001the city council and City administrator in man matters affecting renters in the city the Anarbor renters commission is made up of voting members who are appointed by the mayor and approved by city council two non-voting Cil city council Liaisons two non-voting members representing different landlord perspectives and a non-voting representative to the University of Michigan Student Legal servatives oh sorry services to speak during any of the public comment opportunities you'll be able to speak through the webinar link or by phone depending on your method of access to this meeting for phone access please call 877- 85352 47 or a1941 to be called on to speak callers must press star9 if listening by phone or use the rais hand feature if viewing through the web link a2gov.org rter commission meeting you'll then be called upon by staff
002one by one using the last three digits of your phone number or by usern name if available for those accessing through the web link you'll hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak please state your name at the beginning of your comments City staff will indicate when callers have 30 seconds left of their three minute comment period after three minutes they'll be placed on mute so that we can proceed to the next speaker moving on to roll call commissioner Lowe's commissioner Els here in an arbor commissioner dran here in an arbor commissioner Ratcliffe I'm here commissioner Chen I'm D CH and Orlando Florida I'm on a flight layover oh wow um council member Rina said that he couldn't make it today um and council member Harrison also wasn't sure if she'd
003be able to make it um commissioner good here and I'm in an arbor commissioner Pence here an aror um let's see commissioner Lea said that she could not be here today commissioner wood here and in an arbor and commissioner Larsson e here in an arbor hey welcome everyone and I'm a little jealous of Dan Dan there in [Music] Orlando all right is there we have two separate um meeting notes to approve because the the there was a problem with the ones from August I'll go ahead with September 1 um so is there well oh sorry is there a motion to approve the agenda as prescribed sorry a motion to move to approve the agenda the agenda or okay sorry it was just to improve the agenda okay I'll second thank you um is there anyone
004who wants to comment on the agenda all right so pleas we're going to vote on the agenda approving the agenda uh please unmute and say yes if you approve of the um tonight's agenda yeah yes yes yes all right if anyone opposed please say nay all right great so the the agenda is approved for tonight um now is the approval of the minutes and we'll do I know that there was a problem with accessing um the minutes from August 15 was anyone able to access those I know Kristen was working on getting them attached no then sorry about that um they are published online and I've reattached them to this agenda um so it's updated but I completely understand if you want to postpone again yeah we we'll postpone to the November meeting for approving
005the August meeting minutes if that's okay with everyone so that way you get a chance to read them over yeah okay and so can I we'll move on to the September meeting minutes um does anyone want to move to approve the September minutes I I have a I have a comment okay the link the link in my minutes did did not go to anything that had the minutes attached for the September ones either right oh and I'm sorry but I didn't really look at this until you know to late today so I was looking at and I was was going over other things on the agenda that were attached um did the September link work for for anyone no not for me I was able to open August but not September oh my okay then
006if it's okay how how about we postpone the September um minutes to no approval in November as well is that all right chis Kristen absolutely Barbara U may I make the suggestion that um just to make sure that we all see this rather than putting these links in couldn't couldn't they just be attached like the other what was it what was the attachment um other words couple of attachments to um the agenda for today's meeting so could they just be attached as PDFs sure they could but we also have to make sure that they're able to be um accessed by the general public too and so that's that's a really major concern um as well so we do need to have the links and the the PDF okay yeah okay um so we'll just go
007ahead and move on to the first general public comment just a second here okay um public comment can be made um by phone at 877 5247 or 888 78899 and entering meeting ID 935 941 or by joining the zoom meeting at the zoom link which is A2 go.org g/ runter commmission meeting callers can press star9 to raise their hand to be called on um if joining from the zoom link please use the raiseed hand feature we'll give it just a minute in case anybody's logging on there are no callers okay then moving forward to unfinished business um well there isn't anything listed on the agenda I think it would be nice to hear how the green Fair went didn't I'll go because I guess I was there most of the time I feel like we
008had a pretty good um it was a pretty good location we were kind of right in the middle so we had a lot of folks that walked by the weather started raining and of course when we got a tent to cover us it stopped and it was beautiful all night so that was you know the way things always are but um we connected with a lot of folks I think there were a lot of folks that feel really frustrated that there still aren't more protections for renters we heard a lot about um affordability and affordable housing and lots of stories of people saying you know I'm having to move out of the city because I can't afford to live here and so I know that we we Center that in our work and I think
009that um makes sense we did have some folks that filled out sticky notes it was a very busy movement Through the Fair so I think compared to other events we didn't we didn't have as much lengthy engagement with folks as we do um sometimes but we did get some sticky notes and Kristen has um that board I don't know Kristen if there anything that it feels that you know we forgot to look at it at the end of the night as we were packing it up if there was anything that's kind of new or different on it um we should take note of that but I would say we probably talked to almost 150 people would be my guess with there were three or four of us there at all times um and people were
010interested they wanted to hear most of them and if they weren't we just said you know keep in mind that this entity does exist and I think that's also um good to get around town as well so it was it was was a good event I would say Hannah um Kimberly anything to add at all yeah no I agree with Jordan I I think we had a lot of people that were walking by um I would like to add I think I think we talked about having a bigger sign that says the rentur commission yeah I think a bigger sign would be nice um and we did engage more we did kind of walk out and start talking to more people um so a lot of people you know gave us some good responses so
