Iowa City city councilors spoke about issues affecting the community at a listening post at Java House, 713 Mormon Trek Blvd., on Thursday night. One of the main issues was the tenant-landlord relationship.
Councilors Michelle Payne and Rick Dobyns were on hand to answer questions from residents regarding their concerns.
The two spoke about the relationship between tenants and landlords in Iowa City and how it could affect students who live off campus in one of the many apartment buildings in town. Many students in Iowa City have been wondering about what can be done about the landlords’ breaching of contracts.
“This is a civil relationship between the tenant and owner; the state doesn’t allow us to do anything,” Payne said.
She noted that the law was similar to the minimum-wage law in the state.
The councilors also spoke about their relationship between the city and the University of Iowa and what the council can do to better improve it. Dobyns is a clinical professor at the university.
“The city shares a lot of transportation issues with the university,” Dobyns said. “We routinely meet with them on issues.”
He also said the city is unprecedented in that it allows a member of the student government to sit at the council table during meetings.
Dobyns also said he hopes the university adds another off campus research center, similar to the Oakdale research center, one that would be closer to the university’s main campus and in the Iowa City area.
Payne spoke about recycling in off-campus apartment buildings and said any service in the future could likely come at the expense of tenants.
“Students want to recycle; however, there would be a fee that landlords would have to pay, and most likely that cost would be passed on to the tenants,” Payne said.
She said it would be possible to find a resolution to this issue in the future and make an ordinance.
The number of off-campus apartments was another issue the two councilors spoke about.
With the largest freshman class in UI history, the city will definitely have many more students looking for off-campus housing than in the past.