If you own a rental property in Port Allegany, chances are that you will have to register the structure with the borough starting in 2017.

An ordinance –– to be considered by borough council at a meeting next week –– would create an inventory of rental units to help the borough with code enforcement and public and fire safety.

“Port Allegany Borough, along with a number of other municipalities in McKean County, worked with the McKean County Housing and Redevelopment Authority and received technical assistance related to ordinances to help address existing blight and try to keep it from happening in the future,” Port Allegany Borough Manager Robert Veilleux told The Era on Monday.

Borough council will vote on the ordinance at a meeting that starts at 7:30 p.m. July 5 at the borough council chambers  at 45 W. Maple St. If approved, the ordinance would require properties to be registered by March 1, 2017.

“That will give the borough time to notify rental property owners so they can start the process of pulling the info they need,” Veilleux said.

The borough’s code enforcement officer would be in charge of registering units. Rental property owners would have to complete a form, which would include such information as the street address, the number and type of rooms, owner and tenant contact information and the maximum number of permitted tenants.

“The ordinance provides the borough with the ability to establish a fee; however, council has chosen to not charge a fee at this time,” Veilleux said. “This ordinance will allow the borough to develop an accurate record of rental properties, number of tenants in each property, and who the local contact is for the rental property in the event of an emergency or code violation.”

Dusti Dennis, executive director of the McKean County Redevelopment Authority, touted the benefits of the proposed ordinance.

“The proposed rental property registration ordinance in Port Allegany will not only provide the borough with a database of landlords, it will also assist them in holding landlords accountable to  the property maintenance codes and provide a mechanism by which the borough can deny registration to any landlord that is not current on municipal utilities and taxes,” she said.

“This will be a tremendous benefit to the borough as they continue to improve the quality of housing and combat blight in their municipality,” Dennis added. “Landlords should not be allowed to become complacent … collecting rents and not making improvements to their properties.”

Dennis said the borough should be commended for pursuing the ordinance.