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WINONA LAKE - A proposed ordinance to register and regulate rental housing in Winona Lake came under fire at Monday's town council meeting for being unnecessary and intrusive.
Dave Wolkins, a Winona Lake resident who owns rental houses, asked the council why the proposed ordinance did not include hotels and motels, and why a new ordinance was needed.
"If (rental properties) are substandard, we have laws on the books to deal with substandard now. Why don't we just enforce them?" Wolkins said.
According to town council president Brent Wilcoxson, current laws deal with minimum safety requirements and the town is looking at establishing a higher minimum standard.
Wolkins also asked about registration and inspection fees, why regulations did not apply to owner-occupied housing as well as rental housing, and when the council would hold public hearings on the ordinance.
"This is the most intrusive thing I've ever seen come out of this board," he said of the ordinance, which he equated with socialism.
Councilman Harold Dunn proposed inspecting only multi-family housing first, rather than tackling all rental housing at once.
The council will discuss the proposed ordinance further at its Jan. 14 meeting.
Wilcoxson was re-elected president of the town council for 1997, but not until the other council members cautioned him to avoid situations that would make it appear he is taking advantage of his public office.
"I think we need to make sure that you're taking extraordinary efforts to make everyone aware of exactly what your motives are," said councilman Randy Ruppel. "Just because you know it's aboveboard doesn't mean everybody does. ... Certainly what you're doing as an entrepreneur is a benefit to the community because nobody else is doing anything."
Wilcoxson is a partner in Winona Restoration Company, which is involved in several development projects in Winona Lake.
The council also:
• Approved a motion setting the maximum number of employees in the street and sanitation department as "the current level minus one." The council will meet with street superintendent Kim Endicott in executive session at 9 a.m. Friday to discuss the personnel situation.
• Proposed members for the town's Redevelopment Commission, the board that will oversee the town's proposed tax incremental financing district.
