Summit Hill Borough Council is preparing an ambitious program that will mandate the inspection and licensing of all residential rental properties.

At a special meeting of the council, a draft of the proposed ordinance was discussed and will be forwarded to the borough’s solicitor and engineering firm for review.

According to the proposed ordinance, initially, the engineer will be asked to inspect all the rental units in town, with a fee to be charged to the property owner. After that, annual licenses will be required for the rental units and inspections will be required every two years.

Council President David Wargo said there was a rental property ordinance enacted in the borough in 2005, which was repealed, and then one was created in 2012, but “it doesn’t cover a lot of deficiencies,” he said.

Wargo anticipates the proposal will be discussed again at the Sept. 10 meeting of the council and then debated for adoption in October.

After it is adopted, landlords will be required to submit a list of their rental properties to the borough, including apartments in a home. Homes housing foster children will be exempted.

If a rental property is sold, the new owner will be responsible for applying for a new rental license.

Initially, rental inspections will be done in four waves over a two-year period. The first segment of inspections will be in the northeast section of the borough, which has about 150 rental units, and possibly could begin in January.

After that, inspections will be in the northwest section, probably starting in July, then the southeast corner, which will include the White Bear section, and then the southwest corner.

Records for the inspections will be kept in the borough.

Where an LLC owns a property, all participating owners must be identified to the borough. If any of the LLC owners are in arrears in bills to the borough, including utility bills, rental licenses can be denied.

There will be a three-member appeals board created for contesting rejected licenses. The appeals board will have two alternate members.

Under the proposed ordinance, any owner living more than 20 miles beyond the borough limits will be required to have someone locally designated as a property contact person.

Buildings owned by the Carbon County Housing Authority won’t have to be inspected by the borough, but must have regular inspections through the authority. The authority will be required to submit inspection reports to the borough.

Marlene Basiago, who helped to compile the proposed ordinance, said the borough has the option to inspect housing authority properties if it feels such inspections are necessary.

The existing ordinance states the authority is presently supposed to give such inspection reports to the borough, but Wargo told the council such records haven’t been submitted.

The draft of the ordinance did not state what the rental license fees will be, what the renewal fees will be or what the inspection fees will be. Council member Karen Ruzicka said she will want to see such a listing before she can vote on the proposal.

Wargo said the fee schedule will be by resolution and will be attached.

Also included will be a list of fines landlords could face for noncompliance.

Every residential rental property will be required to have working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.