TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS BOARD MEETING Thursday, January 31, 2008 Capital Extension Auditorium State Capitol 1100 Congress Avenue Austin, Texas MEMBERS PRESENT: C. KENT CONINE, Chair LESLIE BINGHAM-ESCARENA TOM CARDENAS JUAN S. MUNOZ SONNY FLORES GLORIA RAY STAFF: MICHAEL GERBER, Executive Director ON THE RECORD REPORTING (512) 450-0342 I N D E X AGENDA ITEM PAGE Address by Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson Swearing in of Chairman and new members 7 Call to Order, Roll Call Certification of Quorum 10 Recognition of Outgoing Board Members 11 Public Comment Period 26 Item 1: Election of Board Officers and Appointment of Board Committees 251 Item 2: Presentation, Discussion and Possible Approval of Financial Services Items 92 Item 3: Presentation, Discussion and Possible Approval of Community Affairs Division Items 104 Item 4: Presentation, Discussion and Possible Approval of to Publish Draft Department Rules in the Texas Register 107 Item 5: Presentation, Discussion and Approval of HOME Division Items 108 Item 6: Presentation, Discussion and Approval of Texas Homeownership Division Items 114 Item 7: Presentation, Discussion and Approval of Bond Division Items 126 Item 8: Presentation, Discussion and Possible Approval of Disaster Recovery Division Items 136 Item 9: Presentation, Discussion and Possible Approval of Multifamily Division Items 208 Item 10: Presentation, Discussion and Possible Approval of Multifamily Division Items - Specifically Multifamily Private Activity Bond Program Items 248 Executive Session 103 ON THE RECORD REPORTING (512) 450-0342 Open Session 104 Report Items 252 Adjourn 253 ON THE RECORD REPORTING (512) 450-0342 4 P R O C E E D I N G S MR. CONINE: I call the meeting to order. Welcome everybody. Sorry for the cramped space, but we didn’t know we would be so popular this morning. So we are glad to have everybody here to the January meeting of the Texas Department for Housing and Community Affairs. Let me see if I can call roll here right quick. Leslie Bingham? MS. BINGHAM-ESCARENO: Here. MR. CONINE: Tom Cardenas. MR. CARDENA: Here. MR. CONINE: Kent Conine, Chair is here. Juan Munoz. MR. MUNOZ: Here. MR. CONINE: Gloria Ray. MS. RAY: Here. MR. CONINE: Sonny Flores. MR. FLORES: Here. MR. CONINE: We have got a full house. MR. HAMBY: Actually, Mr. Conine, I have to do something here. I apologize. MR. CONINE: Doesn’t surprise me. MR. HAMBY: These three Board members who are new are not yet Board members, so they are not here until ON THE RECORD REPORTING (512) 450-0342 5 they are sworn in. So you swear them in first. MR. CONINE: I screwed up right off the bat. (General laughter.) MR. CONINE: We’ll just reverse that and replay it here in a few minutes. I want to turn it over to Mr. Gerber to make some introductions and see if we can make some official Board members up here. MR. GERBER: Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and good morning current Board member and Board members to be. To everything there is a season, and at TDHCA, this is a season of change. We are excited about the many new Board members and our new Chairman, and we look forward to working with all of you in the years to come. I am proud to introduce, first of all, Dr. Juan Munoz, who was appointed by the Governor on December 12, to our Board. He is an Associate Professor at Texas Tech University for Education. He also serves as Special Assistant to the President of Texas Tech for Diversity and Equity Issues. He is a Board member of the Lubbock Boys and Girls Club and the South Plain Boy Scouts. He has also served as Commissioner of the Lubbock Housing Authority and just brings a wealth of experience. And we are very pleased to welcome you to our Board. ON THE RECORD REPORTING (512) 450-0342 6 (Applause.) MR. GERBER: We are also very honored that the Governor has appointed Tom Cardenas of El Paso, who is President and CEO of ECM International. He is the founding Board member of the El Paso Tenants Development Foundation and a Board member of Cathedral High School. He is also a past member of JP Morgan Chase Bank of Texas El Paso and the El Paso Museum of Art. And also just brings a wealth of experience, both professionally and through his civic activities to our Board. So we welcome you, Mr. Cardenas. (Applause.) MR. GERBER: And lastly, Leslie Bingham- Escareno is from Brownsville. And she is the CEO of Valley Baptist Medical Center there in Brownsville. She is a Board member and Treasurer of Easter Seals