Tuesday, September 20, 2016

10 Percent Rental Rule

Recently the City of North Mankato established a new rental cap of 10%. I proposed an alternative to the city that was based on clear rules and strong enforcement, but the city chose to not even discuss it. What follows is a brief description of the City's process. Check out the video of the September 6th meeting on the City's website. It is a good example of how the City deals with citizen input.

City Councilman Bob Freyberg’s My View of Sept 11, contained some statements that require a response. Nearly a year ago the City imposed an unannounced moratorium on rental permits in the City of North Mankato. Rather than organize a task force of citizens, landlords, tenants and city staff to explore the perceived problems, the City hired Bolton and Menk to research the only four cities in the entire State of Minnesota that currently have rental caps.  No research was done to see how the great majority of Minnesota cities without rental caps operate, or how they deal with problem rentals. This approach assured that rental caps would be the only solution North Mankato would consider. The preparation of North Mankato’s new rental cap policy took place without any public input meetings.

North Mankato’s proposal was not released to the public until early August, leaving only a short time for discussions before the city rental moratorium expired. Only then were two public input meetings scheduled for August 17, and August 24, on the same day of the week, and the same hour, precluding anyone with a time conflict from making either meeting. Invitation letters, dated August 8, were sent only to city rental license holders. No direct invitations were sent to tenants or citizens with rental complaints, or to general property owners, and public advertisement of the meetings was minimal.

 I attended both invitational meetings. At the first meeting, citizens had questions and they wanted a general discussion, but administrator John Harrenstein announced, “There will be no questions at this time”  After a five minute interchange on how to proceed, the frustrated participants were divided quickly into four groups for “staff presentations,” and  they were only allowed to reassemble as a group an hour later after the participant numbers had dwindled to less than half. For the second session, a week later, the city hired consultants to handle the meeting. The first few minutes were spent assuring the participants that this time all voices would be heard.  Mr. Harrenstein and the mayor were present, but did not participate in the discussion. The vast majority of participants at both sessions were not in favor of a 10% cap, but did want to see more rigorous enforcement of rental rules by both property owners and tenants.

On September 6, the Council held a public hearing and vote on the issue. To make their decision, Council persons, including Mr. Freyberg, had to rely on information from the public input meetings brought back to them by Harrenstein and the Mayor, the result of having not been in attendance at the public meetings themselves. Over 40 people attended the September 6th public hearing to express their near unanimous opinion in favor of stricter rules and against a 10% cap. These were the very citizens who should have been part of the initial work in developing a policy many months before, but the council’s method of formulating policy disallowed such participation. Citizens present were allowed a three minute statement each.  Then the Council, without much discussion, voted four to one to adopt the new 10% rule. A tape of that meeting is available on the City website.

In his My View article, Mr. Freyberg writes that the city does have a format for developing policy, but sadly, it precludes citizen participation until the very end when change is nearly impossible. It is a format that has been used in the past to effectively eliminate direct citizen participation in policy making, and it was used again in developing a city-wide rental policy. Transparency and inclusiveness in process is as important as transparency in actions taken. When citizens did attempt at two public meetings to participate, they were accused by Administrator Harrenstein, in print, of “trying to hijack the meeting.” When citizens attended the public hearing to ask for a more reasonable result they were charged In Freyberg’s My View with “the use of biased proclamations”.

The rental rules in North Mankato are definitely in need of change, all agree to that, but what really needs changing  is the way in which North Mankato City Government involves citizens in the decision making process. Many of us, as concerned citizens, believe that non-compliant landlords and tenants should be made to answer for their actions, but that the city should not paint all tenants and landlords with the same broad brush. The involvement of concerned citizens in the process of government is helpful to the process. No one has all the answers , but by working together we can come to better solutions to challenging issues.

15 comments:

  1. This adaptation is also in the interests of the authors and the public at large in being able to access culture and scientific knowledge more readily. AV Companies Houston

    ReplyDelete
  2. Speaking about technologies these days. All of the paperwork is left behind and now it is time to go virtual. Read about https://www.idealsvdr.com and it will make sense to you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful illustrated information. I thank you about that. No doubt it will be very useful for my future projects. Would like to see some other posts on the same subject! free e-learning software

    ReplyDelete
  4. Improvement of realty property as part of a real estate investment strategy is generally considered to be a sub-specialty of real estate investing called real estate development. he said

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just locate a credible and safe home rental website and see what services it is offering. If you find it satisfactory then you can go ahead and list your property.Source

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice blog and absolutely outstanding. You can do something much better but i still say this perfect.Keep trying for the best. psd to responsive html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info.
    TrainingRoomSG

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for some other informative website. The place else may just I get that kind of information written in such a perfect method? I have a venture that I am simply now running on, and I’ve been at the glance out for such info. casas en playa del carmen

    ReplyDelete
  9. It turns out that even the hottest port has a few places where you can get off the beaten path. Here are some recommendations that will make you feel like you're in the know Whitby Party Bus

    ReplyDelete
  10. You have made some decent points there. I looked on the internet for more information about the issue and found most people will go along with your views on this web site. Toronto Party Bus

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anyone buying rental properties must choose properties that generate a positive cash flow, pickering condos for sale and this involves more than the rent covering the mortgage payment.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I read a article under the same title some time ago, but this articles quality is much, much better. How you do this.. Mawa Gujiya

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yacht Rental Cyprus|Limos Cyprus|Yachts for hire Cyprus|Limousines Cyprus|Yacht excursions Cyprus|Boat Rental Cyprus | https://www.cyprusvipservice.com/ pays personal and professional attention to our respected clientele. We treat you as a VIP, just like you deserve. We ensure that you will enjoy your yacht or limo trip, to the fullest. Yachts for hire Cyprus

    ReplyDelete
  14. First of all, I just want to say thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article because I really enjoyed reading it and I always in search of posts like these for my personal growth so once again thank you. windshield repair omaha

    ReplyDelete