By Melanie Stegner

news@pctribune.com

Discussion at Wednesday’s meeting of the members of the Pope County HRA/EDA board centered around two main topics, housing trust funds and the Fremad building demolition. 

Jeff Hess from the Alexandria HRA was in attendance to discuss housing trust funds. A huge benefit of setting them up is the flexibility given to the local governing bodies on how the funds are used. The fund would originally be set up by the county and then the decision is made on who manages the fund whether it be commissioners, the HRA/EDA or city officials. The money put into the fund can come from public organizations as well as private and is strictly dedicated to housing. 

In Minnesota there are 13 cities and seven counties utilizing Local Housing Trust Funds. Common uses for the funds are homebuyer assistance, preservation, gap financing, housing stability and creating deeper affordability. Funding sources can include the HRA levy, TIF pooling, one-time funds, donations, housing related funds and federal and state formula funds. One such source available to Pope County is the Statewide Affordable Housing Aid. For 2023, the county is receiving roughly $90,000. 

The board also discussed their preliminary budget and levy for 2024. Last year’s amount was $440,350 which was 82 percent of the allowable levy amount. This year’s request is preliminarily set at $480,000 or 75 percent of the allowable levy for this year. 

After a review of the bills and a short discussion on the memorandum of understanding for the Glenwood HRA that establishes a relationship between the two for administrative services, the discussion turned to the demolition of the Fremad building. 

County Commissioner Paul Gerde commended Jason Murray on the amount of work he has done to get the project completed. The demolition began on Tuesday but was halted as MNDOT requested that the road be blocked off. Demo was completed on Thursday and now the debris will be hauled off-site before the site is prepared to be covered in compacted soil. 

The next HRA/EDA board meeting will be on Wednesday, September 20 in the courthouse meeting room on the first floor.