5/13/19 Business Meeting

By: Joseph L. Kuchie

SOUTH AMBOY – Councilman Tom Reilly asked the council to investigate ‘rooms for rent’ in South Amboy.

Reilly has identified a specific house in town that he believed is illegally renting rooms to tenants on a daily or weekly basis. He asked the council and the city attorney to investigate restricting rooms for rent as a whole in town.

“I think the situation, from what I see, is out of control,” Reilly said. “I don’t want to specifically target one of them, that’s why I’m saying I would like to look into the whole matter of rooms for rent in town and see if there’s something that can be done about it.”

Reilly suggested that a minimum stay be added to existing ordinances that restricts tenants from renting out rooms for a day or a week. He added that the amount of people coming in and out prevents the city and state from inspecting the homes properly.

“If somebody moves in for a week and is gone for a week, are we doing an inspection?” he asked.  “How do we know how to inspect it then?”

“I’m making the assumption because I live down the street that I see so many different people that I think things are going on for daily, I think things are going on for weekly, I think things are going on for longer than that, and my question is… If people are coming and going out of a place, is it being inspected?” he added.

“He brings up a good point because let’s say it’s state control and the inspections are every 3 or 5 years, that’s not enough, and how do we know it’s happening?” Councilwoman Zusette Dato asked.

Council President Mickey Gross asked City Law Director Francis Womack to look into the existing boarding house and any rooms for rent ordinances in town to see if anything could be amended.

Gross made mention in his public comments that the annual Fourth of July fireworks event will be on July 3, and that the city is working on another Night Out event in August.

All council members were in attendance for the business meeting.