Vol. 30 No. 6 NORTH IOWA AREA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS Nov– Dec 2019

NIACOG STAFF

641.423.0491 Email– first letter of first name followed

by last name @niacog.org (i.e.

jmyhre@niacog.org)

Joe Myhre — Ext. 11

Executive Director

Jodi Wyborny — Ext. 10

Administrative Assistant

Kris Urdahl — Ext. 12

Fiscal Officer

Chris Diggins — Ext. 15

Local Assistance Director

Myrtle Nelson — Ext. 16

Senior Planner

Matt O’Brien — Ext. 14

Regional Planner

Steve Wendt — Ext. 13

Housing Planner

Caraline Eggena—Ext. 27

Comm. Dev. Planner

Kevin Kramer — Ext. 17

Transit Administrator

Teresa Collins — Ext. 22

Operations Manager

Todd Hull — Ext. 24

Maintenance Supervisor

SWAP/STBG & ITAP FUNDING

The Regional Planning Affiliation 2 (RPA 2), which is made up of the same counties as NIACOG, will soon be accepting applications for SWAP/Surface Transportation Block Grant (SWAP/STBG) and Iowa Transportation Alternative Program (ITAP) funds for the Federal Fiscal years 2020-2023. SWAP/STBG and ITAP funds are federal funds through the State of Iowa and may include Federal transportation program, Fixing America’s Sur-face Transportation Act (FAST Act) funds.

Iowa Transportation Alternative Program funds or ITAP Funds include the former En-hancement, Safe Routes to School and Scenic Byway and TAP Programs. If you have a SRTS question, feel free to contact Chris to further discuss potential projects. In RPA 2, the focus is on adding mileage to the area trail systems. Under ITAP funding, pro-jects in the following categories are eligible.

Construction, planning, and design of on-road and off-road trail facilities for pe-destrians, bicyclists, and other non-motorized forms of transportation, including sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, pedestrian and bicycle signals, traffic calming tech-niques, lighting and other safety-related infrastructure, and transportation projects to achieve compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Construction, planning, and design of infrastructure-related projects and systems that will provide safe routes for non-drivers, including children, older adults, and indi-viduals with disabilities to access daily needs.

Conversion and use of abandoned railroad corridors for trails for pedestr ians, bicyclists, or other non-motorized transportation users.

Construction of turnouts, overlooks, and viewing areas. Inventory, control, or removal of outdoor advertising. Historic preservation and rehabilitation of historic transportation facilities.

To see if a potential project may be eligible in the additional categories please contact Chris in the NIACOG office. The eligibility list is exclusive in that a project MUST fall into at least one of the categories, and MUST be transportation related. Projects must be spon-sored by a local government entity, which will make a twenty-year commitment to main-tain the project and provide, at least, the necessary 20% minimum local match for the pro-ject in addition to all engineering or architect costs. Projects must be constructed to federal specification. Approval of the project from RPA 2 is conditional upon approval from the Iowa Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. In addition to the above, specific criteria to help determine application funding recommendations has also been developed. These criteria are important but are not the only factors in determin-ing funding recommendations.

Applications will be available on the NIACOG website www.niacog.org or by calling Chris. A due date for application has not been set yet, but it will be sometime in March or April most likely.

CONGRATS, RAY!

Ray Heimbuch, a Region 2 Transit driver since July 2012, was recog-nized as the “September Giving Your Best Volunteer of the Month” by KIMT NEWS 3, Diamond Jo Ca-sino, and First Citizens Bank.

Click the picture below to read

KIMT News 3’s full coverage:

CDBG NEWS

Congratulations to the cities of Graf-ton, Stacyville and Thompson on their CDBG award earlier this Spring. Thompson and Grafton are both water treatment plant construction projects, while Stacyville is undertaking a water system improvement project.

NIACOG has been very successful in its CDBG assistance with cities and counties this year. The awards listed above bring the total number of Water/Sewer funded applications in the NI-ACOG Region to eight (8), since the State went to the quarterly application process!! Total funding for these pro-jects has amounted to $2,752,000 in awards.

