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Home My WebLink About12-17-07 Item 1B Admin Fines and Rental Licensing ~ /]'\~ HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: December 10,2007 Agenda Item IB TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Noah A. Simon, Assistant City Administrator; Dave Scherbel, Building Official; Meagan Beekman, Planner I SUBJECT: Rental Licensing ReQuested Action Please review the information regarding implementation of a rental licensing program and provide staff with any additional questions. Backl!:round Over the past several months, concerns have been raised from residents regarding the number and condition of homes in the City kept as rental properties. The City Council has preliminarily directed staff to research rental licensing programs in order to find a solution to the issue of monitoring rental properties for code compliance. Dave Scherbel and Meagan Beekman have been assigned to assist Noah Simon in researching and reporting back to Council on the potential implementation, as well as costs and benefits to the City, of a rental licensing program. The City Attorney will be a legal resource for the program. Rental Licensinl!: Some communities require that rental properties apply for and receive a license in order to allow renters to occupy the premises. Typically an inspection of the property gives the city an opportunity to ensure that the property complies with all city codes. Licenses need to be renewed once per year, as with other business licenses, and inspections are done on a somewhat regular basis to ensure ongoing compliance with zoning and building codes. A rental licensing program may be an effective way of dealing with some of the concerns raised regarding rental properties in Arden Hills. On the other hand, there are also costs to the program, and the fees collected from licenses may not be enough to cover the expenses of administering it. According to property data from July 2007, of the 2,874 occupied homes in Arden Hills, there were 285 homes classified as non-homestead for tax purposes. Homestead classifications are one way to determine if a property may be a rental. There are a handful of communities in the Twin Cities that participate in a rental licensing program. To date, staff has begun researching different rental licensing programs from a few of these. The City of Shoreview is the only community in this area that has such a program. The work plan for this project includes examining various options and weighing the costs of each compared with the potential benefits and costs to the City. Implementing a program such as this raises several questions that will need to be addressed through the research process and prior to any decisions being made. Questions such as: I. What are the goals of a rental licensing program? 2. How will the City monitor which properties are rentals and which are not? 3. Who will conduct the inspections? 4. What would be the penalties for non-compliance? 5. Would it be possible for the fees to cover the full cost ofthe program? 6. Who would administer the program? 7. What is the legal process for setting up a rental licensing program? In order to better guide the research process and to examine the potential options, staff requests that the Council provide any additional questions and concerns regarding this issue not already listed above. Work Plan Staff has also started the initial research for an administrative fine program. While administrative fines and rental licensing are important programs, staff resources are somewhat limited, particularly with the Comprehensive Plan update, the Old City Hall RFP, and the County Road E plan coming in 2008. While there may be some overlapping research between the rental licensing and administrative fine programs, Staff is proposing to focus on rental licensing for the first quarter of 2008 and then follow up with administrative fines. If an opportunity exists to combine the research and/or implementation of both programs, staff will make every effort to do so. If the City Council prefers to start with administrative fines, that program can be done first. DATE: December 10,2007 Agenda Item IB ~ ~HILLS MEMORANDUM TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Noah A. Simon, Assistant City Administrator; Dave Scherbel, Building Official; Meagan Beekman, Planner I SUBJECT: Administrative Fines Requested Action Please review the information regarding implementation of administrative fines and provide staff with any additional questions. Back2found Several concerns have been raised about the City's code enforcement process and the potential use of administrative fines as a tool to make it easier to enforce the City's codes. Currently, citations are issued through Ramsey County, which can be a time-consuming, expensive, and unproductive process. This court process can take several months, in which time the property remains in violation. In an attempt add more tools to the City's code enforcement efforts and to deal with certain code violations in a more timely and efficient manner, Staff has been directed to research the possibility of implementing an administrative fines program. Dave Scherbel and Meagan Beekman have been assigned to assist Noah Simon in researching and reporting back to Council on the potential implementation, as well as authorization requirements for administrative fines. The City Attorney will be a legal resource for the program. \\Metro~inet.us\ardenhillslAdminlAssistant City AdministratorINoahl121007 Administrative Fines Memo.doc I Administrative Fines This process will include discussion with the City Attorney on what is within the purview of the City authority regarding these fines. In addition, Staff will research to see if any other surrounding communities currently issue administrative fines for property code violations, how those programs work, where commonalities between codes exist, and if it is possible to partner with other communities for code development and/or enforcement. Implementing a program such as this raises several questions that will need to be addressed through the research process and prior to any decisions being made. Questions such as: 1. What would be the penalties for non-compliance? 2. What is the legal process for setting up and authorizing administrative fines? 3. What are the costs of the program? a. Start up cost, total staff time required for implementation b. Once the program is up and running, is it or can it be self funding? 4. If fines are unpaid, can they be assessed to the property? a. Is it in the form of a lien? b. How are the finds paid to the County transferred back to the City of Arden Hills 5. How will fines be collected and how will the Finance Department code them? 6. What will be considered a violation and what will the fine be for each violation? a. How many offenses can occur before it goes to the County? b. Rather than the County, would the City use a collections agency? 7. Would the City be involved with correcting violations and if so how would funds for this be recouped? 8. Who would the City hire to correct violations that have gone uncorrected after a fine is issued? 9. Who amongst City staff would be able to write a citation? 10. What is the appeal process if someone contests a fine? In order to better guide the research process and to examine the potential options, staff requests that the Council provide any additional questions and concerns regarding this issue. Work Plan As noted in the rental licensing memorandum, staff is recommending that the City first focus on the rental licensing program and then follow up with the administrative fine program. While administrative fines and rental licensing are important programs, staff resources are somewhat limited, particularly with the Comprehensive Plan update, the Old City Hall RFP, and the County Road E plan coming in 2008. If an opportunity exists to combine the research and/or implementation of both programs, staffwill make every effort to do so. If the City Council prefers to start with administrative fines, that program can be done first. \ IMetro-inet.us\ardenhillslAdminlAssistant City AdministratorWoah\121 007 Administrative Fines Memo.doc 2