Monday, February 23, 2009
City commissioners voted to defer the rental registration expansion program that was proposed at last Tuesday’s city commission meeting.
Brian Jimenez, code enforcement manager, devised the plan, which would require all rental properties 50 years or older to be inspected once every three years. The plan would help manage areas with high amounts of housing code violations. The commissioners decided to reconsider a new plan at a later date.
To see a video of Tuesday's city commission meeting, click here
David Corliss, city manager, said he didn’t endorse the proposed program because of budget concerns.
“While seeing substantial community benefit to an expanded program, my recommendation is to not pursue the program expansion at this time because of the significant economic challenges both the city and the community are facing,” Corliss said in a memo for that week’s agenda. “The necessary fee increase to fund the program will likely be passed on to renters at a very challenging economic time.”
Jimenez said he thought the budget issue was the only major problem with the program.
“I think overall the commissioners were in support of exploring the issue further,” Jimenez said.
Chris Conard, Dodge City junior, said he thought it was important for rental properties to be inspected because he had had neglectful landlords in the past.
“There’s a lot of stuff to cover with very little money, but I think it’s pretty important that they stay on top of that because a lot of times I think that’s overlooked,” Conard said.
Those on the city commission decided to rethink how to implement an expansion of the rental registration program.
Mayor Mike Dever suggested registering all rental properties in the city to allow inspectors access to any property without the landlord’s permission or a search warrant.
“If safety is really what we are after, inspecting everything isn’t going to speed up the process,” Dever said. “We need to create the mechanism by which we can inspect these facilities.”
Vice Mayor Rob Chestnut supported the mayor’s idea.
“The mayor suggested a program requiring some type of registration without all the inspections,” Chestnut said. “If this allows access to the property more readily, it might actually start to identify the properties that have significant issues more quickly.”
Jeremy Roehr, St. Louis, junior, said he thought rental inspections could take place between the time one tenant moved out and the next moved in.
“Inspections definitely need to be done,” Roehr said. “It’s probably not the highest concern, but safety is a concern.”
Hep Warjri, Shillong, India, senior, said he was concerned about the condition of the house he was currently renting. Warjri said his landlord told him to call if there was a problem or anything that needed fixing, but he said sometimes they weren’t responsive.
One of the problems Warjri mentioned was his front porch.
“That wood is basically just rotted off and so is the railing,” Warjri said.
Warjri said he and his roommates jimmy-rigged the porch with scrap wood as wedges to keep the porch in place.
Alex Haneberg, Chicago senior, said that he didn’t think a rental inspection program was needed and that mandatory inspection was very low on his list of priorities.
“Personally, I can take care of that myself,” said Haneberg. “I don’t think it’s really that necessary.”
Haneberg said he didn’t think the city should be strict on landlords who violated building codes because he thought landlords would use it to their advantage.
“Landlords in this town will suck money out of every possible thing,” Haneberg said. “They will definitely use it as an excuse to raise rent.”
Tom Harper, a local landlord, said he thought the problem was absentee landlords.
“You can tell who’s taking care of their properties and who’s not,” Harper said. “We all get used to certain things and don’t view things as a problem, until it’s a problem, until someone dies.”
Jimenez said he would begin looking into developing a new program this week.
— — Edited by Liz Schubauer
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