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Regular City Council Meeting 8s Executive Seaaion <br />Monday, March 23, 2009 <br />Page 17 <br />amount of the non-compliance in relationship to the total bond issue; amendment <br />to the Statute in 2001, adding this 20% requirement, without guidance or case law <br />for reference; recognition in the statute of penalizing ongoing and blatant non- <br />compliance; vacant units and their inclusion in compliance; income qualifications; <br />and tax credits issued. <br />Owner Attorney, Norm Jones <br />Mr. Jones introduced Mr. Swenson to provide a general perspective of the project <br />to-date and the overall context for discussions. <br />Mike Swenson, Owner Representative with Partner Terry McNellis <br />Mr. Swenson provided pictures and a review of the exterior and internal <br />improvements completed to-date for individual units and community areas of the <br />complex; and discussed the owner's reliance on the advice of Mr. Jones and other <br />consultants for their expertise in addressing tax credit issues. Mr. Swenson <br />admitted to the human error in those calculations and their immediate correction <br />to those calculations, in addition to refunding monies to tenants as indicated. <br />Mr. Jones took responsibility for the error; and asked that the City Council <br />consider the merit of this issue, rather than allowing the meeting to become a <br />forum for tenantllandlord complaints. Mr. Jones noted that, based on past <br />concerns related to communication issues, a tenant advisory committee had been <br />established by the owner to provide a more direct line of communication. Mr. <br />Jones advised that it was the owner's intent to preserve affordable housing; and <br />noted that a number of tenant complaints could not be addressed publicly, based <br />on private data of individual tenants. <br />Mayor Klausing thanked Mr. Jones and Mr. Swenson for their comments to put <br />the overall project in perspective; however, he focused discussions on the <br />statutory scheme related to substantial or insubstantial non-compliance. <br />Mr. Jones referenced the letter from his firm dated March 16, 2009, laying out the <br />entire year of compliance and lessons learned from that data presented. <br />Discussion among Councilmembers, staff and the property owner included <br />inability to refund several overcharges due to inability to find former tenants with <br />three such incidents recorded; and clarification of the number of tenants who left <br />following the ownership change at the complex, rent increases and notices to <br />vacate. <br />Juania Pekay, Consultant for Property Management Company <br />Ms. Pekay addressed misinformation and inconsistent interpretation of <br />calculations received from the MN Housing Finance Agency related to Fair <br />Market Rents (FMR's) and tax credit regulations. Ms. Pekay opined that the <br />amount of time they were out of compliance was only three months; and that as <br />far as displacement, 27 households were indicated. Ms. Pekay advised that, prior <br />