One can only wonder what Bonnie Rietz and Richard P.

Wednesday, November 10, 1999

One can only wonder what Bonnie Rietz and Richard P. Cummings were discussing behind closed doors after a fruitless meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Mayor Rietz and 1st District Mower County Commissioner Cummings, who is also chairman of the county board, met privately for several minutes Tuesday.

That meeting occurred after city officials and staff attempted to discuss housing issues; mainly, the so-called "Mission house" in the former Sunset Motel in Lansing Township, but also connected to a single-family private residence in Lyle Township near the intersection of Highway 105 South and Mower County CSAH No. 5.

At both locations, large numbers of Hispanics are, or have been, living while working in Austin. Because of the large numbers of people living at the two places, concerns have arisen about health and sanitation issues as well as possible violations of fire safety precautions.

Residents of the Mission house went to the Nov. 1 Austin City Council meeting to tell of unsatisfactory living conditions at the Lansing Township facility.

What officials have learned is that a Des Moines, Iowa employment service, Metro Temp Employment Agency, has recruited workers to come to Austin for jobs and assigned them to the two residences for temporary housing.

Because both residences lie outside the Austin city limits, Mower County has jurisdiction over them; not the city.

Because residents of the facilities brought their concerns to the Austin City Council, Mayor Rietz called a meeting Tuesday of county officials and staff and their city counterparts to discuss the issue.

Cummings told the group at the outset, the county is investigating the situations, but has no results to report at this time.

Pat McGarvey, city administrator, pointedly asked, "Does it exist?" – meaning "Are large numbers of adults living in residences intended for single families?"

It was at this point in Tuesday’s meeting that the session took on a adversarial tone, with the county representatives unable or unwilling to cooperate to the extent the city wanted them to cooperate.

"We did not see 20 people there. We did not see anyone as a matter of fact," Daryl W. Franklin, county zoning administrator, said of the county staff on-site investigation of the Mission house in Lansing Township.

Bill Buckley, county environmental services director, confirmed Franklin’s observation.

Buckley added a plumbing crew was apparently installing showers and other bathroom fixtures when they visited the facility.

"We do not know what the specific use of the place is going to be," he said.

McGarvey asked a second question. "Is it a permitted use?"

Franklin said the county zoning code has no definition of a "mission-type facility."

Craig Oscarson, county coordinator, said the county was inquiring of the lease purchaser, Metro Temp Employment Agency, what their facility is going to be, but had not received a response.

Glen W. Jacobsen, chief deputy prosecutor for Mower County and legal counsel to the county board, said the county’s inquiry did not set a deadline for a response.

The history of the Lansing Township facility is that of a former motel, which was converted to a business storage facility until its present state of transition, according to Buckley.

Franklin added that the so-called Mission house and the former Stardust Apartments (now City Limits apartments) have separate owners.

When Kermit Mahan, executive director of the Austin Housing and Redevelopment Authority, inquired, "Now they are creating some kind of new living environment?" that got no direct response from anyone.

At this point in what was becoming a contentious meeting, Lori Espe, volunteer services coordinator and social worker for the Salvation Army Austin Corps, spoke.

Espe said no matter who lives in the residences or their purpose in Austin, "It’s a housing problem. I don’t know if I would blame anybody."

 

The Salvation Army became involved when several people, who claimed to be residing at the Mission house, came to the organization for food and clothing.

She said a representative who showed her a brochure the Iowa agency was using to recruit workers showed a "really beautiful farmhouse, that wasn’t the same facility as the Mission house."

When the same people, claiming the Mission house for their residence, went to other local agencies, such as Semcac, for assistance, the agency representatives became suspicious and the local Homeless Housing Network took notice, according to Espe.

Craig Hoium, city zoning administrator, told Espe the Salvation Army should notify the city when large numbers of people seek assistance and claim the same residence as their home. Hoium admitted the city has uncovered other instances where more people than a residence was intended for were apparently living in that residence. Such scenes as several mattresses and personal possession in basements have become common to city staff who access residences meter reading and other purposes.

Mahan also noted the city has a multi-faceted effort going on to provide affordable housing to those who need it and Hoium said the city has ordinances in place to prevent dangerous living conditions from growing.

Oscarson said, "If a situation like that (multiple residents in a single-family residence) is uncovered, there is a due process to follow to correct that situation."

"We’re just trying to determine what it is," Cummings said a second time.

The meeting went on like that: city officials and staff attempted to get straight answers from their county counterparts, who said they could provide none.

The letter sent to Metro Temp Employment Agency was sent "Oct. 10-14 or something like that," Franklin was forced to admit.

Buckley admitted the last on-site inspection of the Lansing Township facility was done "a month or so ago."

Rietz attempted to coach the parties into action without success.

"I think you need to get to the bottom of some of the questions you’ve asked," suggested McGarvey.

Mahan observed, the local situations are "symptoms of the larger problem" and one that a 1993 housing study forecast the city would have to deal with.

Assistant county attorney Jacobsen volunteered the county could send Metro Temp Employment Agency a follow-up letter, requesting a response.

The meeting concluded with another reference to "feeling frustrated" by the Austin mayor and then the behind-closed-doors conference between the mayor and Cummings.