011um we'll have to just look at that list to see exactly what other people said okay yeah I think we we gave out all of the we had a physical copy of the tenants rights and duties I think we ran out of them or like the current edition that we had printed so maybe next year just increase that by a little bit so we have more to hand out okay um do you think that it would be more appropriate to talk about the meeting in attendant or the green fair and the comments people left in attendant Education meeting or um trying to fit it into a regular meeting maybe we could review the input we got on the board at attendant education committee meeting and more formally bring it to the full meeting here okay
012yeah I [Music] agree all right then we'll send out a a wi to meet for that for that I know that it's pretty busy leading up to election time for Kristen so yeah let's try that um afterwards Julia uh this is just if we're done with that I had something else oh okay then yeah I'll just send out a win to meet for after the election go ahead it so under unfinished business we're still not at full capacity right it sounded like when you were reading through the list like we've still got a number of vacancies right um we I was going to mention this in the chair notes but in um we do have someone who's interested from HH ASB to attend but they're but they're non voting member um or would be a
013non- voting member but at least that's it's a vacancy and it's a perspective that we've been wanting to have at the meetings for for quite some time so that's a a good thing um we have a couple of people who look like they'd be good candidates as renters on the commission and we're waiting to hear back whether or not um they still want to serve on the commission so hopefully in you know in hopefully in November we'll have the the last of the member voting members um what is it join the commission although we still do need the lawyer the the attorney is one that is just really hard one because there are basically none um and so maybe I mean and we can talk about you know changing the bylaws or we could talk
014about asking Gail to join as that position and have the non- voting lawyer an open [Music] position well because um the rental under new business um rental Housing Services had to postpone till next month um we can use this to just slide right on into talking about the bylaws because that's where membership is is and that was one of the reasons why we wanted to talk about the bylaws this meeting anyway was because of the the couple of positions that had been really difficult to fill the non the non- voting ones but we have hhb but possibly um you know do would we want the um attorney position to be voting or keep a non-voting attorney position and put in a new renter um as a voting member to try to so that we can
015try to have Quorum um that was like I think one of the main yeah that was one of the main reasons why we wanted to discuss the [Music] bylaws um so we just go ahead and officially if no one else has any more old business to discuss we'll just go ahead and officially move into talking about the bylaws all right um Kristen is it possible to bring the bylaws up to the screen please yes hold on just a moment I think we're down when we talked yesterday Kristen was it two voting members yes yeah so that's why we need to try to get them approved um we'll make sure they're interested and get them approved otherwise have to go back to looking do application and seeing if there's anyone new um also figuring out um
016is it this is this is now the third meeting that Jeff has missed unfortunately and I know that he's a teacher with the school district and that the summer you know it's the only time off but I did email him the other day and I haven't heard back yet yet um and so I know previously we've gone and said you know three meeting looked at the bylaws and it was three absences I think it was and they were and we were supposed to request their removal do we want to wait one more month with Jeff and see if he's able to come up for air um or do we want to have a third official vacancy well who who else is missing well Michelle had a meeting tonight and she emailed um she emailed me
017and let me know and think I think that's it of the voting members so that's so there's three vacancies it well there's two vacancies for voting members and then there's Jack who he's technically not a vacancy but he's also not here tonight so if there's six of us here tonight plus Michelle and Jeff that's eight and the we're supposed to be 11 so I'm seeing um on the list here we have council member Rina and Harrison non voting um Kimberly Pitts voting rosanita Ratcliffe voting Julia good voting Barbara wood voting and then I'm seeing Jeff Hannah voting Jordan and Robert non voting um Dandan Michelle voting Gail non voting and then vacant vacant voting vacant non voting hhsb rep and then vacant attorney renters advocate so for a total of three voting vacancies and one
018non- voting vacancy Jordan I think you know as kind of strategizing here like if we are going to amend the bylaws obviously that's one strategy the problem to name for people who are new of course is that if we don't have the six voting then we don't meet Quorum and we can't essentially hold a a as productive meeting because we can't vote on things we can still have a meeting but it's just kind of fluff and nothing can be voted on so even including past minutes so I think we have to decide with that like I I don't if we don't even have people applying for the three vacancies I don't feel a real rush to like remove Jeff unless we're saying that we're really going to decrease the number on the commission um to
019make the Quorum number less does that make sense to folks or is are other people seeing that the same way I guess that's kind of just my initial thoughts about it but I didn't know what other people had in mind for like what are we considering for Amendment like would the proposed amendment be to go down to nine or something so that then forum's five I don't know kind of what other thoughts are think what other thoughts people are having but that was just kind of my precursory thinking about it tonight Julia so I'm not interested in removing Jeff today I you know it would be great if you could talk to him because he has been involved um but uh I don't know that the number needs to come down in the commission we
020have had applicants there have been applicants all along and they haven't been seated and I I think it needs to come before the commission why they're not being seated well there were a number of applicants who only gave like one line for one of for why they wanted to be on the commission and it's very hard to go from that whereas others who we have reached out to you know they've given like a really great paragraph sometimes more than that um that really speaks as to why they want to serve on the commission right like to me it's not the best fit if someone says oh I just want to serve on the commission because I think it'd be cool yeah um when I'm when I'm looking at the applications I'm looking for substance I'm
021looking to see you know are a are you a renter right for the the renting position which your experience been as a renter because it could be a great experience it could be a horrible experience but I just want to know something about your experience and also why you really want to be on the commission Beyond it seems like it'd be great or you know oh I just want to learn something at like give a few sentences um and unfortunately we haven't received that in in a lot of the applications um also I'd rather wait and see if we can hear from Jeff um I just brought it up because it was it was something in the past um with past membership but I really would prefer to wait and see if we can hear
