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Home My WebLink About01/06/1982 City Council 001047 MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY HELD ON JANUARY 6, 1982 A WORK SESSION of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 7:30 p.m. with the following members present: Larry Sample Councilman Norman Adeler Councilman Charlie Parker Councilman Charles Dodds Councilman and with Mayor Richard Turner absent due to business and Councilman Scott North absent for personal reasons; however, a quorum was established. 1. REVIEW OF THE PROPOSED RENTAL PROPERTY ORDINANCE This meeting was conducted by Councilman Sample in the absence of Mayor Turner and Councilman North who is the Mayor Pro Tem. At this time, Coun- cilman Sample did announce that the purpose of this work session was to review the proposed rental property ordinance, and Councilman Adeler stated that he would like to determine if the purpose of this proposed ordinance is to protect the rights of the property owner or the tenant. He was concerned that the ordinance seems to deal with both of these areas, and he did not feel that it would serve the city's purposes to protect the tenant to the extent this ordinance attempts to do. Councilman Adeler also stated that after a thorough review of the ordinance, he eliminated everything in it which he felt did not apply to the needs of The Colony and was left with only the section requiring registration of owners of rental property. He felt that it would help to know who owns the rental property in cases where problems of upkeep cause a neighborhood nuisance. Councilman Adeler also stated that perhaps the licensing of property owners who rent or lease their property was necessary. Councilman Parker stated that he had cross-referenced this proposed ordinance with the state statutes as well as the city's ordinances and, after doing this, the only section left which is not covered by any of the above is the one dealing with the registration of property owners. He stated that the state statute allows for protection of the tenant and the landlord, and the city's nuisance ordinance, No. 16, covers most, if not all, of the other areas of this proposed ordinance. Councilman Parker also stated that the ordinance seems to be aimed at apartment-type dwellings and The Colony, of course, does not have any of this type of housing. At this point, Councilman Sample stated that there were some things covered in this proposed ordinance, and not dealt with anywhere else, which he felt were very important; they were: 1. Does the house have a working air conditioner? 2. Does the house have a working hot water heater? 3. Are there structural flaws in the house? Councilman Adeler stated that he felt that the above problems should be handled by the tenant-landlord agreement, and he felt strongly that the city should not become involved in this type of problem. Councilman Sample was of the opinion that, due to the large rental population in The Colony, there was a need for this type of ordinance. Councilman Adeler wished to have it clarified if Ordinance No. 16 covered the interior of a dwelling, and Mr. Savage stated that it did not. Councilman Dodds stated that he felt it would be helpful to have an inspec- tion whenever there was a change in tenant, and a fee for this, and Council- man Sample stated that he felt this would be discriminatory unless the change of ownership of homes was handled in the same way. Councilman Dodds felt that this would be taken care of in a purchase situation as the person buying the home or the agent representing the buyer would require an inspection. At this point Councilman Sample stated that he wished to clarify what he was trying to accomplish with this proposed ordinance. -1- 001048 He felt that in ten years or so, a majority of the homes in The Colony would be rental property. He stated that brokers already sell several houses at a time to investors for this purpose and that The Colony is a "hot" market for this type of property. Councilman Adeler stated that the city really cannot control who a home is sold to, and Councilman Sample answered that he felt that if the city had regulations providing better control over this type of property, the investment market would not be as large as it is. Councilman Parker felt that it would be discriminatory to do anything that would seem to be an attempt to discourage investors. At this point, Councilmen Parker and Dodds suggested asking Mr. Rob Dillard, the city attorney, for his opinion, as he was in attendance at the meeting for this purpose. At this time, Helen Gray, a member of the audience, asked the attorney about her deed restrictions and was advised by Mr. Dillard that these are not the responsibility of the city but, if they are to be enforced, this enforcement has to be handled by the property owners themselves. Councilman Dodds stated at this time that his only problem with this proposed ordinance was the question of legality; if the proposed ordinance is legal, he would like to see it pass. Mr. Dillard stated that the ordinance would be presumed valid unless or until it was ever challenged in the courts, as long as it did not conflict with any state statutes. Councilman Adeler stated again that he did not like the idea of an ordinance to protect the tenant; he thought the city should be more concerned with protecting itself in this situation and he also felt that the property owners themselves should be responsible for most of these problems rather than the city. Councilman Adeler stated at this time that he also had one other concern. He wished to know if the city had any way of forcing a landlord to pay outstanding bills such as for utilities and trash pickup when a tenant left in the middle of a contract. Mr. Dillard answered that the city had no way of doing this. At this point, Mr. Dillard stated that he would like to address some of the issues which had been raised during this discussion. He stated that there are several ways of identifying property owners such as tax records, building records (permits), water and utility records, deed records and title companies. He also stated that this ordinance would put the city in the position of arbitrating between the property owner and the tenant in municipal court. Concerning inspections, Mr. Dillard stated that the enforcement of this would be very difficult. Mr. Dillard raised the question of whether this proposed ordinance was protecting private individuals in their dealings with each other or does it protect the public welfare in any way. There was further lengthy discussion on the pros and cons of this ordinance after which Councilman Dodds requested a ten-minute recess. Upon reconvening, Councilman Sample announced that he would take comments from members of the audience and then the Council would go into an executive session for the purpose of.obtaining legal advice from the city attorney, as authorized by Article 6252-17 VACS. Mr. Dillard had clarified for the Council and members of the audience that in this particular instance, the executive session did not have to be posted ahead of time, after a question by Coun- cilman Parker. Mr. John Twomey, a member of the audience, had several concerns about this proposed ordinance. He questioned the city's ability to control the quality of life through an ordinance and their ability to enforce the ordinance if passed. He was also concerned with the effect of this proposed ordinance on the housing market in The Colony, as this might make it more difficult £or investors to purchase houses or make it less attractive to them to 'do so. Councilman Dodds answered that he certainly would not want this proposed ordinance to hurt the market either, but he also stated that unsightly property decreases the value of property. Councilman Sample answered some of Mr. Twomey's concerns. He stated that the proposd ordinance was written to be self supporting; i.e., the fee charged per unit to the landlord would be set high enough to offset the cost of enforcement. Councilman Sample also stated that in his opinion the value of rental property in The Colony is currently going down while property values in general are going up. Mr. Twomey also questioned the legislation of quality of life, and Councilman Dodds answered that he felt the city should attempt to do this. At this time, Councilman Sample announced that the Council would go into an executive session for the purpose of obtaining legal advice from the city attorney, as authorized by Article 6252-17 VACS. -2- 001049 Upon reconvening in open session, there being no further business to be discussed by the Council, Councilman Dodds made the motion to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Councilman Sample, the motion was passed by the following vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None Councilman Sample adjourned the meeting at 11:38 p.m. ATTEST: C~~O~L, CITY SECRETARY -3-