazards, developing more residential housing and commercial enterprises on vacant property, and providing housing counseling and homeownership preparation, to families in the consortium communities.”