022from Jeff because like you said he's been a really active member he was the one who was attending the hhb meetings because we didn't have someone from hhb coming to our meetings um and so yeah Jordan is there like I I hear what you're saying and I share concerns about that but I guess I don't I don't fully understand the legalities or like how um so maybe Kristen can guide us like is there an opportunity for you as the chair to say hey Jill I saw your renters commission application and I like is there an opportunity to have a conversation with folks who like cuz if someone applies to me that's that shows a decent amount of Interest the application isn't time we all know we've all filled it out so I wonder if there
023is a possibility to like try to have a conversation with folks who have applied but haven't given us enough information to like feel like we can make a decision as a commission um I don't know I don't know if that like violates law or if there's opportunity or enough information to do that so maybe Kristen can kind of help um but that's something that kind of comes to mind to me when I say someone took the step to apply and it doesn't seem like enough to say we recommend them full force but a conversation that's even 15 or 20 minutes could do that and I don't know because I know that historically in the I mean historically in the past couple of years that the commission has existed it oper how it Cho it's chosen
024its membership is different than how we do it on Kodi where on Kodi we actually have um of course you know we we have the council members and um the chair and um our sta the staff leaders um who go through the applications but there's also kind of a small committee um as well who also gets to see the applications and talk to the person before they come um to to gauge their interest and to see if they be a fit where there is more information given than what's on the application and then um there and then if the that smaller committee feels as though that person is a good fit then they're invited to speak at one of the Codi meetings to introduce themselves and answer any questions from the rest of the commission
025um and then we vote on them on that um we vote on whether or not we'd like them to join the commission at that meeting and then that person is put for um and then our city council member um moves that forward to the mayor so it's a much more say it's a much more involved Democratic process within the commission itself on deciding who else is a member of the commission um so if you guys want that changed more like that then that's something that I'm I'm open to I was just going the way the RoR commission was doing it before [Music] we also have someone who is not the the chair who also is the person who follows up with the applicants before their um as well so that's another thing um does anyone
026have any comments or concerns heard um well is that something that we could um talk more about to change the bylaws I mean if it's working if that system is working and and you're able to um uh you know get a better idea of who these people are as you're going through this interview process because it doesn't I mean it doesn't look like people are knocking down the doors get on this commission and uh but I was going to ask um Jordan did anybody at that green event uh indicate any interest in joining the commission we didn't get anybody I did I did mention it to I'd say probably between 15 and 20 people that were like engaging in particular you know I think we've been kind of low on like active current student voice
027being that they're 50% of the renters um so anybody that engaged for an extended period I did unfortunately we did have a QR code that had the application on it and that QR code was did not it was defunct it didn't work um but for those folks that I had mentioned it to when we still had the rights and duties booklets left I actually made a note of like what to Google search to find the way to apply did have people that we connected with specifically and said like you seem really interested we could use your voice so that that part of the the fair was pretty productive it felt like I don't know if we've gotten any applications since then it might be able we might be able to Loosely link but um I
028see Kimberly's got a hand up and she was there too so I'll yeld the floor to her but we we did mention it okay Kimberly um yeah I was just going to agree with Jordan you know we're we're getting you know what we're getting is what we're going to have to deal with so we may have to look at the you know changing the bylaw if that's what it takes but I think we should talk to the people that did apply I mean we we just don't know if they're applying like you said that they're they're interested right which is why I brought up how we do it on a different Commission because it is it it's a much different process than how it was historically done on the renters commission yeah um and there's
029nothing in the bylaws that I saw that said that it can't happen that way it was like I said it was I was just doing it the same way as before right no and I I get that that's that's not a problem that's why we're here like yeah maybe we do need to change some stuff make it easier Julia I just you know that there isn't anything in the bylaws about it and Lucy who was vice president or vice chair before me um complained that there there were applicants and that when it was put forward Travis said no the process was going through him and then when I came on as Vice chair and there were applicants and I said I think we should take people as as they apply and he again said no
030you don't have a role in it that it's City council's decision and I'm not supposed to be putting forward anyone um so I do feel a little bewildered by that and you know there there were applicants and and they were held off it took a year even though there was a vacancy for the whole year it took a year before I was accepted even though I had applied the first day like there was openings me too the board was never full um I I'm looking at the I'm looking at article 4 section 48 right now and it really it's one paragraph that kind of scrunches everything together it's not very clear that was the one thing that I noticed when I was reading through this today uh that it's not really very clear and it's
031it's something that we could massage to work out better for us you know in a in a way that sounds more like something that uh rosanita is talking about with this other committee uh do you do you have that I mean I've got a copy here in front of me but if you could scroll to um article it's d8 uh four DH it's the last it's the last one in article four it's the last four yeah 4.8 right it says consistent with City code of one 171 when one or more city council members are appointed as members of or of or Liaisons to a border commission the Border commission shall designate a group consisting of the city council members and one or more voting members of the board or commission to review applications for membership
