Butler City Council gave final approval Thursday, April 25, to an ordinance implementing guidelines for landlords and tenants of rental properties in the city. The new guidelines will go into effect Jan. 1, and council can amend parts of the ordinance until it is officially implemented.

The ordinance requires the conditions of residential units be reported to the city before tenant occupancy, and includes requirements that could apply penalties for violations, both on the part of tenants and landlords.

Councilman Don Shearer proposed the ordinance after spending months speaking with area landlords to create guidelines which they agree would be reasonable to implement. Before the first vote in March, Shearer had several meetings with landlords of properties in the city to hear feedback about the ordinance and its implementation.

Shearer said Thursday he plans to bring a draft of the property condition report checklist, which will be used to evaluate properties come next year, to next month’s meeting, but council doesn’t have to approve it until November. Shearer also said there have been no changes to the ordinance since the city approved it for the first time in March.

“It gets everybody a head start on it, and then we’ll spend the rest of the year working with the different departments on how this gets implemented,” he said. “It’s been on the city’s radar for 20 years.”

Mayor Bob Dandoy also said an ordinance that would give the city a method of dealing with troubled properties is long overdue.

“This is something that should have been done a long time ago,” Dandoy said.

The passage of the ordinance for the final time Thursday without any outcry — or attendance at all — at the meeting led Shearer to label the creation and approval of the ordinance a collective success.

“It’s amazing what happens when people are willing to work together to reach a common goal,” Shearer said.