By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council plans to resurrect the proposal to register rental housing properties in the community.
The process was well underway, with five public hearings conducted on rental housing conditions in the city, when COVID-19 curtailed efforts to complete an ordinance.
Council President Mark Hollenbaugh told council members Monday evening that he would like to jumpstart the process.
“This is one of the things we had on our list of things to do,” he said. But COVID made it impossible to continue public meetings on the topic.
“I’ve wrestled with this since summer,” Hollenbaugh said. “One thing COVID seems to make clear is there’s a lot of anxiety and uncertainty in people’s lives.”
Hollenbaugh said he doesn’t want to take any action that would cause unintended consequences for renters. Many people are behind in rent payments due to the pandemic, and he said he did not want to add to their burdens.
So Hollenbaugh announced that council will hold a special work session on Nov. 7, starting at 10 a.m. The purpose of the meeting would not be to wrap up the rental registration regulations, but to set a timeline.
Council member Bill Herald agreed that the work session should be focused on the process – not the regulations themselves. Since COVID, the council has been constrained in how it collects public input, he said.
Another phase of public input is needed on the specifics of any legislation, Herald said. In the meantime, the city can proceed with other necessary steps, such as creating a list of all rental properties, he said.
During the first round of public hearings earlier this year, council heard from renters who told of landlords of not providing safe living conditions, and from landlords who defended their properties and resisted any type of inspections.
In April, City Council’s Community Improvement Committee tried to come up with steps that could help remedy rental housing problems – and pass approval by a majority of City Council members.
The CIC members agreed the city should adopt some type of rental registration program – but disagreed if the city should go further by inspecting rental housing.
Inspections could require the city to hire multiple staff, and create fees for landlords, resulting in those costs being passed onto tenants.
Some voiced that inspections of rental units are the only way to ensure that housing is safe. In some other communities, the registrations and inspections cost about $100 a year per unit.
But the CIC members lacked confidence that mandatory inspections would be supported by City Council.
So in April the CIC members agreed to recommend that at least random inspections of rental housing be performed, and that a checklist be created for landlords to complete on each rental. The checklist must then be displayed at each rental home. And each landlord must be licensed.
Also at Monday’s City Council meeting:
- Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter reported that 514 households took advantage of the October brush pickup. Leaf pickups are scheduled to begin on Nov. 9.
- Tretter said paving on South Maple Street has been delayed by the weather, but should begin later this week if the weather cooperates.
- Herald announced that the next transportation and safety committee meeting will be held on Nov. 2, at 6 p.m.
- Council member Greg Robinette said a hearing will be held on the city’s 2021 budget on Dec. 3, at 5 p.m.
