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HRA Meeting Minutes – Tuesday, January 17, 2012 Page 7 1 still may not let staff into the unit, effectively allowing staff no recourse to follow-up or 2 enforce such an issue. 3 4 Member Pust questioned if the recently adopted Problem Property ordinance had significantly 5 helped; with Mr. Trudgeon advising that it had not, to-date, as the City was still in the process 6 of accumulating and documenting information, but anticipated that it would be used in 2012. 7 8 At the request of Member Masche, Mr. Munson advised that the abatement process worked 9 well and resolved a great number of non-compliance issues. Member Masche suggested 10 formulating a similar process for inside inspections as that used for exterior inspections, since 11 that program had proven so successful. 12 13 Mr. Trudgeon asked Ms. Peilen to provide additional information for the HRA Board on the 14 Minnesota Multi Housing Association and their representation of landlords. 15 16 Ms. Peilen provided a detailed verbal description of this non-profit trade association of rental 17 property owners, covering all types of properties, from large complexes to those of 1-4 units; 18 with a shared common goal to provide quality rental housing. Ms. Peilen advised that the 19 majority of rental property owners didn’t like bad operators any more than cities did, since 20 those minority properties resulted in ordinances that hit the good guys as well as the bad. Ms. 21 Peilen advised that is was the goal of the Association to promote the highest standards in 22 management through various opportunities, one of which included in excess of classes per year 23 for educating professional management of rental properties. Ms. Peilen provided written and 24 informational materials for each Board member form the Association, including materials 25 entitled, “Fundamentals of Rental Properties in Minnesota,” along with other helpful resources 26 for their review. Ms. Peilen reviewed some of the offerings available to rental property owners 27 through the Association, including best practices management procedures, lease templates, and 28 how to provide sound rental property management, with classes offered on those same 29 offerings. Ms. Peilen advised that the Association offered products to assist rental property 30 owners in being the best that they could be, including solid and proven written leases and 31 application forms. Ms. Peilen advised that there were a number of managers/owners in 32 Roseville who were participants in the Association, and offered the Association’s resources to 33 the HRA and municipalities, as well as providing comparable practices of other communities. 34 35 Ms. Peilen opined that there were three (3) types of owners: 36 Responsible rental property owners, whom she was proud to say were among their 37 Association’s members, and including a number of property owners in Roseville; 38 Owners who wanted to do a good job, but may be unaware of everything that ownership in 39 rental property entailed, especially those obtaining smaller properties when recent prices 40 were so low anticipating they’d turn around and rent the property as a money making 41 venture, but not understanding how much work was involved in maintenance and 42 operations; as well as large complex owners without good on-site managers or good, 43 quality professional management; and 44 Those rental property owners who just don’t care, and those who often end up in the news. 45 46 Ms. Peilen opined that there were multiple options available to the City of Roseville; however, 47 she noted that even with inspections, there may remain problem properties. Ms. Peilen offered 48 the resources of the Association to work with the City in meeting their goals, while not 49 penalizing the vast majority of responsible rental property owners. 50 51 Ms. Peilen noted that cultural and growing diversity issues were prevalent and anticipated to 52 continue challenging rental properties. Ms. Peilen advised that one of the classes offered by 53 the Association was how to effectively communicate with other cultures, many of whom are 54 used to an environment where extended families were reverenced and important to the family 55 structure; and their lack of understanding our occupancy limits. Ms. Peilen referenced crime