Staff seeks council input on 2025–2029 consolidated plan priorities, highlights CDBG limits and timeline

City staff and consultant Donna King of M and L Associates briefed the council on early work for the City of Temple’s 2025–2029 consolidated plan, the five‑year strategy that guides Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) spending.

King described the consolidated plan as “the roadmap that we're going to use to decide which projects to do over the next five years,” and she reviewed eligible activities, national objectives and typical constraints. She noted CDBG funds are flexible but must meet a HUD national objective, most commonly benefitting low‑ and moderate‑income persons (households earning at or below 80% of area median income); other national objectives include slum and blight removal and urgent needs in declared disaster events.

Key points raised during the workshop included: - Public‑service cap: HUD limits spending on public‑service subrecipients to 15% of a jurisdiction’s annual allocation. City staff discussed recent annual allocations and said Temple’s allocation has been roughly $600,000 in recent cycles; under that example the public‑service cap would be about $90,000 annually. - Eligible activities and ineligible uses: King reviewed typical eligible uses (housing rehabilitation, down‑payment assistance, public facilities improvements, economic development, code enforcement) and noted some uses are ineligible (new construction by the unit of local government, direct income payments to beneficiaries, political/lobbying activities and general government operating expenses). She said ADA upgrades for existing municipal facilities are typically allowable. - Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA): staff said the city is working on establishing an NRSA that would allow certain activities inside that contiguous low‑income area to be exempt from the 15% public‑service cap.

Council discussion and priorities: Council members raised affordability and healthy‑food access as priorities; staff highlighted interest in an East Temple grocery and referenced community outreach and surveys (staff said the consultant’s public survey remained open and that outreach would continue). Council members also emphasized workforce development, broadband access in targeted areas, and leveraging CDBG with other funding sources for homelessness and mental‑health initiatives.

Process and schedule: King said a draft consolidated plan and needs assessment will be prepared, followed by an annual action plan; the city will publish the draft for a 30‑day public comment period and hold an advertised public hearing before the council considers final approval. Staff said the HUD submission deadline for all jurisdictions is August 15 and that the program year starts October 1.

Ending: Staff asked council to send any further priorities by email and urged councillors to encourage public participation in the online survey; no formal action was taken at the workshop.