At tonight’s Salisbury City Council meeting two (2) ordinances will be taken to Second Reading which are important parts of the platforms adopted by now Mayor Jim Ireton and several current members of council. The first is to amend the legislation establishing the Housing Board of Adjustments and Appeals (HBAA). The second is a re-vamping of the licensing and legislation fees paid by city landlords.
The only controversial portion of the HBAA legislation appears to be section that no longer requires at large members to be city homeowners. This change, proposed by councilwoman Laura Mitchell and added to the legislation by Ireton, could leave homeowners without a voice on a board that impacts many single family neighborhoods. In addition to this amendment, much of the board’s power to adjust fines and fees has been removed. While some individuals have spoken out on this portion of the bill, most of those concerns appear to be addressed in the second and third ordinances coming up for approval tonight.
A common complaint of the current licensing / registration fee structure has been the fees for registering late. Many landlords, and even non-landlord city residents have called the fees draconian. The proposed changes bring the late charges down to a level most appear to accept as reasonable. It should be noted that no one spoke on this bill at public hearing and only one individual spoke up on this bill during public comment.
Some other items up for discussion tonight include the first reading of the council’s “Tenant Bill of Rights” addendum and the first reading of an ordinance to change PAC-14’s (the Salisbury / Wicomico public access channel) funding formula from 30% of the city’s cable franchise tax to a range of 20% – 30%. The formula was originally 20%, but was changed when the city discovered that they had been overpaying PAC-14 for several years.
The meeting begins at 6PM this evening in Room 301 of the Salisbury / Wicomico Government Office Building (GOB).
2 comments:
You meant registration fees, not legislation fees, right?
Are you old enough to know that not many Germans spoke in opposition to Hitler's seizure of control of thier government?
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