2 Minutes 06-13-13 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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South Bend Redevelopment Commission Regular Meeting — Thursday, June 13, 2013 5. OLD BUSINESS (Cont.) A. Other (1) Update of letter from Mr. Joseph Tillman regarding the sale or grant of real property (Triangle Neighborhood properties). Mr. Meteiver noted that the research on this issue was taking more time than anticipated. The conveyance of the Triangle Neighborhood properties was actually by a grant agreement rather than a development agreement. That will make a difference of how legal looks at the transaction. It was an agreement between the City of South Bend's Board of Works, not the Redevelopment Commission, and the Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization (NNRO). The agreement was originally written in July of 2004. Most of the records are in archives and it is taking some time to get them back. The NNRO was created in 2003 when the Northeast Neighborhood Development Area was created. As part of this grant agreement, the city provided $500,000 to the NNRO for property acquisition in the Eddy St. Commons Triangle Neighborhood. The specific projects under this agreement were for real property acquisition, relocation expenses, site clearance, maintenance and insurance of properties, and any recording fees and expenses associated with those particular items. The agreement called for titling all of the properties that were acquired there in the name of the Northeast Neighborhood Revitalization Organization. That agreement was signed off by the Board of Works on March 14, 2005. It was amended by the I't Amendment to that agreement which was executed by the Board of Works on June 27, 2005. The amendment added another $500,000 to the acquisition funds for the NNRO. So $1 million dollars in acquisition funds were provided by the city through the Board of Public Works for the NNRO to acquire those various properties. Mr. Meteiver has not yet seen the minutes from the Board of Works meetings where the documents were adopted. That may shed some additional light on the total transaction. He also was not the lawyer that developed this agreement; it was before his time with the city. Mr. Dick Nussbaum was the lawyer that worked on this agreement; he is getting records out of his archives so that legal can learn more about the transaction. Ms. Schey asked whether the inquiry that Mr. Tillman submitted has anything to do with providing opportunities for Section 3. Mr. Meteiver responded that it does, and that the statute he cited is specific to the Redevelopment Commission and disposition of properties titled in the Redevelopment Commission's name to community development corporations; at this point Mr. Meteiver does not have enough information to determine whether that particular statute applies to this transaction or not. Ms. Schey asked that after the meeting Mr. Meteiver make himself available to speak to Mr. Tillman. Mr. Meteiver responded that he extended the offer to meet with Mr. Tillman following the previous meeting. Mr. Tillman didn't avail himself of that offer. He would welcome Mr. Tillman's questions after this meeting. Mr. Vamer asked whether either one of those agreements identifies the source of the funds. Mr. Meteiver responded that they do not.