032on the board or commission this group May submit recommendations for appointments to the mayor or the city council for appointments made by city council from among the applications received or reviewed so it can be a group it doesn't have to be just me or just me and Dan Dan um you know the chair and the vice chair being the person who is reviewing the um the applications as well it can be like a membership committee so should could we flush that out a little bit you know explain that a little bit more so that um maybe things could start moving along to approve people um I mean do you well or do you think that that works the way it's is well I was just gonna say our John the attorney isn't City attorney isn't
033here tonight so I'm gonna ask Christen if if she knows if there's anything we have to do what's the question sorry um you know previously it was how we were selecting the the um new members was it was like the city council members and the chair basically right and we're one but in Kodi I don't know the other commissions but I know Kodi it's actually a membership committee and how we do it um and so is it possible for us to go and switch from the way that legally is it possible to switch from the way we're doing it now to a more inclusive format of with other voting members of the um the commission being included yeah I don't see how it would be um a violation of the bylaws it just says to
034designate a group and I think that that's what you're describing um as long as one um um one or more voting members and then both city council members were included in the group I don't see an issue with that okay not to put our city council member on the spot is this something that um we should discuss a little bit further um but I do know that we have two people who are in the pipeline right now and um this is something that we should change for what's or look at changing for how it comes because we also know ultimately the recommendations come from the city council members in the end or should we wait until there's a night that Travis is here too uh oh you're on mute can you hear me yes sorry
035about that you know I what is your question I'm sorry repeat your question I was well ultimately the recommendation goes from the city council members to the mayor but it's how we get the recommendations to the city council members that we're talking about changing where we have it more of a discussion between a smaller Committee of voting members on the renters commission as opposed to just me being or the chair being the person from the renters commission saying hey this would be a good fit it' be somebody who sees the the others could see the application or somebody else sees the applications and actually talks with the prospective person um and has a conversation with them if their application isn't as complete as we may like to try to fill some of those vacancies because
036we just we continuously vacant yeah I thought we actually had a couple people going through the process right now am I am I wrong about that I'm we have noticeably trying yeah we have two people who are trying who um were recommended who were trying to see if there still um interested but if something happens or Jeff's um says that he no longer wants to be or can or can can no longer serve right because school year is rough um if for what happens after these two um what we're talking about to try to hurry that process along a little bit so it doesn't say in the bylaws that it specifically has to be just one person from the commission is that correct right you know I'm uncomfortable answering this question without having spoken to
037my peer first so um I mean it sounds like you all would like a part in reviewing the application I mean ultimately it does it is going to come to us city council before we make a recommendation to the mayor um I'm uh unfortunately it sounds like we didn't even with the green Fair we didn't we didn't get anybody interested is or do we do we have folks that that are interested that just put one line is that what I heard you say we yeah some of it it's it's where they've like some of what they've put isn't necessarily relevant to the renters Commission because they applied for multiple commissions or they may have put one line or two lines and so it's a bit harder to figure out why they want to serve specifically
038on the renters commission and so I was just kind of like pushing those to the side and going to the ones where they had more substance in the written part of the application and I think that's how it's been going but it's also made it a lot more difficult ult to find a member a voting member uh do you do you feel um comfortable making a call to those I mean I understand the logic behind um looking at applications I mean it's if somebody's applying for a job we're probably going to consider the substance of an application so so you know if an application I'm not looking at these applications that you're speaking of but if it's incomplete um but yet we're having trouble filling a spot I mean I guess it would wor be
039worth reaching out um is that something that either you or Dan Dan possibly could could do to try to what what do y'all think Ian like you know we we we we want we definitely want someone on the commission that is um at least in the beginning would like to be committed is is committed and that they um seem like someone that's going to be make make a a good addition to the team I don't know if any of what I'm saying is helping right now I I I think it would be worth a phone call um to those I don't know how many applications though we have that look like that I'm I'm I I I'm I'm speaking with limited information here so I probably didn't answer your question either did I you ask
040me to weigh in I I can't I can't really answer the question that you're it it seems I'm I'm sorry I should just stop talking right now [Music] um perhaps you should reach out and see if you can find more information that was than than was filled out on the application if we are in that much of a need to fill a spot that we don't even know is going to be EMP to yet and I'm talking about the third spot right uh Julia I just feel that it's it's we've been chronically not full um and that it would be great to be full it does make it easier to function and I think it would be great if a group of us or the chair and the vice chair or whoever um from the
041commission started going through the old applications last year we had good applications I thought they were really strong candidates and none of them um were chosen um so I would like to go through the the old list and and get some recommendations and then if the council members are not willing to take them forth to city council that's a different matter yeah that would be to me I think it they're two diff it's it is a different matter because ultimately you know they will they will go to council I mean I you know I don't I mean I I feel like I see there could be a benefit and if we have some folks that are willing to maybe you know I guess it it it would be helpful to go through the applications and
