Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
The Public Works Committee met on October 13, 2026, to discuss three major ordinance updates: the Rental Licensing Ordinance, the Housing Solution Fund, and the Noise Ordinance. The meeting began with approval of prior minutes and included public testimony on the housing fund. Key outcomes included moving the rental licensing ordinance to a full council workshop, while the housing fund and noise ordinance remained under discussion without formal votes.
Rental Licensing Ordinance Update
Housing Solution Fund Ordinance
Noise Ordinance Update
And to the Republic for which it stands. Underground. Indivisible with liberty and justice for all. So our first item is to approve the September 22nd public work meeting minutes. Is there a motion? I move to approve the minutes. Great. All in favor? Aye. Passes three zero. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Bram. So we have been working on updating the residential rental unit licensing ordinance. And I'm just going to go through a couple of the key items that I added or changed. So a lot of it remains the same. The general purpose is to maintain that our rental units in the city of Frederick are safe and habitable, and that there is recourse if they're not. So some of the the things was this was a recommendation from the original task force was that there needed to be a local representative within fifty miles of the center of Frederick. So the owner could live in North Carolina, but they need to have some local representative to care for the the properties. I just want to make sure that residents feel safe, especially in our climate where some government officials may not be safe and and uh if we're having people entering homes. Uh so I don't know what you thought about that. Yeah, I'm a little um apprehensive about that one. Um having safe safe housing about the in this day and age, we need to be cautious about regarding that. Um not to say that hopefully anyone we say anyone was step any bounds at the same time. Um also sensitive to our respective communities who um have a mistrust of government. And that may be something I have to get some thought to. Yeah, the so earlier in there it talks about the you know notice given to the owner, to the local agent, to the occupant to make sure that they know that this is coming when they do inspections. Um again, I I have heard from some residents that um, you know, especially young women or immigrants might feel uncomfortable having someone show up at their house with with a badge. So I don't I don't quite know how to um mitigate that. So I'm not let me let me ask that. I'm not sure what the issue is with this, because it says only if it's with a a court order or a warrant. And so there would have to be some level of oversight before a warrant is issued, or it's with consent. So it seems pretty broiler plate that that that phrase in and of itself is not gonna allow anybody to just come walking in your house. If we have to get an administrative search warrant to do something, um we've done that in the past. Otherwise it's by consent. So I don't I think this phrase by itself doesn't create a someone walking in your house just because they have a badge unless they've otherwise been to court and gotten some kind of a search warrant or a um administrative search warrant. So I I don't I don't see what the concern there would be just on the language that's in in you proposed. What are you thinking, Derek? No, I'm I'm just thinking in terms of what you just what you just this um language, the director, what does that mean? Uh who's the director? Aaron Ross Powell The Director of uh Code Enforcement. So it'd be the chief building code officials. So in this case would be Dustin Newsbaum.