Othello council discusses housing inspection ordinance

OTHELLO — A proposal to require periodic inspections of rental housing will be back before the Othello City Council at its Feb. 1 meeting because a public hearing on the proposal was continued after extensive discussion at Monday’s meeting.

The proposal would require inspection of rental housing every three years. Community development director Anne Henning said the new ordinance would be in compliance with the state’s basic requirements for rental housing, and would not add more requirements.

It would allow city officials to address problems with substandard housing more quickly than the city’s existing procedure, Henning said. Code enforcement officer Heather Miller said the current procedure can take as long as four years, is expensive for the city, and the only remedy in the current law is to evict the tenants.

Henning said the new ordinance would require landlords to fix substandard properties. Miller said Othello has some poorly maintained properties, including residences where the landlord doesn’t provide heat or clean up pest infestations. Henning said the ordinance would provide city officials with another tool to force landlords to fix up substandard properties.

Henning said the problem will diminish in time with an inspection regime.

The public hearing drew testimony from owners of rental properties. Lolo Garza asked if city officials knew how many substandard units were in town. A few bad landlords could affect a whole industry, he said. And, people might start renting property surreptitiously to avoid the regulations, Lolo Garza said.

Leo Garza said he researched similar ordinances in other towns, and thought Othello’s list of requirements was too extensive. The ordinance includes an inspection fee and Jose Garza said the current wording leaves room for the fee to be increased.

Planning commission member Chris Dorow said commissioners agreed the inspection fee should be minimal. A minimal fee won’t penalize good landlords, he said.

Dorow said the ordinance is a sign city officials are taking the problem seriously.

Council member Corey Everett said he agreed the ordinance was needed, but he thought the $1,000 fee to appeal a ruling was too high. Henning said the city would be charged by the hearing examiner.

Othello Police Chief Phil Schenck said he thought the ordinance was unclear about legal status of a citation.

Mayor Shawn Logan suggested continuing the hearing for another week to address some of the questions raised by council members. He asked the landlords to submit a list of their concerns and suggestions for changes.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].