The CDBG application process is very competitive, but NIACOG staff is very ready and willing and more important-ly, ABLE, to help your community better prepare and package your pro-posed project and increase your chanc-es of receiving funding. The sooner you get NIACOG staff involved, the sooner we can guide your city and your project to be in the best position for funding. There are many steps in-volved including procurement, prelim-inary engineering and local financing in place, just to name a few. This is before you even submit the applica-tion.

Feel free to contact Chris Diggins at the NIACOG office if you would like to discuss a potential CDBG Water/Sewer Infrastructure or CDBG Com-munity Facilities & Services project application.

NEW BUSES

The Clear Lake Area Responsive Transit, or C.A.R.T., received two new buses. The buses replaced two 2009 models. The 2009 models had nearly 200,000 miles each. The buses, costing $95,953 each, were acquired through a grant from the Fed-eral Transit Administration’s Buses and Bus Facilities program. The grant covered 85% of each unit and the local match was provided by NIACOG.

For further information, please click the picture below for the Globe Ga-zette article covering the story:

5-2-1-0: HEALTHY CHOICES

COUNT! SUMMIT

NIACOG Planner, Matt O’Brien, led a presentation on the Mason City Com-munity’s 5-2-1-0 efforts for the Healthiest State Initiative's 5-2-1-0 Summit at Des Moines University. He presented alongside Kelli Gerdes, from Cerro Gordo Public Health, and Lezah Hanson, from North Iowa Com-munity Action.

If you would like to view a copy of the presentation, click below:

https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/47518b99/files/uploaded/Modified_5210%20Mason%20City%20Community%20Success%20Presenta-tion_8WhX8px8RKeVaScrfRf7.pptx

Calendar of Events

November

December

7th TAG

Mtg.

NIACOG Office

@ 9 am

11th Veterans

Day

NIACOG Office

Closed

11th NIACOG

Brd. Mtg.

Bennigan’s in

CL @ 7 pm

15th

City

Clerk’s

Assoc.

Mtg.

NIACOG Office

@ 9:30 am

28th &

29th

Thanks-

giving

NIACOG Office

Closed

7th

Pearl Harbor

Remembrance

Day

Flags Half Staff

9th NIACOG

Exec. Cmmte.

NIACOG Office @

Noon

25th Christmas

Day

NIACOG Office Closed

TIF HOUSING SET

ASIDE FUNDS

Does your city have housing TIF Set

Aside Funding, but you are having trou-

ble identifying a project for it? The NI-

ACOG Housing Trust Fund may be able

to help with a solution because we have

a home repair program set up that could

work with your community to rehabili-

tate homes for your lower income resi-

dents.

The program would work to repair or

replace parts of homes that are broken,

worn out, or not functioning properly.

Examples of house featured addressed

include: roofing, windows, siding, fur-

nace, ceiling/wall repair/painting,

plumbing, and electrical. We also pro-

vide accessibility features like wheel-

chair ramps. The income limit for home-

owners is 60% of median income

($33,360 for a 2-person household),

which varies by household size and

county.

Why use the NIACOG Housing Trust

Fund for this purpose? We have a home

repair program and staff who will han-

dle the entire process including: assist-

ing the homeowner with the application,

obtaining documentation that the home-

owner’s income is low enough to quali-

fy, inspection of the requested repairs,

development of work specifications,

bidding to contractors, paperwork, and

final inspection. The assistance is pro-

vided for homeowners as a forgivable

loan; each month 1/60th is forgiven

without payment from the homeowner.

As long as the homeowner does not

move out within 5 years, they do not

repay any of the cost. If they do move

out, the homeowner repays any balance

that has not yet been forgiven. NIACOG

Housing Trust Fund’s administrative fee

is limited to 12% of the cost of con-

struction.

If the existing homes in your communi-

ty are in need of repair, and you have

uncommitted TIF Set Aside Funding,

this kind of partnership may be the per-

fect way to make some real enhance-

ments and boost your property values at

the same time without burdening city

staff with the involved process of hous-

ing rehabilitation project coordination.