042see if folks are my thing would be if folks are even still interested you know people move on you know they I mean to just try to see like what is a real application what's a viable application and what is not I mean to me I I feel like that's um an exercise that has some value to it is anyone here willing to do that or do you all wanna and again I'm I'm talking to you without speaking to my peer so I almost this this really probably would have been I you know I'd rather actually the two of us talk about this if that makes sense because I you know I it sounded like Travis said something to someone was it that he said um it is our what exactly did he say about
043is was it to you Julia yeah when we uh this is a year ago uh Kristen sent out some of the old applications that had never been responded to and and we'd had vacancies all along and um I asked about reaching out to the people and seeing who was still interested um and he said no that was his job to do and that it wasn't something I had a role in being able to do all right so okay so we really should be I'm sorry rosanita chair rosanita chair um I probably should have referred your question to not at this moment while my my peer is not here with me let me you know I I asked him did he reach out to you I think he was gonna be running late he did share
044with me he was gonna be running late I asked he said that he wasn't gonna be able to be here tonight oh okay and so that was part of my question is what was should before decisions a specific decision is made like a yes or a no shook because ultimately it who gets passed along in the end does come from city council was and TR it it does from us to the mayor from to the May because it goes from the city council members to the mayor and then the mayor put decides whether to put it on the agenda and then it's voted on by the city council at city council meeting it's kind of a very bureaucratic process if you will I just I I just want to I have sorry I have to
045interrupt you because I'm I'm reading this line over I mean this paragraph over and over again and it doesn't say that it's the job of one person um on the city council the city it's not the job of the city council member specifically to do that it says right here that well first of all um this um group is supposed to be designated uh the board or commission shall designate a group consisting of the city council members plural and one or more voting member of the commission to review applications for membership okay so that's the first step so my suggestion first of all would be rather than needing two both city council members to be on this committee that's reviewing the applications if you just require that one city council member sit in on this
046uh this committee that's going to review the applications with one or more representatives of um our commission and then you come up with people that you would like to put forth but it is the group that may submit recommendations for appointments to the mayor or to the city council for appointments made by the city council but the group can submit recommendations to the mayor so Travis can't say well you know it's got to go through me I don't think that's they they come to us they come to the leaz on on Council before they get to the mayor then then this is wrong this is I think um Kristen is it possible to I think maybe we need to table this and actually ask John Riser the legal the legal aspect of it I was
047just gonna say we do need to T I'm I'm we not to make the but yeah we we need to table the discussion especially since um we are now we're really it looks like we're talking about filling a third seat that's may not even be open I mean it's something this is a this is a viable conversation we we need to you know determine but I there's yes I agree attorney Riser is not here I've gotta you know check I you know I think I've got this correct but I've gotta you know check with my peer especially since he said what he said to Julia I just it was it will not be resolved tonight so we're just spending time on this and I've actually gota I've actually I was hoping Travis and I would
048overlap I've got to hop off around 8:30 I I wasn't aware that he wasn't going to be here he he had shared with me that he was um going to be running late so yeah I was hoping we would overlap but it doesn't look like we will tonight so it's been a good discussion I appreciate it Julia um so it looks like on this part um Christian you gonna help us get some clarification um from John about our language should change or something about what the right process can be um the the other issue is the what's now defined is the voting attorney position and you know Gail's not here right now but at one meeting she did kind of offhandedly say that she would be willing to resign from her position and if she
049could get appointed to the voting attorney position um so I guess we need some clarification too on if there's rules about that and and I'm willing to double check with her and make sure she's still interested in that the position she's currently in is a UFM position it's not specifically for an attorney and we could ask U ofm to appoint some someone from student government or something well it has to be from the legal services it's not what the paragraph says it says legal services or an appointee okay I must have WR that wrong then um I do think it's good having someone from Legal Services well but if Gail's a voting member yeah Jordan I would not mind that idea I I do think central student government or is is a good idea it
050also could potentially be helpful for like the off-campus housing program to have an actual person here because part of the problem I think is that you know off-campus housing doesn't hear what we are hearing a lot of the time and so when policies are made for example about how the university runs off campus housing a lot of the times the information that we hold and have could be helpful for them to know so I would not be against Gail moving into the I mean obviously she's not here we're talking about her without her being here I would not be against Gail moving into that role and my request as somebody who's been in the system would be that we would consider um somebody like maybe Mark Simmons too because Mark also has a really great
051background in that he worked for Avalon before he came to the university so he he has had his hand in lots of different pots I don't know if he'd be willing to do it but somebody like that that is doing kind of the dean of students work working on off-campus housing has his background like somebody like that I think would be actually a really useful a for them to hear from us and be for us to have that kind of experience that isn't just because Student Legal Services all they hear is the problems and that's great we need to work on those but it also is helpful as we're formulating policy to have somebody who can say and this is how this other piece works when it's not a problem like I don't know I
052feel like that is kind of a valuable thing that we could consider something good that's working you mean not necessarily good that's working but you know yes is but bringing somebody that has the like normal normal student leasing interface is a little bit different than somebody who handles all the problem student leasing interface if that makes sense like those are two so off-campus housing does all the housing fairs they do they're they're forward facing with students in a broader broader a smattering of rental experiences and of course I think Gail's opinion on this would be very helpful like if Gail thinks that that they couldn't bring anything to the table that she can't then that's not helpful um so it may be good to also ask scale that but I think that might be something
