The Aggravated Public Nuisance ordinance will continue to be discussed at the Urbana City Council’s Monday night meeting.

If passed, it would require owners to take better charge of managing criminal offenses and violations on their property.

Poor management situations are identified by the number of police calls that are made in a given area due to crime or all types of disturbances, according to the ordinance.

If approved, the city attorney will issue a notice to the owner if a problematic situation arises from a specific property. The draft of the ordinance states that the owner has 21 days from the time the notice was issued to appear at the city attorney’s office to resolve the situation. If the owner fails to show up, a fine will be issued.

“It’s a program that would engage the property owner in a conversation with the police force,” said Dennis Roberts, Ward 5. “It’s a proposal that comes from the safety task force. It’s a tool to mitigate disturbances.”

Charlie Smyth, Ward 1, said the ordinance would be used in rare instances that deal with property situations where police are called on multiple occurrences.

“It took way too long for us to figure out and deal with the situation, focusing in on problems where management is contributing to the problem,” Smyth said.

Smyth gave the example of a public common area where a high amount of crime occurs. The police would identify it as a problem area and would look at more lighting or more management control as possible solutions. If management does not respond, the city attorney would contact the owner. If he or she does not deal with the situation, the city classifies it as poor management, and the owner could potentially be fined.

Heather Stevenson, Ward 6, said she disagreed with the intentions of the ordinance. She said she would not approve of the original Aggravated Public Nuisance ordinance unless it stipulated that property owners have the right to deny tenants because of a criminal history.

“Landowners have the right not to rent to people based on criminal backgrounds,” Stevenson said.

However, Smyth looked at the benefits that the ordinance would bring to the city of Urbana and its residents.

“It gives us one more tool to clean up rare occurrences when dealing with people committing the crime isn’t enough,” Smyth said. “This ordinance requires management to come in to come talk to us and remedy the situation.”

Roberts said this ordinance is written word-for-word like the Champaign ordinance that has been in effect for the last 13 years.

The Champaign Public Works Department has said that problems are usually resolved more easily because of this ordinance, Smyth said.