THE UNIVERSITY JAILD KANSAN
MONDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2009
NEWS
5A
LAWRENCE
Rental proposal deferred
Commission votes to wait on program to inspect rental properties
BY MIKE BONTRAGER mbontrager@kansan.com
City commissioners voted to defer the rental registration expansion program that was proposed at last Tuesday's city commission meeting.
Brian Jimenez, code enforcement manager, devised the plan, which would require all rental properties 50 years or older to be inspected once every three years. The plan would help manage areas with high amounts of housing code violations. The commissioners decided to reconsider a new plan at a later date.
David Corliss, city manager, said he didn't endorse the proposed program because of budget concerns.
"While seeing substantial community benefit to an expanded program, my recommendation is to
not pursue the program expansion at this time because of the significant economic challenges both the city and the community are facing." Corliss said in a memo for that week's agenda. "The necessary fee increase to fund the program will likely be passed on to renters at a very challenging economic time."
Jimenez said he thought the budget issue was the only major problem with the program.
"I think overall the commissioners were in support of exploring the issue further," limenez said.
Chris Conard, Dodge City junior, said he thought it was important for rental properties to
be inspected because he had had neglectful landlords in the past.
"There's a lot of stuff to cover with very little money, but I think it's pretty important that they stay on top of that because a lot of times I think that's overlooked," Conard said.
"The necessary fee increase to fund the program will likely be passed on to renters at a very challenging economic time."
Those on the city commission decided to rethink how to implement an expansion of the rental registration program.
Mayor Mike Dever suggested registering all rental properties in the city to allow inspectors access to any property without the landlord's permission or a search warrant.
DAVID CORLISS City manager
"If safety is really what we are after, inspecting everything isn't going to speed up the process," Dever said. "We need to create the mechanism by which we can inspect these facilities."
Vice Mayor Rob Chestnut supported
the mayor's idea.
"The mayor suggested a program requiring some type of registration without all the inspections," Chestnut said. "If this allows access to the property more readily, it might actually start to identify the properties that have significant issues more quickly."
Jeremy Roehr, St. Louis junior, said he thought rental inspections could take place between the time one tenant moved out and the next moved in.
"Inspections definitely need to be done." Rohr said. "It's probably not the highest concern, but safety is a concern."
Hep Warjri, Shillong, India,
senior, said he was concerned about the condition of the house he was currently renting. Warjiri said his landlord told him to call if there was a problem or anything that needed fixing, but he said sometimes they weren't responsive.
One of the problems Warrii mentioned was his front porch.
"That wood is basically just rotted off and so is the railing." Warrii said.
Warriri said he and his room-mates jimmy-rigged the porch with scrap wood as wedges to keep the porch in place.
Alex Haneberg, Chicago senior, said that he didn't think a rental inspection program was needed and that mandatory inspection was very low on his list of priorities.
"Personally, I can take care of that myself," said Haneberg. "I don't think it's really the necessary."
"You can tell who's taking care of their properties and who not," Harper said. "We all get used to certain things and don't view things as a problem, until it's a problem, until someone dies."
Haneberg said he didn't think the city should be strict on landlords who violated building codes because he thought landlords would use it to their advantage.
"Landlords in this town will suck money out of every possible thing." Haneberg said. "They will definitely use it as an excuse to raise rent."
Tom Harper, a local landlord, said he thought the problem was absentee landlords.
Jimenez said he would begin looking into developing a new program this week.
Edited by Liz Schubauer
STRETCH your dollar across town.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ECONOMY
Obama to name overseer Earl Devaney to monitor $787 billion economic stimulus plan
A Secret Service agent watches as President Barack Obama greets audience members Feb. 9 at a ball style meeting about the economic stimulus package.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to announce today a former Secret Service agent who helped expose lobbyists' corruption at the Interior Department as his pick to oversee the $787 billion economic stimulus plan.
Obama is set to name Earl Devaney as chairman of the new Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board, an administration official said Sunday. Vice President Joe Biden also will be given a role coordinating oversight of stimulus spending.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the White House had not made public the announcement.
part on Devaney's investigation.
Devaney, the inspector general of the Interior Department, helped turn up disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings at the department. The department's No. 2 official, Steven Griles, pleaded guilty to charges he lied during congressional testimony based in
Obama has pledged the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board to be an at large body to oversee how the government spends billions allocated to help the failing U.S. economy. But with dozens of agencies and departments involved, Obama wanted a central group to independently monitor where those funds are going.
Obama also planned to tap Biden to meet regularly with Cabinet members, governors and mayors to make sure their efforts were quick and effective. His reports to Obama are expected to be posted at the administration Web site devoted to the bill, Recovery.gov
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