The Austin City Council may reconsider a landlord registration ordinance after residents expressed concern over unkempt rental properties.

The council discussed revisiting a proposed registration system for landlords to combat rental properties in disrepair during a work session Monday night. Council members have looked at the issue before, but were prompted to reconsider after Austin resident Valeria Maloney urged the council in a letter to do something about bad landlords.

“We have to get on the ball,” Maloney said Monday.

Maloney said she lives next to an unkempt rental home at the 200 block of Seventh Street Northwest, which hasn’t had an occupant since July 2012. She said the landlord who purchased the home 18 years ago has slowly but surely let the property fall into disrepair, to the point it needs new siding and windows.

“He’s let that house go down,” she said. “Down, down, down, down.”

Community Development Director Craig Hoium has sent notices to the landlord, but Maloney doesn’t expect the landlord to comply with the city’s policies, but would instead let the house become a hazardous property.

There are six such hazardous properties in Austin, and three of them are owned by the same landlord, according to city officials. The council directed Hoium last month to look into whether the city should tear those properties down, which could cost an estimated $5,000 per hazardous property.

Mayor Tom Stiehm believes the council should reconsider the issue. He said the problem with rental homes in disrepair hasn’t been the renters but bad landlords who refuse to keep up maintenance.

“It’s always been the landlords at fault,” he said. “It’s the same people over and over and over again.”

Yet the council appeared divided on whether to look into a landlord registration ordinance. Council members voted down the ordinance 5-2 in November 2011 after months of work, as some council members felt the registration system would benefit property owners already in compliance but do little to deter bad landlords.

Though Council Member Jeremy Carolan wasn’t on the council in 2011, he shares a similar opinion on the issue and doesn’t want to see the city create extra ordinances for little gain.

“Adding anything extra, it doesn’t make sense,” Carolan said.

Council Member Judy Enright said she wants to see some way to regulate landlords and a registration ordinance could help the city enforce its current policies by opening communications with landlords.

“It’s no different than any other business,” Enright said. “Why wouldn’t you have a rental owner who’s making money off of this not be licensed like any other business?”

Maloney said she plans to discuss the issue at the upcoming “Conversations with the Council” meeting this Saturday.

 

In other news, the council:

—Instructed city staff to move forward with a grant application concerning water and sewer system costs for the Turtle Creek 1 neighborhood outside of Austin, as the majority of homeowners there want to be annexed into the city. Several homeowners talked to council members at a work session earlier this year to ask for the annexation, in order to get access to city water services.

—Approved the annual Austin Fire Department fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association this year. Firefighters will ask for donations in the street on Aug. 14 and 15 at 14th Street and Eighth Avenue Northwest, Fourth Street and First Drive Northwest, Eight Street and Eighth Avenue Northeast, and Oakland Avenue and 10th Drive.

—Approved a city committee to work with the Minnesota Department of Transportation on aesthetic guidelines for Interstate 90 ramps and bridges within Austin, as part of Vision 2020 Gateway to Austin Committee efforts. The group will work with MnDOT officials on a consistent look for Austin, which state workers would follow when doing repairs or rebuilding bridges.

—Resolved to support nearby cities to petition the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for a $500,000 grant to finish the next part of the Blazing Star Trail from Albert Lea to Austin.

—Gave permission to the Planning and Zoning Department to remove junk and/or illegally stored vehicles from the following properties:

—2121 First Avenue Northeast

—2013 Third Avenue Northeast

—2001 Seventh Avenue Northeast

—606 10th Avenue Northeast

—901 Second Avenue Northwest

—1413 10th Avenue Northwest

—1104 Fourth Avenue Southeast

—304 Second Avenue Southwest

—806 Sixth Avenue Southwest