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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.13.19 Minutes 4h Car Oshkosh RENTAL HOUSING ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES FEBRUARY 13, 2019 PRESENT: Matt Mugerauer, Timothy Ernst, Linda Jevaltas, Lori Palmeri, Matthew Stenerson, Margy Davey, 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 CALL TO ORDER Ms. Hentz called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. CITIZEN STATEMENTS There were no citizen statements APPROVAL OF MINUTES—December 12,2018 and January 9,2019 The revised minutes of the December 12, 2018 meeting were approved as presented. (voice vote) The minutes of the January 9, 2019 meeting were approved as presented. (Davey/Palmeri — Mugerauer abstained from voice vote due to excused absence) COUNCIL UPDATE—Ordinance,District Map,and Fees Mr. Davis reported the Council approved the Amended Residential Rental Contact Registration and Inspection Program Ordinance and also approved the update to the Rental Housing Inspection Program District Map and Fee Schedule Resolution. CO DETECTOR/SMOKE DETECTOR EDUCATION—Donn Lord Mr.Lord gave a brief presentation about ten year sealed battery combination smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. He stated he felt sealed battery combination smoke and carbon monoxide detectors should be required on residential properties in the City of Oshkosh. TENANT LETTERS—Educational Insert Update Ms. Fredrick provided the Board with the final version of the educational insert which would be included with the tenant letter mailings along with the Rental Housing Inspection Program Brochure. /0�� J Car Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Two TENANT LETTERS—Rental Housing Inspection Program Brochure Ms. Fredrick provided the Board with a draft copy of the Rental Housing Inspection Program Brochure for their approval. The Board accepted the brochure which would be included with the tenant letter mailings along with the educational insert. VACANT BUILDING REGISTRY AND INSPECTIONS PROGRAM - How the Program Relates to Residential Rental Property Mr. Davis reported that staff had met with representatives from the police and fire departments to discuss creating a vacant building registry ordinance. He stated the police and fire departments were very interested in creating a vacant building registry ordinance that would include commercial, industrial, institutional and residential buildings; the group would meet in the near future to share ideas and recommendations. SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATE Ms. Hentz reported City staff would be taking over the administration of Facebook pages for all boards and commissions. She suggested the City consider disabling comments to the RHAB Facebook page as she felt it would stop the spreading of misinformation or calling out specific individuals by name; and disabling the comments would also no longer permit individuals to hijack the RHAB Facebook page for their own self-interests and self-promotion. She stated for the record that she believed a positive relationship with landlords had been strived for and the Rental Housing Advisory Board (RHAB) had honored requests from landlords seeking information from the City and also had invited landlords to make presentations to the Board. She further stated although she felt the RHAB had demonstrated a positive relationship with landlords, she did not believe having a positive relationship with landlords meant the RHAB or City overlook items that were in violation of City code or not discuss negative things certain landlords were doing that came to the attention of City staff. She stated in her opinion the RHAB played an important role and should continue to work with landlords,but also hold them accountable if they violate municipal code. SHORT TERM RENTALS Mr. Davis reported City Council were working through some issues regarding room tax and municipal code for short term rental properties and needed to finalize the licensing requirements. He stated City staff were working with EAA, the Convention and Visitor's Bureau, and other interested parties to revise a draft municipal code for short term rentals which he expected to be presented in the near future. /0�� J Car Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Three LANDLORD PROGRAM FOR VOLUNTARY INSPECTIONS Mr. Davis stated City staff was open to the idea of landlord participation in the rental housing inspection program and were waiting for right opportunity to have a discussion with the Winnebago Apartment Association. Mr. Mugerauer asked how the City would handle a situation where a code violation was corrected by a landlord,but new tenants moved in prior to the violation correction being