Rental unit inspections in the future for parts of Pulaski

A public hearing will be held on Aug. 3 concerning changes to the Town of Pulaski’s Rental Inspection District boundaries.

Town Manager Darlene Burcham told council Tuesday the changes consolidate the town’s three existing districts to just two.

Burcham told council the town’s rental inspection program has not been used on a consistent basis over the years.

She said the same holds true with the town’s Vacant Building Registration Program.  While it’s been on the books it hasn’t been used in a consistent manner.

“The Rental Inspection Program identifies areas of the town where we have already seen blight or where it appears to be on the path to go into a blighted condition without some successful intervention,” Burcham explained.

Over the next year or two, officials with the town will be visiting every rental unit within the town’s rental inspection districts.

Property owners will be contacted by the town to schedule rental inspection visits. Burcham said owners will be given several months in which to respond to the town to schedule visits.

Owners of the identified rental properties in the two districts will be sent a letter with registration along with a list of what officials will be looking for during inspections, plus a list of the property owners’ responsibilities.

Burcham said some properties will pass inspection immediately and will be given a certificate of approval for four years, while others will have minor corrections and a time will be scheduled for inspectors to come back and check on those.

Then some, she said, would be found to have major issues that will take longer to correct. She said the town’s ordinance details the cost of re-inspections after a certain period of time.

By MIKE WILLIAMS, The Patriot