Some situations in the policymaking square require swift action. The vast majority of them do not.

Those actions not requiring swift action allow for much needed deliberation among stakeholders.

Case in point, Butler Councilman Don Shearer has been working slowly for more than 5 months to craft a local ordinance to address what he sees as concerns in the local rental housing market.

The program would prevent blight, improve property maintenance, reduce slum housing, promote tenant empowerment, strengthen the rental market and boost tenant-landlord relations, Shearer told fellow city council members in September.

During a workshop last week, he provided an example of how a related new rental unit inspection ordinance would help firefighters.

Butler firefighters were unsure of how many individuals were residing in a rental unit that burned on Locust Street in November, Shearer said, because the unit’s occupancy report was not up to date in the city’s database.

Shearer said inspections would prevent a situation such as the one on Locust Street.

While this sounds reasonable, the landlords who would be impacted by such an ordinance deserve a voice.

And a voice they got. Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy said during an October meeting the city may consider having open forum sessions regarding the proposal, so officials and landlords can talk back and forth about a possible ordinance. He said the city could model an open forum session after its meetings regarding the sale of Butler Area Sewer Authority last year.

After one such session with a number of landlords in November, Shearer worked with landlord and real estate agent John Kramer to revamp the language of the drafted ordinance.

Shearer said the draft he presented at the November meeting, which laid out a procedure that would require landlords to report when a tenant moves out of their property and trigger an inspection by a city inspector, had been “completely gutted.”

In the intervening months, Shearer has had meetings with Kramer and alerted district judges that the city is working on an inspection ordinance.

More than 30 people attended the informal meeting last week to hear about changes to the draft.

Larry Rogers said he was representing landlords at the meeting. He said the landlords would cooperate with the city regarding documents about occupancy, but he would fight against having landlords themselves pay the city to have their units inspected.

Shearer said there would likely still be some time before he formally brings a proposal to council.

“I want a working relationship with landlords in the city,” Shearer said. “I’m not looking to go to war with them.”

This is a perfect example of working with stakeholders to find common ground to address a concern for the greater good.

— RJ