Coversheet

City of Topeka
Council Action Form
Council Chambers
214 SE 8th Street
Topeka, Kansas 66603
www.topeka.org

November 19, 2019

DATE:	November 19, 2019
CONTACT PERSON:	Sasha Haehn, Director of Neighborhood Relations	DOCUMENT #:
SECOND PARTY/SUBJECT:		PROJECT #:
CATEGORY/SUBCATEGORY	013 Ordinances - Codified / 078 Health and Sanitation
CIP PROJECT:	No
ACTION OF COUNCIL:	Discussion 9-10-19. Defer Until 11-19-19 (10-15-19).	JOURNAL #:
		PAGE #:

DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION:

ORDINANCE introduced by City Manager Brent Trout creating a new Chapter 8.65 of the Topeka Municipal Code requiring registration of vacant properties and properties that are the subject of mortgage foreclosure proceedings. (Deferred from the meeting of October 15, 2019.)

Voting Requirement: At least five (5) votes of the City Council is required. Mayor does not vote.

(Approval would impose duties on owners and mortgagees with regard to vacant properties and properties in foreclosure proceedings.)

VOTING REQUIREMENTS:

At least five (5) votes of the City Council is required. Mayor does not vote.

POLICY ISSUE:

Whether to impose duties on property owners and mortgagees with respect to vacant properties and properties in mortgage foreclosure proceedings, including inspections and registration.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION:

Staff recommends the City Council move to adopt the ordinance.

The proposed ordinance revisions are subsequent to the Governing Body discussion from the meeting of October 15, 2019. If the Governing Body were to approve the ordinance creating this registration program, roll-out of the program could begin in the first quarter of 2020. The registration program will include an application, biannual fee, requirements for property managers for foreclosed property and local agents for out of town owners of vacant property, as well as penalties for failure to register.

Owners of vacant properties that are chronically vacant and unutilized property will be required to register their property biannually until the property is occupied. Owners of vacant property living further than 60 miles from Topeka will be required to have a local agent and provide the contact information for this person or business. Financial Institutions with a property in the foreclosure process will be required to have property managers maintain the property and will be required to register the property until it is sold in an arms-length real estate transaction and the mortgage or lien against the property is satisfied.

Staff is recommending that approval of the ordinance be followed by an RFP process administered by the City's Contracts and Procurement Division. The anticipated selection would ideally occur by the end of 2019 or early 2020, with the roll-out of the Registration Program being in the first quarter of 2020.

BACKGROUND:

Blight, and neglected buildings have long been a topic of concern in the City of Topeka. When the Department of Neighborhood Relations was created, staff was charged with researching and producing a recommendation regarding a rental registration program. Many in the community feel that negligent landlords are the major contributor to blight in neighborhoods. Although there are irresponsible landlords in the community, in the experience of our Property Maintenance Division, there are also many other property owners contributing to blight in Topeka, including financial institutions and commercial property owners.

In 2018, staff became aware of a Vacant and Foreclosed Property Registration program that Wyandotte County adopted in May 2018. This program was created to help address blight in the community and is administered for Wyandotte County by a private vendor.

The Foreclosure portion of the program requires financial institutions with properties in the foreclosure process to register the property with the City. Currently, the Property Maintenance Division struggles with foreclosed property with violations because financial institutions do not update the ownership records on foreclosed property. The official property record on these properties remains in the name of the person who lost the property to foreclosure, with our Property Maintenance Division having no way of knowing immediately that the property is in foreclosure. The notification of property maintenance issues goes to the former owner who lost the property and nothing is done to remedy the issues. Often times we perform abatement of weeds/grass and nuisance/trash on the property and bills are generated that go unpaid. At the point that the former owner is contacted by our collection agency, that is when they contact us to notify us that they no longer own the property. Many hours are spent by staff researching the financial institution that holds the mortgage on the property, who the property manager for the financial institution is and if there is a local contractor responsible for maintaining the property. Sometimes we have no success is tracking down the appropriate people and the property languishes with unresolved violations. Ironically, the Property Maintenance Division is being contacted on a monthly basis with inquiries from financial institutions of whether or not Topeka has a Foreclosure Registration program.

The Vacant portion of the program requires owners of chronically vacant and unutilized properties to register the property, and provide a local resident agent for properties held by owners living more than 60 miles from Topeka. This registration program provides accurate and up-to-date contact information of owners and registered agents for the Property Maintenance Division, as well as other departments and agencies such as Utilities and Emergency Response Departments (TPD and TFD). Properties with active building permits or active renovation or rehabilitation work are excluded from the registration requirement.

Private vendors such as the one contracted by Wyandotte County have developed systems to quickly identify foreclosed and vacant properties and the financial institutions that hold the mortgages on the foreclosed properties. They are administering registration programs in hundreds of cities across the country. Staff is recommending that approval of the ordinance be followed by an RFP process administered by Contracts and Procurement to secure a vendor to administer the program in Topeka.

BUDGETARY IMPACT:

Staff has provided recommended registration fees and penalties for each of these programs in the executive summary attached to this item. As noted in the draft ordinance, the biannual fee would be set by the Director of Neighborhood Relations and approved by the City Manager and shall not exceed $500.There should be no additional start-up cost for the programs at this time.

Neighborhood Relations will work with Contracts and Procurement if the ordinance is passed to solicit proposals from companies providing administration of these type of property registration programs. We will be looking for a low/no cost solution in which a vendor would identify properties required to register and administer the registration process. Fees will be collected by the vendor and shared with the City to help defray the cost that blighted and unutilized properties pose to the City.

SOURCE OF FUNDING:

Not Applicable

ATTACHMENTS:

Description

Executive Summary (Dated October 29, 2019)

Final Draft Ordinance - CLEAN VERSION - Registrable Properties (Revisions following October 15, 2019 Governing Body Meeting Discussion)

Draft Ordinance REDLINE VERSION - Registrable Properties (Revisions following October 15, 2019 Governing Body Discussion)

Presentation (Sept 10, 2019 GB Meeting)