Oskaloosa City Manager Discusses Rental Inspection
Local citizens held a meeting Thursday night over the proposed inspection code for rental property in Oskaloosa
Oskaloosa, Iowa – On Thursday during our extended interview with Oskaloosa City Manager Michael Schrock, our attention turned towards a proposed Rental Inspection Program the city is looking to adopt.
Thursday evening,a group of nearly 60 Oskaloosa landlords gather at the American Legion meeting room.
Residents had been calling the City Office after an ad was placed, to inquire about changes to the Building Code and how they would affect them, but the City itself had nothing to do with the nights meeting
One of the first issues brought up by the group was the fees being proposed by the city, and how this would be a way of gaining extra revenue. This very question was one that I had asked of Schrock earlier in the day.
“We’re talking anywhere from $33.00 a year to $41.00 a year. That fee hasn’t been set, and the council could decide there would be no fee. That’s their call,” Schrock said of the current fee’s being talked about at the current time. He went on to say, “I guess I don’t know what their objecting about when nothing has been decided. The people that have taken the time to come in and discuss some of their concerns, we’ve showed them their rates”.
I mentioned to Schrock that maybe it goes beyond the fee, and becomes a matter of control from a government entity over a private individuals life. Schrock responded to that by saying, “I think any time you open yourself up to do business in the public eye, you’re going to try to open up a business and have the public come in and they are going to pay you, your going to be subject to regulation. I think what we’re saying as a community and as a city is that no one deserves to live in unsafe places. And obviously I could walk across the street and I get run over, that’s just part of life, but there are certain things you can control and that’s what the code’s trying to do. I don’t care how little or how much you pay, to rent a place you shouldn’t have to live in an unsafe environment, and that’s what this program is attempting to do, create a level playing field for all of our rental properties that may or may not be in compliance. If they have some property that is kept up, they’re probably not going to have any issue. If they can pass a HUD inspection, they should be able to pass this one.”
Schrock continued on by saying, “We’re not trying to do anything that’s out of the ordinary, yeah, this isn’t a requirement by the state. If we did just everything the state mandated, we wouldn’t have as nice a community as we do. So, I’m not waiting until we have fifteen thousand people to do that, that’s not my recommendation. Council said we have rental properties in our community that need to be cleaned up, how can we do that? This is one of those way.”
But as I explained to Schrock, some feel like it’s a dictatorship coming from city hall. “If everyone followed the rules, we wouldn’t need laws. Unfortunately people speed and we pull them over for that,” Schrock stated.
Schrock went on to say, “I wish everyone had a property that was in compliance with every code, or even some of the codes, how about that? But unfortunately we’re going to find a few that aren’t. And is this a punishment on those people, they can look at it that way, I don’t view it as that. Again, what we’re trying to do is say, this is the standard for our community.”
Land owners said they are concerned that many of the older homes that are within the city limits will not be able to pass the code as it could possibly be adopted.
At the recent meeting, residents spoke of fears that once the program was put into place, a land owner could be victimized by the city and it’s inspectors because they don’t like them on a personal level, or for any other reason. They also spoke that they felt the resolution was too open ended, and that the city could continue to tighten the rules and regulations, amending them along the way therefore making it impossible for landlords to keep up.
The group is looking to secure legal council from outside of the community to help advise them during this time.
Not all landlords oppose the new regulations, one that asked to remain anonymous stated he thought the new rules would help keep the properties cleaner and safer.
I want to thank Oskaloosa City Manager Michael Schrock for sitting down with us, and answering every question we put in front of him.
