Details Emerging Regarding Landlord Club Resolution Going to Vote Tonight

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Big Brother
Several CCO Moles have contacted us to provide information about the status of the changing resolution going before the Evansville City Council tonight to require registration of all of Evansville’s landlords. It is widely reported that ASD Committee Chairwomen and 3rd Ward City Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley has taken the lead in doing heavy lobbying for votes of support from her fellow council members. Stephanie has been seeking common ground on this proposed ordinance by asking for admendments that that her fellow council members can support? It has also been reported that 2nd Ward Councilwoman Missy Mosby has been placing calls too. The details that have been made know to the CCO are as follows:

1. There will be no fee whatsoever required at time of registration (down from $50 yesterday and $10 this morning)

2. Registration will be MANDATORY on all landlords who own or manage properties in the City of Evansville

3. Failure to register will result in a recurring FINE of a whooping $100 a day penalty.

4. The FINE has been stated to us as daily and monthly so we are not certain which is correct. This fee is now confirmed to be $100 a day.

BREAKING NEWS: CITY COUNCIL JUST VOTED 9-0 TO PASS THE NEWLY AMENDED LANDLORD REGISTRATION. READ THE CCO TOMORROW MORNING FOR A DETAILED RECAP OF THIS VOTE.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

73 COMMENTS

  1. NWITIMES.COM

    Lawmaker seeks to prohibit rental registrations, inspections, fees

    House Bill 1313

    INDIANAPOLIS | Merrillville’s plan to subsidize its police department with registration fees charged to apartment owners has prompted a central Indiana lawmaker to propose a statewide ban on all municipal apartment registration and inspection requirements…..(more)

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    • I do not know what all the panic is about. Merrilville’s plan would not have withstood a legal challenge anyway.

      Evidently some people in local government want to reserve their “right? to try something similar here.

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  2. I see nothing wrong with requiring a business to supply contact information to the government entity within which they operate. I would be surprised if any other type of operating business is not required to provide such information.

    • That information is already available from a variety of sources, after all, this IS the AGE OF INFORMATION.

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    • Who said anything about a business? Or a for profit entity? This is going to affect EVERYONE in town. So if mom and pop rent to their kids or nephews, now they will be required to take the class every year and pay the fee.

      This ordinance is targeting 1% of the landlords while capturing 100%.

      • There is NO fee now. The only problem is if mom and pop dont register basic info they will be fined. Hopefully, children wont let their mom and pops house fall to pieces and have the decency to mow the grass, keep meth labs out of the bedrooms and broken down vehicles with no tires, off of the property. Is that too much to ask? What happened to respecting your neighbor and taking pride in your home. If people would start doing the right thing and take responsibility to keep their neighborhoods decent, this wouldnt be necessary. But…when land lords, who only care about getting their money, could care less about keeping up with codes, they need to be found and held responsible for keeping a decent place for their tenants to live.

    • So tell us please, what other registration carries a $100 per day fine for non-compliance. This POS resolution is a sure fire way to drive landlords out of town. The CCO had it right yesterday when they compared these left wing morons to Lenin and Marx. Evansville will soon be a FINE city. A $100 a day fine to be exact. Party on Komrads.

      • они трахают нас настолько трудно, что никто не будет жить здесь скоро.

        • You may be more accurate than you know. The financials for the city of Evansville appear on page 1C of today’s (2-28-2013) Evanville Courier&Press.

          The city is carrying $398,905,602.52 in long term debt. I am just going to round that up to $400. million for the sake of clarity.

          A $24.7 million sewer bond, and $22.2 million in Berry Plastics revenue bonds.

          Now Mayor Clueless wants to issue how much in additional bonds for a new downtown hotel?

          Can you spell bankruptcy? Too much debt, too few jobs!

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      • Just register basic information and there is NO fine. Here we go again making things worse than they are. Its amazing

        • I’m right there with you. One simple task but a hundred million ways to bulk. Seriously, this much commotion over an $0 ordinance would only make one less inclined to move into Evansville as it is given the general appearance of a city rife with slumlords.

