BANGOR, Maine — A Bangor City Council committee member on Monday raised concern that a proposed program to inspect more apartments in the city could result in privacy issues if inspectors checking for health and safety concerns witnessed illegal activities.
Councilor Ben Sprague questioned city staffers during the council’s Government Operations Committee whether city inspectors would be obligated to report illegal activities to law enforcement.
Those staffers, who recommend the program, responded that city inspectors already make judgement calls to determine whether they should report potentially illegal activity to police.
“I think in many cases it’s going to depend on what sort of activity you’re talking,” Assistant City Solicitor Paul Nicklas said, adding that the inspectors likely would not attempt to determine whether a renter’s possession of medical marijuana is legal.
“That’s not necessarily something we’re going to get into,” he said. “A meth lab is different situation. If there’s a clear violation of law there then — as with any other inspection that a city employee does — they’re going to report it to police, and that’s what they should do.”
Meanwhile, Community and Economic Development Director Tanya Emery, who is heading up the multi-department effort to expand apartment inspections in Bangor, said they do not intend for inspectors to serve as de facto law enforcement officers and are not training them as such.
“There may be a pill bottle on the table that might not belong to that person, but it might, and it’s not up up to them as code enforcement officers or fire department personnel to make that interpretation,” she said.
“It really is a matter of if they see something that is a clear and present danger that is very obvious,” she added.
Sprague said after the meeting he was satisfied with the responses, particularly that inspectors would not be trained or expected to detect illegal activity normally handled by police.
He told city employees the program “needs to be rolled out very carefully and very diplomatically.”
According to City Manager Cathy Conlow, specifics of the apartment inspection program, which city staffers began work on last year, have not been finalized and work is ongoing.
In a memorandum to the council committee, city staffers advised they are recommending a program that would eventually have existing code enforcement officers, firefighters and fire inspectors inspect all apartments with three or more units.
The program would begin with three- and four-unit buildings of which there are approximately 539 citywide.
Currently, the city only inspects housing in response to complaints from landlords or tenants. It regularly inspects housing subsidized under the federal Shelter Plus Care — a Housing and Urban Development program — in keeping with federal guidelines.
The city does not plan to hire additional inspectors for the expanded program. Thus, Emery estimated it would take about three years to inspect all of the 5,844 apartment units citywide.
In cases, such as assisted living facilities, that are already inspected routinely, she said they likely will only request documentation of the inspections.
Code Enforcement Officer Jeremy Martin told the committee Monday the city must give landlords and tenants a minimum of 24 hours notice before an inspection. They plan to arrange inspection dates in advance by mail, he said, which will likely give tenants and landlords a longer notice.
While city officials are not proposing any penalty for landlords or tenants who refuse to submit to inspection, Martin said state law already gives them the right to require inspections.
“The building official, the fire inspector and the municipal officers of any city or town may at all reasonable hours, for the purpose of examination, enter into and upon all buildings and premises within their jurisdiction,” the law reads.
If there is a legitimate safety concern, city officials can petition a judge for an administrative warrant to enter a building, Martin said.
The goal of the program, Emery said, is to provide very basic life and safety inspections that will “give tenants some assurance that they are getting adequately safe housing.”
Work on the inspection program predates a deadly apartment fire that claimed the lives of six people in Portland in November, though Emery said last week the Portland fire confirmed to Bangor officials that “we were on the right path.”
She said the program is designed to be an educational opportunity to inform tenants what they should expect from their landlords and landlords what they should be delivering. The program calls for an outreach campaign toward that end that would utilize handouts, social media, public relations and video content.
Emery emphasized residents and landlords can still file complaints with code enforcement if they feel there is a health or safety issue.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.