The second reading of an ordinance for public peace and dealing with disorderly houses was tabled at the Washington City Council meeting Tuesday. The measure would hold landlords responsible for their properties and the activities that go on there. The proposed code states that no person, including an owner or renter, shall knowingly keep, maintain, or operate a disorderly house, or knowingly be a landlord of such a place. Tuesday multiple landlords spoke to the council and asked how they would be notified of problem tenants, what timelines would be like for notifying landlords of issues, and what would be in place to help evict problem tenants. A few people spoke in favor of the measure, including Councilor Elaine Moore who said the ordinance is about respect for your neighbors, safety, and each other’s property, “We all work hard for our money. We work hard for our property and we all want to make money. And you can’t make money on a rental property if they’re going to trash it. You can’t make money on you own home if you’re going to have a meth house next to you. And so everybody has the same goal, they want their property to be kept up, they want it to look nice and someday they want to make good on a good investment. So I’ll tell you right now, I am for this ordinance.”

Councilor Fran Stigers said the problem is with the people who don’t care about the community. In an effort to iron out the issue, the council voted to table the reading and hold a workshop on the matter. Landlords will be welcome to attend.

In the meantime, Councilor Steven Gault recommends that landlords visit their properties, “I understand what you’re saying, well we don’t get no reports as to what’s happening and the rest of it, but part of that responsibility falls on you because you are the landlord. Go check your properties. If I owned a property in this town, if I owned two or three properties in this town you can bet that once a week I’d drive by it. And I’d have in that clause once a month that I come in that house and debug it. You have a chance to see what there is. If there’s dirty diapers laying in the bathroom that’ve been there for three weeks you’re going to know it. I mean you’re going to know what’s going on. By the same token it isn’t, … I don’t know how to say it without being nasty about it. Okay, but we’ve got too many tweakers and crackheads in town that need to be taken care of. And I know our police is buried with it, they’re trying to take care of the problem.” He added there have been instances where the Chief of Police has been called to the same property four times in a single day. City Administrator Brent Hinson explained this would provide another tool for law enforcement to use at their discretion at properties with repeat problems.

The public workshop will be held in the beginning of December. The proposed ordinance can be viewed online here.