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Regular City Council Meeting <br />Monday, March 20, 2017 <br />Page 7 <br />to consider a change at this point, Mayor Roe advised that he'd need a clear indi- <br />cation of the circumstances creating a need for change. <br />Councilmember Willmus questioned how to distinguish smaller rentals from <br />those of five or more units, including those leasing a room in their home. Of the <br />830 units known at this time, Councilmember Willmus opined that there were <br />substantially more than that in the community; and while it would be nice to have <br />them register and know their location, if the attempt was made for staff to go with <br />a licensing program, it would be futile. Councilmember Willmus opined that <br />people still wouldn't register and it would simply burn considerable staff time to <br />track rentals down, creating additional concerns on that side as well. Coun- <br />cilmember Willmus stated that he hadn't seen any shift since the rental registra- <br />tion program had been instituted that would necessitate going beyond the current <br />registration process. <br />As an example, Councilmember McGehee stated her experience with a rental in <br />the City of St. Paul and her personal participation in the home's inspection, noting <br />many things a typical homeowner may not be aware of (e.g. carbon monoxide and <br />smoke detectors and their locations, lower level egress windows, or flex pipe used <br />to vent dryers) that may create a fire hazard. Councilmember McGehee noted the <br />importance for public safety of single-family homes as well as when they were <br />used as rentals. Councilmember McGehee suggested that a simple research of <br />rentals for single-family homes in Roseville could be whether or not they quali- <br />fied for Homestead Credits. <br />Councilmember Willmus clarified that Homestead Credits did not have a 100% <br />correlation with rentals, when it could also indicate a Trust, Joint Tenancy or oth- <br />er situation that may not qualify for the credit. Therefore, Councilmember <br />Willmus noted that this served his example of the amount of staff time involved to <br />track those properties. <br />As one of the Roseville properties that didn't receive Homestead Credits, Coun- <br />cilmember McGehee advised that when asked about it by the city, she had signed <br />an affidavit clarifying that it was not a rental property. <br />Mayor Roe noted that this was already part of the process used in Roseville. <br />Mayor Roe stated thatclearly there were some issues that still needed to be re- <br />solved; and opined that the challenge was "where to stop" by providing affordable <br />single-family homes used as rentals and seeking a safety inspection for them. <br />Ms. Collins clarified that staff was not advocating inspections of single-family <br />homes not used as rental property. <br />Mayor Roe stated that the city needed to address some philosophical questions, <br />including whether to inspect rentals only or owner -occupied properties. Mayor <br />