Monday evening, Washington’s City Council held a special public work session to discuss the proposed ordinance addressing the safety of rental properties in the City of Washington. The council went through a rough draft of the proposal put together after hearing suggestions from local landlords a few weeks ago.
After several fires, three of them with fatalities, in local rental properties over the past ten years, and with a new state law allowing regulation of rental properties, the council is looking at an inspection program.
At Monday’s meeting, the council decided to phase in the program with mandatory registration of all rental units, implementing the inspection phase after the exact number of rental units has been determined. The council believes there are between 3,000 and 4,000 residential and commercial rental units, but the exact number is uncertain. Washington Building Commissioner Jonathan Casper presented the council with an outline of safety features that city inspectors would check before certifying rental units. The council will give the points from Monday’s discussion to City Attorney Tim Dant with the hope of having a finished draft to send to area landlords in three or four weeks. Most of the landlords present said they thought the proposals presented by the council were fair and workable.
