TOWER— The city council here heard from very different perspectives as they continue to grapple with a new ordinance to regulate short-term rentals in the city.
After a number of incidents at one short-term rental last year, the city council handed over the issue to the city’s planning and zoning commission, which has developed a draft ordinance designed to better regulate the situation. That ordinance, which proposed to prohibit the short-term rentals in residential districts in the city, came under fire last month from owners of the affected properties, who advocated for some kind of grandfathering provision.
This month, the council heard under public input from Nick Levens, a neighbor to a short-term rental, who said the unit has greatly impacted his neighborhood in Northstar Addition. “I used to live in a nice quiet neighborhood, but now have hundreds of strangers coming in next door,” he said. “I believe in live and let live but at a certain point the neighborhood is affected. No one really thinks about it until the ‘for sale’ sign goes up at your neighbors’ and you have to hope that it doesn’t get sold for a short-term rental.”
Rachel Lockett, who owns the rental next to Levens, responded, saying she’d taken a number of steps to screen her renters and monitor their activities more closely since neighbors complained last year. “We’re doing everything we can to make it not a burden on the neighborhood,” she said. “We have gone to great lengths to vet every guest.”
The sharply divergent views have thus far stymied the council’s decision-making. “We’ve gone back and forth, which is why we’re here again,” said council member Joe Morin, who also serves on planning and zoning.
Council member Josh Zika wondered how the city would ensure compliance with the ordinance if some properties were grandfathered in. Morin said the ordinance would still apply to those grandfathered properties. “They would still be subject to the same rules as everyone else,” he said. They would also need to apply for a permit, as the ordinance would require of others.
While the council made no final determination, they seemed to come closer to a compromise that would allow for a handful of short-term rentals in residential districts. Council member Kevin Norby, who also serves on planning and zoning, said some kind of resolution is needed. “I think short-term rentals are kind of a fact of life these days. We need the ordinance to keep things from getting out of control.”
The council asked for planning and zoning to come back at the July meeting with revised language that the council could potentially approve as a first reading of a new ordinance.
In other business, the council formed another ad hoc committee to determine job duties for a possible part-time administrative assistant to help manage affairs at city hall. Mayor Dave Setterberg noted the laundry list of significant projects now underway in the city, all of which consume considerable time in administration. “I don’t think there’s enough bandwidth for Michael to handle all these things,” said Setterberg, who noted that an assistant would also provide some redundancy in case either the clerk-treasurer or his deputy was suddenly unavailable.
Setterberg said he discussed the position with an area temp worker firm, which recommended a wage in the $20-$25/hour range, possibly working one day a week. Setterberg pegged the cost to the city at about $8,300-$10,000 depending on the wage and hours.
Council member Bob Anderson questioned whether a new assistant would replace the financial assistance being done by Ann Lamppa. Setterberg said no, at least not immediately.
“I think we should have a very clear outline of what this person would do,” said Norby.
The council seemed amenable to Setterberg’s suggestion and Norby and the mayor will serve on the ad hoc committee to fine tune the proposal in time for consideration at the council’s July meeting.
In other business, the council:
 • Faced questioning from Norby about some provisions of the proposed ordinance to create a local housing trust fund. Norby said he was concerned that the creation of the ordinance and associated trust fund would create unrealistic expectations that could create some liability for the city. “I like the concept of it, but there are things that are a little above and beyond a small town like Tower,” said Norby. “I don’t know that we should say we’re going to end homelessness. It leaves an expectation that I don’t think we can meet.”
Norby also took issue with the language in the ordinance that suggested that Tower would be providing rental assistance grants for some individuals. “I don’t know that we’re the right community to be providing grants for rental assistance,” he said.
Zika said Norby seemed mostly concerned about “optics” and suggested that any program established to utilize trust fund dollars would have its own framework and guidelines and would ultimately need to be approved by the council.
Morin, who has been the primary advocate for the trust fund, said there is no plan in place currently for how the funds might be used. And he acknowledged that Tower’s trust fund would be so small that it would likely not be issuing grants, since it would quickly exhaust available dollars.
The council opted to strike mention of rental assistance in the ordinance and approved the second reading.
 • Heard from clerk-treasurer Michael Schultz about the city’s presentation on its plans for a senior housing development at a recent regional housing showcase sponsored by the Minnesota Housing Partnership. “Not sure if it was a waste of time or not,” he said. “We haven’t heard anything back. But there were some good eyes on our city.”
 • Hired Olivia Haavisto to serve as city seasonal maintenance worker at $15.50 an hour, with a maximum of 32 hours per week.
 • Discussed the need for replacement of eight culverts on N. Second Street, which have heaved. The city has received an initial quote of $32,000 but Schultz said he planned to check with St. Louis County on possibly sharing the cost, since the street is actually a county road.
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