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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09.13.17 Minutes f Oshkosh RENTAL HOUSING ADVISORY BOARD MINTUES SEPTEMBER 13, 2017 PRESENT: Matt Mugerauer, Lori Palmeri, Margy Davey, Linda Jevaltas, Cheryl Hentz EXCUSED: Timothy Ernst, Matthew Stenerson STAFF: Allen Davis, Community Development Director, Andrew Prickett, Building Systems Inspector, Casey Koelbl, Housing Inspector, Kathy Fredrick, Weights and Measures/Code Enforcement Clerk CALL TO ORDER Allen Davis called the meeting to order at 3:31 p.m. Mr. Davis announced Sherri Devereau was appointed to the Rental Housing Advisory Board at the September 12, 2017 Oshkosh Common Council Meeting and would begin attending meetings on October 11, 2017. The minutes of August 9, 2017 were approved as presented. (Rentz/Mugerauer) SOCIAL MEDIA Mr.Davis reported Communications Coordinator,Emily Springstroh,was working on a social media plan for the Rental Housing Advisory Board and hoped to present the plan to the Board at the next meeting. Ms. Fredrick stated Ms. Springstroh had expressed Oshkosh Community Media Services (OCMS) would like to shoot a Boards and Commission video explaining the focus of the Rental Housing Advisory Board. INSPECTION SERVICES WEB PAGE Mr. Davis explained, as a follow up to the previous meeting, the IT Department was in the process of rebuilding the City website which was scheduled to be completed by the second quarter of 2018. Mr. Zarate stated a change would be made to the Inspection Services Division web page prior to the overhaul of the City's entire website. He stated a separate page would be added for rental housing concerns and gave an overview of what information would be added immediately to the web page. He also demonstrated what the entire website would look like once it was rebuilt. Note: Matthew Stenerson joined the meeting at 3:44 p.m. f Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Two Council Member Palmeri asked if the code violations of each property could be included on the rental inspection program website. Mr.Davis replied it was possible to post the most common types of code violations on the rental inspection program website. Mr.Zarate stated his department was working with the software company,Infovision, to create reports to aid in reporting information on inspections and code violations pertaining to rental properties. Council Member Palmeri asked if the resource links for tenants and landlords would be included on the rental inspection program web page. Ms. Fredrick indicated she had forwarded the link page to the IT Department to be included on the rental inspection program web page. Ms.Jevaltas reported she contacted the UW Extension office to inquire if and where they distributed their Rent Smart brochure. She stated though the UW Extension office could not specifically identify the agencies to which they distributed the brochure, it was available throughout the Fox Valley. Council Member Palmeri stated she felt there was a need to educate tenants of independent senior living apartment complexes regarding the rental inspection program and asked if it was possible to distribute rental inspection information to a specific target area. Mr. Davis asked if Council Member Palmeri meant additional mailings independent of the initial tenant request for inspection or if she was considering a combination. Council Member Palmeri stated she was referring to the Rent Smart brochure from the UW Extension. Ms. Hentz stated she did not feel it was the purview of the City to distribute the Rent Smart brochure allocated by the UW Extension. Council Member Palmeri asked if the distribution engagement of the Rental Housing Advisory Board was only the process of requesting the inspection. Ms. Davey stated she was not sure of the parameters for the Rental Housing Advisory Board. Ms.Jevaltas asked if the focus of the Board was to educate tenants regarding the voluntary inspection, or to communicate with tenants regarding their rights as tenants. f Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Three Mr.Davis indicated at a minimum,the City was required to send letters to tenants requesting a voluntary inspection; anything beyond that was up to the Board to decide what was in the best interest of the City. Ms. Davey stated she felt retirees were more likely to open and read their mail than use social media and suggested mailing an informational post card targeting senior tenants. Mr.Davis stated in order to keep costs down he preferred including any educational information with the initial request for inspection letter. Ms. Jevaltas suggested the City create a brochure similar to the Residential Rental Contact Registration and Inspection Program brochure created for landlords, but skewed toward tenants. She added the brochure could be included on the rental inspection web page to allow social workers and community organizations the ability to print and distribute the brochure. Ms. Davey stated she was unclear about the purpose of the Rental Housing Advisory Board. Mr. Mugerauer stated the task of the Rental Housing Advisory Board was to advise staff on the creation of educational materials for both tenants and landlords and to make recommendations regarding City policy or changes to the municipal code pertaining to rental housing. Council Member Palmeri asked if it was possible for the City to print a small number of brochures for distribution. Mr. Davis stated is was possible to have brochures printed,however a brochure geared toward the tenant had not yet been created. Ms. Hentz stated she would not be comfortable distributing brochures. Ms. Davey acknowledged there was no way of knowing if tenants opened and read their mail; however she felt that educational materials should be mailed to the target areas of senior citizens separate from the inspection request letter. Ms. Hentz suggested the City hold a seminar on the topic of rental housing targeting senior citizens and invite a representative from the Fair Housing Council to join in. She indicated a representative from the City could talk specifically about the rental inspection program. Council Member Palmeri stated she felt it was important to educate all types of renters,not just the student population. f Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Four Mr.Mugerauer commented the tenant population was diverse and each dynamic had a preference on how they received educational information. Ms. Fredrick stated she could create a brochure similar to the Residential Rental Contact Registration and Inspection Program brochure created for landlords and asked the Board for ideas on the content. Council Member Palmeri asked if there was a way to track the demographics of the tenant population. Mr. Prickett stated the City did not track personal information regarding tenants. Council Member Palmeri asked how the City could measure the success of the Rental Housing Advisory Board. Mr.Prickett stated the measure of the success of the Board would be if there was more participation in the rental inspection program. Ms. Hentz asked if the City would make a formal announcement