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Wkshp Minutes - 05/12/2008COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MAY 12, 2008 TAPE RFAnTNCT 0001 DATE. COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, CITY OF WOODBURN, COUNTY OF MARION, STATE OF OREGON, MAY 12, 2008. CONVENED. The workshop convened at 6:00 p.m. with Mayor Figley presiding. 0010 ROLL CALL. Mayor Figley Present Councilor Bjelland Present Councilor Cox Present Councilor Lonergan Present Councilor McCallum Present Councilor Nichols Present Councilor Sifuentez Present Staff Present: Interim City Administrator Russell, City Attorney Shields, Asst. City Administrator Stevens, Public Works Director Brown, Community Development Director Allen, Police Captain Tennant, Building Official Krieg, City Recorder Tennant 0012 RENTAL HOUSING DRAFT ORDINANCE. Interim Administrator Russell stated that the Housing Code had been discussed by the Council at their goal setting sessions since 2003 and was originally brought forward to address Council concerns on housing conditions in our community. This issue had been added to the Council's list of goals in 2007 and the initial presentation of a draft ordinance was discussed by the Council in a workshop on December 10, 2007. A second draft was presented to the Council on January 28, 2008 and staff was given direction to for a stakeholders group to review the draft ordinance. The stakeholders were identified from within property managers that the Police Department works with on a regular basis, housing advocates, and individuals that Community Development had worked with. This group was provided a copy of the draft ordinance and a meeting was held on February 29, 2008 to receive input from the stakeholders. Following this meeting, a staff report was prepared and presented to the Council at their April 28, 2008 meeting. Stakeholders who requested to be notified when this issue was to come before the Council have been notified of this workshop. Mayor Figley stated that she would be offering anyone in the audience an opportunity to provide comments on the proposed draft ordinance. She referred to the staff report in the agenda packet and read the questions that staff had identified during the February 29, 2008 stakeholders meeting. She stated that she shared some of the concerns expressed by the stakeholders at their meeting. Some members of the Council had initiated this discussion with concerns to be addressed as a result of some very distressing situations where renters were living in units that were poorly maintained to the point that it is unconscionable. Even though there may be very few cases like this but they still exist. Page 1-Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, May 12, 2008 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MAY 12, 2008 TAPE READING In regards to applicability, the Council wanted the draft ordinance to apply to rental property since a renter is paying a monthly rental amount to occupy the unit. She stated that the draft ordinance is not intended to be a revenue generated device, in fact, if there were many complaints, the City would be losing a lot of money trying to enforce the ordinance which will then be an additional concern to the City. Councilor Lonergan questioned if the amount that would be charged is one that had been brought forth by the stakeholders. Councilor Cox stated that earlier drafts had a registration fee and annual fee included in the ordinance but the Council had decided to take the fees out of this ordinance. 0475 Mark Nyman stated that he was not aware of any changes to the draft ordinance since the stakeholder's meeting and questioned if (1) provisions within the ordinance would be complaint driven and (2) how many complaints does the City receive annually. Mayor Figley stated that the ordinance would be complaint driven and it was noted that this would be the City's first housing ordinance so it was unknown as to how many complaints would be received. Interim Administrator Russell stated that staff does not receive complaints specifically about conditions since there is no ordinance regulating conditions. Complaints received are received about dangerous buildings and he recalled having about 3 enforcement issues in 2007. He stated that dangerous buildings are under a completely different ordinance and it is unknown as to how many complaints will be received if this ordinance is passed. Mayor Figley stated that issues of concern local citizens may complain about would include poor exterior maintenance units, large numbers of people living in a household, and various issues such as parking on lawns, monopolizing street parking, and concerns expressed by people who have gone by a rental unit and seen the interior condition. Councilor Cox stated that this issue has been talked about for about five years and within the last year has gone through several drafts. Some of the draft ordinances, which have since been abandoned, covered a punch list of the kinds of things that every rental unit had to have such as window space, maximum occupancy levels. The punch list concept met with a lot of controversy and, if an ordinance is adopted, it is not designed to bring everyone's housing up to some minimum standard. The purpose of this ordinance is to prevent the really terrible housing conditions since many of these renters are low income people who may not be aware of their rights and are afraid to complain in case they have a potential loss of housing. He feels that the City should at least have the power to regulate housing conditions and this ordinance will be complaint driven. He mentioned that several months ago there was a newspaper article about a terrible situation in Gresham and the City did not have an ordinance in place