Controversy Continues Around Proposed Rental Inspections

On June 23, 2025, the New London city council held a special meeting. It was held at the community center due to the need for more room. The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. with all members present. Dawn Sines joined by phone.

In attendance were the following: Shawn Mears, Abbie Liechty, Doug Boecker, Karl Braun, Trudy Hutchinson, Jack Swarm, Linda Saunders, Marcus Lane, Brandie Alber, and Ryan Wilka.

The council approved the agenda.

The first item was a public hearing on ordinance #82 amending chapters 165-170 titled zoning & subdivision. The ordinance adds provisions pertaining to shipping containers. Hearing no citizen comments/questions, the ordinance was approved and the second and third readings were waived.

In old business, Mayor Miller told those in attendance that there is no open forum for public opinion in special meetings, but would allow citizen questions and comments from those in attendance. Miller pointed out the council had heard many comments at the landlord meeting on May 19, and the council meeting on June 16.

The parameters for speaking were that individuals would be limited to two minutes and the speakers needed to wait to be addressed before speaking.

The citizens that were in attendance were very clearly against ordinance #83 that required rental permits and inspection of rental housing. The comments/questions included:

Q. How the inspection fee of $185 was decided?

A. Jack Swarm, the city’s building and rental inspector from SEI Regional Planning Commission went through estimated expenses very carefully and the fee is an estimate until he actually does one. But he emphasized that the SEIRPC’s purpose is to serve its members, so the goal is to break even.

Q. Swarm was asked if he had completed rental inspections before?

A. He hasn’t completed a rental inspection in the past, but he pointed out that he has the knowledge and expertise to do so. He also gave an example of how he hopes to keep costs down by completing multiple inspections on the same day to save on travel time.

Q. The council was asked why they hadn’t been completely transparent about the rental code?

A. The Mayor thought that had been. Council member Helmerson added that the council can un-adopt the rental code and can cancel the contract with the SEIRPC at anytime if they feel it isn’t effective.

Q. Why not inspect rental properties that have things that need to be fixed and what if the tenant refuses to let the inspector in. What will the city do about it?

A. The inspections will take place inside the tenant’s home and will happen every three years. Mayor Miller added that the Council has discussed adopting a rental code for years and although some may not think so, he has had conversations with neighboring cities and other cities at conferences. He said that the Council hears the people’s concerns regarding cost and privacy, but the rental code will be helpful for landlords to get into their rented properties to check on their condition. It also protects the tenants from neglectful landlords. The end product of this code is safe rental properties for everyone which is what everyone wants.

The Journal spoke with two of the unofficial spokespersons, Doug Boecker and Shawn Mears, who spoke on behalf of the landlords and renters. The two also have hired an attorney, Abbie Liechty, to help them navigate any legal recourse they might have.

Mears wants to find out the “real reason” that the council wants to push this through now. He’s not really buying the “we want to make the community safe for landlords and renters.” To that justification, he emphasized, “We want the community safe for all citizens regardless.”

Both men feel the council sees it as a way to force repairs on homeowners, and the landlords will be the ones supplying the $185 for inspections. Both men have multiple rentals in New London.

Their lawyer has asked for the data on how many tenant complaints they’ve had. According to Boecker, there is no specific data that the city has shared. He says, “If there were a great number of complaints, that’s one thing, but we just don’t know.”

Liechty is concerned with tenants’ invasion of privacy. There were a few renters in the audience who expressed concern with having a stranger in their home for any reason and invading their privacy.

The men were adamant that they are also fighting for the homeowners in town. Boecker says, “The fees will be passed on to our tenants, we can’t afford to eat it all.”

They then talked about the nuisance codes and ordinances that would certainly be adequate. “All they have to do is go through the proper channels, they already have laws and codes in place to take care of this” according to Boecker.

Both men cited that the cost of living is also part of the equation, saying homeowners and tenants can’t keep up with the rising inflation.

“The city is taking money away from our properties that we would use for their upkeep,” said Mears.

They feel that if they really wanted buy-in from the community they needed more transparency. Both thought that was in short supply.

Two things they emphasized were that some landlords were afraid to speak up for fear of repercussions, and that a better way to solve this is a community group of volunteers to help people with small tasks. They have a petition circulating with 367 signatures.

They ended the discussion with a warning. If this goes through, community support will suffer.

With 217 rental properties in New London, we caught up with Mayor Kirk Miller to get his perspective.

“It’s my hope they’re (Boecker and Mears) right about the rentals, and at the end of the first three-year cycle, very few violations have been found,” Miller said. “We can then take another look at the ordinance. It could go to a self-inspection if they are doing a good job. But everyone needs to realize that we can’t see the inside to know if there are problems.”

He addressed the idea of a hidden agenda, and quickly put that idea to rest. “Our attorney has been involved through this whole process. We have a council that is very intelligent and thinks deeply about such issues as this inspection piece. They are certainly wanting to protect both landlords and renters.”

As far as more transparency, he felt they did as much as possible.

There were a few more comments, and then the council approved the second reading of ordinance #83 to require rental permits and inspection of rental housing and other related provisions. The meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m. The third and final reading of ordinance #83 will be July 17, 2025 at the community center