Butler City Council may vote at its next meeting on an ordinance that would introduce new requirements for area landlords.
Councilman Don Shearer has held meetings with area landlords regarding a potential ordinance he said would help cut down on blight in the city and also provide a legal path for certain issues between landlords and tenants in Butler.
At a City Council meeting Thursday Shearer said there probably won’t be another open meeting with area landlords until council passes the ordinance.
“If we pass it this month, we could spend the rest of the year figuring out how we’re implementing this and how it’s going to take effect come Jan. 1,” he said.
Shearer said the newly drafted ordinance differs drastically from the “rental inspection program” he presented to landlords in November. Instead of having a city employee look at a rental unit each time a tenant moved out, the new draft proposes landlords fill out forms that could keep themselves and tenants accountable.
About 30 landlords attended a meeting Feb. 1 with Shearer, and the talks he has had with many in the city have led to a better working relationship, Shearer said. The ordinance would require landlords to fill out an occupancy form in a digital database hosted by the city, as well as a “property condition form.” That form would function as a checklist of mandates for a rental unit.
“Basically, this turned into almost like a landlord-tenant relations ordinance where the city can step in as an intervener whenever we are dealing with landlords or properties that have violated codes and the rights of citizens,” Shearer said.
City clerk Mindy Gall said enacting an ordinance takes two readings from city council, so even if the first reading is approved at the city’s Feb. 22 meeting, it would require another approval to be put into code.
Also at the meeting, the city accepted the resignation of a firefighter who has been with the Butler Bureau of Fire for only a few weeks. Butler Bureau of Fire chief Chris Switala said he obtained another job in Pittsburgh — a job he was listed for while also applying for a position in Butler.
In a related move, the council approved the hiring of a firefighter for the bureau, Cody Craig, who has been chief of the Chicora Volunteer Fire Department.
