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A- #46 Q,9. .:_-- /rrlt Z,, &f*n":u I TIIE CITY OF OKI"AIIOMA CITY \9c9 Ortililtq I f. ,rt ..1 OFFICE OF L;", { cou$6\l' TIIE MUNICIPAL COUNSELOR or'rY 't969 {$e sEP "[ , 9{ od "uin6 TO: Mayor and Councll ptember 11, L969 FRODI: Roy H. Semcner RE: Oklahona Ctty llouslng MunLclpal Counselor Authority GontroL by City Council You have aeked what authorlty t Ci.ty Council has to either abollsh or control the Oklahoma ty Ilousing Authorlty. There ls no specific statutory provLs for complgtely abolishlng sald llousing Authority. Any at t to do so would resulc ln a conflict wlth provlsLons of t Constitution of the State of" Oklahoma to the extent the Hous Authorlty may already be a party to rrconEractsrr whereby it ls trobllgatedtr Lo carry on existlng projects; for example, agreements made to obtain fln- ancing for existlng projects. that exEenE any legislative attempt to abotish the llousLng lty would be prohibited by Article 2, Seetion 15 of the Constltutlon of the State of Oklahoma, whlch provldes In per inent part as follows: trNo blll of atta nderr €x post facto 1aw, t of contracts, shall e be passed. * * *rt In that respect, SectLon 1076 o the Oklahoma Ilousing Authori- tles Act provldes that llouslng thortties rr * * * may include in any contract for financlal lstance with the Federal Gov- ernnent any provlslons which FederaL Government may requlre as conditlons to its financlal td not lnconslstent lrith the purposes of this Actrrr and Sec lon L073 of the Act provldes: rrAn obligee of authority shal-l have the rlght, in ltion to aL1 other rlghts whlch may be rred on such obl-lgee, subject onl to any contractual restrictions blnding such obligee: (a) by mand , sult, action or proeeeding at law or in equity, to com- pel an authortty and the comissioners, officers, agents or loyees thereof + '-.,f Mayor and Council September 11, L969 Page firo to perform each and term, provision and covenant contalned in any contract of the authorlty wlth or the benefit of such obllgee, and to qulre the carrying out of any or aL1 such covenants and agree- ments of rhe authorlty and the fulftllnent of all- dutles lmposed on it by this act. (b) by sult, aet or proceeding ln equlty, to enJoln acts or things whlch may be unlawfuL, or uhe vlolaEion of any of the rights o 'an obligee of the authorlty. rr Section L055 of the Act also ev ences the legislaturer s inrent to protecE exlstlng contracts, t -wlt: ttln any suit, act or proceedlng invoLving the validlty enforcement of or relating Eo any act of the auth- orlty, an authorlty s t be conclusLvely deemed to have become tabllshed and authorized to transact siness and exercise lts powers upon proof the adoptlon of theresolution***. copy of the reso- lution duly certlfied the cLerk shalL be admlssible in evid in any suit, action or proceeding.rr On the other hand, it has been he that the above constitutional provlsion does not apply Eo contr ts concerning the future exer- clse of powers conferred for publ purposes by legisGii"*' acrs. ts f 1 V. 2 7 P.zd r.3 1. ltrat declsion ts the provisions ln Section 1056(a) and (c) of the OkLahona lng Authorities Act, to-wlt: "(a) Upon the ft1 of a petition by flve per cent (57") o the qualified voters of the city or ty, as the case may be, asserting there is need for Limlt- ing an authorlty to lts exlstfing opera- tlons and prohibiring h authority from engaging ln addltional Jects or addl- tions to exlsting proJe ts, or upon lts t {. Mayor and Councll September 11, L969 Page Three own motion, the gove body of that clty or county, as the case nay be, shall call- an electlon of the qua Lfled voters reslding in the area of the au ty for the purpose of decidlng whether or not the authority shall be Llnlted ro 1r exlsting operations and prohibtted from e ln additlonal projects or addLtions existing projects. (c) The authorl shall be Linited to lts extsting operatlon and prohlbited from engaglng ln additLonaL projects or additions to exlsting proJects n certlficatlon that a trajorlty of those vo thereon have voted ln the affirmati For the purpose of dlstinguls trexisting operations[ from ttad- ditional projectstr, the follow deflnlttons are provided in Section 1054 of the Act: tt(t) trHouslng p: eetrr or ftprojectrr meang any work or taklng on contiguous or noncontlguous sites * * * to provide or asslst ln provldtng t, safe and sani- tary urban or rural lllngs, apartmenEs, or other livlng ac ttons for persons of Low lncome; * * The term tthouslng proj trr or ttprojecttl also may be applled to the plannlng of the butldtngs and