Access denied

You’re in the market for a new rental and know the city of Lansing registers and inspects such properties. You know that information is available on the city’s website, through BS&A’s property database. So you check the property you are considering. The database shows the property is registered and inspected.

What you don’t know is that inspectors cited the property for serious issues. The inspection reports are not available online, and may not even be available if your file a Freedom of Information Act request.

Why? The city believes those reports might contain information that should be unpublished under FOIA.

“As part of Mayor Bernero’s Lansing 3.0 agenda, which includes a strong commitment to transparency, we are looking at expanding the property inspection information that is available online,”” Randy Hannan, chief of staff to Mayor Virg Bernero, wrote in an email in response to questions about why such detailed information is not readily available.

“This will definitely help improve public access to this information so people can do their homework on specific properties they may be considering to rent or that they already rent. We are working through the technical and legal issues related to providing expanded access to this information, but it will take some time to make it happen.”

Hannan said things like cell phone numbers of property owners might be in the files, and, he argued, releasing that information would violate the state FOIA statute.

But nothing in the law says the city is required to remove such information, only that it may. The exemptions under FOIA are suggested, not required. A cell phone will fall under the “may exempt” category for a “clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy.”

For a brief time this year, visitors to the city’s property information database were able to review very specific information regarding inspections of rental properties. One such inspection report of a local subsidized senior housing facility, The Porter in downtown Lansing, found numerous instances of code violations that could lead to fires. The May 2014 inspection report also noted significant issues related to the hot water and heat systems in the building. The report also found structural concerns.

“The concrete ceiling in the boiler room is deteriorated and unstable,” the report notes.

It is that level of detail on inspection findings is no longer available through the city’s BS&A database.

City Pulse asked Hannan what in that report might run afoul of FOIA exemptions. He didn´t have any specific response other than noting that the database and inspection report questions were under review by the Office of the City Attorney.

“When the OCA review of this data is complete, we will work with the outside vendor of the online database to implement the technical changes that are required to make appropriate data fields available to the public through the online portal,” Hannan wrote in an email.

None of this sits well with Fourth Ward City Councilmember Jessica Yorko. Yorko, traditionally seen as a strong Bernero ally on the Council, accused the administration of a “cover up” over the inspections reports. She said the detailed inspection reports will show residents Code Compliance is not appropriately and fully staffed.

She said that because current staffing level causes Lansing’s inspections to lag behind other localities, code compliance officers will continue to rely on written letters from property owners saying that violations have been corrected — without re-inspections, and that the city will continue to lack the ability to force repairs on rental stock.

“If fees for rental registrations and inspections were adjusted and/or a landlord licensing program were created to distribute the cost of this to the owners of rental property, the cost would be approximately $20/year in additional cost per rental unit to rental property owners,” Yorko wrote in her email. “Or increased fees could applied to properties with violations, if we could actually get the information from code enforcement. (There are about 30,000 rental properties in Lansing. $600,000 / 30,000 = $20). If existing/established fees were being charged for re-inspection (which they aren´t) and/or other fees were adjusted slightly, this $600,000 for seven new officers would not need to come from the city general fund.

Hannan said the code compliance has eight officers with one posistaff tion open.

“Our initial assessment of Councilmember Yorko’s proposal to nearly double the size of the city’s code compliance staff is that it is financially untenable,” Hannan wrote. “We will continue to evaluate the need for additional staffing in code compliance, but it isn’t done by drawing numbers out of a hat. This proposal also raises significant concerns about worsening the city’s longterm financial liabilities for pensions and retiree health care. For these reasons, this proposal will be referred to the Finance Department for a review of the short and long-term budget implications of adding so many new employees and to the Financial Health Team for their evaluation and recommendations.”