regarding the recent dismissal of the lawsuit challenging the rental registry program. Mr. Davis replied he had an upcoming meeting with the city attorney regarding the topic of the recent dismissal of the lawsuit challenging the rental registry program. PROPERTY MAINTENANCE CODE Mr. Prickett stated rewriting the property maintenance code would be a huge undertaking and suggested if the Board decided to take on a project of that magnitude, they first complete the organizational items and educational material tasks. Council Member Palmeri asked for clarification that the Board would need to advise the Common Council if they wanted to modify the current property maintenance code. Mr. Prickett replied the Board would need to advise the Common Council if they chose to change the current property maintenance code. Note: Timothy Ernst jointed the meeting at 4:35 p.m. Mr. Mugerauer agreed the Board should first accomplish the goals of organization and education before entertaining the idea of rewriting the property maintenance code. Ms. Davey asked if the property maintenance code could be found online. f Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Five Mr. Prickett replied the property maintenance code could be found on the City's website under Chapter 17-36 through 17-38. He stated the minimum housing code was under Chapter 1-21 through 16-46. CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) ORDINANCE Mr. Davis stated he expected the carbon monoxide (CO) ordinance to be completed by fall. Mr.Prickett stated he had given the proposed language for the ordinance to the assistant city attorney and was waiting for approval so the ordinance could move forward for Council consideration. RHAB RECOMMENDATION FOR COMPLIANCE TIMELINE Mr. Davis asked if the Board had come to a decision regarding a recommendation for the compliance timeline for code violations. Mr.Zarate stated it was not uncommon for simple corrections to take ninety or more days to get a response from the property owner. Council Member Palmeri asked if the compliance timeline was the same for all violations. Mr.Prickett stated the compliance deadline depended on the type of violation;for example a non working smoke detector had to be rectified immediately. Mr. Koelbl added the compliance deadline was factored on a case by case basis. He stated depending on the severity of the violation, the City tried to work with property owners who were at the mercy of contractors available to make the repairs. He stated he felt the bigger issue was actually getting a response from the property owner once they received a correction notice. Ms. Davey stated she preferred issuing a citation for code violations if no response was received from the property owner who received a correction notice;especially if the citation could be rescinded by the City. Mr. Mugerauer asked what the amount of a citation was. Mr. Zarate replied the amount of a citation was $232 per day, adding typically the City continued to get no response from the property owner until ten day citations were issued. Council Member Palmeri asked if any of the$232 citation came back to the City. Mr. Prickett stated$75 of the$232 citation came back to the general fund of the City. f Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Six Ms. Jevaltas stated she was comfortable with the thirty day compliance timeline, however she stated she also felt the inspectors should use their own discretion regarding the compliance timeline depending on the severity of the violation. Ms. Hentz asked what the compliance timeline would be for life and safety code violations. Mr. Prickett answered life and safety violations would have a seven day compliance timeline. Ms. Hentz stated she was comfortable with the thirty day compliance timeline for general code violations and a seven day compliance timeline for life and safety code violations. She stated she also felt the inspectors should use their own discretion regarding compliance timelines. Mr. Stenerson asked if the verbiage regarding response time, compliance timeline, and citation information were included in the correction notice. Mr. Zarate stated the verbiage regarding response time, compliance timeline, and citation information were clearly stated in the correction notice. Ms. Hentz made a motion for the Board to recommend a seven day compliance timeline for life and safety code violations and a thirty day compliance timeline for all other code violations. Ms. Davey seconded the motion made by Ms. Hentz. The Board voted unanimously to recommend a seven day compliance timeline for life and safety code violations and a thirty day compliance timeline for all other code violations. INSPECTIONS UPDATE Ms.Fredrick reported through August 31,2017,257 exterior rental inspections had been completed and 27 interior rental inspections had been completed. She also reported through August 31, 2017, the City had collected $20,190 for rental inspections; $18,015 from initial inspections and $2,175 from follow up inspections. Council Member Palmeri asked how many violations were found in the rental inspections completed thus far. Ms. Fredrick indicated she had not yet calculated the number of violations found during the rental inspections. f Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Seven Mr. Stenerson asked what percent of the rental inspections had been completed for year one on the inspection map. Mr. Davis stated about ten percent of the rental inspections had been completed for year one on the inspection map. He stated that was due to existing staff completing the inspections in addition to their regular day to day job schedule. Mr. Mugerauer asked since the rental inspection ordinance lawsuit had been dismissed, would the City begin to hire additional inspectors to complete rental inspections. Mr. Davis stated the 2018 rental registry budget allowed for the hiring of three additional inspectors. Ms. Hentz asked if the additional inspectors would pick up where the City left off in 2017 or if the inspectors would begin 2018 inspecting properties scheduled for year two on the inspection map. Mr. Zarate explained the City would change the inspection map to reflect "areas" for inspections instead of "years" for inspections. He indicated the additional inspectors would pick up where the previous inspectors left off. Council Member Palmeri asked if a tenant called for a complaint based inspection, would their apartment still be inspected during its respective time slot indicated on the inspection map. Mr.Zarate stated if a tenant called for a complaint based inspection,the apartment would still be inspected during its respective time slot indicated on the inspection map. He explained that a complaint based inspection was separate from the rental registry inspection program voluntary inspection. Ms. Davey asked who the Board could contact if they had items to place on the meeting agenda. Mr.Davis requested the Board contact both he and Ms.Fredrick with items to place on the meeting agenda. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:16 p.m. (Davey/Stenerson) Respectfully submitted, Allen Davis Community Development Director