Affordable Housing commissioners ask council to rescind CET award to Spark Newburg

Members of the Affordable Housing Commission said at a work session they will ask the city council to rescind a Construction Excise Tax (CET) award to Spark Newburg and reopen the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) so the project can reapply after addressing outstanding concerns.

Reverend Casey Banks, chair of the Affordable Housing Commission, said the commission "previously reviewed the grant applications and determined that the Spark Newburg project did not yet meet the eligibility requirements. Our commission assumed that the city council would agree that a project that did not meet the minimum threshold criteria would not receive funds. We were surprised to learn that the city council made the award anyway." The commission adopted a statement on the issue to be delivered to the council at its next meeting.

The commission listed several reasons for asking the council to rescind the award. Commissioners said the scoring rubric the commission used — a rubric the city council had approved and asked the commission to apply — was not followed in the council deliberations, creating "ambiguity" and room for subjectivity. Commissioners also said Spark Newburg had not established its legal nonprofit status at the time of application, and that the council’s award appeared conditional on…