I attended the LaVista City Council meeting last evening.  There were a number of people who attended, but public support is definitely needed.

I think a number of valid points were brought up, but the council was basically split.  The mayor spoke, in my opinion basically saying that he would support the implementation of the program.

Some of the things brought up:

The Landlord Tenant Act covers many of the concerns addressed.

Tenants rights require notices that don’t meet the criteria of the ordinance & the owner would be billed per day that they were not in compliance.

There are codes set to address most of the issues this new ordinance would cover, so they didn’t feel the new ordinance was even necessary.

They are not suggesting fair inspections of ALL properties; only rental properties.  Supporters apparently feel that only rental properties are a concern.  Opponents definitely disagree with that.

There is concern about the amount of staff & concerns about the timing to accommodate their own ordinance.

There is concern about the fees & fines per day for non-compliance of the ordinance.

There is concern regarding the invasion of privacy of tenants for inspections.

The city is not enforcing code violations currently, why should they come with another ordinance to try to enforce?

There is nothing mentioned about any process to protest the inspector’s issues.

It was also brought up about other communities across the United States that have implemented such programs & it has not proven to take care of the concerns of the City.  One of the things the City addressed was that the area houses are aging & thus creating many of their problems & concerns.  This is not just a rental property problem.

Several of the Council persons had some questions& so the ordinance was tabled until their next meeting Aug 18.  Plan to attend.  You need to let your opinion be known.  My opinion is that it is a bad plan for the City & the area.  I feel most of the Council was pretty much 50/50 on the issue & that means the Mayor would make the deciding vote & he has already indicated he wants the program.

(See the previous article for the City web site & details)