The Westlake City Council wants to make more people “HAPPY,” and they’re willing to spend $140,000 to do it.
That’s the amount that the council voted 5-0 to spend to hire a full-time administrator for the city’s stalled Housing Assistance Purchase Program Yearly (HAPPY) plan during a meeting Tuesday, Nov. 4.
However, Mayor JohnPaul O’Connor was quick to emphasize that under the resolution he shepherded, none of that salary will be coming out of taxpayer pockets.
“When the program was set up, there was an allowance for seven percent of the funds raised to go to administration,” he said. “The hire is coming from that money.”
With $4.7 million sitting in the fund undistributed, there’s plenty to cover an administrator, he noted. Previously, the fund was overseen by the city manager in conjunction with an Inframark employee, who also was juggling several other duties.
Inframark is a government services staffing agency used by the city as per its charter to run the day-to-day activities.
The administrator will continue to be an Inframark employee but solely focused on HAPPY, O’Connor said.
Under HAPPY, first-time homebuyers, or those who have not owned a residence during the last three years, can qualify for up to $60,000 toward the purchase of a home valued at up to $586,577.
The program is tethered to Federal Housing Administration income eligibility and is funded by a $1,500 fee paid by the builder for each completed home.
While supporting the program and creation of the position, Councilman Gary Werner said that he would like to see a detailed report on the administrator’s activities each month, “to see what we’re getting for what we’re paying them.”
Werner has been critical of what he has described as a lack of transparency on the part of the company.
“I think we’ve gotten very little information from Inframark on how they do business,” Werner said. “I’d like to see some actual results in the monthly invoice.”
O’Connor agreed. “If we are in essence hiring a housing director… I’d like to know how well they’re doing,” he said.
Acting City Manager Zoie Burgess, also an Inframark employee, said she would attempt to provide a detailed monthly report on the administrator’s activities.
Kenneth Cassel, who was Westlake’s manager since its incorporation in 2016, recently left the city and Inframark. An independent manager answerable directly to the council is being sought.
In other business, Councilman Erik Gleason suggested that the city consider putting up decorative bike racks at school bus stops throughout the community.
“A lot of kids like to ride their bikes to the bus stops and leave them there,” Gleason said.
However, recently several bikes have gone missing, he said, including his son’s.
Gleason suggested that high school juniors and seniors might be enlisted to create the artistic design, and perhaps even build the racks in shop classes. The city might encourage the collaboration through prizes for the best designs funded through Westlake’s Art in Public Places fund, which currently holds some $238,000, he said.
Beyond aesthetics and practicality, Gleason said there is a financial motive as well.
“This would also go along with our whole concept of being public safety first and making sure that our crime rate stays as good as it,” said Gleason, a commander with the Miami Gardens Police Department. “Once those [bike thefts] start getting reported… then the insurance companies do take notice.”
Resident Alicia Torres supported the idea.
“I love your idea,” she said. “Statues are nice, but so is stuff we really use… I love a little utilitarian art… Our city’s growing, and as we build the infrastructure, [it would be great] if we can make it to look pretty.”
