Mayoral candidate Lovik proposes renter ID ordinance

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

Election day is less than a week away and Charles City mayoral candidate and Floyd County deputy Matt Lovik is endorsing an ordinance he believes will crack down on drug use.

The ordinance would require every tenant in rental properties in Charles City to disclose their names to law enforcement, and allow for searches of rental properties with a 24-hour notice.

“We’d have an idea of who’s staying at the houses,” Lovik said in an interview with the Press. “This will be a tool for the city to stop illegal use of drugs on rental properties.”

Apartments complexes could be subject to drug searches, and if an apartment complex fails three or more of those searches in a year, the building could be shut down, Lovik said.

The complex searches would include the living areas of tenants.

The  ordinance would have residents sign a lease agreement allowing the search.

“It would be part of the rental agreement,” Lovik said. “I think it could really push the city forward.”

The ordinance was crafted by the So Far Foundation in Charles City and endorsed by Lovik.

“We need to have people bringing drugs into Charles City know that if they want to set up shop here, law enforcement will have their names,” said Lovik in the press release. “The days of criminal using Charles City as a safe landing spot for drug dealing while on the lam have got to end.”

The tenants would have a 24-hour notice before the apartments could be searched with drug dogs by the city police.

“I would be open to programs that would have the potential to cut down on drug use in

Charles City,” said Dean Andrews, another mayoral candidate and former City Council member in an email to the Press. “That being said, my proposal would need to be thoughtfully studied and be in compliance with current laws.”

The ordinance proposed by So Far has not been put on the agenda of any Charles City Council meeting, or discussed at any meeting yet.

There is currently a city code requiring apartments be registered with Charles City once a year and inspected every three years.

“We have landlords renting to people with extensive criminal records for drug dealing, or pretending that there’s nothing wrong when an out-of-town visitor in an expensive new car shows up at a low-income rental,” Lovik said in the release.

“Charles City, we can do better,” he said.