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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025.11.24 EDAM11/24/25 -1- DRAFT MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA WORK SESSION NOVEMBER 24, 2025 CITY HALL – COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center City Council/Economic Development Authority (EDA) met in Work Session called to order by Mayor/President April Graves at 7:51 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor/President April Graves and Councilmembers/Commissioners Dan Jerzak, Kris Lawrence- Anderson, Teneshia Kragness, and Laurie Ann Moore. Also present were City Manager Reggie Edwards, Community Development Director Jesse Anderson, and City Attorney Siobhan Tolar. ACTIVE DISCUSSION ITEMS RENTAL LICENSE APPLICATION PROCESS DISCUSSION Dr. Edwards said there would be two presentations tonight and introduced Community Development Director Jesse Anderson to present on both. Mr. Anderson noted that this was initially a request made by the City Council to review the rental license program. City Staff met with tenants, advocacy groups, and property owners and managers to receive feedback. City Staff also met with the Housing Commission to receive feedback from them to review with the Council. Mr. Anderson detailed the fee structure for rental licensing. The fee structure for a single-family new license is $400 400inspection plus $500 conversion fee, totaling $900, and the renewal fee is $300. He noted that for a two-family dwelling, the cost is $200 per unit. A multi-family fee costs $200 each building plus $18 per unit, with a minimum of a $450 fee. He stated that the way the licensing process works is that a property owner applies for a rental license and applies for an application or renewal, depending on the status. The City then inspects the unit and provides a list of corrections based on the property maintenance code. After corrections are made, a follow-up inspection is done, and if the property passes, it moves forward to the Council. If additional inspections are required because the property failed its second inspection, they will incur re- inspection fees. He said that an inspection is scheduled once the rental license fee is paid and all units are inspected. The fees paid include two inspections; the fees for a single-family are $100, and for a multi-family, they are charged $50 per unit and $100 per common area. 11/24/25 -2- DRAFT Mr. Anderson said there is a performance-based licensing system in place for rental licenses. A type one license is the best category, and a type four is the lowest category. The category is determined based on the number of violations per unit noted during the initial inspection. He displayed a chart for the Council with the breakdown of the property code and nuisance violations criteria. A type one, three-year license consists of any number of units with no greater than two violations for one to two units, and no more than 0.75 violations for three or mo re units. A type two, two-year license is no more than five violations for one to two units, and no more than 1.5 violations for three or more units. A type three, one-year license can have no more than nine violations for one to two units, and no more than three violations for three plus units. A type four, six-month license can have greater than nine violations for one to two units, and no more than three violations for three or more units. He noted that the fees do not change based on the license category, only the length of the license. Mr. Anderson stated that the current rental information with numbers of license categories includes: 339 type one licenses, 180 type two licenses, 53 type three licenses, and 21 type four licenses, with 593 total active rentals. He noted that there are other properties in the system that might be expiring, pending, or have utility bills outstanding that make up 174 properties total. He noted that the grand total accounting for all properties totals 767, but there could be duplicat es in there if there are properties that are active that let their rental license lapse, and are waiting for inspections to get their license renewed. He continued that congregate facilities or assisted living facilities are exempt from rental licensing and total 203 that are not licensed with the City but are licensed through other agencies. Mr. Anderson quickly summarized the license process, where the property has to pass inspection before getting their license issued by the Council, and the property owner must pay all utilities, re- inspection fees, and have all property taxes paid before Council approval and before the rental license expires. Renewal notices are sent out via email 120 days, 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days in advance. Mail renewal notices are also sent out 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days in advance. Mr. Anderson stated that Staff met with tenants and advocates on August 26, 2025, and several notices were posted in multi-family properties throughout the City, along with email invites sent to tenants and advocates. He noted that 12 participants attended the tenant meeting, and Staff provided a presentation reviewing the rental license program, inspection, and approval process. Staff had a prepared set of questions to start the conversation to receive feedback, and Staff addressed comments, questions, and concerns from the tenants throughout the meeting. Mr. Anderson noted the feedback received at the meeting was that tenants like the current program and do not want too many changes, but want more inspections and want the City to address more violations. He stated that tenants want the City to penalize property owners who knowingly violate their lease agreement and City ordinances and pursue license revocation for ongoing maintenance issues. He continued that the tenants want the City to create rules around tenant and guest parking and when cars can be towed, as well as physical postings and notifications should be sent to tenants, not just email or electronic notifications. Other tenant feedback included the City should notify tenants of actions taken against a property owner, create a program for tenants to escrow rent for neglected property maintenance, and increase tenant engagement and education about tenant rights and protections. 