        • Nope, just some good thinking before rushing through an ordiance that was still being written at 4:30 today. Is it too much to ask for governments to have something 72 hours before voting for it? Its not like Pearl Harbor was just bombed.

  3. They just finished letting those who oppose the ordinance speak. I did not see anyone who has been bashing this from their keyboard stand in public and say a word.

  5. Guess this means I will not be buying a house in Evansville. Other markets out there much more friendly to bringing in capital investments than this place. Sad really. No one likes to invest in a place that limits their choices and options.

    • Since you missed the meeting…Ordinance No.G-2013-3 (Amended) “AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR REGISTRATION OF RESIDENTIAL RENTAL BUILDINGS IN THE CITY OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA”…. From my understanding nothing in the readings handed out during the meeting reflect changes outside the city limits and at the county level (i.e.Darmstadt,Inglefield,McCutchanville).

    • If your “choice” means buying a house in a decent neighborhood, renting it and allow high weeds, trash, broken down cars in the yard and drug dealings, even curb service, etc., sorry we won’t miss you !

  8. You can get online and find out who owns a property in about 5 seconds. Who is paying for a redundant database and its upkeep?

    • Not always. There is a home in the neighborhood where the owners moved out of state in 2011. The assessor’s website still lists that they live at their old address. The home has been leased since early 2012 but you can’t tell that off the assessor’s website or any website. The home is being managed through a local leasing agency but that never appears on the assessor’s website nor are they listed as a supplemental address. The ONLY way you would know that this home is a rental is because they have a sign out in the yard stating “FOR LEASE”.

      • Why not knock on the door and ask the tenant where they send their rent check? Or calling the manager?

        Or for that matter, call the Treasurer. Or the Assessor. Just because their site isn’t updated doesn’t mean they don’t have the info.

        • SNORE……..dead horse Mr. Linzy, quit beating it into the ground. Google what end off story means, PLEASE!

        • All of that non sense was addressed tonight. By the council and their attorney, the city attorney, the landlords and their attorneys, and the Chief. At the end of all that PUBLIC discussion, those false assumptions were put to rest. The council passed it 9-0. Even the guy you were endorsing as a great leader yesterday said yes when they called his name. Why?

          Because the people most impacted by this agreed that the ordinance is good for them and the city. I know you will never say anything good about the government, but that is why they listen to everybody. Not just you.

        • Why don’t you nominate yourself to that task if you think it is so easy and have time on your hands. Run around and capture the leased property when they have a sign in the yard only when the home is vacant and then cross reference it to the assessor website. The point is there should be a master listing of all the rentals in place as the reason for the ordinance and the leasing agencies and landlords should be the ones to provide it in the first place! I know because I live in that neighborhood!

          • Oh and Mr.Brad Linzy…I already know they don’t have the information at the assessor’s office.

  9. The problem with posters like you is you always ignore all of the info that does not support your rubbish. Those who left their basements and came to the meeting heard the discussions. When the discussions were done, it was clear that this was not a duplicate database. It was also clear that you CANNOT always find the owners of properties in 5 seconds. The facts that support my statement were presented at the meeting. When the floor was open for comments, nobody in the room said anything that said otherwise. The landlords would have been all over it if there was. Landlords and landlord reps stepped up to the podium and thanked everyone who worked on this. Then they said they support it. Yes, there was one or two landlords that did not want their properties listed. But they were by far the minority in the room.
    You and Linzy just keep on with your anti-government agenda. The rest of us saw our government work well tonight. Many voices were heard. Many opinions were shared. Even Al said this was a good ordinance. Why, because working together for a common ground trumps basement belly aching any day of the week.
    And for the record, the credit goes to those who spent many hours working together to find a good compromise, not the chronic complainers.