at that time. He stated that no one should have to live in unsafe or unsanitary conditions. By having an ordinance on the books and a condition like this brought to the City's attention, there will be a tool available to do something about it. This is not a general apartment inspection ordinance and it will not generate any fees at this time. The ordinance would adopt what the State Landlord Tenant Act calls habitability. City Attorney Shields stated that discussion draft #5, which is included in the agenda Page 2 -Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, May 12, 2008 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MAY 12, 2008 TAPE RFAnTNCT packet, is the most recent draft ordinance prepared by staff following Council instruction after the January 28, 2008 workshop. Mr. Nyman questioned if he could receive a copy of the draft ordinance since at the stakeholders meeting he was under the assumption that an annual fee would be imposed. Councilor Cox stated that the City has not budgeted for enforcement and it is hoped that there would be minimal complaints. He personally did not think there would be more than a couple of complaints per year. In regards to enforcing habitability under state law only and not adopting an ordinance locally, he stated that state law only pertains in dealings between the landlord and tenant. If a tenant lives in a house that has a roof that leaks or other substandard conditions, then they can only sue their landlord under state law provisions. Under this ordinance, deficiencies would be fixed if a person lives in a rental unit. Mr. Nyman stated that his experience incases where he has to evict a tenant due to non- paymentinvolves going to court to evict the renter and explain the reason for the eviction. He questioned as to what would be different under this proposed ordinance and how renters would become aware of the ordinance provisions. Councilor Cox stated that complaints will most likely be generated from tenants, social service agencies, legal aid, or from other sources. Mr. Nyman also questioned where the responsibility is on the tenants since some conditions are created by tenants such as not turning on the heat in the winter months which then causes problems to the structure. Councilor Cox stated that the landlord has to provide availability of facilities which conform to code at time of installation and are to be maintained in good working order. If the tenant chooses not to turn on the heat, then it is not the problem of the landlord. Mr. Nyman stated that his problem has been that even though he educates his renters on use of the facilities, they do not always use them thereby creating other problems such as mold which will then be an enforcement issue. Mayor Figley stated that no procedural form has been established as of yet since an ordinance has not been adopted, however, she requested staff to make additional copies of the draft ordinance from January 28, 2008 to provide to members of the audience that did not receive it at the February 28th stakeholders meeting or if they needed a copy to refer to at this workshop. She stated that if the tenant is the complainant, then the tenant has to provide proof that they did complain to the landlord in writing before they go any further in the process. 1524 Councilor Cox stated that it was his recollection at the last workshop that three things would occur: 1) delete the specific standards and go to the habitability standards, 2) tenants would have to let the landlord know of the deficiencies before a complaint is filed, and 3) a requirement would be added to make it clear that the City does not have the right to enter the premises except under the usual standards for the constitutional statutory requirements for entering property. He questioned if those changes had been incorporated into draft #5. City Attorney Shields stated that Interim Administrator Russell had prepared a staff Page 3 -Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, May 12, 2008 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MAY 12, 2008 TAPE READING report recommending changes at the April 28th meeting, except for habitability, and those changes have not been made to draft #5 as of yet but staff has not received any direction from Council as of this date to make the change. In regards to habitability, draft #5 does include all of the state statute language and the authorization made in January was to go ahead with the language in the document at that time. Therefore, not all of the state habitability language has been incorporated in this last draft document. Mr. Nyman stated that he would like to see a draft document with the changes that have been decided upon at this time so that he can address issues with the Council what is currently being considered. He stated that he has no problem with the process being complaint driven but does not want to annually pay a permit every time he rents his property. Councilor Cox stated that in Gresham, their solution is to do a permit with annual fee and to have annual inspections of rental units. At one point, the City Council had a draft to do something similar but the Council elected not to charge a fee. Interim Administrator Russell stated that draft #5 will allow for imposition of a future fee if it is on the master fee schedule but there is no fee proposed at this time. 1945 Dave Christoff questioned (1) if this will require business licensing for landlords and (2) if the public can file a complaint. Mayor Figley stated that landlords currently are required to have a business license under a different ordinance if they have more than 1 rental unit. In regards to complaints, anyone can file a complaint but if a tenant complains then they need to submit proof that they did complain