inspected for compliance. Mr. Davis stated he would consult with the city attorney and report back to the Board regarding the question presented by Mr. Mugerauer. Ms. Hentz requested the item be placed on the agenda for follow up at the March 131h meeting. LONG RANGE FINANCE COMMITTEE SUGGESTION TO CREATE DEVELOPMENT AREA UNITS AND ADD $4 TO UTILITY BILL— Stenerson Mr. Stenerson was concerned that adding$4 to the utility bill to pay for street and sidewalk improvement projects would cause a burden to renters. He stated he felt the $4 should be passed on to the property owner. Ms. Davey stated most likely the tenant would pay whether the $4 was included in their utility bill or charged to the property owner, who in turn, would increase the rent to cover to the $4 increase to the utility bill. Ms. Jevaltas commented that $4, although seemingly a small amount, could be detrimental to some tenants. Ms. Davey stated she believed the creation of development area units (DAUs) and adding$4 to the utility bill was an equitable way to pay for street and sidewalk improvements, as most city residents used the streets and sidewalks in some fashion. Ms. Hentz requested the item be placed on the agenda for follow up at the March 131h meeting. ACTION PLAN UPDATE Ms. Davey presented the Board with a strategic plan and an action plan that she and Mr. Stenerson generated by revising the previous strategic plan created by Mr. Mugerauer. She stated the strategic plan was meant to be a "living" document that could be changed regularly and the idea behind the action plan was to break down the priorities of the strategic plan and assign a responsible party to each task along with a targeted completion date. /0�� J Car Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Four Ms. Palmeri questioned the verbiage on the strategic plan regarding creating a tenant association as it was her understanding the Board already agreed to actually help create a tenant association, not evaluate the viability of creating a tenant association as the revised strategic plan indicated. Ms. Davey stated the reasoning behind the verbiage was she felt the Board needed to discuss whether it was viable to create a tenant association due to the migratory tenant population in the City of Oshkosh. Mr. Stenerson questioned if there was need for a tenant association in addition to the neighborhood associations located in the City. Mr. Ernst stated in his opinion tenant associations were not viable due to migratory tenants;they were not viable because when attempted, tenant associations were met with "nuclear" opposition from landlords. Mr. Mugerauer stated he was concerned about sustaining the resilience of a tenant association after the first two or three years of existence. Ms. Jevaltas stated she felt there was a stable population of renters in the City of Oshkosh who were not students at the university. The Board came to the conclusion as part of the strategic plan, the Board would sponsor a workshop to support the creation of a tenant association. Ms. Palmeri stated she would search for a facilitator to aid in the creation of a tenant association. The Board discussed adding to the strategic plan a way to publicly display the results of voluntary inspections. Ms. Jevaltas stated she felt the creation of the RHAB Facebook page should be included in the strategic plan. Ms. Hentz stated going forward, she would meet with Mr. Davis a week prior to the scheduled RHAB meetings to discuss the agenda. Ms. Davey requested the agenda be numbered. Ms.Jevaltas requested that the action plan be placed on every agenda. 4h Car Oshkosh RHAB Minutes Page Five FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 1. Vacant Residential Rental Building Registry and Inspections Program 2. Long Range Finance Committee Suggestion to Create Development Area Units and Add$4 to Utility Bill (Transportation Utility Fee) 3. Action Plan Update 4. Inspection Update 5. State of the City 6. Vacant Building Registry and Inspection Program—How the Program Relates to Residential Property 7. Landlord Program for Voluntary Inspections-Violation Correction Inspections after the Prior Tenant Moves Out 8. Social Media 9. CO Detector/Smoke Detector Update — Clarification whether the City can mandate stricter requirements than state statute 10. Tenant Association Speaker-Palmeri Ms. Hentz noted the State of the City was nearing and asked for volunteers to man the booth. Mr. Ernst stated he would be available to man the RHAB booth at the State of the City. Ms. Palmeri stated she would divide her time at the State of the City between other boards and commissions which had booths. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m. (Davey/Ernst) Respectfully submitted, Allen Davis Community Development Director