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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009 11-17 HCA AGENDA BROOKLYN CENTER HOUSING COMMISSION November 17, 2009 7:00 p.m. Council/Commission Room Brooklyn Center City Hall 1. Call to Order: 7:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Agenda 4. Approval of Minutes October 27, 2009 and July 12, 2009 5. Chairperson's Report 6. Council Liaison Report 7. Review of Proposed Amendments to Chapter 12 Rental Licensing Provisions 8. Present Summary of Housing Commission Duties and Responsibilities Review 9. How to Increase Advisory Commission Participation in Ordinance Creation, Review and Update Process 10. How to Increase Advisory Commission Participation in Neighborhood Organization Meetings (Invitations to December 15, 2009 Housing Commission Meeting) 11. Other Business 12. Adjournment November 17. 2009 Aaenda Outline 1. Approval of July and October Meeting Minutes. 2. Present summary of Housing Commission Duties and Responsibilities Review. a. The combined passing of time, increased staff support and resultant efficiencies prompted our review of Housing Commission Duties and Responsibilities. b. This review took place on July 12, 2009 during a workshop hosted at the home of Chair Steve Landis. c. Review Summary. d. Discussion as needed. 3. Recommendations Regarding Duties and Responsibilities Review. a. Suggest Staff, City Council, Advisory Commissions and perhaps Charter Commission artner for review, update and potential realignment of Duties and P P P 9 Responsibilities for all Advisory Commissions. b. Update and realignment would result in duties and responsibilities more accurately reflecting current needs and priorities by and for Staff, City Council and Advisory Commissions. c. The goal would be to create more effective partnerships between Staff, City Council and Advisory Commissions thereby providing value added service for the citizens of Brooklyn Center. d. Discussion. 4. How to increase Advisory Commission participation in Ordinance Creation, Review Update process. a. One of the existing Duties and Responsibilities of the Housing Commission is to "Develop and recommend standards for occupancy and maintenance of housing for the community." b. Housing Commission would like to play a larger role in the process of creating, reviewing and updating housing related standards and ordinances. c. Roles could include an ongoing review of existing ordinances and recommendations for updates, additions or improvements to processes relating to the enforcement of ordinances. d. Recent opportunity to participate in an ordinance related appeal process (existing duty and responsibility) and review subsequent processes by Staff, City Council and a resident encourages commission members to believe we could play a more active role in increasing the effectiveness of ordinances and enforcement processes. e. This effort could reduce the burden on Staff and improve experiences for the citizens of Brooklyn Center. f. Discussion. 5. How to increase Advisory Commission participation in Neighborhood Meetings. a. One of the existing Duties and Responsibilities of the Housing Commission is to "Serve as a forum for the citizens of Brooklyn Center to voice their opinions regarding housing matters." b. While our scheduled meetings are open to the public, historically there has been little interest by citizens to attend. c. We would like to suggest partnering with Crime Prevention, Code Compliance and Staff outreach efforts during neighborhood meetings. d. This would be another value -add for our residents and would provide a forum for housing matters related or ancillary to crime reduction efforts. e. Questions: i. How many groups exist and how are the groups led? ii. What neighborhoods are under represented and how can members of this Advisory Commission assist in the formation or leadership of such groups? iii. Can Housing Commission members be included in all communication regarding neighborhood groups and their scheduled meetings? iv. Can the Housing Commission be included as part of ongoing agenda if for no other reason than to be available during or after such meetings to act as a forum for citizens regarding housing matters? f. Discussion. Brooklyn Center Housing Commission Chair's Report Tuesday, October 27, 2009 Chairperson's Report Call to Order Roll Call Approval of Agenda Approval of Minutes September 15 2009 Chairperson's Report On September 15 we set aside regularly scheduled agenda to hear Brooklyn Center resident Ms. Atchison's appeal as directed by the City Council. As you are aware, Building Official Gary Gilpin and Assistant City Manager Vickie Schleuning were also present. The minutes from 9/15 capture the essence of our discussion which settled around the matter of the city's ability to enforce City Ordinance Section 4- 204(f) (Smoke Detectors) and City Ordinance Section 12- 402(3) (Refrigerator). On September 29 2009 1 attended the regularly scheduled meeting of the Brooklyn Center City Council at which Ms. Atchison's appeal and our findings were to be discussed. Absent from discussion beyond mention by City Council member Tim Roche was the appeal process involving the Housing Commission. The matter of requiring hard wired smoke detectors was dismissed. As noted during our 9/15/09 meeting, various local, regional and state ordinances appear to conflict with enforcement of the ordinance. City Staff including the Fire Chief were being directed to further review. The matter of the refrigerator gasket became the topic of lengthy discussion which included individual interpretation of the ordinance, City Prosecutor's recommendation to enforce the ordinance, anecdotal evidence in support of the ordinance and ultimately what appears to be a policy decision specific to refrigerators located in rental property. Although the requirement that refrigerators be able to maintain a temperature of 40- degrees is the only quantifiable portion of the ordinance (as written), it was decided that any damage to a refrigerator gasket in rental property would be considered a violation as applied to efficiency standards and that the gasket would need to be replaced. My concern and I believe our concern is that during our September 15 meeting with Ms. Atchison and City Staff, it was determined by consensus that the ordinance was poorly written thus could not effectively be enforced, yet it was enforced without any recognition of our findings. This consensus was further reinforced during the September 29 meeting when Assistant City manager Schleuning suggested (to me) that the ordinance would be re- written. Yet we were enforcing the existing ordinance, again without recognition of our findings. I am also slightly concerned about the city's position that we should play a role in assessing the efficiency of any household appliance as applied to ordinances or code compliance issues. Specific research (by me) uncovered few if any cities in the nation which attempt to reference such standards. One additional concern in the enforcement of this ordinance and the potential creation of policy specific to damaged gaskets is that the cost of replacement is likely to be shifted to renters thus driving up the cost of housing (perhaps but not necessarily a benefit as applied to quality of housing). Last, subsequent to the September 29 City Council meeting it was suggested by several sources that the Housing Commission either sided with Ms. Atchison or in any event that the City Council could not be expected to find a Housing Inspector in error. I am concerned about either (potential) assertion as we conducted our review process in an objective fashion with no support given or fault found on the part of either resident or inspector. Instead, we identified cause and effect specific to the ordinance, suggested non enforcement and that the ordinance be re- written. None of these actions were reflected at the aforementioned City Council meeting or in the Decisioning process. I would suggest that the Housing Commission, City Staff and City Council as a "trident" should try to improve upon our communication, problem solving and process improvement efforts. By doing so we will better assist City Staff and City Council and provide added value for the citizens of Brooklyn Center.