nts, the acqutsltlon of property or any ln rest therein, the denolltlon of existlng sEructures, the con- structlon, reconstnrct , rehabllLtatlon, alteration or repair o the improvements and all other work in nnection therewith. rr Such a prohibltlon from engaging ln addltLonal projeets would not apply to those projects for whic the Housing Authorlty has al- ready acqutred a site or has ent Lnto a contract for purchase of a site; for example, iR a tr, eration Agreementrr between the OkLahona City Urban Renewal Au Lty and the Oklahoma City Hous- Mayor and Council September 11, L969 Page Four ing Authority dated February 21, L967, it was agreed that the Ilousing Authority would purchase certain proJect sites within the John F. Kennedy Urban Renewa Area and devetop same for publtc housing. this purchase and developmen tof sltes wil"1 consti.tute a large part of the one-third (U3) contrlbutions needed by Urban Renewal before it can gualtfy fo the capltal grants from the federal governnent to finance Renewal projects. With this example in nlnd, it ls conc ivabLe thac firture capital grants from the federal for various public improve- ments could be conditioned upon adequacy of Local public houslng and there may be cases whleh some Local agency or the City ltself has already ac ted federal firnds conditioned upon the existence of a locat sing Authorlty; however, in the amount of time avalLab1e for preparing this memorandum, I have not found any speciflc 1es other than Urban Renewalrs present flnancial dependency on Housing Authority. I{lth respect to other controls r the llousing Authorlty, the Mayor, with the advice and conse of the ciry council, has Ehe poarer to appoint the commissione s of the Authorlty, to remove them for cause, to require the ftling of a complete fi- nanclal and operatlng report and audlt ln the City Clerkr s Of- flce and to wittrhold approval'of any more than twenty (20) new houstng units in addition to tho e al,ready authorlzed. Those sections of the Act provide ln p tlnent part as follows: Itsection 1058. ***fiveper r shall be appointed as commi-ssioners of t , aurhoriry (1) in the care of a city, by the Mayor with the advice and consent of ,he governlng body ***ll .$,@,g-19.0q. For inefflciency, negl6ct of duty or mlsconduct in office, allowing any por- ti.on of any proJect to become dilapidated, unsanltary or unkempt, a comlssioner of an authority nay be by the govern- l,layor and Councll September 11, L969 Page Ftve lng bodyr or, ln the se of an authority for a county, by the of county com- missloners, buE a ssloner shaLl be re- moved only after a ing and after he shall have been glven copy of the eharges at Least ten days to the hearlng and had an opportunlty to heard ln person or by counsel. In the of the renoval of any corffrLsstoner, a re of the proceed- ings, together with charges and flndlngs thereon, shall be flle in the office of the clerk. tf And, one method of deternlning sconducttr is specified in Sec- tLon L059 of the Act whlch prov es in part as follows: rrDuri.ng his tenur and for three (3) years thereafEer, no ssloner, offlcer, or empLoyee of the t housing authority shalL voluntarily any interest, dlrect or indlrect, in any project or ln any property included planned to be ln- cluded ln any project, ln any contract or proposed contract r ting to any hous- ing projest. If any conmisstoner, offlcerr of, ernployee Luntarily acquired any such interestr oE Luntarily or invol- untarlly acgulred any h lnterest prtor to appointment or emp t as commissioner, offlcerr oE employee, conntssioner, of-' flcer, or eroployee, in such event, shall innediately dlsclose interest in writing to the auEhorlty, and h disclosure shall be entered upon the tes of the authority, and the conrmLssioner, fleer, or employee shall not particlpate any actlon by the authorlty relati.ng to property or con- tract ln whlch he has such Lnterest. Any violatlon of the forego provlslons of thls sectlon shall cons tute mLsconduct ln offlce. * * *rt ? ' " r? Mayor and Council ' September 11, L969 Page Stx SeetLon L079 of the Act requlres the flling of reports and audlts wlth the Clty Clerk as natter of pi"rbllc record. That sectlon couLd be enforced by the Clty Ln the event the Authorlty ever falted to submlt sueh reports audlts. That section provides as follows: ttAt Least once a an authorlty shaLL file wirh rhe cLerk of the governing body of the jurlsdlctlon wlrh which the authorlty operates a complete fi lal and operattng report of the preced ftscal year whlch shall be and remaln a blic record. At l-east once a year an authori shail. ftle