  10. It would be helpful if the City County Observer posted a link to the text of the ordinance that passed tonight. I’ve heard so many conflicting statements regarding the language of the ordinance. Editorializing about it, whether as the editor or as one who posts comments below the article, and without knowing what the ordinance actually says is just brewing a tempest in a teapot.

    • Bill,
      The ordinance was orally amended tonight. The final version should be available tomorrow.

      • What is the rush? Why not take the time and get it right, if it even needs to be done. Is the apartment owners Attorney Wilhipe drafting the amendments?

        • Again, those who attended the meeting had these issues addressed. And then it passed. 9-0. Why do people on here keep saying the same thing over and and over and over? Maybe if you relied on someone other than Brad or these other agenda driven posters for your info, you would know what was REALLY going on. You would know that Whilhite endorsed the ordinance.

          • So you think nobody on the council knows what they passed? You think Al wrote his letter to the CCO and then just said yes for fun? Get real. The funniest part is you and the hate crew had no part of this process, but are full of negativity. There were two meetings just this week where you could have stood at the podium and voiced your concerns. Of course you would have had to take off your tin foil hat to get through the metal detector.

          • I agree. My complaints with the initial version of the ordinance have been addressed.

            I believe that a City should have a living document (or a database) that contains the basic contact information of our property owners in town. No city can conduct itself in any reasonable manner without having a good structured AND VALID list. Requiring everyone to get on a list to be enumerated is the most BASIC function of any government. That is the very core of this matter. And there is nothing anti-democratic, anti-republican, nor anti-libertarian (for Brad) about having an updated list of all landlords!

          • You have half a point. If Al voted for it, it must have gotten better, however as much as I have respect for my almost namesake, Mr. Lindsay, I will reserve judgement until I’ve read it. If it includes fines and annual license renewal, or any other nonsensical hoops, I suspect I still won’t like it. I don’t share most people’s appetite for negotiating with statists.

          • There is no license needed. No fee to be paid. Just a yearly update on the info. The C&P has something posted on their website about the version that passed.

          • Thanks for the lead. However, the C&P online site is so loaded down with advertising cookies, and whatever other worms they’ve buried on their home page, that it takes forever and a day to open a story link. When it finally did open, and I clicked on the hyperlink for the ordinance document, it took down my explorer program.

            For that and many other reasons, I just about never go to the online C&P any longer.

            I’ll check it out tomorrow. But thanks.

          • Inquiring Mind: Sounds like a dream… An Ordinance with absolutely no teeth. What are the fines for civil disobedience?

          • Why is Attorney Wilhite now running the City Counsil? It looked like he was spoon feeding Brinkerhoff Riley with all his amendments last night.

    • We will try to get one tomorrow. It was having amendments added up until the last hour today.

      • Thank you. For example, I asked earlier today, and was told that the latest version this fellow knew of exempted single family units, and only covered multi-family units. I’ve heard other conflicting interpretations, as well as things that don’t make sense.

        However, and having done thousands of deed searches and property ownership searches over the past 30 years, I know that finding a property owner at the assessor’s office can be very easy in some cases, and in other cases damn near impossible.

        This is particularly the case when an LLC ownes property, and especially difficult when out of town speculators have purchased property on tax sales and sheriff sales, and are renting the property out while sheltering their investment under ever-changing LLCs. Then you’re lucky to get a voicemail that usually is too full to take any more messages. But more often you get a “no longer in service” message.

        All the neighborhood orgs are trying to do is hold absentee landlords to the same standards as hometown landlords and homeowners. This is hard to do when certain absentee landlords ignore weed, trash, and building codes; and when the liens pile up on the tax records, they simply let the property go to the next tax sale, or change ownership to another LLC. In those cases, the taxpayer is the money loser while the neigbors suffer the blight.

        • Well said. Someone who has actually had the task of finding this info says it is not as easy as some keep trying to say it is.

