City crackdown on hotels and motels is coming

On Thursday night Joe Berkich, Code Administrator, gave City Council an overview of a proposed Lodging Ordinance. Berkich said the city has had a lot of issues with lodging facilities. He said he looked at other communities to come up with an ordinance which will help everyone. Berkich said there are 13 motels in town, one of which has never registered with the state. He said there would be different agencies in the process of inspection..including Health and senior services, health department, code administration, and the fire department.

He said the Inspection fee would be zero. Berkich said one of the main concerns is to make sure that people who are staying in the establishments have safe conditions.

If a establishment is operating under r1 licence but are actually r2, they could face a misdemeanor citation. Berkich said they aren’t trying to shut anyone down, unless there is a serious life safety issue.