an audit of all flnancial and o transactions for the prcvious flscal r and sha1l file such audlt wlth the clerk a public record and make recommenlations w th reference to such additional lcglslatlon or other actlon as lt deems necessary ln ord Eo carry out the pur- poses of this act.il The total number of unlts of pub ic houstng presently authorized for thls City is 5rL54 unlrs. most recent increase in thls nunber was the authorization by City Council of 21000 addl- tlonal unlts by Resolutlon of Oc ober 22, 1968, whLch sLmultan- eously approved the Housing Aut ityrs applicatlon for a prellm- lnary loan in the amount of $8OO 0.00 from the U. S. Department of lloustng and Urban Development for surveys and planning on the 21000 addltlonal- unlts. Ln this respect, Sectlon L061 of the Act provides: rr***apubllc lng to consLder a proposed project regu lng constructi.on of more than firenty nea, ing unlts shall be held together by authority and gov- ernlng body, and any project must be found to be tn the pub tnterest by a naJority of the member constLtutlng said authorLty and a maJori of the members constltutlng sald nlng body as a con- dltion precedent to t Lnplementatlon of any such project. * * t/r Mayor and Council September 11, L969 Page Seven Therefore, in the ftrture, when e than twenty (20) new units of houslng are proposed to be ad d to the presently authorized 51154 unlts, Ehe Councll oay de that an additLonal nun- ber of unlts would not be rrln publlc i.nterestrr and ftrture projects wouLd be curtalled to Eever extent they would ex- ceed the overall number of autho ized unLts. In conctuslon, there Ls no statu authorlty to abolish the Houslng Authorlty, any attempt !, abotlsh it would be prohiblted by the Oklahoroa Constitutlon wi respect Eo existlng contracts, the Authority may be lLmtted to istlng operations and future projects prohlbited if so dec i.n a proper etection on the questlon and conslderatton shou be glven to the posslbllity that federal grants ln ald for public lmprovement nay be contlngent on the adequacy of local publlc houslng or the exlstence of a Local housing aut rlty. The I'Iayor and CounclL have the power to appolnt comnis B, to remove them for cause, to requlre the Authority flle an annual report and audit with the City Clerk and to ttrhold authorizatlon of ad- dttional numbers of overall uni beyond the presentLy authorized 5 ,L54. Re 1 tted, a ipal Counselor RHS: TBDIcG: vy cc: NII{LO OAI,TA APPROVED PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS LOCATTON No. UNITS TYPE OF DEVELOPMENT CURRENT STATUS Ward I 2-2 Leased Housirtg Approx. 5 2-3 Scattered Rehab. None Total 5 Ward 2 NE 36th and Prospect 150 Genera I Occupaucy- Turnkey Under construction NE 36th and Hiwassee 74 C eneral Occupancy- Convention F inal Stages 2'2 Scattered Lease Approx. 175 Scamered Leased Housing Management 2-3 Scattered Rehab. 32 A cquisition R ehabilitation Management Total 43r Ward 3 SW 15th and Grand BIvd. 288 Genera I Occupancy- Convention Under construction 2-2 Scattered Lease Approx. 35 Scattered Leased Housing Management 2-3 Scamered Rehab. 40 Scattered R ehabilitatior-t Total 363 Ward 4 Will Rogers Courts 1612 352 General Occupancy-Conventionai trully Occupied Fleyman SE 15th and High Ave. 200 Genera I Occupa.ncy- Turnkey Final Negotiations SE 1Sth and Grand BIvd. 400 General Occupancy- ConventionaI Final Stages of Constructior 2-2 Scattered Lease Approx. 35 Scattered Leased Housing Management 2-3 Scattered Rehab. None Total 987 Ward 5 SW 54th and Shartel 200 Elderly-Turnkey Final Stages of Construction 2- 2 Scattered Lease 15 203 Scattered Rehab. None Total zT5 Ward 6 NW 9th and Robinson L42 E lderly-Acquisition Rehab. R ehabi litation- Pa rtially Occupieci NW 13th & Classen Blvd. 100 Elderly-Turnkey F inal Negotiations 2-2 Scauered Lease Approx. 20 2-3 Scattered Rehab. None Total -.-67 a LOCATION No. UNITS TYPE OF DEVELOPMENT CURRENT STATUS Ward 7 NE 4th and Eastern (JFK) 200 G eneraI Occu pancy- Conventiona I Awaiting [-and Clearance by OCURA NE 4th and Eastern (JFK) 200 General Occu pancy- Conventiona I Awaiting Land Clearance by OCURA NE 4th and Eastern 130 G enera 1 Occupancy- Turnkey Awaiting Land Clearance by OCURA NE I2th and Lottie 200 Eiderly- ConventionaI Bids to be let in Septen'rber NE 27th and Eastern 174 Acquisition R ehabilitation Rehab. -partially occupied 2-2 Scattered Lease Approx. 282 Scattered Leased Housing Management 2-3 Scattered Rehab. 84 Scattered Acquisition Rehab. Management Total L,27{J Ward 8 2-ZScattered Leased Approx. l0 Housing 2-3 Scattered Rehab. None TotaI 10 Grand Total 3,543 a