1755.10 MISCELLANEOUS.

Lead-Safe Advisory Board; Responsibilities

   (A)    There is hereby established a Lead-Safe Advisory Board to consist of seven (7) members: six (5) members appointed by the Mayor with approval of Council, one (1) member appointed by Council who shall be a member of Council, and one (1) member appointed by Community Legal Aid. Of the members, at least two (2) shall be representatives from Healthy Homes Healthy Families Coalition or similar organization, at least one (1) shall be a current owner of residential rental property located in the City, one (1) shall be the Lead-Safe Auditor, and one (1) shall be a current member of the Youngstown Columbiana Board of Realtors or similar organization of realtors. Of the original appointments, three (3) shall be appointed for terms of two (2) years and four (4) shall be appointed for terms of three (3) years. Thereafter, the terms shall be four (4) years. None of the members shall be current employees of the City. The Lead-Safe Advisory Board shall meet as often as a majority of its members deems necessary, but at least quarterly in each calendar year. The Board shall establish its own rules and regulations.

   (B)    The responsibilities of the Lead-Safe Advisory Board shall be as follows: to provide recommendations for improvements to the City's lead-safe policies and procedures; to report, on a quarterly basis, progress and status of the City's Lead-Safe Certification requirement and other lead poisoning prevention related efforts to the Council, the Superintendent Code Enforcement, the Commissioners of Public Health and Community Development, and the Healthy Homes Healthy Families Coalition or similar organization; to cause an appropriate outside entity or entities to produce impact analyses of the Lead Safe Certification program; to review such impact analyses and report same to the Council, the Superintendent of Building and Housing, the Commissioner of Public Health and Community Development, and the Healthy Homes Healthy Families Coalition or similar organization.

Rental Registration Fee

   An application for a certificate of rental registration shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable rental registration fee of seventy dollars ($70.00) for each residential rental unit.

   (A)   Certificate for rental registration shall be issued upon application and inspection of said rental property in accordance with Housing Code 546.11.

   (B)    No fee shall be charged for a unit occupied by the owner or for a unit for which the owner does not receive rent or anything else of value. The Superintendent shall establish guidelines for fee exemptions.

   (C)    No fees shall be collected from any one (1) owner for all units owned by that owner within the City in excess of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000.00) per calendar year.

   (D)    A renewal certificate may be renewed prior to expiration upon application, re-inspection and payment of the fee described above.

   (E)    A certificate that has expired may be renewed upon re-application and re-inspection of property, and payment of the above registration fee, plus a late fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00). See: City of Youngstown Property Maintenance Code 546.11.

Fines for Non-compliance      

   (A)    Anyone in violation of Section IV of this code, shall be subject to the penalties listed in the City of Youngstown Property Maintenance Code 546.11, with a maximum penalty of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per year per dwelling unit if the dwelling unit is not in compliance with the deadlines established in City of Youngstown Property Maintenance Code 546.11.

   (B)    Anyone in violation of any other portion of this Chapter shall be subject to the penalties listed in the City of Youngstown Property Maintenance Code 546.11.

   (C)    Anyone assessed an administrative fine under the proceeding sections shall have the right to appeal to the Housing Appeals Board as detailed in the City of Youngstown Property Maintenance Code 546.11.

   (D)    All fines related to enforcement of this Chapter shall be deposited into the Rental Registration Fund, to be used exclusively for the administration, implementation, and enforcement of this Chapter.

Exemptions

   (A)    This Chapter shall not apply to properties taken by a governmental entity in a foreclosure proceeding which are:

      (1)    Scheduled for demolition; or

      (2)    Scheduled for sale within twelve (12) months; or

      (3)   Vcant and secured.

   (B)    This Chapter shall not apply to Residential Rental Properties owned and operated by the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority's (YMHA) public housing program and subject to the required inspections, performed by a Local Lead Inspector, excepting that Sections IV and Section VI of this Chapter shall apply to Residential Rental Properties owned and operated by YMHA. YMHA shall provide the City of Youngstown's Department of Code Enforcement a list of addresses of Residential Rental Properties so excluded under this exemption on an annual basis.

   (C)    The City of Youngstown reserves the right to eliminate any exemption if it is discovered that a child has been lead poisoned at the location of one of the Owner's Residential Rental Properties or Family Child Care Homes at a level of 5 ug/dL or greater.

Severability.

   If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or other portion of this chapter, or its application to any person, is, for any reason, declared invalid, in whole or in part by any court or agency of competent jurisdiction, said decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter. (Ord. 23-293. Passed 7-31-23.)