NORWICH – The 4th grade students in Kristen Behuniak’s class at Holy Family have been busy over the past months. After watching Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” the students are trying to spread the word about global warming and environmental responsibility.
At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Common Council, seven of the 4th graders in the class stood before the council and explained what they had been working on and how they were trying to get the message out.
“Tell a friend the good news that we have a chance to make the world a better place,” the students wrote on one of the posters they brought with them.
“I hope everyone is more aware because of our children, here,” said Mayor Joseph Maiurano. Children in the class are Corrine Shea, Anastasia Tenney, Mpoki Mwalupindi, Nicole Ann Mealey, Marybeth Ward, Cassandra Corey, Taylor Stroh, Shane Reynolds and Alec Weaver. The council thanked the children for attending, before the meeting turned to other topics.
Although the rental registry and other changes to chapter 50 of the city code were passed at last week’s Common Council work session, several landlords attended last night’s meeting, reiterating the complaints they found with the ordinance.
One of the landlords who spoke at length at last week’s meeting, Kathy Campbell, again spoke during open forum, asking the council to consider changing wording in three areas of the ordinance. The Landlord’s Association also submitted their request in a written letter to each council member. “We want to know by tomorrow (Wednesday, March 21) if you are willing to look at those changes or not, and if not, we will take the next steps,” Campbell said.
Campbell and the other landlords who spoke agreed on three problem areas. They dislike the definition of enforcement officer, in section 1.6 of the code. “Enforcement officer shall mean the Building Inspector of the City of Norwich, or his designated qualified representative,” the code states. “We’re asking again that you change it to a certified enforcement officer,” Campbell said.
The second problem the landlords found was with the language in section 2, which gives the enforcement officer the right to inspect a property with permission of the tenant, but makes no mention of getting permission from the owner of the building. “We’re asking you to use the language that was in code 50 for decades, which stated that you need the owner’s permission as well as the occupant’s permission,” Campbell said.
The council has said tenants sometimes call to report unsafe conditions in their dwellings, and if the owner’s permission was asked for, in many cases it would not be granted. “If the owner says no, it’s a simple process to get a court order,” Campbell said. Sixth Ward Alderman Bob Jeffrey asked for clarification. “You’re asking that the cost of getting a court order be placed on all the residents of Norwich?” Jeffrey asked. Campbell asserted that it would be a simple process, but city Attorney Patrick Flannigan said that is not always the case.
The third area the landlords found fault with was section 6.5, which allows the code enforcement official to ask for additional information, aside from what is spelled out in section 50. “We’re asking you to not allow the code enforcement official to change what’s asked for on the rental registration form without it being brought before the council,” Campbell said. Other landlords echoed Campbell’s suggestions, with one mentioning a possibility that the Landlord’s Association would hire lawyers to fight for their cause if necessary.
“It would be nice if everyone was happy, but sometimes it works one way or another,” Maiurano said. The suggested changes will be looked at by the city attorney, and his suggestions will be brought back to the council.