to the landlord before filing a complaint with the City. 2084 Tim Doman questioned as to when a copy of the updates will be made available so he can review the proposed document and provide any comments he may have on the most updated information. Mayor Figley stated that staff should have an updated draft available within a month and copies will be made available to those individuals who have previously indicated that they wanted to be kept inform of this issue. Councilor Cox expressed his opinion that the public should have been provided an updated version of the proposed ordinance (draft #6) based on more recent Council discussion and consensus prior to this workshop. He also provided copies of the habitability standards from the State which should be included in this document. Interim Administrator Russell stated that staff was directed in January 2008 to utilize draft #5 to meet with the stakeholders to solicit input. Staff then came back to the Council on Apri128th to let the Council know that the stakeholders wanted to speak to the Council. Other discussions on changes and bringing in the state law standard into the ordinance is not something staff was aware of. If the Council is looking to incorporate the state law and to remove the sections in draft #5, it will result in a complete change that can be done but staff wants to make sure that Council direction is followed. Mayor Figley stated that there is agreement to take out anything that would be in violation of the Fourth Amendment and make a modification that would refer to the state statute on habitability so that the ordinance will not need to be modified each time the Page 4 -Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, May 12, 2008 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MAY 12, 2008 TAPE RF.AT~TNCT statute is changed. Attorney Shields expressed his opinion that the habitability language is a good idea if it is the Council's intent. Councilor Bjelland felt that discussion was held on changes but no clear consensus or vote was made to make any changes to the draft ordinance. He expressed his concern that overcrowding is still an issue which is not covered under state law and did not feel that there was any consensus by the Council on how that issue should be addressed in the draft ordinance. Councilor McCallum felt that one of the purposes of this ordinance is to not only protect the tenant but to have landlords understand what the standards are, what the Council is trying to do, and to solicit their cooperation which will in turn help in rental compliance. 2583 Mr. Doman questioned if the standards apply only to rental property and not private property. Mayor Figley stated that the standards are for rental property only and private property has no habitable standards unless it because of a nuisance, health hazard, or dangerous building. Mr. Doman expressed his opinion that habitability should be applied to all property in the City and did not understand why a rental property should be treated differently than a privately owned property. Mayor Figley stated that rentals involve property in which someone is paying an owner for the right to be at a specific location for housing needs and complaints involving rental units would come under this housing ordinance. Councilor Bjelland also mentioned that the owner has a choice on living conditions whereas a renter has no choice about the condition of the property. 2872 Councilor Cox stated that previous discussions involved an ordinance that followed the Uniform Housing Code which would apply both to owner-occupied and rental properties. This type of ordinance did not get Council consensus so a political decision needed to be made and, as a result, it was decided by consensus, to limit a housing ordinance to just rentals since situations that may come up are by people who are least able to protect themselves. Mayor Figley stated that provisions within this ordinance would be covering housing issues that are not currently covered under existing ordinances. Mr. Doman agreed with the definition of habitability, however, he did request that the Council be careful as to not pass an ordinance just because the Council is tired of talking about it because a general ordinance adopted can sometimes lead to problems later. Councilor Bjelland stated that two issues are being addressed one of which relates to the physical characteristics of the property itself (habitability issue) and the other issue which is in current draft ordinance is overcrowding (occupancy issue). 3162 Mark Nyman stated that he did not see in draft #5 where this is a complaint driven ordinance and, in Section 20, it does state that the City may impose an annual fee. He would like to know what the fee will be for each dwelling unit which would be included in the City's master fee schedule. Page 5 -Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, May 12, 2008 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MAY 12, 2008 TAPE RF.An1NCT Mayor Figley stated that there had been some discussion on what the fee but there was some agreement from several Councilors that no fee be charged at this time since the City has no experience on complaints to be filed. Councilor Cox stated that there are two types of possible fees one of which is related to enforcement and he felt that it is okay to charge for actual enforcement on a specific rental property. He objected to the other type of fee which is an annual registration fee. Councilor McCallum stated that draft #5 is an older version that should have been updated but what is in draft #5 does say that the Council "may" and not "shall"impose a fee. This is a case where there was a consensus not to impose a fee initially but left it in the ordinance in case it was