North Adams Council Mulls Short-Term Rental Fees
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The administration is proposing property owners with short-term rental units pay $500 a year to cover the cost of inspections.
"I'm looking for some guidance from council," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey at Tuesday's meeting. "I will say to you that our recommendation of $500 is just a recommendation. ... What I'm looking for is a fee so we can start doing our inspections and assessing."
The mayor said the administrative officer has done some legwork on comparable fees that she would be able to provide to whichever committee the City Council referred it to.
The short-term rental, or "AirBnB," ordinance hammered out over several years did not include fees when it was approved earlier this year, but city officials had acknowledged that some form of fee would eventually be required.
A major issue that Building Inspector William Meranti had brought up over the many meetings on the ordinance was the necessity for safety inspections.
"This is a new obviously, a new venture for the city and really feel the commonwealth to figure this out," said Meranti. "That number that's out there, $500, was a suggestion. It's a business, we're treating it like a business."
The mayor's amendment to the city code would authorize the Department of Inspection Services to set fees with City Council approval; and sets an initial registration and inspection fee of $500, with each annual renewal and inspection at the same price.
In answer to questions, Meranti said the inspections for long-term apartments is $30.
Councilor Wayne Wilkinson said he thought the annual fee should be lower but added, "I have no problems with the initial registration of the short-term rentals being even higher than $500."
Councilor Jennifer Barbeau asked if there were any comparable fees in the city.
"This seems excessive to me and I'm not sure why falling short-term rentals with a fee to tie for multiple businesses in the city," she said.
Councilor Peter Oleskiewicz noted that alcohol licenses are $1,700.
Meranti pointed out that the $30 fee is for every time a tenant moves in or out. If that was applied to short-term rentals, he said, it would be every weekend.
Several councilors expressed concern that fee would make the short-term rentals prohibitive.
"I agree that we should have some type of fee," said Councilor Bryan Sapienza. "Again, I just want to retiterate a higher initial fee and then a lower annual fee from there on out, as long as it's not a new registration or a new owner."
The council referred the matter to General Government with a return date of the first meeting in September.
"I'm not committed to $500," said the mayor. "I just wanted to prompt some lively discussion. So I think I did that."
The council confirmed Melissa Kilbride as assistant city clerk with the hope that the clerk's office will now have some stability. There were three different city clerks and three assistant clerks in the office just last year.
Tina Leonesio, promoted to city clerk in March, wrote a glowing recommendation for Kilbride, saying she had "worked tirelessly since her hire in the office" as a part-time clerk and was her choice of the 22 applicants for the post.
Kilbride has obtained her notary license, assisted at council meetings, and caught the office up on recording vital statistics, many of which had not been done dating back to 2021. She also has been working on formatting file names and locations for the scattered meeting materials on the city website.
"Since her start in the Clerk's Office, she has earned the admiration and many compliments of her service to our customers as well and has proven to be an asset to the office," Leonesio wrote.
For her part, Kilbride wrote to the council that she and Leonesio work very well together that she has "genuinely enjoyed the experience and opportunities associated with working as a team here."
Kilbride was appointed to complete Leonesio's unexpired assistant city clerk term to end on May 10, 2025.
In other business:
• The council approved the transfers of $842,830.08 to close out the fiscal 2023 year. The largest transfer was more than $616,000 in School Department salaries (which were covered by grants); the largest accounts covered were $171,872.92 in police salaries and $150,657.29 in snow and ice overruns.
• The council authorized the mayor to apply for and utilize a state grant to do an inventory of lead and copper pipe in the city water system.
• The council confirmed the appointment of Wayne Wilkinson to the Mobile Home Rent Control Board to fill the unexpired term of Kimberly Brown ending Sept. 1, 2024. Wilkinson abstained.
• The council referred changes to the public arts ordinance and the Airport Commission ordinance to General Government; and a zoning change to the Planning Board and scheduled a joint meeting for Aug. 14.
