MOUNT VERNON – Creating a New Community Authority might be how Mount Vernon gets developers to pay for the infrastructure, like street improvements that become necessary because of the new communities they plan to build.
City Council President Bruce Hawkins asked for the bottom line of the proposal and what the city would gain.
“It allows the city to hit new development for the problems or the things that growth is creating,” Law Director Rob Broeren said. “Say you need a turn lane because of additional traffic ahead of this new development. We can assess … a certain amount of millage to get that new development to pay for that turn lane rather than coming out of the city’s General Fund or one of our other restricted funds. Because this new development required that, they should pay for it.”
Area Development Foundation President Jeff Gottke said the city could target it to the projects it knows it will need. This method is often called "pay as you grow," he said.
Councilmember Tammy Woods asked to hear the pros and cons of making the developer pay the costs upfront instead of assessing a millage rate on the property.
“I think there are things dedicated to that development that should be on the developer where this is supposed to cover the city’s costs of future growth,” she said.
Mayor Matt Starr said that using the NCA allows them to offset development costs to keep the price of the homes lower.
The NCA can borrow against future millage, Broeren said. He said that if the city required the developer to pay all the infrastructure costs upfront, that would raise the price of all the units.
“By assessing it to the units to be paid out over a series of years. It cuts down on that high upfront cost,” Broeren said.
Gottke explained how it could help with future needs.
“Maybe in a few years, you need another turn lane farther down," he said. "You’re not going to go back to the developer and say pay us for something that you did 10 years ago. So it’s a way that provides for long-term funding. Schools can also receive money from this as well."
Pay increase to attract attorney applicants rejected
The City Council rejected a proposed $10,000 increase in pay – plus benefits – for the two assistant law director positions.
The city has extensively advertised for the open position, but no candidates have applied, Broeren said.
The ordinance would have set the base salary for the assistant director of law I at $83,669 and for the assistant director of law II at $72,289.
“This is just adding more money to a position that we don’t even know who’s going to be hired into it to work into it,” Councilmember John Francis said in his final meeting representing the Second Ward.
He said the City Council has always hired people into the city at the base pay rate for their position.
Councilmember Mike Hillier said he wasn’t saying the city’s sole assistant law director, Brittany Whitney, is not worth a raise.
“But if this didn’t come up that we needed more money for another assistant law director, would she have got a raise in the middle of a year? I doubt it,” he said.
Broeren said the city has no qualified applicants for what the city is willing to pay. He said he shared documentation that shows part of the reason is that fewer people are becoming lawyers. To take the assistant law director’s job, an applicant must get an undergraduate degree, a graduate law degree and be licensed to practice law.
“We spent a significant amount of time which equals money, on the last candidate who was here four and a half months and then took $10,000 and went elsewhere," Broeren said. "That was a significant amount of time and effort on Miss Whitney and my part for no real return."
He said a written contract for the next person hired would include a minimum number of years.
Zoning approved for senior affordable housing units
The City Council approved rezoning the planned commercial development district for two North Norton Street parcels to enable the construction of eight affordable housing units in a collaborative effort by the Knox County Land Bank and the Area Agency on Aging.
The Municipal Planning Commission recommended the approval for 301 and 303 N. Norton St. in its April meeting.
“We can allow the Area Agency on Aging to build two buildings – that will be four units each – that’ll be eight total units of affordable senior housing,” Area Development Foundation and Knox Land Bank Vice President Sam Filkins said.
Residential use is conditional within this new zoning, Broeren said.
The housing will enable seniors to age in place at set rental rates that cover utilities. The Area Agency on Aging will maintain the outside of the buildings and offer services, including checking in with the seniors weekly, he said.
