In one of their last attempts to review the proposed rental housing ordinance before it goes to vote, members of the Responsible Landlords Association met Tuesday to pin down any nonconsensual areas that still need to be modified before they would approve the ordinance.

Though they acknowledged that the city has made substantial cosmetic changes to language throughout the ordinance, the landlords said there were still four key areas that need to be changed before they would vote yes for the ordinance at the next Rental Housing Task Force meeting Sept. 2.

“Many of the changes we were looking for would in no way hamper the city’s goals in what they were trying to accomplish,” said Matt Benda, who started out as an attorney for the landlords and who now has become an advocate with them.

Benda said though he felt there had been progress made at the last meetings between the city and the landlords, he is remaining “cautiously optimistic” about the changes.

Landlord Dave Montaño said Albert Lea Inspector Paul Stieler stated he still needs to review several of the changes in the document with the city attorney.

“We are very cautious about what’s going to come out of this finalized document,” said Montaño, who is running for the Ward 5 City Council seat.

The Rental Housing Task Force was formed earlier this year after the Albert Lea City Council voted in April 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 Tuesday, but that date was pushed back until Sept. 2, out of request from the landlord association.

Benda and Montaño said before any discussions are brought up at the upcoming task force meeting, a neutral chairman should be elected from the task force to run the meeting, instead of having Stieler, who works for the city, running the meeting.

Then, after that concern, there are four main areas that need to be addressed.

First, after the initial inspection, a provisional license should last for nine months, not just six months, to allow the time for a property owner to make necessary improvements.

“Six months from the original inspection didn’t seem realistic,” Benda said. “Especially with the winter seasons.”

Benda and Montaño said Stieler would not budge on this issue because in the past if there were not deadlines over people, they would not get things done.

Landlord Lanier Pratt suggested the landlords get the numbers together of how many units there are in the city, and then talk to contractors to find out how long it would take to them to get the work done.

If all of the initial inspections were completed in six months, that would average out to inspecting about 100 units per week, landlord Scott Knutson said. That’s pretty much impossible, he said.

It would take at least 18 months, Montaño said.

Second, landlords indicated there needs to be changes to the section that talks about providing certification of taxes and utilities paid before an application for a rental housing license can be approved.

Verbal promises indicated that if a payment plan was in place to pay off those taxes, this would be allowed, but this needs to be put in writing in the ordinance, the landlords said.

Third, landlords said they need to also have the option of a payment plan when it comes to paying the license fees, instead of having to pay them all out front.

Fourth, there needs to be a tenant registry that licensed landlords can have access to that will allow them to look up tenants and the violations they may have.

“If you really want to be helping the landlords, this is a big issue,” Benda said. “We were very firm this had to be there.”

The landlords indicated they have been researching a similar registry in Rochester that allows landlords to look up tenants and make more informed decisions when it comes to choosing good tenants.

The landlords in attendance at the meeting indicated if the four major concerns were addressed they could approve the ordinance.

They said they plan to take copies of their proposal to the last meeting in case the city does not include the changes.

Other issues the landlords showed concern about included:

– Coming up with a low-interest loan program for rental housing owners to have access to when they are making substantial improvements to their properties.

– Being required to provide a Dumpster or garbage service to units with five people or more, in addition to recycling services. Pratt said he is a huge fan of recycling, but he thinks the recycling bin will end up being used by tenants as a trash can. It also has the potential of being knocked over and making a mess.

– Getting written in the ordinance several of the verbal promises that have been made by city staff.

Issues the landlords indicated there was some progress on included:

– The change in the definition of an agent, who the city would service notices to if necessary. An agent can be a person who resides within a 60-mile radius of the city, measured from the Albert Lea City Hall. Before, an agent had to reside within a 30-mile radius of the city.

– Softening of language throughout the ordinance to show that landlords are in with the city on helping to maintain the rental housing stock.

“All of us want these buildings to stay in tact to keep them on the tax roll,” Benda said. “We tried to change the tone.”

He said he is trying to get a firm response from city staff about what they can agree to by the end of this week, so that the landlords can know what to expect going into the last task force meeting.

“If we lose the vote, we lose the vote,” Benda said. “As long as there’s an open forum and you can advocate your positions.”