Housing ordinance postponed
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Matt Henle
The Mount Ayr city council welcomed council member Matt Henle and established a new Urban Renewal Area at their regular meeting Monday, July 1.
After approving the consent agenda, the council began their official business by swearing in new council member Matt Henle. He then began his official duties immediately, as he is filling out the term of Jessica Bishop who resigned from the council.
Matt Henle was sworn in to the Mount Ayr City Council by Mayor Steve Fetty at the July 1, 2024 meeting. Completing the term of former council member Jessica Bishop, his duties started immediately following the appointment process.
Public forum
Mayor Steve Fetty opened the public forum by welcoming comments from the public on any subject pertaining to City business.
Nicole McGinnis was the first of eight landlords to speak to a full council chamber.
“Brent was kind enough to sit down with me and Dennis and kind of go through some pros and cons,” said McGinnis, “We already have a nuisance ordinance in place that’s not being utilized to its fullest extent.”
“I think we need to maybe put some teeth to that and find a better way of enforcing that before we add another layer of things that we need to figure out how to enforce and follow through on,” stated McGinnis, “I think maybe once we get some of the nuisances under control, some of the other things will fall into place.”
Landlords filled the council chamber to speak against the proposed rental housing ordinance.
Meredith Dredge stated she attended two landlord meetings, and she did not think the information presented was consistent.
She provided an example, “The code of Iowa says you have to have privacy for a bathroom,” said Dredge, “They say you have to have a lock on your door.”
“I think if you go ahead with this, I think you need to go with the Iowa code, not some other city that is a lot larger than ours, and gradually work into this, not go all at once,” Dredge said, “Because it’s going to cost the landlord way too much money to bring them all up to code at one time.”
Guy and Cindy Fisher returned for another council meeting to again voice their opposition.
“When you hand one individual, not necessarily talking about the current local inspector, but there’s going to be others to follow, you give one individual authority and power, the good old boy system naturally comes into play,” said Guy.
“If he or she were to be mad at Cindy and I, I can think of all kinds of ways it could make our life miserable,” Fisher said, “We’d like to think that won’t happen, but authority and power just seems to bring that.”
Dustin Wiley referenced the Fourth Amendment, and his concern that the new rental ordinance infringes on personal privacy rights and personal property rights.
“I see a lot of landlords here in this meeting, but I don’t see a lot of tenants,” said Wiley, “They would have a say as to, you know, you’re infringing on their privacy as well.”
“You know, if you lose 10% of those rentals, that are shut down and they don’t pass or whatever, what’s the city amount that you’re going to lose as far as income,” Wiley questioned.
Dr. Keith Miller echoed others’ sentiments about government control and nuisance properties.
“What Nicole said about the nuisance ordinances, they aren’t being taken care of,” said Miller, “We have a property next to one of our properties that we built a fence to try to conceal some of the trash and all, and the un-mowed yard and all that.”
“I can show you another property close to another one of our businesses,” said Miller, “It’s a vacant house. No one’s renting it. There’s things sitting in the yard. I think the house needs tore down, but it’s sitting there too.”
Adam Triggs did not feel that the purpose of the housing ordinance was explained very well.
“Every explanation we’ve been given for the purpose does not pass the smell test,” said Triggs, “I don’t understand how you can pass something as unpopular or far-reaching as this without at least being able to be honest about the purpose.”
“I was told also that it was about safety, said Triggs, “I have not seen how it’s about safety, and if it is, I don’t understand how. Why are we only caring about the safety of this narrow population?”
Rental Housing
The City of Mount Ayr held three landlord meetings with Jason Van Ausdall, between June 19 and June 26 to inform landlords of the proposed Rental Housing Inspection Program.
Follow up questions were sent to the city’s attorney, Jason Palmer, and he has not yet gotten back to the city.
The final reading of a new rental housing ordinance aimed at providing safe, equitable housing for all residents was put on hold until the August 5 council meeting.
Currently, the City of Mount Ayr does not have any authority to govern or enforce housing standards without an ordinance in place.
Roughly 27 percent of independent landlords want to keep it that way, voicing their opposition during time set aside for public forum.
If there is no rental housing code in a community, the only option for a tenant dissatisfied with the condition of their house, is to move or to bring civil action under the Iowa Landlord Tenant Act.
The proposed Rental Housing Code, fee schedule, and rental housing checklist are all available at Mount Ayr City Hall.
Urban Renewal Area
A brief public hearing for the establishment of the Mount Ayr Urban Renewal Area and the urban renewal plan was held.
Dr. Keith Miller provided the only public comment, expressing he would like to see an expanded area beyond the town square. City administrator Brent Wise noted the existing urban renewal area expired June 30, and the new area does cover a larger area.
The council approved Resolution 2024-854 to declare necessity and establish an urban renewal area, pursuant to section 403.4 of the Code of Iowa.
They also approved an urban renewal plan and project for the 2024 Mount Ayr Urban Renewal Area.
Council member Mack Greene motioned to waive the first two readings of the new ordinance, and council member Jessica Murphy seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
A second motion was put forth by Murphy to consider the third reading of the ordinance, approve it, and put it into play. It also passed unanimously.
Other business
In other regular business, the council approved:
- A special Class C retail alcohol license (BW) for Gettin’ Slushed South Of 35 LLC;
- Street work on S Tyler; which was an add on project. Another company was in town and had some leftover material, which the city got at a 65% discount compared to the original project price quote of $64,000. Wise requested the council officially approve the work that was already done on S Tyler between Van Buren and Jackson Street.
- The disbursement of CAT Grant funds to Matt Hudson once the City of Mount Ayr has received them.
Administrator Update
Administrator Wise reported that street work on Jackson Street between Pierce and Webster was done in the incorrect order.
“They were supposed to start on South Taylor and go around the corner from the co-op and close to the piston. West of the co-op, that section of the co-op there, we did not do that because of the heavy traffic,” stated Wise, “But that’s what they were supposed to do and they were supposed to go to Monroe Street to fill in where everything was eroded out on East Monroe. And then, they were supposed to go to Jackson Street.”
He also reported that he has finished his review of the recent audit report.
Wise also discussed the Downtown Housing Grant with the council.
