03/05/1998 - Minutes COMMUNITY HOUSING TASK FORCE MEETING
Minutes of
Thursday, March 5, 1997
Tigard City Hall
MEMBERS PRESENT: Sharon Fleming-Barret, Robert Flug, Sally Parks and Councilor
Ken Scheckla.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Emily Cedarleaf, Sheila Greenlaw-Fink, Cecilia Maciel, Dedi
Streich and Susan Wilson.
ALSO PRESENT: Ron Bline, owner of Walnut Court Apartments, Tim O'Brien (with
Marcus and Millichap) and David Scott, Building Official, City of Tigard.
The meeting was convened at approximately 1:15 p.m.
I. SELF INTRODUCTIONS:
Introductions were made. Robert Flug announced that he will be the new representative
for Oregon Legal Services, in lieu of Ellen Johnson. The Task Force concurred with this
replacement.
II. APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 12, 1998, MEETING MINUTES
The minutes were approved.
III. WORK SESSION:
A. Program efficiency and equity
The Task Force considered what are the elements of program efficiency. The
following elements were identified:
• sufficient staff to respond to complaints and issues within a reasonable time
• adequate funding to support necessary staff levels
• reactive vs. pro-active inspections (reliance upon tenants/others to identify
violations)
• program processes well defined for dealing with issues that will arise
• deal with legitimate complaints (screening process for illegitimate complaints)
• use of alternate inspection methods (self certification of corrections by
landlord/tenant)
• multi-lingual notices and phone messages
• automated phone response for providing information
• general user friendliness for all users
• refer tenants to landlords if they haven't addressed the issue with the
landlord yet
Community Housing Task Force Meeting
Minutes of March 5, 1997
Page 2
Next the Task Force considered what are the elements of program equity. The
following elements were identified:
• program responsive to tenants who are afraid to call landlord when they have
a problem
• staff discretion to work out compliance issues within general guidelines
• provision of information re: Landlord - Tenant laws for all users
• protection of tenants against retaliatory actions
• referrals to legal services for tenants
• referrals to landlord associations for landlords
• consideration of relocation issues when a unit is deemed "uninhabitable"
• adequate time for compliance without penalty accruing
• call to landlord before inspection
• staff reasonable to work with regarding compliance time
• process for screening issues/complaints stemming from neighbor "feuds"
Next the Task Force identified those elements of program efficiency and equity
that are compatible and incompatible:
All elements were identified as compatible except for two basic issues which are
listed below.
• need for a process of screening complaints for program efficiency and
fairness to landlords/owners vs. need for program to be accessible to
tenants/neighbors who might be afraid to call or involve their
landlord/neighbor in a matter
• need for a reasonable time for landlords/owners to comply with noticed
violations vs. general need to achieve timely compliance
The Task Force agreed that these conflicting issues can be reconciled by
achieving a balance between the goals they reflect. The issue of how to achieve
this balance was deferred to a future meeting, to allow the Task Force time to
review and reach consensus on the substantive provisions of the ordinance. The
specific provisions of the ordinance are important to the discussion of
compliance times.
B. Who should pay for the housing program?
The Task Force reviewed which of Tigard's constituencies should pay for the
program. At this stage of the discussion, "pay' refers to general financial
responsibility for the program. Future discussions will address the issue of what
share and mechanism for payment is appropriate for the various constituencies.
The following constituencies were identified:
• owners of rental units with violations
• owners of owner occupied units with violations
• owners of rental units generally
Community Housing Task Force Meeting
Minutes of March 5, 1997
Page 3
• owners of owner occupied units generally
• owners of commercial property and/or businesses
• residential tenants
• commercial tenants
• utilities
• solid waste haulers
Staff will provide the Task Force with a listing of all constituencies who currently
provide some sort of revenue to the City for future discussion of who should pay.
C. What compliance mechanisms should be employed?
This item was deferred to a future meeting.
D. What funding/compliance package should be adopted?
This item was deferred to a future meeting.
E. What implementation and program policies should be adopted?
This item was deferred to a future meeting.
F. Other
The Task Force agreed that the next issue for review should be the specific
substantive provisions of the ordinance. This topic will be the sole item of the
next meeting's work session.
V. MEETING SCHEDULE CONFIRMATION:
The next meeting was tentatively scheduled for 4/2/98, same time and location. Future
meetings will be determined as necessary at the 4/2/98 meeting.
VI. ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at approximately 3:15PM.
Respectfully submitted,
David Scott
Building Official
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