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Oshkosh
RENTAL HOUSING ADVISORY BOARD MINTUES
DECEMBER 12, 2018
PRESENT: Matt Stenerson, Matt Mugerauer, Timothy Ernst, Linda Jevaltas, Lori Palmeri,
Margy Davey
EXCUSED: Cheryl Hentz
STAFF: Allen Davis, Community Development Director,John Zarate, Chief Building
Official, Andrew Prickett, Building Systems Inspector, Casey Koelbl, Housing
Inspector, Kathy Fredrick, Weights and Measures/Code Enforcement Clerk
OTHER: Jeff Nau, Associate Planner/GIS Specialist, Planning Services Division, Emily
Springstroh, Communications Coordinator, Darryn Burich, Planning Services
Manager
CALL TO ORDER
Ms. Davey called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
CITIZEN STATEMENTS
There were no citizen statements.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES-November 14,2018
The minutes of the November 14, 2018 meeting were approved as presented. (Mugerauer/Ernst)
SIGN ORDINANCE UPDATE AND SHORT TERM RENTAL ORDINANCE UPDATE
Darryn Burich, Planning Services Manager, spoke to the Board about the City's sign ordinance and stated
that staff was in the process of reviewing standardizing building management signs for rental units. He
also stated the State changed legislation regarding short term rentals; municipalities no longer could
regulate short term rentals that were rented between six and twenty nine consecutive days or no more
than one hundred eighty days in a calendar year. He stated additionally, anyone who operated a short
term rental for more than ten nights each year was required to obtain a tourist/rooming house license from
the State of Wisconsin. He stated each municipality could also enact an ordinance requiring such a license.
SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATE
Ms. Springstroh reported on behalf of Ms. Hentz that the Facebook page was performing well and she
urged the Board to keep sending items for her to post.
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RESIDENTIAL RENTAL CONTRACT REGISTRATION AND INSPECTION PROGRAM
ORDINANCE AND FEES UPDATE
Mr. Davis provided the Board with the changes to the Residential Rental Contact Registration and
Inspection Program Ordinance and the Residential Rental Inspection Fee Schedule to comply with new
State legislation.
The Board discussed changing the term "neighborhood stabilization and enhancement districts' which
was the term slated for the zones identified for the residential rental inspection program.
Motion by Mugerauer to retain the current term "neighborhood stabilization and enhancement districts"
when referring to the zones identified for the residential rental inspection program/seconded by
Stenerson
Motion carried by voice vote
Mr. Mugerauer asked why there were different inspection fees for vacant units.
Mr.Pricket stated statutory language dictated specifically what fees municipalities could charge for rental
inspections and recently passed legislation which defined rental property inspection fees as two
categories: occupied and vacant.
MAPPING—Districts
Mr. Nau provided the Board with new maps detailing unregistered non-owner occupied properties,
unregistered owner occupied properties with more than one unit, non-owner occupied properties whose
owners returned forms stating the properties were not rentals, and owner occupied properties with more
than one unit whose owners returned forms stating the properties were not rentals.
Ms. Palmeri suggested city staff come up with a way for renters to research whether or not their rental
units had been registered and asked if the SeeClickFix App could be used to find out whether a property
was registered.
Mr. Zarate stated the SeeClickFix App could be used to find out whether a property was registered,
however there were better options for citizens to find out if a rental property was registered.
Ms. Palmeri stated she thought it would be helpful if a tenant could register a rental property not found
on the rental registry using SeeClickFix.
Ms.Davey asked how many contacts the Inspection Services Division received from SeeClickFix compared
to emails.
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Mr.Zarate stated contacts from the SeeClickFix App were considerably lower than other contact methods.
Ms. Fredrick stated she had not received any emails or phone calls regarding registering rental properties
unless it was a response concerning a letter received from the City.
Ms. Jevaltas suggested putting a post on the RHAB Facebook page about why it was important to the
tenant for the property to be registered.
Ms. Fredrick clarified that the property owner was responsible for registering a rental property, not the
tenant and suggested the Facebook post be geared toward informing the landlord that all residential rental
properties were required through City ordinance to be registered.
Ms. Davey recommended any suggestions regarding posts to the RHAB Facebook page be typed up and
directed to Cheryl Hentz.
Mr. Davis asked the Board if they were comfortable with the districts they created at the October 10, 2018
RHAB Meeting as he was going to submit the districts to the Council for approval.
Ms.Jevaltas asked what the time frame was for a district to remain a district.
Mr.Davis stated the residential inspection program was created for a five year cycle and after the five year
period districts would be reevaluated and modified if need be.
Mr. Mugerauer suggested District C be expanded to include West Gruenwald Avenue, Wisconsin Street,
Stillwell Avenue, and Beech Street.
Motion by Mugerauer to change the perimeters of District C to include West Grncnwald Avenue, Wisconsin
Street, Stillwell Avenue, and Beech Street/seconded by Palmeri
Motion carried by voice vote
Mr. Nau gave an update regarding quality of life analysis and stated he would be meeting with the
Oshkosh Police Chief to determine what information could be shared in order to get the most current data
for analysis.
INSPECTIONS—Tenant and Landlord Contacts
The Board discussed making changes to the wording of the tenant notice of inspection letter and decided
to layover the discussion until the January 9th RHAB Meeting. It was decided that whoever wanted to,
could draft a tenant notice of inspection letter and bring it to the next RHAB meeting for further discussion.
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UPDATED TENANT LETTERS—Educational Insert
The Board discussed changes to be made to the educational brochure.
Motion by Stenerson to approve the Educational Insert Brochure with the following change: Delete the word
"Living"on the front of brochure and replace with "Renting"/seconded by Jevaltas
Motion by Davey to amend the previous motion to also include moving the paragraph "Rental Housing
Advisory Board"to the back page of the brochure l seconded by Stenerson
Motion carried by voice vote
BUDGET UPDATE
Mr. Davis reported the Council approved to allocate $25,000 from the general fund to create the rental
housing inspection program for 2019.
ACTION PLAN
The Board discussed the 2019 Strategic Plan.
Mr. Ernst suggested under the category "Rental Housing Policy or Code Changes — Landlord/Tenant
Court", the word "court"be changed to "mediation".
Motion by Stenerson to approve the Rental Housing Advisory Board-2019 Strategic Plan with the following
change: under the category "Rental Housing Policy or Code Changes—Landlord/Tenant Court", delete the
word "court"and insert the word "mediation"/seconded by Palmeri
Motion carried by voice vote
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
Vacant Building Registry
Social Media
Inspections—Tenant and Landlord Contacts
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:40 p.m. (Mugerauer/Stenerson)
Respectfully submitted,
Allen Davis, Community Development Director