of the Rio Grande Valley and a Board member of the Children’s Museum of Brownsville. She is also past chair of the Valley AIDS Council and the San Benito Chamber of Commerce. She just brings a tremendous amount of experience in health care policy and support services. And we very much are appreciative to bring those experiences to our Board and very much welcome you. ON THE RECORD REPORTING (512) 450-0342 7 MS. BINGHAM-ESCARENO: Thank you. (Applause.) MR. GERBER: To get us started, Mr. Chairman and Board members, I would like to -- we are so pleased and honored this morning, that the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court is with us today, to administer an oath of office to you, Mr. Chairman and to our Board members. Governor Perry appointed Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in March of 2001, after many years in private practice and of distinguished civic accomplishment in San Antonio, and throughout the state. The Chief Justice is a lifelong resident of San Antonio. He is a graduate of the Michigan State University, and of the University of Texas School of Law. The Chief Justice has graciously agreed to administer the oath of office, first to Mr. Conine, our new Board Chair, and then he will administer the oath of office to our new Board members, as well as to our current Board members who may wish to, so to speak, renew their vows. We will see how many stand up. And of course, sir, we welcome any comments you might make or wish to make, before or after you administer ON THE RECORD REPORTING (512) 450-0342 8 the oath. Please join me in welcoming the 26th Chief Justice of the State of Texas. (Applause.) CHIEF JUSTICE JEFFERSON: Mr. Chairman, and members of the Board, and to all the distinguished guests and family members, and also public servants. It is really an honor for me to be here. I just wanted to say a few words about public service before I swear in these new servants to the State of Texas. As I was reading through the mission statement, it reminded me that there are a lot of things that we do in common; the courts and agencies throughout the State of Texas. For example, we currently have several projects going on, that are related in some fashion to what this Board does. We just established a task force on emergency preparedness. And what that is designed to do, is when the next Hurricane Katrina and Rita hit the shores, or there is a pandemic, or there is a terrorist event, we want to make sure that the judiciary remains in operation. And that takes not just the judges coming to the courthouse, if there is a courthouse to be had, but all of the people that are involved in the criminal and civil justice system. Where are they going to live? How ON THE RECORD REPORTING (512) 450-0342 9 do they get to the courthouse? Do we move operations somewhere else? Are there federal funds that are available to help with this effort? And I was reading your mission statement. You are doing the same thing throughout the State of Texas, and I congratulate you on that. We also have, we just established a permanent Commission on children, youth and families. This Commission, the first ever in Texas, is designed to help kids get through the foster care system, and move to permanency as quickly as possible. And one way we do that is to manage the federal funds that come through. And that is a byzantine process, getting through the regulations. But if we do it successfully, then kids that maybe languish in the judicial system will find a permanent home. And then finally, what we do is, we have got a Commission called Access to Justice, where we are trying to help those who cannot afford legal services get lawyers to help them. And I was so proud in San Antonio to be able to establish a full time employee whose job was, to give lawyers to these people who need help. And in Texas, we now have millions of dollars that are coming in, both through the pro bono effort of lawyers, and through several projects that we have through lawyers trust ON THE RECORD REPORTING (512) 450-0342 10 accounts. Now, I am saying all of this just to say this: the importance of public service. And none of this would happen if we didn’t have people who give up their time and their energy, not for themselves, and not for payment, but to give back to their fellow human being. And if we didn’t have that in this country, I don’t know where we would be. And so I am proud of the service each of these members and of the Advisory Council of this important Board.