City steps forward with vacant, rental properties

SPINNING WHEELS

But if our program doesn’t have any teeth and people just pay the fine to get out of it, we’re really just spinning our wheels.”

Dustin Yager, FM City Councilor

FORT MADISON – Changes to the city’s vacant rental property code were approved Tuesday night, and compromise and accountability were at the foundation of the changes.
The city has been looking for ways to put landlords in compliance with the intention of the codes, which city officials say is for safety of people and property.
Doug Krogmeier said the city has taken into consideration arguments around properties that are occupied by family members who don’t technically rent, just live on the property.
Krogmeier said the city has agreed to allow parents and children of property owners to sidestep the program.
“We’ve gone through this I don’t know how many times now. We’ve discussed among council, we’ve had a task force and I just wanted to run through some of the bigger changes,” he said. “We’ve also cleaned up a lot of language to make it easier to understand.”
The city is also willing to sign off on properties where ownership isn’t local as long as the owner has a good track record of cooperation with the city. City Fire Chief Chad Hannum would have the authority to sign off on those exceptions.
Krogmeier said the task force also recommended adjusting fines to give code defiance stiffer penalties.
“We did adjust the fine. We had a group that paid the $300 fine and didn’t participate in the program. The program is there for a reason. So now we’re going to a monthly fine, and then taking them to court to let a judge decide whether it’s a rental or not. That should be interesting in the future. We’ll find out,” he said.
He said the appeal process is also cleaned up in the code.
The fee for not following rental property code is $100 a month. Councilor Nicole Merschman said she had concerns on the amount of the fine, which could be a jump from $300 per year to $1,200 for people not in compliance.
City Manager Laura Liegois said its only for people who aren’t registered, and those who get registered won’t have to pay the fine going forward.
“The goal is to gain compliance,” Krogmeier said.
Councilor Dustin Yager said the program is a positive step forward and the family exception was a nice compromise. He also commended city staff’s effort to clean up the language and the partnership with the University of Northern Iowa in bringing language to the council.
“It’s much easier to follow the code as far as expectations,” he said. “But if our program doesn’t have any teeth and people just pay the fine to get out of it, we’re really just spinning our wheels.”
Councilor Matt Emmett said he doesn’t believe in the rental or the vacant property program, but said tremendous work was done on compromising and the community believes it’s something they need.
“I did ask for consideration and discussion if the tenant didn’t want the inspection - if they could refuse it. I think it’s intrusion of privacy and I will likely write up a proposed amendment. But this is a tremendous improvement from what it was.”
Barb Asay, a local landlord, said she understood the controversial nature of the code, but said she wished there was a way to put more responsibility on the tenant for things that are out of the landlord’s daily control.
“Our choice is eviction or pay the fines ourselves. A lot of time people aren’t responsible, and they should be. That’s their home,” she said.
“It would help the landlord business if we could hold the responsible parties accountable and have some teeth to that.”
She said landlords are easier targets than tenants.
“If they don’t pay their water bill (the city has) a recourse. I don’t know what that would like here, but it’s worth talking about. You’re putting the burden on the landlord and not necessarily the responsible party,” Asay said.
Councilor Rick Thele, who also is a landlord, said if he evicted everyone who violated city code he wouldn’t have a business.
“Why are we being held accountable for someone else’s actions,” he said.
With regard to the vacant property code, the city extended the window for registering to 90 days of determined vacancy to provide additional time for preoccupancy. The city also updated graffiti abatement provisions and included a provision for property owners who pass two consecutive inspections could be reduced to inspections once every three years.
Non-compliance penalties are $100 a month with a municipal infraction following one year.
Thele and Merschman both voted against the final reading of the rental code change, but it passed 5-2 on first reading.
The vacant property code conversation focused on fourth amendment violations of illegal search. City Attorney Pat O'Connell said city staff will never go in to a property that they were refused entry to without a judicial warrant, so there are no 4th amendment repercussions.
Emmett said he's not sure the city's done sufficient work to define what a vacant home is.
The vacant property ordinance change passed with a 4-3 vote.
Both the rental code and Vacant Building code require two more approvals before becoming official.
In other action, the council:
• approved setting a public hearing for July 21 for the vacation of property on Avenue C east of 18th Street.
• approved waiving subdivision requirements for Todd Schneider at property located in the 1900 block of 303rd Avenue.
• approved a design contract with Calhoun Burns & Associates for $144,900 for the bridge replacement on Richards Drive.
• approved a professional services agreement with Veenstra & Kimm Associates of Coralville for additions to designs on the 10th Street sewer separation for $736,100.  The amount was included in the city's State Revolving Loan fund.