11/24/25 -3- DRAFT Mr. Anderson highlighted the feedback received from the property owners and managers meeting. City Staff met with tenants and advocates on August 28, 2025, after email invites were sent to multi-family and single-family property owners. At this meeting, 12 participants attended, along with one City Councilmember. City Staff provided a presentation reviewing the license program, inspection, and approval process. Staff prepared a set of questions and options to consider to start the conversation, receive feedback, and address concerns throughout the meeting. He noted that City Staff suggested to some of the landlords to eliminate the Crime Free Housing training due to limited class offerings, along with the Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), as many properties have already completed their requirements. It was also suggested to eliminate the Action and Mitigation Plan requirements since this can sometimes hold back a property from improving the new license type. Staff also discussed adjusting the inspection system by increasing the number of violations to allow for improved license types and reverting to a two-year rental license. Mr. Anderson noted the feedback from the property owners and managers, including that the rental program or inspection does not produce better housing, and property improvements can cause more code violations. He stated that the property owners also said some code violations are due to tenants, not property management, and wanted a way to cite the tenant for a code violation, not the property owner. He noted that the property owners said that code violations should be for life, health, and safety violations, not just maintenance, and inspectors are not uniformly calling out code violations. He noted that other feedback was that property owners should be allowed to do repairs during the on-site inspection and not count it towards a license determination. Mr. Anderson said that the property owners all said the City is conducting too many inspections and the cost is too high when that money could be used for other improvements, and they should look at Brooklyn Park's rental license program. Other feedback received from the tenants included rental licenses being transferable to new property owners, and that rental license revocation is a deterrent to property owners investing in the City. Mr. Anderson said all feedback was presented to the Housing Commission. He noted there were a lot of questions from Commissioners about the rental license program pertaining to what the program can and cannot do. City Staff addressed many of those questions and received feedback from Commissioners. He noted that Commissioners said if property owners maintained their properties, there would be less time spent on inspection preparation. He noted that one Commissioner stated that inspecting 30 percent of units and moving a two-year license would be good and might attract more investment in the City. Other Commissioner feedback received was more enforcement and responsibility put on the property owners, along with concerns about inspection of 30 percent of units and the degradation it would cause in three years, and the importance of posting physical notices for tenants. He noted that the general consensus from the Commission is that the program is working and is in favor of it, with some changes. Mr. Anderson noted that after receiving all feedback, City Staff had some recommendations for the Council to consider. One recommendation was to increase the number of code violations allowed per unit at multi-family properties, and noted that single-family changes were made in 2019 to make a higher license category easier to obtain. Another recommendation included 11/24/25 -4- DRAFT removing the Crime Free Housing Training requirement, along with the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) inspection requirement and the Action and Mitigation plan requirement. Other recommendations include not holding back properties with delinquent utilities or fees, only properties that are delinquent on property taxes, with no changes to the inspection process or how code violations are cited. Mr. Anderson noted that he is open to feedback from the Council and asked if they had any questions. Councilmember/Commissioner Kragness thanked Mr. Anderson for the presentation and the history behind the rental licensing program. Councilmember/Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson said she thought the Council should look at making some changes, and she was never in favor of the ordinance that was passed in 2021, as she felt it was punitive to property owners. She said she would have no problem repealing that ordinance and focusing on the state model instead. Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak said he has 15 pages and a discussion with Dr. Edwards, and considering the circumstances, he would defer to him, but he felt like there were a lot of discrepancies in the document. He stated that with any ordinance or policy, he firmly believes that they should be revisited as changes occur over time. He said he was part of the group in 2010 that put certain policies in place, and it was done due to a single rental property that the City ended up in a major lawsuit with. He said at that time there was a significant disagreement over the point system; however, it was enacted with good intent. He said he recognizes there needs to be balance and best intentions can lead to unforeseen consequences. He said most of these policies were written towards the bad actors, but that becomes a broad brush that punishes the good landlords, too. He said when a policy or ordinance becomes cumbersome or difficult to match bureaucracy, out of frustration, landlords put properties up for sale, which frequently go to land national firms that have less or no community involvement. He noted that on page 92 of 194, in the third paragraph, it states that "on the July 18, 2023, meeting, Community Development Director Anderson explained the last modification was done in 2010 and was intended to reward landlords for quality service and provide extra attention to lower performing rentals." Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak said this is true, but it has unintended consequences, and one-size does not fit all, and fees and the process become burdensome, and someone has to pay those fees, and it is the tenants. He said that with the current points system, he does not agree that it is hard to separate life, health, and safety for inspections because communities all around Brooklyn Center do that. He noted that the system the City has is IPMC, and it is primarily a building code system, and he knows it was implemented to give the City a case history. He said under the current point system, all violations are weighed the same, and a n example would be a dirty vent filter over the top of a stove that gets written up is weighted the same as a leaking gas line, and it defies common sense. He noted that the landlord would not be aware of a dirty vent filter, because the landlord does not cook in the tenant's home, but is penalized for it. He noted another example is smoke detectors, and if batteries were missing as an Inspector, he would write it up, despite the landlord standing there with batteries to fix the issue, but instead the landlord has to submit a work order that may take 10 days to go through in order to make the repair. He noted 11/24/25 -5- DRAFT that the current process is not safe, and a re-inspection has to be done over a missing battery in a smoke detector, which defies common sense. Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak asked why the tenant is held responsible for delinquent utilities if it is not part of their lease, and it can be assessed. He noted that when properties are sent expiration notices of the rental license, it incites panic in the existing tenants, and there is no value in that. He noted that in 2025, a memo to the Council said that delinquent utilities were at $862,410.48, and after making a data request for rental licensing and dwelling fees to Dr. Edwards, he said that $223,650 was budgeted, and $60,285, or a total of $283,935 , was accounted for in fees. This is not what it costs the landlords to prepare these properties, and the tenants pay those fees, not the landlord. He continued on page seven of 194, the recommendation is to keep the performance-based rental license system with some changes, and he applauds that and has talked to Dr. Edwards about this a number of times. He said the final policy is determined by this Council, and the last bullet point on the page says there should be no change in the inspection process, and he asked how Mr. Anderson could know that. He said he thought Mr. Anderson was open to feedback from the Council. He said that many bordering cities have determined what is considered life, health, and safety regarding inspections, but he will not continue to preach that. He said he requested to be invited to the tenant's meeting because oftentimes the tenants do not understand the process, and there are several state statutes that already cover these issues. He said he received an invite ot the tenant's meeting 36 minutes after the meeting started, and he was already out of town. He requested a copy of the minutes of the tenant's meeting, and he never received it. He noted that a landlord does not want empty properties and wants clean and safe properties for tenants. He said he is pleased that the policy is finally being reviewed, and he wants common sense to be reintroduced with a level playing field. He said he is trying to be balanced, and he is not attacking Mr. Anderson's work, but it has become a bureaucratic, cumbersome process, and it is not yielding what the Council wants. He said he would submit the rest of his comments to Dr. Edwards regarding this, and stated he appreciates all efforts from City Staff and believes there is room for balance. He noted that this policy will not be slow-walked, and three years is unacceptable for this policy to get to the Council to be reviewed. Mayor/President Graves said the government moves very slowly, and she remembered talking about creating a Community Engagement Communications Department in 2015, and it was not until 2019 that the City actually created that Department, so three years is not that bad. She