Rental registry set for formal review next month

An ordinance that would create a master list of all rental properties — apartments and homes — in the town of Springfield is now one step closer to approval.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20131227/NEWS02/712279915/1003

Published December 27, 2013 in the Rutland Herald Rental registry set for formal review next month By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — An ordinance that would create a master list of all rental properties — apartments and homes — in the town of Springfield is now one step closer to approval. The Springfield Select Board on Monday set the first formal discussion of the ordinance starting at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 27. Depending on whether there are significant changes made to the ordinance, a second formal reading and public hearing will be held a month later, Town Manager Robert Forguites said Thursday. Forguites said the Select Board did not have a full discussion of the ordinance during its regular meeting Monday night. One local landlord, Bill Hanley, was there and posed a few questions, the manager said. “We really didn’t get into it,” Forguites said, referring to a full discussion of the ordinance. The town’s initial rental registry ordinance was approved by the Springfield Select Board in June, but a challenge and petition drive led by Select Board member David Yesman, himself a local landlord, resulted in a townwide vote and ultimate defeat in August. The ordinance was proposed with public safety in mind, particularly firefighting services. Springfield Fire Chief Russell Thompson, who doubles as the town’s health officer, had been a supporter of the first ordinance, saying that some apartments in Springfield were eluding any safety review. No one has an idea how many apartments there are in Springfield, but census figures show a large percentage of the county’s subsidized housing is in Springfield. Since then, the Select Board’s ordinance subcommittee, made up of two Select Board members, Michael Knoras and Stephanie Gibson Thompson, have met twice with local landlords to resolve their concerns. At the last public meeting of the subcommittee, the half dozen landlords in attendance said they were supportive of a registry, but not a separate inspection process by town officials, saying they were already subjected to sometimes conflicting inspections by state officials. The ordinance calls for all properties that are rented — not just apartments, but houses, too, to be registered. The registry, if approved, is not expected to start until fall 2014 because the notification and registration notice would go out with the 2014-15 tax bills. Forguites said if there are any significant changes made in the proposed ordinance at the first reading Jan. 27, then the process is reset for another first reading. If no significant changes are made, a second reading, combined with a public hearing, will be slated for about a month later, he said. “I’m sure there will be landlords there,” Forguites said.