On Monday 6/16/03, in spite protests by Councilmembers Boazman, Moore, Mitchell, and others, the Atlanta City Council voted 9 - 5 to uphold their vote in favor of transferring its oversight  of the unexpended Title XX funds ($58 Million) and the tax incentives associated with the Renewal Communities Initiatives to the Coordinating Responsibile Authority (CoRA).

Here is a brief review of the key amendments (primarily introduced by Councilwoman Starnes) that were adopted at the 6/2/03 Council Meeting:

1. AHAND will appoint one resident of the Atlanta Empowerment Zone to serve on the CoRA Board;
2. The CoRA's subcontractor (ANDP) will be permitted to manage the benchmarks related to CDC grant making, capacity building, and lending, but will not receive any additional administrative fees for doing so (the services will be included in the $5,000,000 );
3. The CoRA's subcontractor (ANDP) will be permitted to compete for the Title XX funds, but will be required to:
i. Identify which projects they are interested in in writing ii. Agree to be monitored by the City of Atlanta iii. Remove themselves from the RFP Process iv. Partner with a Community Development Corporation (CDC) if the project is within the service area of an existing CDC.
4. The CoRA will not be permitted to unilaterally appoint ANDP as the development partner for CDC's that lack the capacity to undertake "complex" development projects;
5. The CoRA's board members will be subject to the City's ethics regulations;
6. Projects that were approved by the CEAB and AEZC boards but did not receive funding will receive favorable treatment in the rebenchmarking process;
7. The City Council will confirm the Mayor's appointments to the CoRA Board.

For your review, the text of Councilwoman Starnes' amendments have been placed on the AHAND website.  Please click here to view the text of her amendments.