053to consider because I've often found that at times the off-campus housing program is a little bit out of touch with kind of the things that we are um like the issues that are facing because they don't hear so if if there were more collaboration for my perspective that's always has been a helpful thing so um and and I say out of touch but not not with blame just with kind of the logistics of how good things go problems go and the mix of them all it just might be helpful for more Community collect then maybe what we should do is table this part of the bylaws discussion for next month when Gail is here to see if she's still okay with switching her her role and also asking about um her um opinion on I
054guess which department would be best to um potentially approach for U ofm spot how does that sound sounds good okay all right um from what I knew there was really the big part of the bylaws had to do with membership and so if there isn't anything else um then we can move forward onto the next part of the agenda so we can hopefully get a brief Council update before council member Harrison has to leave Julia oh I if council member Harrison wants to go ahead and give her a report I just have another comment about the bylaws but it can wait it I actually don't have anything to report on unfortunately we have not um yeah I don't have an update actually I thought junk Fe was getting close it I mean we're we are
055we are it is getting close but there's no recent update unfortunately on junk fees y we we've still we've still um we still had some meetings that um with stakeholders that we have to have so getting close but not any closer does that does that make sense I know one of the questions was if we could if it was something that we were going to look forward to seeing by the end of this calendar year or should we just be more under the assumption that it's going to happen sometime after January so that we can kind of work on focusing on other things like the bylaws and I mean and stuff I would I I don't think it's a bad idea to to to put some Focus towards the bylaws because I mean what where
056it's at right now is it's it's stapped with us so what do you know what I mean like it doesn't make sense any doesn't make any sense to me this is me my opinion for y'all to not work on the bylaws because we because it's stopped here with us we're we're you know we're still um working with attorney Riser we're I mean we we're very close and to answer your question by the end of the year possibly I this is again something that's that would it would be great but don't you know hold me to it so if if we could set a goal for the end of the year um I could say yes but again I'm sitting here without my peer so I don't I can't speak for both of us what I
057am saying is that it it it's it's not moved any further and we we you know there's a lot going on right now as we know and so we we still have some meetings that we have to have um with some stakeholders so I would getting to the holidays which is also a bad maybe the election then we've got the holidays so I mean it's you know you know it could be the end of the year could be the beginning of next I'm I would love to see it by the end of the year but that relies I on a few things that are not fully within my control so sorry but I I wouldn't wait I would you know okay move along with other things that need to that need to happen all right
058thank you you're welcome Jordan and then Julia I'll just gently remind us I know Cynthia sounds like it's out of your control but leasing starts early December so here we're going and I know you guys know but I just want to speak that into The Ether that all keeping in mind that we're now going into another holding fee weight List fee season already without protection for renters and so I just I just want to name that I'm not with Without Blame or shame just want to name that that that's a bummer right we have leasing that goes on throughout the year we have to you know we we have I mean out outside of the students we we have leasing that that happens year round right like I I I know what you're saying um
059yes it it it is without it is out of my control until we you know we there are folks that we need to speak with there are stakeholders that we need to we need to have conversations with in other in order for this to be sewed up the right way Julia um well maybe we could put late fees on the um next agenda uh just as unfinished business um but I there are some things in the mission of the bylaws uh that I think it makes sense for us to kind of revisit it's it's pretty big and ambitious um and I'm not sometimes it's great to have a really big mission and sometimes it's overwhelming to have such a big mission um do you have a specific suggestion or um there you know some of
060the things with like um you know even a monitoring and evaluating Trends using available statistical data and broad-based input um like I I don't know I don't recall ever looking at statistical data I don't know where we would get sta statistical data from [Music] um some of the things about D soliciting input from stakeholders I don't think we ever have the capacity to reach out to homeowners or Realtors and I'm not actually sure why we would it's the renters commission um we kind of in a was it in in a way we have when we've had um like aval come and speak to us and others come and speak to us then that's when we've had um input from like from others um we also you know solicit information via the winter commission email address
061things like that sure I think that's fine but I think that's a lot different than specifically naming homeowners in a renters commission and realtors in a renters Commission mission statement like I I think that's a gigantic scope to put on us that isn't realistic like we like I would change it personally D should be solicit input from renters and other community members and that could be homeowners that could be realtors that could be cdc's we also do to through membership with how we have the the voting members who are renters and then we have the non- voting members who are well renters and the attorney and then the non- voting members from like hhb from who are are landlords who are also homeowners um and through the liais on to U ofm again I feel
062that's very none of those things need to stop happening but to have the purpose the commission shall solicit input from homeowners and Realtors I think is beyond our scope I would scale that back so this article 31d 31a I mean a lot of these things I would scale back like it's really hard to figure out how to make a work plan from something so gigantic so I I think it's I would I would scale it back if nobody else is interested then we don't an yeah my comment is about 31a about the use of available statistical data um I'm not sure like what data is available to us or if we could start getting access to data more regularly at meetings uh maybe with with uh next meeting meeting with someone from the rental Inspection