determined that it was a serious problem that required a lot of work by City staff. Mayor Figley stated that she was not clear in whether the Council intended to abandon the fee or just reserve the right to impose a fee based on the City's experience. Mr. Nyman stated that he has a problem with a blank check ordinance and feels that landlords have a right to know what fee will be charged. Additionally, the ordinance should be a document that has a complete process outlined rather than unknowns. Councilor McCallum stated that he has no problem with taking out the fee language at this time since the intent is to get landlord cooperation in this process. Like any other ordinance, if a problem surfaces later then the Council can come back and look at the ordinance and make changes at that time. Mr. Nyman questioned what the abatement process is as mentioned in Section 9 of the draft ordinance. Interim Administrator Russell reviewed the notification process followed by Code Enforcement Officers when they see a violation which they believe is in violation of an ordinance. In regards to preparing a new draft ordinance, Attorney Shields stated that he could complete a draft for consideration by the first meeting in June. Mayor Figley stated that the new draft would definitely clarify the Fourth amendment issue and replace language with habitability as defined by ORS. Councilor Cox also requested that the ordinance language relating to fees be removed since this issue will take some discussion before any decision is made and an ordinance amendment can be made at that time to impose a fee. Councilor McCallum questioned if the habitability standards have been taken through State Courts and cases litigated on vagueness. C Attorney stated that there is a lot of litigation on these standards which is general language but it seems to holdup in court and he has not heard of any rulings questioning it based on vagueness. 4280 Nancy Ostergaard questioned as to how much discussion has been done about scenarios of the realities of what the consequences will be for tenants if this ordinance is passed. Mayor Figley stated that Council has had various discussions on what the odds would be Page 6 -Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, May 12, 2008 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MAY 12, 2008 TAPE RFAnTNCT if a tenant is provided a 30-day notice by the landlord if a complaint was filed against the landlord. Ms. Ostergaard questioned the number of landlords in the City and the process used to directly contact the landlords about this proposed ordinance. Interim Administrator Russell stated that he was unsure as to the number of landlords. Individuals who had been invited to participate are those landlords who had worked with the Police Department in the past on other projects and the Chamber of Commerce for their involvement in getting information out to their members. Staff was unable to contact each and every landlord within the City. Ms. Ostergaard felt that it is within the City's capability to contact each and every landlord and she encouraged the City to take that action so that they can participate in this process. 4585 Mayor Figley summarized the three changes that the Council would like to see made. Councilor Cox stated that in addition to the habitability standards, Councilor Bjelland has indicated the need to include a maximum occupancy standard. He stated that he would like to keep this ordinance as simple as possible and would like to leave out the occupancy issue at this time but he is willing to listen to further comments he may have. Councilor McCallum concurred with Councilor Cox's comments since he feels that the occupancy issue will take more studying and discussion. Councilor Bjelland stated that overcrowding was one of the issues that brought this ordinance up for consideration. He has received a lot of comments and concerns from people in neighborhoods where overcrowding seems to exist which is contributing to problems in their neighborhoods. Mayor Figley stated that her concern is on case law that puts real limits on how restrictive the City can be. Councilor Cox stated that if the City were to try and incorporate occupancy into the rental ordinance, it would only apply to rentals. If there is a problem that the Council needs to legislate to limit occupancy levels, it should apply to all properties within the City since overcrowding leads to unhealthy and unsafe conditions to those who live in the house. In his opinion, it should be a separate ordinance and he felt that it would be some time before the City would be in a position to regulate occupancy in terms of how it is organized or categorized. 4905 Deb Yager stated that she sees the City as trying to be a proactive resource to eliminate some of the problems in addition to the enforcement aspect of the ordinance. She proposed that before any further discussion held on the draft ordinance, the City consider initiating some educational workshops with landlords and tenants so they can understand what rights they have before an ordinance is adopted. She felt that research needs to be done to see if there is truly a current problem that needs to be enforced by the City. Mayor Figley stated that staff will be providing the updated draft to those individuals who are in attendance at this meeting. She expressed her appreciation to those who attended this workshop and to those who provided comments to the Council for their Page 7 -Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, May 12, 2008 COUNCIL WORKSHOP MINUTES MAY 12, 2008 TAPE RF A~TNCT consideration. 5225 Mayor Figley closed the workshop at 7:22 f APPR ~''° ATTEST Mary Te ant, City Recorder City of Woodburn, Oregon Page 8 -Council Meeting Workshop Minutes, May 12, 2008