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HRA Meeting Minutes October 18, 2011 Page 4 1 status of some of those problem properties, and requested an update form them on those 2 properties. 3 4 Mr. Trudgeon noted that some progress had been made with previously-identified problem 5 properties; however, they had a tendency to revert their past practice once they felt the 6 spot 7 problem properties before they reached further deterioration or more violations of City Code. 8 9 With HRA direction, Mr. Trudgeon suggested that staff do further research as requested by the 10 HRA and further address those questions raised to better understand what the City could or 11 could not do, and since the issue was not time-sensitive, return at a future information for more 12 discussion. Mr. Trudgeon suggested in the meantime that the City Attorney and City Council 13 also be approached for their comments and to determine whether there was support for this 14 amendment or not. Mr. Trudgeon anticipated that this would return in early 2012 and would 15 be incorporated into strategic planning goals that will be coming up for review and update at 16 that time as well. 17 18 Chair Maschka opined that multi-family housing was one area that needed further City 19 attention, and this concept provided a good place to start. Short of demolishing a problem 20 property and rebuilding it, Chair Maschka opined that this was a good first approach. 21 22 Member Pust noted that State law provided the City with this power, and amending City 23 ordinance was not really necessary. Member Pust suggested that the problem was that 24 problem landlords were not reading State Statute and/or City Ordinances. However, Member 25 Pust suggested that those landlords should now consider themselves place on notice. 26 27 Member Pust noted that this lead into the next issue, whether the City should pursue interior 28 inspections or rental inspections; opining that this remained a substantive and controversial 29 issue. 30 31 HRA consensus was for staff to proceed as outlined. 32 33 b.Rental Registration of Multi-Family Properties 34 Executive Director Trudgeon summarized the status of multi-family rental properties and 35 potential licensing, as detailed in the staff report dated October 18, 2011. Mr. Trudgeon 36 clarified that the City performed registrations of rental units for four (4) units and under, but 37 not inspections of those units. Mr. Trudgeon noted that the conclusion of previous HRA 38 discussion in 2010 was to continue registering those smaller rental units, but not to proceed 39 with inspections. However, Mr. Trudgeon noted that larger, multi-family rental complexes 40 remained in the HRA 2011 work plan, and staff was therefore bringing the discussion forward 41 again for HRA consensus on how to proceed. 42 43 Mr. Trudgeon advised that both he and Housing Manager Kelsey preferred action rather than 44 discussion; however, he noted that if the HRA was to proceed with rental licensing it would 45 require a commitment of staff and funding resources to do so, whether at the City level or the 46 HRA level. Mr. Trudgeon recognized that the City continued to operate during a time of 47 limited resources, and while resources could possibly re-reallocated, staff wanted to have more 48 discussion with the HRA. 49 50 Mr. Trudgeon suggested that the HRA may want to initially approach this issue from an 51 educational standpoint, through having landlords of larger units required to register their units 52 as well, creating a basic or standard criteria in being able to own and operate those rental 53 properties. A possible process could be for those landlords making application to the City, and 54 the City in turn requiring that landlords participate in city-sponsored and hosted educational 55 opportunities, or continuing education on an annual basis. Mr. Trudgeon recognized that this