FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council held a special meeting on Monday to discuss updates to the rental housing ordinance. The council previously looked at updating the policy in the fall of 2021 at which time several public hearings were heavily attended. It ended up adopting a new policy that went into effect in February 2022.

However, Fairmont’s Community Development Director, Pat Oman, said that he’s found that there is no enforcement to the policy. Therefore on Monday during the workshop the council looked at a few areas including revisions to the nuisance ordinance to expand on blight issues, implementation of SmartGov software to assist with rental administration and identifying eels and responsibilities on code compliance and enforcement.

“I thought staff previously has done an exceptional job,” Oman said, before adding, “The document for the most part is very exceptional but… the biggest concern I have…we don’t understand the structure of the path we need to take when something is not meeting the requirements– either someone failed to submit a rental application or someone failed to update their units after an inspection has taken place,” Oman said.

He went on to say all of the tools to make that decision are included in the ordinance but that there’s no language for enforcement under fees and penalties. He said the ordinance did not say how penalties would be implemented.

“That was the big one that caught my eye,” Oman said.

He said he was proposing that the council add escalatory language so if someone forgot to register, a letter could be sent as a reminder and if requirements aren’t being met, the violation fines could be escalated as listed in the ordinance.

Oman also noted that there is no language in the ordinance that says VRBOs are excluded.

Council Member Jay Maynard said, “When does it stop being a temporary place to stay and become a person’s residence?”

Oman said in doing research he didn’t find any other rental ordinances that exclude or mention VRBOs.

“I thought it was important to at least mention it,” Oman said.

Council Member Britney Kawecki said that housing, especially safe housing, is one of the biggest concerns for Fairmont but that she had concerns about enforcement. She also asked whether anything was included about the exterior of the property.

“I think that’s one of the most important things we hear, and not just about rental properties. I think we need teeth for defining that,” Kawecki said.

Later in the discussion Oman shared that, as far as the physical look of the property, the nuisance ordinance is from the 80s and only three things are included in it: grass that’s too high, junk in the yard and the smell of manure.

“Most nuisance ordinances are a lot more broad and wholistic. The nuisance ordinance can complement the rental ordinance in regards to things outside,” Oman said.

Council Member Randy Lubenow claimed the inspections aren’t done as they’re supposed to be so there are no real examples of how improvements can be made.

Oman said he’s proud of the work staff has done from an inspection standpoint and that the issue is not that staff isn’t inspecting, but that it doesn’t have the teeth to bring rental properties to a positive conclusion because there’s no language in the ordinance.

“We don’t have the middle part that connects the two,” Oman said.

He also spoke about the process of registering a property as a rental but also said that there are many different types of properties– such as someone as a primary owner, a rental or a house that someone’s family is in and a vacant house.

He also spoke to the benefit of registering a property as a rental and said that the city could get a real feel and understanding of its housing situation so it can better understand the need.

Kawecki asked how many steps would be suggested for the escalation and noted she did not want to see something like 12 steps. She asked whether the nuisance ordinance could be put into the rental ordinance.

Oman said that first the council needs to identify areas in the ordinance and then staff will bring back suggestions.

“The goal of this workshop is to provide you the information,” Oman said.

After some more discussion, Maynard said, “Everyone agrees we have to put some teeth into this that can actually be used. I agree with Britney’s wish that we not go through 12 steps of escalation before we drop the hammer, but.. dropping a notice of vacate on the house… something in between. Something where we’re not taking two years to get a landlord’s attention to fix the problem, but by the same token, not immensely harsh either.”

Oman also spoke about the possibility of implementing SmartGov software to assist with rental administration.

“I think staff is very supportive of this,” Oman said.

Later in the regular meeting, the council approved funding the Granicus SmartGov software pricing proposal. The council first signed the contract in February of 2022.

Oman said this additional investment of $14,364 would get staff trained on the modules. On top of that there’s a project management fee for a total of $16,411.

The software will allow the city to start documenting houses and whether they’ve been registered. It will also create an online permitting system for the building official and planning and zoning.

Finally, Oman said he’s met with law enforcement a few times to discuss roles and responsibilities as well as the roles throughout the enforcement process.

“Compliance is really about our codes. Enforcement is really about law enforcement but over time compliance might lead to law enforcement and law enforcement can assist us early on in compliance as well so we’re trying to be sufficient as we interact with the community and the public,” Oman said.

Lubenow said he thinks everyone wants to help citizens get their property in compliance, but noted that some people seem dead set against complying with the ordinances and the only option left is law enforcement.

“The goal is to solve it ahead of time and try to understand and appreciate where they’re coming from as a citizen and our hope is to keep it from continuing down the compliance path into enforcement,” Oman said.