        • Bill, you’re a sensible man, and as much as we disagree at times, I think you have the capacity for logic unfortunately not shared by many. Can you give me a good reason why a police officer, code enforcement, or anyone else might want to contact a property owner, whether LLC or out of state, that couldn’t simply be handled by existing means? If the lawn is high, auto on blocks, meth head tenants…whatever. Why not go through the existing procedures and fine them back in line or arrest the meth heads? If they don’t have an address to send the fines, the fines will pile up and a lien will be placed on the property until the problems are rectified. Problems not rectified? I guess it’s back to the auction block where any one of their complaining neighbors we be free to place their highest bid and take the problem property and stop b@&$ching about it and start putting their own capital where their mouths are. Am I missing something?

  11. I can’t believe this basic, common sense ordinance is producing such animosity and half truths that it has. Everything except registering is voluntary and now it’s all free too (kind of ironic because now other tax dollars will have to be used if this program needs any funding when it could have been self sufficient with this small fee).

    Voting for this ordinance… So easy a Mosby could do it!

    • I will say this much… If the final version came out even close to the utopian picture painted by Inquiring Mind – if its just a required database with no fines, fees, or other hoops of any kind and if its free to update information if and when you move, etc… Heck, sign me up. I love Big Brother too! Still not sure how it could be required and have no teeth, but I’ll play along…

      If this is the case, honestly, it looks like our side won.

      • PLEASE… this is the only story that I’ve ever commented back to you though I’ve read several of your comments all over this site.

        Everyone else MUST be unreasonable in your eyes though we explain the questions that you’ve asked (repeatedly). The common trend is you’ll NEVER BE SATISFIED AND MUST ALWAYS HAVE THE LAST WORD no matter WHO,HOW,WHY or WHAT anyone else says.

        If it will appease your ego then walk away as your side won.

        • I’m not gonna shut up or deny what I know because it’s unpopular. As for the last word… Nobody gets that. We all gotta die sometime.

          $100 fines per day will do precisely what I predicted in my Letter to the Editor. It will drive out capital from this City and have the effect of gentrification in the exact manner I predicted. Come back to this in 3-5 years, then we’ll talk.

          • The $100 fine per day is if you balk and do not provide…full legal name, post office address, e-mail address and work telephone number of each owner, property agent, manager or supervisor of the property. The address for each rental building owned by owners and the number of dwelling units in each building registered by May 31, 2013 or 20 days after becoming the owner of a property.

            This is the tentative wording for the ordinance as the Councilwoman and the editor stated previously they are still working on the final drafting of all amendments but that’s the information as it stands.

            The point is this is all simple information that any law-abiding,reasonable,reputable landowner would be willing to supply. How exactly is this information going to “drive out capital from this City and have the effect of gentrification”? Hyperbole much.

            In 3-5 years, I promise you’ll find me continuing to take care of my property and seeing that my neighborhood remains unblighted. I’m hopeful this ordinance will be the start. I want it to spearhead additional changes to help rectify some of the damage that has already happened in the other neighborhoods of the city. I can only see this in a positive light.

          • You know what is really funny about this… Your people keep bouncing from one foot to the other. First you say you want to remove the “slumlords”. Then when someone like me points out they are capital investors, albeit not ideal ones, and removing them will effectively remove capital propping up a segment of the housing economy in this City, you all change your tune and assert that you don’t want to drive people out after all, you just want to register them so you can “contact them” or expose who they are. Which is it? Do you want to rid the City of the “slumlords” or not? Pick a narrative and stick by it.

            There can be little doubt that if some of these people are as difficult to reach as you claim, you will be effectively stealing their property by excessive fines they will rack up not even realizing this Ordinance was passed. Was there talk of caps on the fines? I haven’t heard any yet. Again, I guess I’ll wait and see tomorrow on that, but one thing is for certain, if an investor had a pile of cash and he wanted to invest in the housing market of Evansville, IN or another market elsewhere, and if the decision was a close one, this Ordinance would tip the balance toward the City where he didn’t have to jump through hoops and dance like a bear. I’m sorry to be the one to have to teach you all this fundamental economic capitalist principle, but it’s the truth whether you like hearing it in your insular little worlds or not.