063Services maybe they could bring some data for us to look at like how many complaints do they get in a year how many complaints actually end up being like legitimate what is the resolution of those complaints how many apartments are deemed uninhabitable and people have to move out for instance um like I'm sure there is data we could look at I would just like to make maybe have better access to that there yeah there is a lot of data within the that department and then there's also um data that I know council member gazi Edwin's trying to get about a private units that are would be considered affordable housing in terms of the price range because not everything that would be in an affordable range is owned by the city technically because we have a
064landlord here Jordan who tries to keep her house her rentals pretty attainable right um then we have data there's also data from the county as well [Music] um so there's a lot of data out there it's just a matter of before we didn't have I mean really we didn't have a lot of members on the renters commission and a lot of band with to be able to actually dive into that which is also why it's good to have you on the commission Julia others who are who are interested in that and it also gives us a better idea of who to have come speak to us and what what all we should be focusing on as a part of the work plan um as well should we maybe talk about this more at the tenant
065education committee like maybe like bring up some questions that like we want answered with the statistical data um because he hasn't spoken I'm going to go to Bob and then I'll come back to you Julia I'm just curious about the um the feedback we received with the green Fair would that be a good source of questions to ask uh for perhaps more more information statistical or otherwise just because I I guess the question is we got a lot of data but what are the questions that are you know that are useful to answer uh and maybe the community gave us gave us some of those yeah I mean I think that's that's helpful to know the other thing and we haven't really talked about this is like if we have data that we want that
066isn't available to us we could make a survey there are I I don't know if Kristen has like current count off the top of her head but at one point there were like 650 people on the mailing list I thought maybe I'm remembering that wrong um but there were a lot so if there is like a a survey or something that we wanted to kind of put together I think we also just want to remind us all that we have access to that as a tool for Gathering data that we could send out a survey um of course within limitations but Kristen do you know how many we have I think it's over 700 now many we did we did prompt signing up at the green Fair quite a bit too so um yeah I
067don't and I do think that it's also hard because people are turning over in and out we have used data last time the rental housing came we did ask for some kind of statistics and they did provide them um you know I think of the the um short-term rental report that we you know we are we are kind of muddling our way through some data whether it's the data that we need or whether we think it's useful is different question I suppose in some ways but um you know to speak historically on on things that we have looked at um we're a data town in academic town so I think more is always helpful um but we we have in some ways I think I guess in my perspective we have used data Julia I
068I felt we did not get the data from rental housing that we asked for and that we asked for it more than once so I guess uh Kristen is it still open can we still add things to that list of questions for them like absolutely okay because you know we didn't you know we heard no they've never issued a citation on giving out the booklets but like we didn't get the statistics on how many fines were actually collected like we wanted some numbers so that we could go to city council and say we think if you there could be some offset of the cost of a new inspector if more fines were issued for chronic um abusers of the system and we never got the numbers to pursue that thread um when would be like
069a a hard stop for accepting more questions for rental housing I can ask them um considering they will have had months to prepare by November um I can follow up and ask if they have a preferred um kind of end time to receive questions I want to add also that um something available is to submit a foyer request and I know that some of this data if if it's not compiled or if a document doesn't exist already then it's not something that can be foed but um much of the data and is public information so that might be something um if you're looking for something specific that I'm not able to create that could be an option too or able to kind of gather and get for you rather than create um for the future
070so then for the next tened education committee meeting um it sounds like going over the bylaws again within the meeting so we have something specific to to bring back to the group and also um what was it kind of thinking about different data types and what kind that we actually want does that sound right Julia okay all right um is there anything else about the the bylaws for tonight all right then we'll go ahead and oops move forward too many windows open [Music] um we don't really have a report from HH ASB tonight but like I said we do have someone who's interested um we have their new application as well um because it's a position that gets appointed um they've submitted that I looked at it it was answered it was really thorough so
071um The Hope is that they can get on in the next um in was it no in November is is the Hope um let's see [Music] did are there any reports from other Commissioners then it's uh Kristen do you have a report for us have any formal report I do know that um a box of almost 400 booklets was picked up um either I think end of last week so that is a positive update for the group that's great Jordan Kristen I just wanted to ask one question I saw that um Downtown Development Authority was having like a work session next week on the 23rd it looked like at 2 o'clock I actually saw like a lawn sign for it um out in Car Town the other day is that something that like would be
072helpful to have some of us attend does anybody else know like what what that's supposed to be but perhaps I mean I I think I can try to go if anyone else wants to join me but I wondered if you knew more about what it is um it said like feedback on the downtown development plan but I don't that's still kind of foreign speak to me so I was curious about that I thought that it was related to the city um working on a new comprehensive plan for zoning and land use but I will double check right now because I that is different from what and I'm picturing the sign the like green and blue sign so I I'll look it up and one thing I saw said it like started at 11 or something
073but then I saw two and then I saw two to three and then I saw two to four because I kind of Googled so there was like some varying times out there but if you could I mean if you feel like it's perent for us to be there you want to email the commission any of us that could could go could try to pop down to the library for that and what day did you say was I I vaguely remember something in the back of my head 23rd 23rd at the library downtown um starting at 2 pm I think that's what I'm seeing on like the official City site I didn't catch a picture of the um the lawn sign unfortunately um I think Barb I saw your hand go up and down that was
