Washington’s City Council passed a long-discussed ordinance designed to assure that rental dwellings inside the city limits are safe and livable. Reacting to several fatal fires in rented residences, some with identifiable safety issues, the City Council began the process of enacting the new ordinance nearly two years ago. The Council held public work sessions and listened to local landlords in drafting the ordinance. The key section of the ordinance is the requirement for each apartment or rental dwelling to be subject to safety inspections. The ordinance also lays out the process through which tenants can complain about safety issues to the city and trigger an inspection. With the passage of the ordinance, the city will now begin to implement the inspection process for every rental unit in Washington.
In other business, the Council heard the introduction of two proposed ordinances. One ordinance would approve a change of the plat of Gateway Crossing subdivision to allow Hucks to remodel and enlarge its gas station and store on Washington’s far east side. A second proposed ordinance will address two title and position changes in the city’s salary ordinance.
At the end of the meeting, the Council heard a presentation from Nathan Gabhart asking for the City’s support of the YMCA’s building plans. Gabhart told the Council that after studies and consultation, the “Y” decided that building a new facility would be less expensive than remodeling and upgrading the current facility. The YMCA is embarking on a. $25 million building campaign. Most of the funding Will come from private donors. The YMCA is asking the county and the city of Washington for $5 million and $3 million, respectively, over a five-year period. The Council agreed to help the project if funds continued to be available through the EDIT funds. However, there is some language that the State Legislature would change EDIT, and the Council added the stipulation that EDIT funding had to be available for the City to be able to provide the requested funding.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m.
