Progress made between city and landlords

Rental housing ordinance in works

By Sarah Stultz | Albert Lea Tribune

Published Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Landlords are beginning to make some progress when it comes to reaching compromise for the new rental housing ordinance, landlord Dave Montaño said to a group of fellow landlords Tuesday evening during a Responsible Landlords Association meeting.

During a meeting earlier Tuesday between a few landlords, Albert Lea Inspector Paul Stieler, mediator Linda Bottelson and lawyer Matt Benda, the group went through the first half of the ordinance line-by-line to talk about any disagreements. In the end, some changes were made, Montaño said.

“I felt very positive when I left the meeting that Paul was changing things,” Montaño said.

The Rental Housing Task Force was formed earlier this year after in April the Albert Lea City Council voted to table an ordinance that would have established a method of registering landlords and enforcing the already-in-place minimum housing standards to the living conditions of people who rent apartments and houses.

The ordinance would have required that before receiving a license, landlords would be required to have an inspection of their properties prior to renting them. Then, subsequent inspections would be conducted every few years, depending on the results of the previous inspection. More than a dozen landlords showed opposition to this idea at that council meeting.

The landlords have since formed an association and have continued to show much opposition to the ordinance while meeting with the task force. The task force was poised to vote on the ordinance next week, but that date has now been pushed back.

Montaño said Benda took it upon himself to organize the Tuesday meeting and try to get some changes made.

He said task force members will be voting on a new chairman during their next meeting, instead of having Stieler in that position. Montaño and Benda are also trying to get many of the verbal promises made by the city into writing in the ordinance.

“Otherwise they’re just comments,” Montaño said.

He discussed some of the changes made, including wording changes, but noted they haven’t gotten to some major parts of the ordinance.

“I still have some concerns,” he said. “I’m positive and I want to remain positive about the meeting we had today, but I’ve still got some apprehensions as well.”

Montaño encouraged the landlords to continue writing letters to the editor and calling their city councilors about the ordinance.

“The more we keep this in the spotlight, the more the pressure is on them to come up with a fair document we can work with,” he said. “Now’s not the time to be quiet. We’ve got to speak our minds.”

He cautioned the group to do so with discretion and respect.

“There has been some changes, and I think we’re going to get some more out of them,” Montaño said. “I think there is some compromise on it.”

The group agreed to meet again at 6 p.m. Aug. 19 to discuss any other changes that might be made to the ordinance this week.

The Rental Housing Task Force meeting, which was scheduled to include a vote of the ordinance next week, will be pushed back to the next week.

Montaño did not know when that meeting would be.