          • Talk about flip-flopping….”You people are bouncing from one foot to another”.
            Um, do you read your own comments.

            First, you complain that the ordinance is going to “drive out capital from this City and have the effect of gentrification”.

            Then in reference to the ordinance you stated, ” If it includes fines and annual license renewal, or any other nonsensical hoops, I suspect I still won’t like it. I don’t share most people’s appetite for negotiating with statists”.

            Next you took issue that the ordinace removed the registration fee- “Sounds like a dream… An Ordinance with absolutely no teeth. What are the fines for civil disobedience?”

            Once you are told there is still a $100 fee per day for failure to register the property your back to, “$100 fines per day will do precisely what I predicted in my Letter to the Editor.”

            Please, were it not your own words that stated “If they don’t have an address to send the fines, the fines will pile up and a lien will be placed on the property until the problems are rectified”.

            However, in this latest post “There can be little doubt that if some of these people are as difficult to reach as you claim, you will be effectively stealing their property by excessive fines they will rack up not even realizing this Ordinance was passed.”

            Let me make it absolutely clear to you. The ordinance meeting demonstrated that the majority of landlords are on board with the ordinance. You weren’t there, you don’t own property. With all due respect, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

        • Lucky one, this is his ammo, ask anyone who has been reading his rants for months. No matter what questions you answer and no matter how many times you answer his SAME question, he will twist and turn at every corner to try and confuse the issue. He NEVER adds anything productive. He is a chronic complainer who thinks everyone is out to get him. Paranoia and hypothetical living is where he resides. So, congratulate him on his hypothetical win and enjoy the rest of your day.

      • This ordinance just makes it easier to CONTACT the owners. The database will be in 1 place and have basic info of a REAL name, current phone number, and email address. What used to take days and weeks will now take seconds. That’s called being more efficient. And please do not duplicate your debunked argument that it can be easily found at the assessor or treasurers offices.
        Monty Fetter was on TV saying this is a win for everyone involved. “Involved” being the key word.
        Instead of continually changing your reason for being against something that everyone else seems to agree on, please give a logical reason to be against it. And please, no TV or YouTube links.

        • I beg your pardon, but couldn’t somebody just provide the basic information they’ve already provided to the assessor and satisfy this new requirement? I’m still just not getting the motivation behind this.

          • Did you just gloss over the example I gave earlier to this same question?

            There are cases where even the assessor’s office is NOT notified of ownership and information is not current. When the assessor’s office does have the correct address they wouldn’t have email or a phone number on file.

            This should be the responsibility of the rental agencies and landlords to provide ALL information for this listing as it comes directly from the source instead of a third party.

          • Right, and my point is won’t you have the exact same problem? You’ll just now have a new database of people that keep things on the up & up anyway.

    • Good god, YOU are awake at 2:41 still putting your two cents in? I thought the fact that your child was suck and you had to miss the meeting would have kept you quiet for at least a day. Must really boil your a## that this passed. By the way what do you care, you won’t buy a house in Evansville anyway….remember????? Go to sleep you have a lot of packing to do. Aren’t you moving to Palm Springs guitar man?

    • You once again missed the opportunity to speak your mind because you said your child was sick. Now you want to put your rants on here. You have a serious problem Mr. Linzy. Will you ever make a meeting? I highly doubt it. If you cant walk the walk don’t do the talk. PLEASE!!!!

    • Are you a homeowner or property owner in Vanderburgh County or the city of Evansville? Are you a renter in either? Or are you just on here because this is just one of many sites you like to play your game on?
      I used to think you were serious about what you said. But after this issue and all of your posts, I am convinced this is all fun and games to you. The more ridiculous your comments , the more attention you get.
      BTW, love the red Chuck Taylors.

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