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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/20/2007 MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 1830 COUNTY ROAD BEAST, MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2007 5:45 P.M. CITY HALL CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Pearson called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Commissioner Jeffrey James Chairperson Gary Pearson Commissioner Joy Tkachuck Vice-Chairperson/Secretary Beth Ulrich Present Present Present Present Staff Present: Dave Fisher, Building Official Tom Ekstrand, Senior Planner III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Approval of the HRA minutes for April 11 , 2007. Commissioner Ulrich moved to approve the minutes. Commissioner Tkachuck seconded. Ayes - Pearson Tkachuck Ulrich Abstention - James The motion carried. IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Ulrich moved to approve the agenda. Commissioner Tkachuck seconded. Ayes - Pearson Tkachuck Ulrich James The motion carried. V. COMMUNICATIONS None. Housing and Redevelopment Authority -2- Minutes of 06-13-07 VI. UNFINISHED BUSINESS At the April 11 , 2007, HRA meeting, the committee discussed various matters and requested staff for some information to be reviewed at the next meeting. The seven questions in the staff report are answered by staff in the report. VII. NEW BUSINESS a. Review of Previous Meeting Tasks Including: .Bylaws . Chairperson Pearson reported that there is not a need to change the bylaw for Ms. Ulrich to be both the Vice-Chairperson and the Secretary. Mr. Ekstrand said he will go through the bylaws and bring them up to date and bring them back to the next meeting. .Comprehensive Plan - Areas of Potential Housing Deterioration Map . Chairperson Pearson said the study covered the residential area and not the rentals. Mr. Fisher said Ken Roberts put together the Comprehensive Plan with input from the HRA. If a sweep is done it should start with the circled areas on the map. . Mr. Fisher reported that Code Enforcement is receiving many calls and the number is 651-249-CODE(2633), which is displayed on the side of the Code Enforcement truck. The majority of the complaints received at this time refer to tall grass and yard debris. A typical process for the Code Enforcement is as follows: . After a complaint is received it may take up to 5 working days to send out a notice (Clerical help has been hired to help speed up that process). 10-14 days is allowed (depending on the magnitude of the violation) to comply with the notice. Then, the Code Enforcement Officer will follow up with property to verify that it is done. The resident will receive a second notice if it is not complete. Following a second notice, a citation will be given with a fine if the violation is not fixed, and the property owner is required to appear in court and a judge will define the penalty. . There is no tracking system in place as of now for tracking buildings/houses of particular concern. The Code Enforcement files may possibly be transferred into the Eden system (which is what building permits are issued through currently) to allow us to verify building/driveway permits and any code violations at the same time. The research on this transition is still in progress. . An online complaint form for the Code Enforcement has just been put onto the Code Enforcement webpage. .Survey of Other Cities - Rental-Housing Licensing Programs . Chairperson Pearson said some of the primary interests are in getting registration of people who are responsible individuals for given buildings that can be contacted any time. Also, buildings with repeated police calls are where a lot of the enforcement is looking to be applied. Mr. Fisher said other cities use licensing programs to enable the city to take away the license iflhere are issues with the property orto contact the owner if there is a problem with the property or in an emergency. This can also be used to create a log sheet of what is happening at that property, which can become Housing and Redevelopment Authority -3- Minutes of 06-13-07 a form of a tracking system. Chairperson Pearson said that this is maybe a program that should be added to the City of Maplewood. Commissioner Tkachuck voiced a concern that the City of Maplewood does not have a good tracking system. Mr. Fisher said that if the City of Maplewood chooses to adopt this program, then the city ordinances should be looked over to make the ordinances more black & white instead of gray in some areas and make it a property maintenance order. The International Property Maintenance Code, which is a national document, can possibly be used as a reference. The current city ordinance that addresses rental properties is vague and there is no inspector that goes out to inspect the properties, it is only done on a complaint basis. The inspector that is sent out after a complaint is made depends on what the complaint is (example: Iflhere is a mice problem the Health Inspector would be sent out). Chairperson Pearson requests that ordinances that relate to this be brought in from other communities already surveyed to compare to our ordinances. . Commissioner Tkachuck asked what software programs are available and which ones are used by the City of Maplewood. Mr. Fisher reported that right now, the City of Maplewood is working mostly with Edens and it would be in good interest to stay with that software program because it is used widely throughout finance, human resources as well as community development. Other software programs that are used by other communities are LOGOS & Permit Works. Chairperson Pearson would like information on Woodbury's Star Program (Safer Tenant and Rental), which is program run through or by the police department. The program charges a fee of $12 per unit if the landlord does not participate in the program and can get it down to $3 if they do participate in the program. This has a positive affect of reducing a fee with participation. . Mr. Ekstrand said the definition of a rental is other than owner occupied, which could be a condo, apartment, townhome, or anything where someone is paying rent to live there. . Chairperson Pearson reported that another area that needs to be looked is single family homes throughout the city. .Data on Multi-Housing in Maplewood . Chairperson Pearson said that it would be helpful iflhere was a police overview in terms of activity with those units. This would help get a scope of the level of a problem in Maplewood. Mr. Fisher said that these would affect the license renewal forthat complex and is going to check with Dave Thomala to see if there is any information on that. Chairperson Pearson said that in order to get into that program, everybody will need to be registered and get contact people for each building. It might need to go beyond the manager of the building; we need to be able to contact owners or an owner representative with authority to make decisions. Commissioner Tkachuck said that penalties for multiple problems, in terms of police activity, should be explored as part of the program, which may self-fund the program itself. Information is needed on what kind of calls buildings are generating for police and what would be a good cut off number before a fine would be applied to the building owner. .Code Enforcement Continued Discussion .Ramsey County Grant Guidelines Housing and Redevelopment Authority -4- Minutes of 06-13-07 . Mr. Ekstrand found this data on the Ramsey County website. Different funding opportunities include rehabbing and weatherizing one's home and first time homebuyer assistance. The City of Maplewood does have information available on the website regarding loans for commercial property owners. Mr. Ekstrand will look overthe website and check if more information should be available to the public on the website. Commissioner Ulrich said that the Ramsey County Guidelines and the MHFA link should be added to the website. .HRA Vacancy . Please help put the word out about the opening on the board. . Commissioner James asked iflhere is a mission statement or official charter already in place. Mr. Ekstrand will look over the bylaws to see if there is a specific charter the board should be referencing. There may be mission statement in our current comp plan and when the comp plan is re-done in the future which may be similar or different. . Chairperson Pearson requests that some material be put together on the Truth-in- Housing program to give background to Commissioner James and Commissioner Tkachuck. This is a program administered by the HRA and does encourage the board to take in an open house to see if, that at the time of the open house, the Truth-in-Housing inspection is available for perspective buyers. VIII. DATE OF NEXT MEETING Date of next HRA meeting is scheduled for July 11, 2007. IX. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:28 p.m.