Athens City Council proposes amendment to unlawful discriminatory practices ordinance

Athens City Council discussed an amendment that would ban discrimination based on source of income to the proposed unlawful discriminatory practices ordinance Monday night at their meeting.

The ordinance already prevents descrimination in the city code. 

“The current ordinance includes a long list of things people can’t be discriminated against — race, religion, living situation, marital status, ancestry, national origin, etc.,” Councilmember Arian Smedley said. “It's another thing we want to protect people for and a relatively simple add.”

Peggy Lee, senior staff attorney and program coordinator for the Appalachian Ohio Fair Housing Project at Southeastern Ohio Legal Services, expressed her support for the amendment. 

“For source of income to be added to your ordinance would be a step in the right direction, to help those who badly need affordable housing, which as you all know is in short supply,” Lee said.

Councilmember Jeffrey Risner raised questions relating to the enforcement and violation penalties for the new amendment and ordinance as a whole. Clerk of Council Debbie Walker assured that the previously included penalty section of the ordinance will remain, but may be updated to fit the newly proposed amendment.

Mayor Steve Patterson suggested potential loss of ability to hold a rental permit for landlords as a penalty for violating the proposed amendment. 

Council also took comments from the audience. Athens resident Lori Boegershausen voiced support for the amendment.

“There is a precedent in Athens for adding protective classes,” Boergershausen said. “Recipients of housing choice vouchers in Athens are experiencing extreme rates of poverty, with an average income of $10,421 per year. Women, people with disabilities, people of color utilize vouchers to pay rent at disproportionate rates.”

Katherine King, another Athens resident and member of the United Athens County Tenants (UACT), strongly encouraged the adaption of the proposed amendment. 

“On behalf of UACT, we work with quite a few tenants who receive vouchers and have struggled to find housing because of source of income discrimination. Our organization helps people find new units, and beyond the many units that have HUD restrictions, most landlords within city limits have refused to accept vouchers,” King said. 

In other business, Councilmember Samuel Crowl recommended that the Council vote at the next general body meeting, in suspension of rules, on the American Electric Power Master Energy Purchase Agreement to accept a supply offer for all of the city electricity accounts. 

The agreement was recommended by the Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC). 

“The SOPEC recommendation was to add a self-induced carbon fee that would come back to the city as a check, in solidarity with the residential and small commercial accounts being serviced by the general electric aggregation program,” Mat Roberts from SOPEC said. 

The meeting concluded with a remark from Crowl, who said, “Long live Pete Kotses.” 

Kotses announced his council resignation at last week’s Council meeting, according to a previous report by The New Political.