The city of Mesa is moving forward with a residential inspection program allowing building inspectors to visibly inspect rental properties where a complaint of unsafe living conditions is made.

The program comes from Proposition 400, which amends the city’s charter allowing for the individual residential rental inspection "Slum Landlord" program, according to Christine Zielonka, city of Mesa Development and Sustainability Department director.

"The basic thing is that this was put on the ballot; the voters approved it by 79 percent," she said in a phone interview. "They (residents) basically asked the city to do this."

Proposition 400, which was approved with 114,974 "yes" votes and 31,151 "no" votes, according to numbers announced at the Nov. 28 Mesa City Council meeting.

"It will be a response to very severe life-safety problems," Ms. Zielonka said of the complaint-based program. "We can actually go and do an inspection of the interior of a rental property, but it has to be by written consent."

According to a May 19 city council report, all interior inspections would require written consent from the owner or tenant prior to entering the residence.

"Perhaps it was a perception that particulars in the current economic climate that perhaps there was more of a need," she said of the 79 percent approval margin by Mesa voters. "It is one of the tools that we will have available to use."

Ms. Zielonka does not expect the program to have an overwhelming response when it begins next spring.

"I do not anticipate that there is going to be a huge amount of activity for this program," she said. "I am definitely saying that we don’t have a huge problem with the physical condition of most of our properties."

Eveylyn Hartley of Mesa agrees and says where she lives in the 6000 block of East Preston Drive in there is not a particular problem with blighted neighborhoods, but did ask what would happen if a family had to be displaced because of unfit living conditions.

"It would depend on what would happen," she said in a phone interview of her stance on the issue. "It is better to have a place to live than being thrown out. I can see how that would be very controversial."

According to Vice Mayor Kyle Jones, the city of Mesa will provide the displaced persons with social services available throughout the city.

"The city is not going to foot the bill for anybody," he explained. "We would direct them to social services."

Vice Mayor Jones says the program is to deal with what he referred to as "slum lords."

"Prior to this if there was an infraction ... we had no means of enforcement," he said of the main catalyst for developing the rental-inspection program. "This way we can come in and cite the owner and say you have to make this a safe and livable."

Although Vice Mayor Jones says this is not a particular problem in Mesa, the call for the new program is both reactive and proactive.

"It is a little bit of both," he explained. "We have, over the years, had issues, but the only thing we could tell them was ‘sorry, but we can’t do anything for you.’"

According to Ms. Zielonka, the program should be up and running by next spring.

"I would prefer sooner, but when you are dealing with bureaucracy, things take time," Vice Mayor Jones said. "We are really on the downhill process for this."

But before the program can be up and running a new chapter in the city’s nuisance code must be created, Ms. Zielonka said.

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