said that Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak may remember that it also took two years of discussion to get a Code of Respect passed. Councilmember/Commissioner Moore said she concurred with Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak, especially as Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak had a boots-on-the-ground experience with this, and all his points are salient. She noted that it should not have taken this long for the current landlords and tenants to get this remedied. She said she will agree with whatever Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak recommends due to his experience. Mayor/President Graves said she appreciates Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak's expertise in inspections and thanked City Staff for hosting space for both tenants and landlords to be heard. She said she agreed that some changes could be made, but she is not sure she would agree with 11/24/25 -6- DRAFT everything Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak is suggesting, as his comments were long, and it was hard to digest all of them. She said, looking at the bullet points from the two meetings, there is some overlap with inspections and regulations. She noted that there could be some work done by City Staff to look into alignment with what the landlords and tenants want, along with what other cities are doing, especially for life and safety violations. She noted that tenants want to have documentation on whether issues were tenant or owner-created, and that could be something that City Staff looks into and gets into the nuances of some of the things that do affect life and safety standards for tenants. She said posting notices is also not hard for landlords to do, to make information accessible to all tenants. Mayor/President Graves also noted that making the rental license inspection process more uniform is common sense and makes it easier for landlords to adhere to it. She noted that a lot of things she has heard herself from tenants are regarding parking at specific properties, and it might be worth City Staff exploring specific language around the prevention of towing vehicles. She continued that she has heard from a lot of people since she became Mayor/President that people are getting their cars towed even when they have permits from garages that they are paying for. Mayor/President Graves said overall, there is space for some additional alignment and clarity to address issues for both tenants and landlords. Councilmember/Commissioner Moore said she wanted to give an example of her daughter, who rented an apartment and had to follow everything in her tenant lease, and if something needed to be fixed, she called her landlord. She said the City is going to protect the tenants, but when tenants are not respecting the apartment, the hallways, and not paying rent for five or six months, that should not become the landlord's problem. She said she does not know where the towing issue comes from, and only knows of one example of one person who reported this, and does not take much credence in one report of a vehicle being towed at an apartment complex. She noted she is steadfast in bringing balance, and landlords are in the business to provide safe, affordable access to a home and have responsibilities to maintain that. Mayor/President Graves said no one mentioned that tenants should be allowed to stay in an apartment without paying their rent for five or six months, and she is confused where that statement came from. Councilmember/Commission Moore said she would not be responding to Mayor/President Graves' question. Mayor/President Graves said Councilmember/Commissioner Moore made that statement, and no one said that, and it was not included in the presentation. Councilmember/Commissioner Moore said that statement was part of her example. Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak said he wanted to go back to page three of 194 and said he wanted to recognize that City Staff worked hard on this, and the suggestions Staff came up with are great to start with. He said he would like to add a few more suggestions. He said the police service calls are ridiculous and do not affect the rental license category, which is a huge resource draw from a number of people to get that data, and there is no outcome that justifies the amount of money put into it. He said education is important, and there is a state statute, and there is rent, and escrow, and times are different now than during COVID-19, when there was a lot of money available to help pay rent for tenants. He said if the landlord does not rent the vacant property, and it is a competitive environment, and if the City keeps taking money from them for inspections that 11/24/25 -7- DRAFT are not yielding results, and cannot go to pay for new carpet, new paint, or any other improvement plans for the properties. He said regarding private property, the City cannot regulate private property, and when the tenant signs the lease, they agree to certain roles. He noted that if a vehicle is towed and it was posted, the tenant could have a claim against the towing company, but the City cannot be all things to all people. He said the points system could be preserved but should be modified as it is not equal, and the goal is to provide a better experience for the tenant. He said the biggest complaint he heard from landlords when he was an inspector was that the landlord did not ever know there was an issue with the property, until the inspection. He noted one example of a hole in a soffit that cost $2,700, which is punitive to the landlord and required 50 pages to reflect that damage, and that does not even affect life, health, or safety for the tenant. Dr. Edwards said after hearing all the feedback, City Staff will make changes and bring it back to City Council/Economic Development Authority to discuss at a later date. Mayor/President Graves noted that the City still has a decent amount of rentals, and therefore, the process cannot be too burdensome. TENANT PROTECTIONS DISCUSSION Dr. Edwards said the second part of the presentation will be about tenant protections, as requested previously, and introduced Community Development Director Jesse Anderson to present this item as well. Mr. Anderson explained that tenant protection is not directly enforced by the City, but tenants can use this ordinance through the court system, and the City can advise. He said that City Staff met with tenant advocacy groups, property owners and managers, and the Housing Commission. He said there are three tenant protection ordinances, but there are two main ordinances that he will focus on tonight. The first one is the 30-day Pre-Eviction notice, which states that the landlord must give the tenant a 30-day notice prior to filing the eviction, along with the reason for the eviction. The other ordinance is the Just-Cause Non-Renewal. He explained that this means that when the tenant's lease renewal comes up or the current lease is expiring, the tenant is not allowed to renew the lease, and there is a list of just causes which includes : lease violations, refusing to renew the lease, if the unit was occupied by a family member, if the unit is going to be demolished or rehabbed, a government order to vacate, or if the occupancy was a condition on the tenant’s employment and the tenant is no longer employed. Mr. Anderson highlighted the feedback from the tenants, and there was a consensus that the 30 - day Pre-Eviction notice is preferred and gives the tenant enough time to apply for assistance or find alternative housing. He said the tenants said the City should continue to provide recommendations or education about the tenants' protections since there is a lack of understanding. He noted that tenants also want to penalize property owners who purposefully neglect tenant protections and create specific penalties for property owners. Mr. Anderson summarized the feedback from property owners and managers, who stated that tenant protections create an adversarial relationship due to having to preserve property owner 11/24/25 -8- DRAFT rights. He gave an example of serving a 30-day pre-eviction notice on the second of the month for late rent. The consensus of the property owners was that a 30-day pre-eviction notice was too long, and the City should remove it and revert to the state 14-day notice. He said there were concerns about the just cause non-renewal and requiring a curing period before the non-renewal can be issued. City Staff clarified that there is no curing period for just cause non-renewals. He explained that this means that if the tenant violates their lease, and they get a notice of a just cause non- renewal, they cannot fix the violation and then stay in the property. He said that property owners also stated that just cause non-renewals can make it more difficult to remove a disruptive tenant. Mayor/President Graves asked Mr. Anderson to further explain what the property owners want. He explained that if a tenant had a dog at the property and the dog was a lease violation, and the tenant was just cause non-renewed, they cannot get rid of the dog and expect to stay in the property and there was concern with the property owners that they did not want any curing in that policy, like there is for the 30-day Pre-Eviction notice. Mayor/President Graves asked if the property owners were asking if curing is part of that policy or not. Mr. Anderson said there were concerns from the property owners that curing was part of that policy, but it is not, as they do not want curing in that policy. Mr. Anderson noted that there were a lot of questions from Commissioners about the state's and the City's tenant protections. He said the Staff addressed many of those questions pertaining to the sale of a property, protections, clarification on the 30-day pre-eviction notice, clarification on just cause non-renewal protection, and general tenants' rights questions. Mr. Anderson said some general feedback received from the Housing Commission was that they support the City's current tenant protections and did not recommend any changes. There was also support for continuing to give a 30-day pre-eviction notice so that tenants can apply for rent assistance or find other housing, and provide protection for vulnerable individuals. He noted that there were also questions about rent increases and whether the City had protections regarding rent increases, and the City does not. There was agreement that the City should create a poster with various contact information for maintenance issues, and any other issues, and require it to be posted. Mr. Anderson summarized that the tenants, housing advocates, and the Housing Commission were in favor of keeping the current tenant protections with no changes. Property Owners are in favor of removing the current tenant protection ordinances, aligning with the state's tenant protections, and this was similar to the feedback received in previous engagement efforts. He noted that there are options to reduce or increase tenant protections. Councilmember/Commission Lawrence-Anderson said that just cause non-renewal was something she did not support, and stated in her opinion, if the landlord has a bad tenant, they should not have to renew the lease and should not have to give the tenant a reason. Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak said he wants this repealed and wants to go to the state's tenant protections that are ample, and this policy is overreach and created adversarial relationships. He said he does not understand why an eviction should be put on anyone's record, which makes it impossible for some people to qualify for other programs when the landlord could quietly negotiate 11/24/25 -9- DRAFT a non-renewal and protect their property. He said the City should not have carve-outs and just follow the state's tenant protection guidelines. Councilmember/Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson asked if Mr. Anderson could email her the state statute regarding tenant protections. Mr. Anderson said he would include a brochure that summarizes it pretty well. Mayor/President Graves asked if the state had put in any just cause non-renewal stipulations. Mr. Anderson said there is not, and the state statute changes the 30-day pre-eviction notice timeline to 14 days. Mayor/President Graves remembers the discussion regarding the 30 -day pre-eviction notices and the 14 days, and there were a few Councilmembers/Commissioners who were in disagreement over the timeline, with the 14 days being the Staff recommendation. She said she tried to suggest 21 days, but there was no consensus, and ended up voting for 30 days, and there were some compelling arguments about eviction notices. She said she does not think that the City's policy should be repealed, and she is glad that the state put protections in place, and there are pre-eviction notices. She continued that the just cause non-renewal requires a landlord to have a valid, legal reason not to renew a lease and is a good addition to the City's policy. She said if the landlord decides not to renew and the tenant has not done anything wrong, the landlord can still end the lease, but may be required to pay the tenant's relocation assistance. She named several lease violations that would be considered fault reasons under just cause, and she sees it as an important protection for tenants against arbitrary evictions. Mayor/President Graves said she did a quick search for the current rate of evictions in Hennepin County, and the Metro area is at four percent. She noted that before 2020, the eviction numbers were at 6,000 per year, and are now at 24,000 per year, so evictions in the Metro area have increased. She said she would not be interested in repealing altogether but would be interested in reducing the 30-day pre-eviction notice from 30 days down to 21 days, as that seems like a more balanced approach. Councilmember/Commissioner Moore said she is in favor of repealing the tenant protections at the state level, and by implementing the City’s policy, the City overreached and put more requirements on the landlords than they should have. She asked about the state tenant protections listed on page 73 of 194, and asked if there were more that Mr. Anderson would be willing to share. Mr. Anderson said the two pages that she has are a summary of the state-adopted tenant protections. Councilmember/Commissioner Jerzak asked about the data on page 116 of 194, which stated the eviction filings were for non-payment, lease violations, or skip abandonment. He said the just cause non-renewal or eviction is a one or the other situation, the tenant either gets evicted or does not. He said on page 117 of 194, there is more data that does not support just cause non-renewal, and the results of the eviction hearing rate of recovery is nearly 100 percent in all of the cases. He asked how many non-renewals were issued in 2022, but said he added it up and it was a very small percentage. He said that the City is not in the business of solving all complaints of society, and this creates an adversarial relationship. He noted that if a tenant cannot pay rent and damages the apartment after being told they will be non-renewed, and the landlord has to wait three months 11/24/25 -10- DRAFT before getting into court to sue over damages. He asked how many just case evictions happen in the City, and said Mr. Anderson previously said that the City does not like to get involved in any of that, so it does not enact feel-good legislation. He said he would look forward to a repeal of the just cause non-renewal and look to follow the state statutes instead. ADJOURNMENT Mayor/President Graves moved, and Councilmember/Commissioner Kragness seconded the adjournment of the City Council/Economic Development Authority Work Session at 8:53 p.m. Councilmember/Commissioner Moore asked if Mr. Anderson needed any further clarification. Mayor/President Graves said she is doing her job by presiding over the meeting, and said that the Staff is going to come back with more information based on this discussion, and the Council can vote on whatever is presented. Councilmember/Commissioner Moore said that they should give Mr. Anderson the respect of feedback on the agenda item. Mayor/President Graves said she is running the meeting just fine, and asked Mr. Anderson if he had everything he needed, and apologized if he felt she cut off his presentation. Mr. Anderson said he has enough direction to move forward. Dr. Edwards said City Staff would come back with modifications to the Council and pros and cons of repealing, and doing some comparison between the City’s ordinances and the state statutes. Motion passed unanimously.