Saint Clair Borough, Landlords Debate Codes

By Dustin Pangonis, Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa.

Jul. 2–SAINT CLAIR — Agitated residents spoke out during Monday night’s borough council meeting about the borough’s renters ordinance, which area landlords said imposes unreasonable standards for building code inspections and enforcement.

In response to the complaints, further building code inspections will not take place until after a meeting between the landlord association and the borough council to discuss revisions to the ordinance. That meeting is tentatively set for August, although no date was set at the meeting.

Some area residents have formed the landlord association as a way to discuss the ordinance with the borough after many complained that code enforcement officer Anthony Merklinger was too strict in his initial inspections.

Saint Clair landlord Joann Brennan wanted to know how much input landlords would have on the time allowed to make repairs to properties, and said that finding a contractor, especially for small jobs, often takes a lot of time.

Brennan said the transition to the ordinance was “not quite as comfortable as we would have liked,” and council President James Larish acknowledged its implementation had gotten off “on the wrong foot.”

Also at issue was the borough council’s electric policy, which holds landlords responsible to pay for their tenants’ delinquent electricity bills.

Landlords say that because tenants must sign a contract with the borough to get electricity, the tenant or the borough should be responsible. Brennan said she could find no reference to landlord responsibility in minutes from a 1988 meeting provided by the borough council.

The borough council responded to the landlords’ assertions that the policy has always been enforced, but the landlords now involved had not previously been effected by it before an increase in delinquent payments.

The borough council also passed an open records resolution to bring Saint Clair into compliance with the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law, regulating citizen access to public records. Borough council Secretary Roland Price will serve as the open records officer.

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