City Council

f fiTE CITY OF OKI.AIIOMA CITY council or"W&'*/ . OFFICE OT Item No. V-dlUn TTTE MTINICIPAL COI]NSELOR August 3, LeTL "rlOfr, TO: Mayor and Cotrncil DAIE: J91y 30, 1-97L FROM: I{al-cer M. Powell RE: SpeciaL election Acting Municipal Counselor on public housing You have asked how a speeial eLec ton on Ehe subject of publlc housing would affect the 511-54 un Es of Iow-income housing presenEly authorized by the Cityr CooperaEion AgreemenE with The Oklahoma ClEy Housing AuthoriEy ( ) and how it would affect the Urban Renerual Authorityrs CooferaEion Agreernent wiEh Ehe Oklahonra CiEy Housing Authori.ty. Pertinent parts of TiEle 63 of th+ Oklahoma statutes are as follows: Section 1054. Definitions t tprojeett "(i) tHousing projecEr or means any work or undertaking or con$lguous or noncon- Elguous sites: (1) to demoltsh, cl-ear, o remove bulLdings AuG 3 l91l from any slum area; or (2) Eo provide or assist n providing (by any BY THE CITY COUNCIL suitabie meEhod, incLuding but not limited Eo: rentall sale of indivldual units in single or -€rQ+ cry.LERK multifamily sEructures r conventional, con- dominiumr oE cooperaEive s les contract; Lease- purchase agreemenE; Ioansl or subsidlzing of rentals or charges) decenE safe and sanitary urban or rural dweLlings, ParEmenEs, or oEher living accommodaEions for rsons of low in- come; or (3) to accompllsh a combirfation of the fore- going. Such work or under{aking rnay include buildlngs, land, equipmentrl faciliEies, and other real or personal properE), {or necessary, con- venienE, oE desirable appuiEenancesl streets, sewers, waEer service, uEil]ities, parks, site preparaLion, and landscapirqs; and faci"Lities for adminisEraEive, communiEy, health, recre- aElonal, welfare, or other purposes. The term thousing projecE' or tprojejct' also may be ttapplied Eo the pLannlng of the buildings and improve- ments, the acquisltlon of lroperty or any interest Eherein, the demolition of iexlsting sErucEures, Ehe construction, reconstructiln, rehabilltation, alter- ation or repair of thd impr]ovemenEs and all oEher work in connection rherewiqh; and the Eerm sha1l include all oEher real and personaL property and aLI- tangible or intangible pssets held or used in connecEion with Ehe housinq nroject." Section 1055. rr*** If thegoverning body declares a need for housing exists, ds set for in (1) and (2) of this paragraph, said governing y shall issue notice of such need and Ehe numb of housing unlts pro- posed in a nelvspaper having a general circulation in the area in which the is cerLified. Such notice shalL seE forEh Ehe cts that sald declar- ation of need is final, if ot protested wiEhin thirty (30) days from date f said notice by the method provided in the succeeding para- graph. t'Provided, however, that if a petiEion signed by not less than five p t (5%) of the Lega1 registered voters of Eh eci y or counEy affecEed, as Ehe case may be, is subm Eted to Ehe governlng body within thirty (30) day of Ehe adoption of said resoluEion Ehen sa resoLutlon shall be ineffectlve until ap by a majority of Ehose voEing on the que sEl aE a special or general eLection; * :k :k. SecEion I-056. PeEitions a eLecEions Eo discontinue the consErucEi of additional publ-ic housins proiecEs. tt(a) Upon the filing of a peElEion by five per cent (57") of the qualif{ed voEers of the ciEy or counEy, as Ehe case may be, asserting there is need for limiting {n authority Eo its existing operaEions and profibiting suctr auEhority from engaging in daaitlonal projecEs or addiCions to exisEing prdjecEsr oE upon 2 T "lts own moEion, the governi,ng body of thaE city or county, as the case may be, shaL1 call an election of the quallfied voters'reqriding in the area of the authority for the purpose qrf decidlng whether or noE Ehe authoriEy shaIl be Limited to iEs exlsting ] operaElons and prohiblted {lrom engaging in addl- tional projects or addiElorlrs to existing projecEs. t'(b) Ttre dace for such eI!rction sha1l be set by the governing body by resof.uEion; provided, that such election shalL be hel(I noE less Ehan eight weeks nor more Ehan Ewelve weeks after the date such peEition is filed. I!I a protesE to such peEition is filed the burd!:n of proving Ehe insufficiency of such peti!:ion shaLl be upon the protestants. I'he hearfi.ng on such protest shaLl be held and the prot!lst decided by the governing body within four weeks afcer the filing thereof. At such elfecEion Ehe quesElon before Ehe voEers shaLl beI "shalL the Public Hou!ring Authority of be Liml.Eed to lEs exisEing operations and sha11 it be prohibiced from engaging ln additional prollects and prohibited from making addiEions to e:iristing projecEs? tf YES NO I'he question shall- be decicled by a majority of those voting thereon. "(c) The authority shaLl be i-imiced to iEs exisEing operaEions and prohibited from engaging in additional projecEs or ddditions Eo exisEing projects upon certificaEiort EhaE a majority of Ehose voEing Ehereon have Voted in the affirmative." According to the sEaEuce's deflnition of the word ttprojecEtr in SecEion 1054, supra, the Eerm jectt' can mean: 3 ilAny***undertaking** * to provide