A friend of mine stopped me the other day to ask if I was still involved with the Summit Hill Council because he had a question. I told him I was not for the last several years, but I would be more than happy to help him if I could. He asked me what I knew about Summit Hill's landlord ordinance. Did they have one? And if so, what did it cover?
I had to admit to him that I thought they recently talked about one, and I even believe it may have been passed earlier this year, but I wasn't sure when I discussed it with him. What I do know is the borough has its share of problems with landlords just like most other towns in this area do. When I was on council and even prior to council we had to deal with the irresponsibility of one property owner who left their property to be condemned and a hazard to the adjacent properties in the row home in which it was located. This property cost the taxpayers of Summit Hill thousands of dollars because of their irresponsibility in maintaining it before the town was finally able to tear it down.
This property and others as well as other issues led me to run for council in 2003. Dr. Rich Vermillion unsuccessfully ran two years prior when I ran for mayor and while we were not successful in that turn, I was able to win a seat two years later. I brought Rich's concerns about properties and landlords to the table when I was seated and we discussed it. I prodded council to hold public hearings about a proposed landlord ordinance as well as a stricter animal control ordinance stem