by Cheryl Splain, KnoxPages.com reporter
MOUNT VERNON — Promoting a safe, healthy and aesthetically pleasing environment is the goal of municipal property maintenance ordinances. It takes a concerted effort to create an ordinance that achieves the desired result and, at the same time, protects the rights of the city, property owners and tenants.
On Monday, City Council members will hold their second meeting to discuss revising the city’s residential property maintenance codes. Claude Gates, who has rental properties in Mount Vernon and the townships, attended the initial meeting held Sept. 16 and plans to attend Monday’s meeting, too. As a landlord, he has several concerns he would like to see addressed.
“Landlords get blamed for lots of things, but it’s not always the landlords,” he said. “A lot of tenants tear up places and trash them up and basically [the city] holds us responsible. The tenant has rights by law and we have a time frame to not step on their rights, but we’re being put under the gun to take care of it. We’d like to see tenants be held a little more accountable and possibly give us the opportunity to do what we’ve got to do.
“Misdemeanors that are chargeable under the [Ohio] Revised Code we’d like to see tenants get charged with,” he continued. “If we have the place cleaned up and they leave a lot of trash outside, we’d like to see them charged just like if you lived there. Whoever occupies the property should be held accountable.”
Citing the example of potential fees assessed to the property owner for violations, Gates wants to make sure the final ordinance does not allow someone to take advantage of the system. “I try and make sure I am in good spirits with my [rental properties’] neighbors, but if you have someone that keeps calling the city and there’s a fee or a fine every time the city is called out to a property, that could become a very expensive issue,” he said. “If it’s a legitimate concern, that’s one thing.
“I would like to see an advisory council set up,” he continued. “We have a lot of older people in town who don’t necessarily have money for repairs or the time to get things done in 45 days.”
Gates advocates a tiered system under which violations would be ranked as minor or serious. He also makes a distinction between a dilapidated building and one that has maintenance issues. “To me, a dilapidated building is one that’s ready to fall in and is a real safety hazard,” he said. “Trash or weeds is a maintenance issue.”
A roof falling in, foundation collapse and other safety hazards would go immediately to the Dilapidated Buildings Commission. Minor issues such as trash would go to the advisory council which would be comprised of property owners and city officials. If there is no result with the advisory council, the issue would then go to the DBC.
The draft ordinance council members will consider on Monday calls for an enforcement officer to investigate complaints. Gates agrees with having such an on-site position but said the person needs to be qualified and have training in structures, engineering and general maintenance issues. He is cautious about the ordinance following the International Property Maintenance Code; he believes local codes should be tailored to local needs.
“We do need to protect property values. I try to take care of [my rentals] the best that I can, but I would like some help from the city,” said Gates. “We’re all looking for the same goal but sometimes we’re making the wrong people do it. I’d like to see more partnership with the city.”
The 2010 Census reported 3,320 renter-occupied housing units in the city. Tom Cennamo has been a landlord for more than 25 years and has 50 of those units. He said there is enough legislation already on the books.
“They already have a city code; the city isn’t the greatest on enforcing that,” he said, adding that historically there have been clear zoning conflicts that the city took to court and won and then did nothing further in follow-up. “Maybe they don’t have a strong enough law or rule to end up doing anything about.”
Cennamo acknowledged there are a few bad landlords in the city. “There are people in violation of city ordinances that [the city] is always fighting with; only about 1 or 2 percent, but there definitely are a few bad landlords,” he said. “The city has gone after them at times; in the end, I don’t believe the city finishes following up and really does anything about them.”
Cennamo said that tenants have all of the legal rights, which makes it difficult for the landlord. Like Gates, Cennamo would like to see the city hold tenants more accountable.
“There are a lot of problems with tenants. If [the city] came up with a way that they could do something more to the tenants, not the landlord, that would be very beneficial because that’s where the problem is at the moment,” he said. “I would be in favor of something where they could fine the tenants directly and not the landlord, but I don’t know that they would really do that.”
Monday’s meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the basement conference room at City Hall. It is an open meeting and the public is invited to attend.
