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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - CCC Minutes 07/22/19Minutes CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY COMMISSION Conference Room 235 City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue Monday, July 22, 2109 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:01 p.m. by Eric Abrams in Chair Sandeep Stanley’s absence. Members present were Eric Abrams, Pete Englin, Evelyn Beavers, Warren Madden, and Tom Lindsley. Members Absent: Karin Chitty and Sandeep Stanley Staff Liaisons: Tasheik Kerr and Deb Schildroth Approval of Minutes: Pete moved approval of June 24, 2019 meeting minutes and the July 16, 2019 meeting minutes. Warren seconded. Motion Carried. Public Forum: There was no one present for Public Forum Tenant/Landlord Relations: Warren stated there was a small representation of landlords at the monthly landlord meeting held at Pizza Ranch on Tuesday, July 16, 2019. The Commission acknowledged that July is the turnover month for most rental properties, so this likely impacted attendance. The Commission discussed ways to communicate to the broader group. Landlords at the July 16th meeting appeared to not have a lot of problems so will they be motivated to make any changes? Students may believe they need to have a mechanism in place to deal with rental issues. Pete stated that Student Legal Services is busy. There’s a knowledge gap among tenants that exists with items like understanding leases. Discussion ensued about creating a best practice/model lease agreement as well as the use and availability of mediation. Deb inquired about the RentSmart in Ames information on the City’s website. Pete gave the history on how and why that was created. One of the functions was intended for landlords to update rental availability on the site and they haven’t as they have their own website. Peter further stated that there has been a company that approached ISU Student Government about an available service that “ranks” or “rates” property management companies. This information is then used by students to determine who they’d wish to rent from. Pete isn’t aware that this service is utilized in other areas. Commission members discussed the next steps. Options include organizing another meeting with landlords, issuing a survey and asking questions such as: • What do you like about leasing to students? • What do you not like about leasing to students? • What can change? A short-term effort is to update the RentSmart in Ames information on the city’s website and link to ISU Student Government. Deb shared that prior to classes starting Sara Van Meeteren with Inspections is planning to do a door knocking event to rental properties in those neighborhoods near campus. The purpose is to talk with renters about being good neighbors and provide them with additional resources. Peter moved to table the discussion until the August Campus and Community meeting when students are back and more landlords can attend. Evelyn seconded. Pete withdrew the motion after further discussion. Deb asked about inviting Sara Van Meeteren to the next meeting to share what she experienced during her door knocking event. Consensus was to gather more information and have Sara also talk about responses to safety and sanitary condition complaints and recourse if not addressed. It was also suggested to invite Kurt Kruger from APD and Mike Newton from ISU PD. The Commission would like to match a heat map from showing non-emergency calls (Ames PD) with a density map of inspections (Inspections) to understand the trends. The invitation could be extended to Kip VanDyke, Dean of Students at ISU and ask him to share the issues that students encounter with landlords. Warren moved invitation of people to next meeting and Tom seconded. Motion carried. Commissioner Comments: None Adjourn: Eric moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 6:54 p.m.