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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-RHAC-2012-07-18 Rental Housing Advisory Commission Wednesday July 18, 2012 5:15pm 2nd Floor Conference Room, City Hall Meeting Minutes Present: Larry Beck, Richard Cowan, Rob Flaherty, Monica Moll,Mitch Paine,Ayana Richardson, Nikki Sayward, Patty Sipman, Graham Kerslick(liaison to Common Council) Absent: Katrinka Jackson Others attending: Julie Paige, Laura Temel 1. Mitch chaired the meeting,and in the absence of Nikki (who couldn't attend until —6pm) requested that Graham keep minutes for this meeting.The minutes from RHAC meetings of May 16 and June 20 were reviewed and approved. 2. Agenda for today's meeting was reviewed with no changes suggested. 3. Discussion of"ex-officio" members. Mitch introduced the topic after some discussions he'd had with the Mayor about inviting other members of the community to attend meetings on a regular basis. Mitch introduced Julie Paige from the Cornell Off-Campus Housing Office. Other suggested invitees included the Hellenic Council,the Cornell Collegetown Student Council and student groups from Ithaca College. Rich commented that there needed to be balance and that local citizens and neighborhood groups should also be invited. Monica raised the issue of how additional members would be accommodated into meetings. Can they comment at any time, or during the public comment period?Others raised similar questions. Public are always welcome to the RHAC meetings and can make comments. What would be the role of these additional members?Would they be invited to all meetings?Or just when topics of interest were on the agenda?There was general agreement that the RHAC wished to keep the community more informed about rental housing.The practical issues of expanding participation need to be addressed in more detail. Mitch volunteered to summarize suggestions and outline the role of"ex-officio" members for the next meeting. 4. RHAC Website review of RHAC membership and roles Patty distributed a draft website outline.The site is to serve as a resource for the rental housing sector with information about leases,tenant and landlord responsibilities and FAQ's (from tenants and landlords). Links would be included to other groups such as Ithaca Housing Authority,the Landlord's Association etc. Patty expressed concern that only properties with City certificates of compliance should be linked to the site. Cornell's listing office requires this, but other groups and listings do not. Discussion on this topic raised concerns about relevant properties outside the City, eg in the Town of Ithaca or in Lansing.A compromise was suggested that the site include a link to City resources,such as the Housing Department,so that prospective renters could confirm that a selected property had a certificate.The status and running costs of the site were discussed. Graham noted that this site would not be a part of the official city website. Current limitations and regulations would likely restrict the development of the site and make it less flexible. Monica suggested a commercial group that offered free website hosting that might be a suitable home for the site. 5. Proposed changes to Exterior Property Maintenance Mitch started the discussion by requesting that members briefly review a draft letter from the RHAC to the City's Planning&Economic Development Committee.The proposal would be to submit the letter to the P&EDC ahead of the Committee's next meeting on August 8th.There was a good discussion on this topic with Bob Sarachan (City Prosecutor) at the June 20th RHAC meeting. Patty distributed data from the City Prosecutor's Office,which showed a history of EPMO tickets from 2007-2012.The data is likely to prove useful when fully understood. Graham commented that the data was recently assembled and difficult to interpret for any practical insights at this stage. Larry outlined some of the main points of the letter,including the suggestion of a range of fines,rather than specified amounts.There was general agreement that the building department should be flexible in providing"opportunity to cure" by not aggressively issuing additional tickets without some contact with landlord, property manger or tenant. Improvements resulting from email notification when tickets are issued was recognized. Members agreed that this effort should be expanded to include more landlords and property managers. 6. Public Comment Laura Temel,a Cornell grad,described work she is doing on the development of a website to provide information and resources to Cornell students. Such information might include costs of damage repair,to emphasize practical consequences.Ayana commented that such information might help in encouraging an increased sense of responsibility from tenants. 7. The meeting was adjourned at 6:20pm. External Property Maintenance Ordinance Ticket Summary January 1,2007 through April 5,2012 Year Mtn I s:."` 1.:;a' °t 000, ANIS %: 2007 385 1 55 274 55 385 0.3 14.3 71.2 14.3 0 33 8 $ 200 70 333 2,7 ' 19.3 51.0 214 2009 471 22 37 270 141 470 4.7 7.9 57.4 30.0 X130- 13022 . 101 105 619; 391 1398.0 711 15.0 ;47.1 . - 301 2011 1824 152 205 636 830 1823 8.3 11.2 34.9 45.5 2012 293 0 13 SS': +l�t'f, 293:4 05 4.4 221 73.A. Totals .. T:530'':44359 z L.2 12.1 447 37.0 The tables above reflect EPMO yearly ticket activity,ticket status is defined by four categories: Dead:landlords who are deceased Dismissed: Tickets which have been dismissed through regular court proceedings Paid: Fine(s)paid prior to,default Unresolved: Tickets which remain pending The columns on the left side of the table reflect year to year totals for tickets in each category,the columns on the right side of the table reflect year to year percentages. The city began more aggressive enforcement of the EPMO in late 2009 or early 2010,resulting in an upward spike unresolved tickets. However,the upward trend in unresolved tickets began prior to 2009. From 2007 to 2008,the number of tickets issued declined from 385 to 333;however,the amount of unresolved tickets for that same period increased by 6.7%. There is no data available prior to January 2007. The approximate dollar amount of EPMO fines outstanding as of April,2012 is greater than$85,100,based on$50.00 per outstanding ticket. Multiple tickets may flow from one EPMO offense so the actual dollar amount of fines outstanding is greater than$85,100. It should be noted that it is within the discretion of the City Prosecutor to reduce fines,and tickets paid does not indicate tickets paid in full. Of the 1702 unresolved tickets,136 are tickets for which a dismissal was pending as of April 5,2012,and which may be dismissed by this time. Two default judgments were entered,one in 2007 and one in 2009,which do not appear in the table. There are four entries which do not appear in the table as their definition does not fall within the four categories defined above.