or assist ln * * * I-lving ccommodaElons for Providing tt persons of Iow income * * k t On October 22, L968, the C tty Councll and the Oklahoma CIEY Housing AuEhoritsy amended thelr D operation AgreemenE Eo authotLze 2r000 addicional unlts for Iow-r t houslng. Said amendment was accompanied by a Council Resolut n flnding Ehat Ehere was a need for Ehese additional units and a rovlng an application by Ehe Housing Authority Eo the aPProPr Ee federal agency for a prellm- inary Loan of $8001000 in connect with Ehe 21000 units. Subsequentlyr or APril 2, 969, the Housing AuEhority executed a Prellminary Loan Contr ct whereby the federal govern- menE agreed to make loans Eotalin $800,000 for prelimlnary surveys and planning of the 2r000 addiEio 1 units. The CooperaEion Agreement toitt the CiEy and Ehe Preliminary governmen are ttundertakings" by Loan Agreement wiEh Ehe federal I'to t Ehe Oklahoma City Housing AuEhor y assist in providing living accommodations for persons of income" ln Ehe amounE of 21000 additlonal housing units. rrundertakings By sEatutory definttion t se Agreements or " for 2r000 addiEional units are existing ttprojecErtt axe part of the frexisting operaEions" of the homa City Housing AuthoriEy and would noE be affected by the lecEion procedure provlded in Section 1056 of the staEuEe. could have been affecEed if Ehe election had been peEitioned for ithin 30 days after the Councilrs acEion, 4s provided iri Sectlon 55, buE tshaE is noE the question now being considered. In the U. S. SuPreme Cour 's recent review of California's experience wiEh public housing, t noEed a 1950 California case which held that decisions by 1o I auEhorities were 'rexecutivett and rradminisEraEiverrr not ttlegis tiverrr and the referendum pro- vlsions in the SEaEe ConsEituti did not apply. James v. Caltierra, 28 L Ed 2d 678, citing Housing EhoriEy v. Superior Court, 35 CaI 2d 550, 557-s58 (1950). This seems to be wiraE the 0kLahoma Legislature intended, because Section 1055, supra, was amended in L969 Eo make it clear that a city'sttdeclaration of ne{d is firnaltt unless protesEed, noE by referendum, buE by another method of peEitlon and election specified in Section 1055. 4 7 t . The stated finallty of Counlcll action lis a further indlcatlon thaE Ehe Leglslature did no E htenh for the CouneiL's actlon to be repealed in Ehe future llke legrslattve acEs are sometimes repealed by Ehe inElaEtve proeess. Slnce thls seems Eo be the eglsLaturets lnEent, then thelr expresslon ttlimited Eo lts exisE operations and prohiblted from engaging in addiEional projectsrr not be interpreted in a waY chaE mighu effectiveLy repeaL the ouncllts previous determination that 21000 addltional unlts of 1 -ECnt housing !{ere needed. Courts have consistently fused to permif any aEtemPE by a CiEy to cancel an existing coo tion agreement with a housing authority. The California SuPre CourE explai.ned iE in Foltgine Authori Ev v. City of Los Aneeles 243 P.2d 5L5, 524, as follows: E is assumed Ehat the re clssion of or action ma CL t riatel be acco 1 he a mun].cr I e laEive b vrhere r Es of Ehird ersons have noE inEervened. The pplication of Ehis recognized princip is to Eters of municipaL concern. McConoughey v. kson, 101 CaI. 265, 35 P. 863. Here Ehe staEe law is conErolling in a marter of sEate concern. Thereby the ciEy is authorized to conEract in spect Eo Ehe granted polrers, but it is also b Eo compliance there- wi.th aecordingly. ttrn brief , the cityts acts and contracts are bindlng in accord with the statutsory PurPose and objective; and no prov ion is indicaEed which permiEs Ehe cityts a tempted caneeLlation, abandonment and abrogation of its eontracts. As noted, the exEent to w projects begun wiEh the use of federal s might be can- ceLed or modified is cover d by the provisions of Ehe Lars as to amendmenE , modifications or supersedure of exisEing co tracts for federal loans and contributions, of which is here lnvolved. If it be desira 1e to include provisions for cancellatio by clEy acElon, as distin uished from wi 1d of cit a oval rior to initiati n Ehe subjecE 5 ls one to be addressed to respective federaL and sEaEe leglsLative bodi s for approprlaEe permissible enaeEmenEs whi would protect Ehe rlghts of all inEeresEed rEies. r' Under the OkLahbma law Pr lously discussed, an elecEion may be calIed which wouLd ln eff t prohibiE the aurhorizatlon of any addiEional projects, but lE w uld noE affect the 5rL54 units which Ehe City Council has Previ Ly authorized and such an electlon would not affect anY exi ting cooperaEion agreemenE between the Oklahoma CiEY Houslng AuEhoriEy and the Urban RenewaL AuthoriEy. While limiting the OCI{A to its presenEly auEhorLzed number of units, such an e1ecEion would ; E neeessarily require the OCIIA Eo compleEe thaE ntrmber of units. Construction on Present1Y Pro- posed sites wtIl requlre aPProval from the U. S. DeParfment of Housing and Urban DeveloPmenE and will depend upon Ehe ouEcome of any pending or future LiElgaEi n regarding the location of projects. spectfui.ly submttted, ) ,/,4 I.Iitlter M. Powe1L Ar:tlng Municipal Counselor HMP: TBMc : emc cc3 NIMLO OA},IA ABA 6