The City of Auburn is making plans to benefit the community over the next fiscal year.
The Community Development Office is working on an action plan based on an existing five-year consolidated plan, said office director Sharon Tolbert.
The action plan is developed each year by the Community Development Office to propose activities that will address the needs established in the five-year plan.
"We're going through the reviewal process right now," Tolbert said. "We have advertised that we propose to recommend funding various housing programs and public service programs."
Tolbert said housing programs will include recommendations for home ownership programs, continuing to construct affordable housing and proposals to address substandard housing.
The office will recommend public service programs benefitting seniors and the youth in the community. She also said they will recommend a small allocation for homeless assistance.
"The City of Auburn received a community development block grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development," Tolbert said. "CDBG is primarily to fund programs and projects to benefit lower to moderate income citizens of Auburn.
"What we do is we develop a five-year consolidated plan, and what the consolidated plan does is it identifies what the needs are of lower and moderate income citizens and creates a strategic plan of how we want to address those needs over a five-year period."
The department must hold several public hearings to hear citizens' opinions related to community needs.
The Community Development Office will hold a second public hearing March 5 to ascertain the needs of the community.
"We notify the council when a public hearing occurs so that they can come if they wish," said city manager Charlie Duggan. "Of course, Mrs. Tolbert does go to all of them, as does the rest of the community development staff, and they give us a full report."
The economic development department then makes recommendations of these activities to implement in the next fiscal year, addressing the needs that comply with the five-year goals of the consolidated plan and the needs voiced by the community, Tolbert said.
"Once that is identified and the recommendations have been considered, it goes to the council for approval of those recommendations," Tolbert said. "And it ultimately goes to HUD for file approval."
Duggan said he reviews the document before it is presented to the city council.
"As it's being finalized by the department ... the department director will go over what's in there so that I can have input if I have anything to say about it, and also to make sure I'm fully aware of what is in the document," Duggan said. "Then it would go on a future city council agenda."
Once the file has been approved, the new activities will be implemented at the beginning of the fiscal year, which is June 1, Tolbert said.
"We try to diversify the various activities to meet the various needs of the community," she said.
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