For further information, contact Myrtle Nelson.

FEDERAL HOUSING

PROGRAM

AVAILABILITY &

CHANGES

Federal funding

will be available to

cities again in 2020

for housing projects

from the Communi-

ty Development

Block Grant

(CDBG) program, but the program is

receiving some major renovation. While

final decisions on these changes will not

be finalized until January, they are de-

scribed here to provide a ‘heads up’ to

how this generous program may benefit

your community’s housing in the com-

ing years.

For decades, the program had solely

funded whole-house rehabilitation, but

now the housing program will likely be

split up into five new categories, none

of which are whole-house rehabilitation.

Cities will potentially be able to choose

between any of the following categories

for their housing improvement applica-

tion.:

1. Exterior house improvements – Re-

pair/Replace gutters, roof, ventila-

tion, window replacement, siding

replacement, foundations, entry

stairways

(CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)

FEDERAL HOUSING

(CONTINUED)

2. Energy efficiency improvements (in order by tier as funding allows) –

a. Required: energy audit, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, radon mitigation, smart thermostat

b. Tier 1: air sealing, insulation, light-ing

c. Tier I (as funding allows): electri-cal, water heater, heating/cooling appliances, water conserving fix-tures, cement board siding (ex. Har-diePlank), and energy efficient win-dows

3. Homebuyer assistance – Up to 50% of required down payment, reasonable closing cost, lead paint mitigation, and radon mitigation. Homes must be ex-isting; this program is not designed to support new construction.

4. Architectural barrier removal (for el-derly/disabled) – Handicapped accessi-bility ramps, grab bars, widening door-ways, modifying bathrooms/kitchens. This category may be combined with others if so desired.

5. Upper Story Conversion –These pro-jects focus on redevelopment of vacant upper stories in downtown buildings. With only 4 projects to be awarded for the entire state in this category, this program will be highly competitive.

To qualify for assistance, household in-come must be below the respective moder-ate income level set by HUD. For example, a 3-person household must have an income roughly below $50,000 (varies significant-ly by household size and county).

The application process will also likely change dramatically. Some application requirements, like income surveys, indi-vidualized administrative plans, and wind-shield surveys, may no longer be needed; however, prior to submittal of the applica-tion much of the project will likely need to be in place such as environmental review, income verification, household selection, and procurement for technical services.

The Iowa Economic Development Author-ity will begin accepting applications in July or August, but NIACOG (like other COG’s) will likely be limited to 5 applica-tions. We already have 2 cities with poten-tial interest, so contact Myrtle at NIACOG if your city would like to participate.

Cities fund the upfront costs prior to appli-

cation submittal and can provide additional funding if preferred to expand impact by increasing the number of homes complet-ed.

TIF REPORTS DUE

DECEMBER 1

December 1 marks the filing deadline for the Annual Urban Renewal Report. In 2012, legislation passed requiring that each levy authority with an active urban renew-al plan and or each levy authority that re-ceived diverted Tax Increment Financing (TIF) revenues during the fiscal year needs to file an annual report by December 1 every year. Any amendments or changes to an urban renewal plan or map must also be uploaded before the final submission.

December 1 is also the deadline for cities to certify new or changes of TIF debt reve-nue requests to the county auditor.

Questions on the annual report or the debt certification forms should be directed to the Iowa Department of Management.

REAP ASSEMBLIES

Iowa’s Resource Enhancement and Protec-

tion (REAP) assemblies will held in late

November and early December, giving all

Iowans an opportunity to discuss their vi-

sions for Iowa’s outdoor recreation, soil

and water enhancement, historical re-

sources and land management and more.

In our region, the assembly will be on

Thursday, December 5th, starting at 6:00

pm, at the Ventura Community Center.

More information can be found here:

https://www.iowadnr.gov/Conservation/

REAP/REAP-Public-Participation/REAP-

Regional-Assemblies?

utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdeli

very