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communication and the feelings it produced. He noted that when he explained the purpose of the <br /> program to the resident as a way for the City to help the renters of Ramsey,this helped the resident <br /> understand the purpose of the program which is what he was missing. He said he is not in favor of <br /> ending the program. He added that if they make the inspections voluntary,then no one will end up <br /> doing it. He stated this program protects both the landlord and the renter and if they remove this <br /> then it is another item off of the budget that they will have to make up for somewhere else. <br /> Community Development Director Hanson explained that with the resident who they have been <br /> discussing, when the inspector went to his property they told him that if he was not comfortable <br /> having them go through his unit, then they would not. She said they put this resident on a list to <br /> not have his unit inspected until he moves out later this month. <br /> Councilmember Musgrove stated if this program goes away they still have other means for <br /> managing these kinds of issues. She noted this seems to be a redundancy of government. She said <br /> there are already measures in place to protect both the landlords and the renters. <br /> Councilmember-Elect Sharma Stewart asked how often they are requiring the City to go in and <br /> inspect these properties. <br /> Community Development Director Hanson shared that this is the first year of the rental housing <br /> program so this year every unit is being inspected. She said there were a lot of properties that had <br /> no issues and do not need to be re-inspected; however, there were some locations that will require <br /> re-inspections to come up to compliance and they will continue to have re-inspections until the <br /> inspections come back clean. She added that inspections will be done every two years for units <br /> that do not have any concerns. <br /> Councilmember Howell stated that in her conversation with this resident, he was still very <br /> frustrated with the program and did not think it was appropriate. She said that in talking to residents <br /> who own rental properties,they found anything more frequent than every two years to be invasive. <br /> She stated she is still not sold on the invasiveness of the program as a whole. <br /> Councilmember Specht asked what the program would look like if they did not conduct these <br /> inspections. <br /> Mayor Kuzma said it seems like this would just remove the program as a whole. <br /> Councilmember Riley stated he has been very supportive of this program as the City has a lot of <br /> apartments and rental units. He noted that as these rentals continue to grow, he is concerned with <br /> these properties staying nice. He said when these apartment buildings are brand new they are nice <br /> and he wants them to stay that way. He added that these inspections are part of keeping these <br /> buildings nice. He noted they seem to be focusing on the few residents who have complained about <br /> this rather than considering the successes this program has had. He said he would not like the <br /> renters to be able to opt out of these inspections, but they should be as least invasive as possible. <br /> Councilmember Olson asked if they have any data on the number of units that have issues. <br /> City Council Work Session/November 12, 2024 <br /> Page 5 of 9 <br />