The nonprofit group Lansford Alive has helped install new sidewalks, created a community garden and successfully held music in the park events in the borough.

Now they would like to help the town do a better job of identifying the landlords who are renting out homes in the borough. Borough officials have said thanks, but no thanks to the proposal.Rental properties are numerous in Lansford Borough, where homes are frequently bought and sold, sometimes on the Internet, for well under $50,000. Because of the large number of rentals, borough council often has trouble finding who owns a property when there is a problem with property maintenance, or worse, drug dealing.Lansford Alive’s president, Chris Ondrus, recently asked borough council for permission to access their records so that they could update the list of landlords.“I think if we have an accurate representation of rental properties, it’s a start. It’s not enforced the way it’s meant to be enforced. you have to start with a proper list,” he said.Lansford Alive members reportedly brought a long list of concerns to a recent borough council committee meeting, with the landlord list being just one. Ondrus said that council originally passed the ordinance requiring landlords to register with the borough in 2007. But, he said, they still don’t have an accurate list.“We have an all-volunteer group that is working to make things better. We’re working and volunteering our time and services to cross-reference multiple lists instead of paying the borough secretary and code department,” he said.Council ultimately voted 6-0, with Colin Jones absent, to deny Lansford Alive’s request, but thank them for it.Council members Joseph Butrie and Rose Mary Cannon spoke out strongly against giving the list to Lansford Alive.“We thank them for their volunteer effort, but they have no idea what we’re doing in-house and what we’ve accomplished so far with the list. They’re not aware of how much we have done in the list,” Cannon said.Butrie said that after talking with Lehighton and Tamaqua Borough officials, he thought it would be unusual to give the list to an outside group. His wife works in the borough office.“The borough business stays borough business. we thank you very much for the effort for volunteering,” he said.Councilman Matt Walsh pointed out that the records requested by Lansford Alive — a list of landlords, and people paying the borough’s sanitation and sewer transmission fees — could all be gotten by a request made under the state’s right to know law.One of the reasons the borough does not have a current list is the turnover in its codes department. Their old consultant, Barry Isett and Co., was compiling a list. But the borough lost access to those records when they parted ways in 2015.Cannon said that despite that setback, the borough’s new code enforcement officer has been working hard on updating the list.“He’s gotten over 500 so far, plus with sewer transmission we found more. We are doing it and we already feel that it should stay in house, and our records should be kept here,” she said.Councilman Jared Soto, the son of a Lansford Alive board member, said he was wary about giving out the public information, but praised the ongoing partnership between the borough and the nonprofit. “I think their willingness to do that shows that they’re on board with what we’re doing, what we’re all trying to do here,” he said.