City Council, November 17, 1994
A special session of the City Council is held Thursday, November 17, 1994, at four thirty-eight o’clock p.m. All the members are present except Councilors Doyle, Kinder, and Rabbitt; and President Barry presides.
Also in attendance are Mayor Robert E. Metivier; Jack Gannon, City Solicitor; Frank Milos, Assistant City Solicitor; Michael Cassidy, Director of Planning and Redevelopment; Frank Rendine, Director of Zoning and Code Enforcement; Senators William Irons, Joseph Montalbano; Senator-Elect Thomas Coderre; Representatives Elaine Coderre, Mabel Anderson, William SanBento; and Representative-Elect David Cicilline; and former Councilor John Q. Calista, Jr.
Communication from John J. Barry, III, President Pawtucket City Council, calling a special session of the City Council on Thursday, November 17, 1994, to discuss sub-standard housing issues is READ AND ORDERED FILED.
The Council discusses with the Administration and Members of the Pawtucket Delegation problems of prosecuting Housing Violations.
Jack Gannon and Mayor Metivier suggest that legislation be submitted to appoint a special master to handle housing matters on the Superior Court level. This person, whose responsibilities would solely be housing code violations throughout the state, would take more interest in these matters than the Superior Court currently does. Cities and towns could get quicker action on their hearings.
Mayor Metivier recommends increasing fines for these violations as a way of combating them.
Mr. Gannon suggests that the appeal process be changed so that instead of having de novo hearings at the Superior Court level, it would be administrative appeals where there would be a review of the municipal hearing as opposed to a brand new hearing. Mr. Gannon also suggests changing ordinances which allow appeals of Mr. Rendine’s decisions to the Board of Appeals. This would shorten the time these cases take to be finally adjudicated.
Councilor Demopulos wants to find some way to prevent new rental units from being built. He believes that the best way to stop violations is to cut off the supply of these units.
Mr. Rendine suggests amending the ordinances to include a "quality of repair work" section, because many people do patch work repairs to violations, and he has no vehicle for rejecting those repairs if he does not feel they are adequate.
Councilor Hodge suggests notifying the mortgage holder, along with the property owner, on any violations.
Senator Irons believes the banks will require an added cost on all mortgages to cover the cost of monitoring these violations and they will question the percentage of mortgages which have problems which would necessitate this change in procedure. This would be to determine whether it is worthwhile to put in this new procedure and charge all mortgage holders for it.
Councilor Hodge believes that mortgage holders would be glad to know of violations on these properties, because it would give them an idea of the condition these properties are in. He also suggests that insurance companies could be notified as well, because they would be interested in helping put pressure on the owners to keep their properties in good repair. He believes that anyone who can be brought in to the process that will help put pressure on these property owners to keep their houses up to standard is beneficial to the cities and towns.
Upon Motion made by Councilor Vieira, seconded by Councilor Bray, the meeting is adjourned at five thirty-six o’clock p.m.