Agenda - Council - 10/27/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Key Findings in Response to Interview Questions Why were the programs set up or why are they being maintained? • Champlin and Shakopee started theirs mostly because of excessive police calls at rental properties. • Chaska, Blaine, Andover, Mendota Heights, Rosemount, Saint Francis, and Spring Lake Park had issues with homes not being adequately maintained and wanted to preserve the housing stock better. • White Bear Lake was receiving excessive amounts of calls from tenants regarding tenant - landlord disputes and wanted to keep better track of properties. • Elk River and Saint Paul have their programs mainly to ensure tenant safety. • Maple Grove's program is designed to maintain the housing stock and ensure safe rental conditions. • Minneapolis's program is designed for both tenant safety and crime prevention. Who Administers the Program? • Most communities have their building inspectors do inspections and have their building departments provide administrative support • Saint Paul's and Blaine's inspections are done by special fire inspection departments • Columbia Heights and Chaska have their fire departments do inspections. • Andover's exterior -only inspections are done by the assistant city planner. Is there any charge for inspections? • All communities that were surveyed charge fees with the exception of Shakopee with their rental registration program. • Blaine recently had to dramatically raise their fees because the size of the program required the hiring of a second inspector which was causing the program to run at a deficit of $35,000 each year. The program now is designed to break even. • Most cities charge a yearly, bi-yearly, or in Maple Grove's case a tri-yearly fee except for Saint Paul which charges $100 only when they perform inspections which may be as infrequently as every 6 years for well -maintained properties. How would they rate success? • All cities thought that their programs had been at least somewhat successful • Several cities report that calls for service are way down and other cities report that their housing stock is better maintained.