01-12-11 Council Workshop Minutes

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL JANUARY 12, 2011 The City Council agreed that the ordinance should be amended to address these issues. The City Administrator indicated that he would have the City Attorney prepare an ordinance amendment and would present it to the City Council at its next meeting. The next issue of discussion was that of revenues from rental license fees which the Administrator reported have been $23,283 from the 1,456 licensed units. Adding in revenue from the potential units identified would bring in an additional $11,364. The Administrator then reviewed program expenses, which he noted were substantial due to start up expenses associated with the creation of the ordinance, inspection software, form creation, etc. The Administrator then reviewed two reports generated by unit inspections. The first report identifies "hazards" that were discovered by inspections. These are hazards as outlined in the City's inspection guidelines. The second report identifies "below minimum standards Based on a review of this report, it was the consensus of those present that there are some issues where the ranking is more appropriate as a "hazard" than a "below minimum standard It was noted that the ordinance requires that a "hazard" must be corrected, while a "below minimum standard" did not have the same urgency for correction. The City Administrator reported that has obtained input from the Fire Marshal on this issue and will have the Building Official also comment. Based on their input, the licensing software would be changed as appropriate. The next issue of discussion related to the license term, with the Administrator noting that 1 to 3 units are required to be inspected every two years, and have a one -year license term. The cost of the license is $100 per building and $10 per unit. The cost of an inspection can range from $200 to $250. The Administrator noted that once a rental unit is inspected and hazards corrected, it may not be necessary to be as aggressive in the inspection time frame. The ordinance requires that all units of larger rental properties be inspected every 4 years (25% of units inspected each year). Therefore, it was suggested that rental properties with 1 to 3 units be inspected every four years, and the license tern changed to a four year license. The Council agreed. It was also agreed that the range of units could be increased to 1 to 4 units. The Administrator again raised the issue of addressing unlicensed rental properties discovered in the future. The Administrator suggested an administrative fine be established for these situations. If property owners still do not comply with the licensing process, then citations could be issued and the matter referred to the courts. The Council agreed. 2