074way back when we were still talking about uh the um procedures and because I might have just did it just flickered on there oh you know it's something's not working on my end because I kept pushing it and I was seeing nothing up there so sorry okay I no I have no questions at this point okay well speaking of the comprehensive plan they are still actively working on that um housing is a big part of it um we just had a focus group meeting on that with um myself um someone from the from the Cooperative Avalon was invited um and other groups or stakeholders were invited to that one um and it sounds like that they're really trying to figure out ways to have more affordable units um and there is something to be said
075though in my opinion about I mean yes we're the renters commission but there are and this is also a part of what other people have brought up is that we do have renters who want to become home homeowners who don't necessarily want to stay renters as well um and that was kind of one of my biggest takeaways because they're trying to figure out how to do units but we're very it's en tired um Also I spoke with Leslie who's the chair for um the Human Rights Commission and she'd really like it or the Human Rights Commission would like it if we could work more closely together um they do get housing complaints and they also get they've gotten complaints about like the early leasing ordinance and other complaints as well um um and so that's
076also data and they'd like to do some data sharing um and they also have people from this students from the School of Social Work who are working on certain projects with them and um if anything sounds as though it would be renter related then she said that they she would send some of those students our way as well um that's it for my update on that um Kristen I think it's time for the second public comment and then we'll just we do Communications and a journ um public comment can be made by phone at 877 5247 or 888 78899 um and entering meeting ID 935 941 you can also join the zoom meeting with the zoom Link at a2gov.org renters commission meeting after you join the meeting by phone you can press star n to
077raise your hand um if you join the meeting uh with the zoom link you can use the raise hand feature to be called on to speak can address the renters commission about any topic for up to 3 minutes we'll wait just a minute to see if anybody joins there are no speakers okay then moving on it it saw Communications there was only one communication and that was from Varsity management um just to summarize they I don't know I think it was probably the reporting of the meeting uh of our last meeting they watched that when um their previous letter was being discussed and they were disappointed in how the commission reacted um to their letter and they still have concerns about I think it was the early Leasing ordinance um and will most likely be
078contacting um the city council members about their concerns that they're having or issues that they're having with it or that the renters are having um and they also were questioning the ability of the renters Commission an impacting policy and kind of like what power do we have or not have with that um think that that was the gist of it did I miss anything Christen I think that's a really accurate description of the um communication I want to add that I added two and I should have um called that out in the email when I sent the update there's two new Communications one of them is a rent or is a a prospective an arbor resident reaching out for um kind of like a I'm having a difficult time finding a rental that fits what
079my needs are is this a group that can help me or is this like not what you do um and then there was another communication from someone who appears to be a current renter explaining um what I think was a potential violation of um the requirement to provide the paper booklet and then also something else I don't have it open I can open it if you guys would like it was the electronic version they'd gotten was not up to date got okay Jordan can we um I do think that we should respond to VAR City I mean obviously we do want to hear concerns um we don't make the laws but you know we are here with city council folks who can um make changes and impact things and so I think we should respond
080to our city and we should would say we would like to hear your concerns you know can you please put a brief summary of them so that we can decide if you know an email or a meeting is is a good way and then the second thing is you know if they're they can also encourage their renters to reach out to us so if they're renters um to Center the voice of renters here if the renters at Varsity are um struggling with the ordinance and have things they want to share with us like we we want to hear from them and so I think that we should reach out and encourage both of those things personally um and then the the uh one about where to find rentals I think a lot of folks that
081are kind of coming in mid year do find a lot of connections on Facebook and other social media groups which is not ideal and not the dream place where we would like to find rental healing but um outside of normal websites like Zillow and red and those kind of more um apartments.com those leasing kind of places um I'll just throw that out there as um where I know a lot of a lot of folks that I know connect with housing kind of midy year um through different pH Facebook housing groups having a high suspicion for spam um and for scams um but I would make that suggestion for someone looking for housing coming here too the unfortunate thing is that they can't really post on next door but I know that that's been a way
082for people to find housing also but that's more once you get here [Music] unfortunately um Julia I would just like to add in the comment that Jordan said about contacting Varsity that you know we do have two open slots in every meeting where people are welcome to speak right and do remember from the last meeting that um part of it was is that for me I didn't think it was I don't want to say worth it speaking to me alone but I think it was would be more appropriate for them to speak to the entire group that way when I report back to the group nothing's left out um and it's coming directly from them so it's not nothing's left out it isn't open to my interpretation um we did talk about inviting them to
083come um speak to the to the group before not just a public comment but if they wanted if there was something they wanted to present to the group that's also was something that was welcome as well it just wasn't going to be a one-on-one [Music] meeting all right if there's nothing else then I need someone to make a motion to adjin the meeting all motion all motion we did it again we did the second I'll second thank you all those in favor of uh adjourning for the evening please unmute and say I I all those are close say no all right then the October meeting is officially adjourned have a great rest of the month and um the in well today's Thursday so this time I really will send it out next week the the
084wi to meet for the tenant education committee meeting after um but it'll be after the election right have a good night everyone you too thank you you so much bye bye he